April provides operational support for manufacturing of gene editing drug products for clinical and commercial application of Life Edit and its partners’ portfolio of therapeutics, facilitating the seamless transfer of technology through process and analytical development, material for toxicology studies and GMP manufacture. She has more than 10 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, preceded by many years in academic research.

Prior to joining Life Edit, April held leadership roles in the influenza vaccine industry at Seqirus (CSL) and MedImmune (AstraZeneca), including positions in Research, CMC Development, Manufacturing Sciences and Technology and Quality, covering all phases of R&D and commercialization using product platforms ranging from embryonated chicken eggs to cell culture bioreactors to mRNA.

April received her BS in Biology and PhD in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology from Duke University, where her graduate work focused on poxvirus modulation of the immune response, and completed post-docs at the CDC on highly pathogenic influenza viruses and MedImmune on gene editing in cell culture to enhance virus production.