Yen Choo PhD

Associate Professor Yen Choo obtained his PhD in Molecular Biology in 1995 from the University of Cambridge, England, researching sequence-specific protein-DNA interactions under Nobel laureate Sir Aaron Klug. He subsequently directed the zinc finger engineering group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, before moving to industry.

A/Prof Choo is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of C-level and Board experience in the biotechnology industry. He was the founder and CSO of Gendaq, a biotech company that developed the zinc finger DNA-binding technology now used for gene editing (acquired by Sangamo Therapeutics). He is the founder and Chairman of Plasticell, one of the UK’s pioneering stem cell and regenerative medicine companies. He was also the founder of Progenitor Therapeutics, a drug discovery company established jointly with GSK to discover medicines that regenerate tissues of the human body (acquired by Plasticell).

A/Prof Choo works on the development of platform technologies for stem cell research, and the development of cell and gene therapies. He sits on the Board Oversight Committee of the Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute, Singapore (ACTRIS), and the Steering Committee for the UK Stem Cell Bank and for the Use of Stem Cell Lines which oversees UK embryonic stem cell research and the UK Stem Cell Bank.