WATERTOWN, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–EnPlusOne Biosciences, Inc., a biotechnology company harnessing the power of enzymes to synthesize RNA oligonucleotides, today announced that Jonathan K. Watts, Ph.D., Professor, RNA Therapeutics Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, has been appointed to the company’s Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Watts, who was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society (OTS) from 2015 to 2021, is a highly regarded scientific investigator in the oligonucleotide field. His expertise will provide meaningful contributions as EnPlusOne continues to develop and scale its proprietary enzymatic RNA (ezRNA™) synthesis platform enabling next-generation solutions for emerging RNA therapeutics.
EnPlusOne is pioneering its ezRNA™ platform to address issues inherent to existing chemical synthesis methods. The rapid expansion of RNA therapeutics has exposed key issues including scaled production, hazardous waste generation, limited synthesis lengths, and access to innovative therapeutic modifications. The ezRNA™ platform can incorporate a diverse array of nucleotide modifications and will be critical to delivering therapeutic RNA at commercial scale.
Daniel Wiegand, MSChE, CEO of EnPlusOne said, “We are delighted to attract an experienced, respected researcher like Jon to our Scientific Advisory Board. He brings deep expertise in oligonucleotide synthesis as well as their use as precision medicines to treat disease. His expertise and knowledge will be crucial as we further develop and scale our operations. We know chemical synthesis approaches cannot keep pace with RNA innovation and our platform represents a vastly improved approach to enable next-generation technology for production of therapeutic oligonucleotides.”
Added Dr. Watts, “I’ve been impressed by the EnPlusOne team since I first met them and was introduced to their innovative technology. I look forward to contributing my perspectives to help the company grow and achieve its mission to deliver scalable, sustainable RNA solutions.”
In his role at the RNA Therapeutics Institute at UMass Chan Medical School, Dr. Watts leads a research group of fifteen people developing new approaches in the medicinal chemistry of several classes of oligonucleotides from gene silencing to gene editing. He serves on the Editorial Boards of Nucleic Acid Therapeutics and Nucleic Acids Research in addition to the Scientific Advisory Council of the OTS. He holds a BSc in Chemistry from Dalhousie University and a PhD in Chemistry from McGill University. Among his honors are the Young Investigator Award from OTS and the Angel Award from the Angel Fund for ALS Research.
EnPlusOne’s Scientific Advisory Board is led by CSO Jonathan Rittichier, PhD and includes George Church, PhD, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and MIT and leader of the Wyss Institute’s Synthetic Biology platform.
EnPlusOne Biosciences was founded by Dr. Church, Mr. Wiegand, Dr. Rittichier, and Daniel Ahlstedt as a technology spinout from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University in 2022.
About EnPlusOne Biosciences: Enabling RNA
EnPlusOne is enabling the future of RNA and RNA solutions. Its ezRNA™ synthesis platform is a revolutionary innovation that can incorporate a diverse array of nucleotide modifications. The promise of sustainably delivering therapeutic RNA at commercial scale has arrived. In addition to direct RNA synthesis, EnPlusOne’s ezRNA™ platform supports a multitude of RNA solution applications. EnPlusOne launched in 2022 with funding led by Northpond Ventures with participation from Breakout Ventures, and Coatue. For more information, please visit www.enplusonebio.com.
