SCIENCE DRIVEN
PATIENT FOCUSED
Our mission is to create transformational therapies that will improve the lives of patients with devastating genetic diseases. Our commitment to bring life-changing therapies to these patients is guided by our core values of trust, collaboration, adaptability, dedication and excellence.
Smiling young black woman sitting in a wheelchair in an outdoor setting.
SCIENCE DRIVEN
PATIENT FOCUSED
Our mission is to create transformational therapies that will improve the lives of patients with devastating genetic diseases. Our commitment to bring life-changing therapies to these patients is guided by our core values of trust, collaboration, adaptability, dedication and excellence.

Experienced leadership team

Our management team has extensive experience in RNA biology, rare diseases and gene therapy and has been involved in the development of multiple drugs. Together with our top-tier Board of Directors, we are excited to advance a powerful new generation of genetic medicines.
Photo of James Burns, PhD
James Burns, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Board Member
James Burns, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Board Member
James Burns joined Locanabio in December 2019 as the CEO and Director of the Board. Dr. Burns joined us from Casebia, where he served as the Chief Executive Officer and led the team in discovering and developing new CRISPR/Cas9-based breakthrough therapeutics to treat blood disorders, blindness and heart disease. Prior to Casebia, he spent the bulk of his career at Genzyme, later Sanofi-Genzyme, where he held several leadership roles with increasing responsibility, including North America Site Head for R&D where he coordinated R&D operations across key therapeutic areas. Dr. Burns is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the External Advisory Committee for the BioMedical Engineering Department at Boston University and a former board member of MassBio. He also served as the industry representative for the Food and Drug Administration General Plastic Surgery Panel. Dr. Burns earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Purdue University and Master of Science and Doctorate degrees in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois-Chicago, where his thesis work focused on drug delivery. Following his graduate studies, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Florida.
Photo of John Leonard, PhD
John Leonard, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
John Leonard, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
John joined Locanabio in July 2021 as Chief Scientific Officer. John brings over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical sector leading drug discovery research and early clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities. Most recently he served as the Head of Hematology and In Vivo Research and Translation at CRISPR Therapeutics, developing transformative ex vivo and in vivo gene editing therapies for hematological, neuromuscular and metabolic diseases. Prior to joining CRISPR, he led the Metabolic and Muscle Disease Research group in Sanofi’s Rare Disease Unit (formerly Genzyme), where he managed a diverse portfolio of novel therapeutics that included the second-generation substrate reduction therapy, venglustat. John started his industry career at Genetics Institute (later Wyeth) where his research in hematopoiesis, autoimmunity and immuno-oncology helped advance multiple programs into clinical development. John holds a joint honors degree in Biochemistry and Pharmacology from King’s College London and a PhD in Neuroimmunology from the Institute of Neurology, University of London. He is an inventor on multiple issued patents and author on more than 50 peer reviewed publications.
Photo of Kat Lange
Kat Lange
Chief Financial Officer
Kat Lange
Chief Financial Officer
Kat joined Locanabio in September 2021 from J.P. Morgan where she was most recently an Executive Director in the healthcare investment banking group. During her time at J.P. Morgan, she executed more than $18 billion in equity and equity-linked financings and more than $27 billion in strategic transactions. Kat joined J.P. Morgan in 2009 in their London office before transferring to the San Francisco office in 2013. She earned a Master’s degree in Management Science from the Judge Business School at Cambridge University and a MSci/BA degree in Natural Sciences (Physics) also from Cambridge University.
Photo of Ron Batra, PhD
Ron Batra, PhD
Senior Vice President, Research and Development
Ron Batra, PhD
Senior Vice President, Research and Development
