Team

Fabrizia Urbinati

Director of Cell & Gene Therapies

Fabrizia earned her PhD in Biotechnology and Genetic Medicine at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy), where she gained her initial experience in gene therapy for hematopoietic diseases. She furthered her expertise in gene therapy for hemoglobinopathies at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Her commitment to translational medicine led her to the University of California, Los Angeles, where she focused on bringing a gene therapy clinical trial for sickle cell disease patients from bench to the bedside. Driven by her aspiration to explore the advanced stages of gene and cell therapy beyond academia, Dr. Urbinati transitioned into industry. She initiated her industry journey at PACT Pharma, where she contributed to process development for an innovative T-cell therapy targeting solid tumors. More recently, she assumed a leadership role within the early discovery team at Astellas Gene Therapy (formerly Audentes), leading the development of AAV gene therapy products for neuromuscular disorders. Dr. Urbinati is dedicated to translating gene and cell therapy research into valuable cures for patients, with a profound passion for the transformative potential of these therapies.

Dwaipayan Sen

Associate Director of Cell & Gene Therapies

Dwaipayan Sen, PhD, is a cell and gene therapy scientist and currently serves as an Associate Director at Stanford's Innovative Medicines Accelerator. With expertise in AAV gene therapy and translational medicine, he bridges academic research and biotech innovation to develop next-generation genetic medicines. His career spans scientific roles at Astellas Gene Therapies and Bluebird Bio, along with academic positions where he has secured competitive funding, published extensively, and mentored future scientists. He holds a PhD in Cell & Molecular Biology and is driven by the potential of gene therapies to transform patient's lives.

Hadas Sar Shalom

Research Scientist

Hadas Sar Shalom joined the Cell and Gene Therapy team at the Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA) in 2025. She brings several years of experience in preclinical research, therapeutic discovery, and the development of advanced in vitro and in vivo models. Prior to the IMA, she was a Senior Scientist leading discovery and mechanistic studies in neurodegenerative disease and gene therapy programs, with a focus on model systems and assay development. Hadas earned her PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science and completed postdoctoral research investigating cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration. At the IMA, she supports translational gene and cell therapy programs. Her work involves developing and optimizing cell-based functional assays, designing experiments to characterize and screen therapeutic vectors, and collaborating across teams to advance next-generation therapeutic strategies.

Jingyi Xu

Bioprocess Scientist

Jingyi (Jenna) Xu joined the Cell and Gene Therapy team at IMA in 2024 as a bioprocess scientist, with a background in protein expression, FPLC-based chromatography purification, and biochemical characterization. She now works on multiple serotypes of AAV, supporting process development, manufacturing, and pipeline development. She earned her B.S. and M.S. from California State University, Los Angeles, and completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside, focusing on early-stage drug development targeting the SUMOylation pathway.

Mark Champe

Research Scientist

Mark earned his MS in Zoology from the University of Washington and brings extensive experience in molecular biology to the team. Over the course of his career, he has held roles at leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical organizations, including Genentech, Applied Biosystems, Monogram Biosciences, Novartis, and Astellas Gene Therapies. He has focused on gene therapy since 2017. Mark joined IMA in 2024, where he applies his technical expertise and collaborative approach to help drive innovative cell and gene therapy programs forward.

Kristina Woodruff

Scientific Program Manager

Kristina joined the Cell and Gene Therapies group at the IMA in 2024. She earned her PhD in Bioengineering from EPFL. Prior to joining the IMA, she held roles as a Process Development Scientist at Sanofi Genzyme, a CMC Project Manager at Amgen, and an R&D Project Manager at PlateletBio. She has extensive experience advancing biologics and cell-based therapies from development through commercialization.