Dr. Masahide [Hide] Goto is President of the Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AIRM). He has 30 years’ experience as a researcher in molecular biology and as a leader for research teams across a wide variety of therapeutic areas, including metabolic and infectious disease, antibodies, nucleic acid medicine and gene therapy-related activities, ophthalmology, and otology. Dr. Goto joined Astellas as a researcher in molecular medicine in 1997 for Astellas predecessor Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. His prior roles at the company include Senior Director, Biologics, Modality Research Laboratory; Executive Director, Candidate Discovery Research Unit 3, Candidate Discovery Science Laboratory; and Executive Director, Eye & Ear Virtual Venture Unit. Dr. Goto holds a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and is the author of nearly 20 scientific papers.

Dr. Michael Luther is the Head of Early Stage Partnering at Astellas based in Cambridge. Mike has over 34 years’ experience as an entrepreneurial scientist and executive in the biopharmaceutical industry including roles in biotech start-ups and global pharmaceutical industry. Before joining Astellas, Mike was the founding CEO of Bantam Pharmaceutical, a biotech company focused on developing novel therapeutics in cancer and mitochondrial dynamics. In past roles, Mike was the Senior Vice President for Drug Discovery & Development at Curio and founding CEO of the North Carolina Research Campus. Mike has over 20 years in executive roles in the global pharmaceutical industry including Vice President roles and head of drug discovery divisions at Merck and GSK. At GSK, he led multiple discovery teams that resulted in the successful launch of 4 new therapeutics in oncology and metabolic disease as well as initiating the pharmaceutical industry’s initial efforts in precision medicine and drug repositioning. Dr. Luther holds Bachelor of Science degrees from North Carolina State University, a doctorate degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine, and an MBA from Duke University. He was a Carl Stone Muscular Dystrophy Fellow at The Salk Institute, and is the author of over 70 publications and patents.

Dr. Mike Patane is the President of Mitobridge, He has 20 years of drug discovery and development experience with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations. Most recently, he was CSO at Eyegate Pharmaceuticals where he focused on the development of ophthalmic products, which included oversight of all R&D, clinical, and regulatory functions. Prior to that, he was Executive Director, Global Discovery Chemistry, at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research where he was responsible for infectious diseases and ophthalmology drug discovery franchises and fulfilled a variety of strategic roles. Previously, Mike was Director, Medicinal Chemistry at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he led drug discovery efforts for their oncology and metabolic disease programs. Earlier in his career, Mike was a Research Fellow in Medicinal Chemistry at Merck & Co. Dr. Patane earned a BS in Chemistry from Fordham University, a PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Southern California, and completed his post-doctoral studies in Synthetic, Natural Products, and Medicinal Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute.

Mathew Pletcher, Ph.D. is Division Head of Gene Therapy Research & Technical Operations for Astellas Gene Therapies. He is responsible for advancing the company’s pipeline from discovery through to IND-enabling preclinical development and for all Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Facilities & Engineering, and Process & Analytical Development functions. Prior to joining Astellas Gene Therapies (formerly Audentes Therapeutics) in July 2020, Mr. Pletcher worked at Roche Pharma where he was Head of Rare Diseases Research and Early Development, and prior to that, Head of Discovery. Previously, he served as Acting Chief Scientific Officer at Autism Speaks and earlier as Vice President, Head of Genomic Sciences. He also spent eight years working in Pfizer’s Rare Diseases Research Unit in various scientific roles of increasing responsibility including Director, Rare Diseases Research Unit. Mr. Pletcher also founded and leads a non-profit foundation, Fund for Sight, supporting research and resources for families and children impacted by the genetic disease his daughter inherited called Leber Congenital Amaurosis. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Duquesne University and a Ph.D. in Human Genetics form Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Joanna Stanicka was a research fellow in Prof. Zhigang He laboratory in Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, which discovered PTEN-deletion induced regeneration after optic nerve and spinal cord injury. More recently, this lab also found that KCC2 can restore stepping ability in mice after a spinal cord injury. For the past 7 years, Dr. Stanicka has been studying the signaling pathways that control and stimulate the phenomenon of cell growth in healthy and diseased states. She investigated the molecular mechanisms responsible for cancer, neuroprotection and neuroregeneration. Throughout her career, from undergraduate to postdoctoral research fellow, she has been always interested in how genes and proteins impact the healthy and disease states of the cell and how to apply this knowledge to develop treatments for patients. She has a vision to develop effective treatments for spinal cord injury, and other currently incurable neurological diseases, by using her strong multidisciplinary training in genetics, biochemistry, cell biology and neuroscience, combined with her natural leadership and management skills.