Ron is a co-founder and joined Locanabio full-time in March 2018. Ron serves as Senior Vice President, Research and Development and was a significant contributor to the foundational work of RNA-targeting CRISPR therapeutics for microsatellite expansion diseases. Prior to joining Locanabio, Ron worked at Verily. Ron is an expert in RNA splicing and development of therapeutics of RNA-mediated diseases. He was awarded the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation (MDF) postdoctoral fellowship for his work at the laboratory of Gene Yeo PhD at UC San Diego. During his time at UC San Diego, he also worked with the department of Neurology, studying pathology and disease mechanisms of neuromuscular diseases. Prior to UC San Diego, Ron completed his PhD degree in Genetics at University of Florida where he studied RNA biology and gene therapy of neuromuscular diseases. Ron was awarded the 2019 Biocom Catalyst award for biotech leaders under 40 in California, and was a finalist for Endpoints News’ “20 under 40” biopharma leaders in 2021 and top 25 health care leaders in San Diego by The Healthcare Technology Report in 2022. Ron has published more than 25 papers and patents in RNA biology and RNA therapeutics.
Photo of Amy Jennings, PhD
Amy Jennings, PhD
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
Amy Jennings, PhD
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
Amy joined Locanabio in December 2019 and brings over 20 years of product development and regulatory affairs experience in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industry. In her career, Amy has contributed to over 15 US INDs along with many ex-US CTAs across a number of therapeutic areas, and 6 marketing authorization applications along with several supplemental NDAs or similar applications. Prior to joining Locanabio, Amy was the Senior Vice President and Head of Regulatory Affairs at Casebia Therapeutics, a joint venture between CRISPR Therapeutics and Bayer focused on gene editing, where she developed global development and regulatory strategies for cell and gene editing products to treat autoimmune, ophthalmic and hematologic related diseases. Prior to Casebia, Amy was the Senior Vice President and Head of Regulatory at Achillion Pharmaceuticals, where she was responsible for global regulatory strategy and operations, quality assurance and medical writing. During her time at Achillion, Amy led successful IND submissions for two rare disease indications. Earlier, Amy served as Sanofi’s Associate Vice President for Global Regulatory Affairs in the company’s North American diabetes program. Before Sanofi, Amy held positions of increasing responsibility at Bristol-Myers Squibb, including leadership of US regulatory affairs for its cardiovascular/metabolic programs. Amy was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from Ohio State University and her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Photo of Holly Winter
Holly Winter
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Holly Winter
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Holly Winter joined Locanabio in April 2020 and serves as our Senior Vice President, Human Resources. Holly has worked closely with the Locanabio leadership team to build a positive, dynamic and diverse culture to support the growth of the company. Holly has over 20 years of human resources experience and she most recently served as Vice President, Human Resources at aTyr Pharma. She has held various human resources leadership roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Aurora Biosciences. Holly holds a Masters in Human Resource Management from Cornell University and a Bachelors in Political Science from California State University Long Beach. Holly also studied German and English language at the University of Salzburg, Austria. Holly served as a member of the Board of Directors of Susan G. Komen, San Diego. Holly is currently a member of the Life Science Cares Board of Advisors.

Board of Directors

Tom Daniel, MD
Chairman
James Burns, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Jean George, MBA
General Partner, Lightstone
Rajul Jain, MD
Managing Director, Vida Ventures
Jeffrey M. Ostrove, PhD
Former Chief Executive Officer
Gene Yeo, PhD, MBA
Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor

Scientific Advisory Board

Edward (Ed) Conner, MD – SAB Chair
Kevin M. Flanigan, MD
Nathalie Goemans, MD, PhD
Craig McDonald, MD
Mary Newman
Perry Shieh, MD, PhD

Investors

We are proud to have earned the confidence and support of the following key investors: ARCH Ventures Partners, Temasek, Lightstone Ventures, Vida Ventures, RA Capital Management, Acuta Capital Partners, Invus, UCB Ventures, GV, SVB Securities, and CureDuchenne Ventures.

Contact US

Locanabio, Inc.
3545 John Hopkins Court
Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92121
858.285.4000