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, Ph.D., is scientific co-founder, IP inventor and CEO of Axonis Therapeutics, Inc., a pioneering biotech company developing first-in-class therapies to treat unmet neurological needs. A Harvard-trained expert with 15+ years in biochemistry and neuroscience, she has multidisciplinary training in genetics, biochemistry, cell biology and neuroscience and is passionate about inventing and developing breakthrough therapies for incurable neurological diseases. She leads Axonis with a laser-focused vision to make KC22 drugs a reality for patients. Since Joanna took on the CEO role at Axonis in 2019, the company has received non-dilutive funding of ~$8.7M, including grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) the Department of Defense (DoD). She raised $34M+ in dilutive seed funding and in 2024 led the company to a $115M Series A raise co-led by Cormorant Asset Management and venBio Partners. She also established the company’s operations, R&D strategy and co-invented its 5 patents. Joanna initially joined Axonis as Chief Scientific Officer, following twelve years studying cell growth, cell death and repair signaling pathways in various disease models, including cancer and CNS. Prior to Axonis, she did postdoctoral research in the lab of Prof. Zhigang He at Harvard Medical School, where she applied her prior cancer/growth signaling knowledge to develop novel strategies for neuroregeneration and neuroprotection after CNS injury. Six months after joining Axonis, Joanna was promoted to CEO to fulfill her vision of building a neuro-focused company to transform the therapeutic landscape and improve the quality of lives for people living with chronic neurological disorders. She established a new R&D program developing a small molecule treatment that potentiates KCC2 function. She expanded the company’s portfolio by adding her own inventions from Dr. Zhigang’s lab, a library of disease targets that includes novel inhibitors of neurodegeneration. Joanna completed her undergraduate studies at University College Cork, and was the recipient of the Irish Cancer Society Research Scholarship to support her graduate work. Three years later she earned a Ph.D. degree in Cancer Biology at University College Cork and then undertook postdoctoral research work in Cell Biology. She has also been awarded the Golden Tickets/Innovation Prizes from Boehringer Ingelheim and Astellas Pharma and the Massachusetts Next Generation Award for woman-CEO in life sciences.