Melissa Bonner, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer at nChroma Bio

Speaker

Melissa currently serves as the CSO of nChroma Bio. Previously, Melissa joined Nvelop Therapeutics as CSO in September of 2023 leading a team exploring novel non-viral delivery technologies for in vivo gene therapy applications. Prior to Nvelop, Melissa held numerous scientific leadership roles at bluebird bio focusing on ex vivo hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell gene therapy using lentiviral vectors. As Head of Research at bluebird bio, she led a team that was instrumental in securing FDA approvals for Zynteglo, Skysona, and Lyfgenia.

Melissa received postdoctoral training at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Experimental Hematology focusing on hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) lentiviral vector (LVV) gene therapy and specifically working on HSC expansion technologies and LVV producer cell lines for scalable manufacturing. Melissa received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Delaware and her B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County