Our Team

Leadership Team

Nick Lench

Executive Director

Nick Lench

Professor Nick Lench joined NATA as Executive Director in January 2022. Nick has over 35 years' of academic, NHS healthcare and commercial experience in medical genetics and genomics. He is a co-founder of Congenica Ltd, a world-leading digital health company providing genome data interpretation and diagnostic services for patients with inherited and acquired genetic disorders. He was Director of Genetics Services at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London and is an honorary Reader at the UCL Institute of Child Health. He was awarded a Personal Chair in Medical Genetics at Cardiff University in 2005, was a founding CEO of London Genetics Ltd and Programme Director at Oxagen Ltd.

Peter Oliver

Head of Research

Peter Oliver

Pete comes to NATA with over 25 years’ experience in cell and molecular biology. After a degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in Genetics, he led projects studying new models of neurological disorders at the University of Oxford, before becoming a group leader at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics in 2012 funded by an ERC Consolidator Award. His group’s work in rare disease modelling using the mouse resulted in a new position as an MRC Programme Leader at the MRC Mammalian Genetics Unit in 2017. Pete joined NATA in February 2022, bringing an understanding of multi-disciplinary approaches to translational science; from biochemistry and cell biology to the application of preclinical genetic tools. Pete remains a visiting academic member of the University of Oxford and is an active co-investigator in the MRC National Mouse Genetics Network.

Andrés Correa-Sánchez

Head of Oligonucleotide Development

Andrés Correa-Sánchez

Andrés holds a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and a master's degree in Biochemistry from the National University of Colombia. His previous experience includes work on cell signalling in cancer and the development and optimisation of molecular biology methods. Andrés joined NATA in 2021, and since then, he has been involved in the design, synthesis, and optimisation of oligonucleotides for various translational projects within our organisation.

Advisory Board

Paul Bolno

President and CEO, Wave Life Sciences, USA

Paul Bolno

Dr. Bolno has served as President and CEO of Wave Life Sciences since 2013 and oversaw the company’s initial public offering in 2015. Prior to joining Wave, he was Vice President, Worldwide Business Development—Head of Asia BD and Investments, as well as Head of Global Neuroscience BD, at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). He also served as a Director of Glaxo Wellcome Manufacturing, Pte Ltd. in Singapore. Dr. Bolno joined GSK as Vice President, Business Development for the Oncology Business Unit, where he helped establish GSK’s global oncology business and served as a member of the Oncology Executive Team, Oncology Commercial Board and Cancer Research Executive Team. Prior to GSK, he served as Director of Research at Two River LLC, a healthcare private equity firm.

David Corey

Professor, Department of Biochemistry, UT Southwestern, USA

David Corey

Dr. David Corey received his B.A. degree in chemistry from Harvard University and his Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of California Berkeley, working under the supervision of Dr. Peter Schultz to develop sequence specific engineering nucleases. Dr. Corey joined the UT Southwestern Pharmacology Department in 1992. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1998 and Full Professor in 2003. In 2014, he was named the Rusty Kelley Professor of Medical Sciences. He is also a member of the Department of Biochemistry and the Simmons Cancer Center. Dr. Corey is an Executive Editor for Nucleic Acids Research and is on the Editorial Board of Cancer Research, Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids, and Oligonucleotide Therapeutics. He is the author of more than 147 papers and has received funding from the Welch Foundation, NIH, the McKnight Award for Neuroscience Research, the American Heart Association, the Cure Huntington Disease Initiative, and the Freidreich's Ataxia Association.

Laura Sepp-Lorenzino

Chief Scientific Officer, Intellia Therapeutics, USA

Laura Sepp-Lorenzino

Dr. Laura Sepp-Lorenzino oversees all platform and pipeline research activities across in vivo and ex vivo (engineered cell therapy) areas as Intellia’s Chief Scientific Officer. Before joining Intellia, she was vice president, Head of Nucleic Acid Therapies, Research, and member of the External Innovation team at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She also served as vice president, entrepreneur-in-residence at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of RNAi Therapeutics. At Alnylam, she was responsible for the Hepatic Infectious Disease Strategic Therapeutic Area, championed extra hepatic siRNA delivery, and was active in licensing and partnering. She is a member of the board of directors of Taysha Gene Therapies, and serves on the scientific advisory boards of Thermo Fisher Scientific and Lodo Therapeutics.

Alison Smith

Vice President, Portfolio and Technology Delivery, GSK, UK

Alison Smith

Dr. Alison Smith obtained her MChem from the University of Oxford and her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge working with Professor Sir David Klenerman to develop a novel combined scanning ion conductance and near field optical microscope for imaging of living cells. She is currently Vice President, Portfolio and Technology Delivery at GSK and has 16 years of experience working within the pharmaceutical industry. She has held a number of roles of increasing seniority at GSK leading projects and matrix teams working on development of small and large molecules as well as leading global departments focused on early product development and implementation of new technologies. Prior to GSK, she worked in economic development consultancy evaluating UK central and local government funding programmes focussed on higher education, science and technology and local business sectors. Dr Smith started her industrial career at Johnson Matthey as a materials scientist establishing new techniques for catalyst characterisation. She is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and also currently a member of the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC) Technical Advisory Committee.

Mano Manoharan

Senior Vice President of Drug Innovation Chemistry, Alnylam, USA

Mano Manoharan

Dr. Muthiah (Mano) Manoharan serves as a Senior Vice President and a Distinguished Research Scientist at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Dr. Manoharan joined Alnylam in 2003. He built the chemistry group at Alnylam and pioneered the discovery and development of RNA interference-based human therapeutics. Dr. Manoharan has had a distinguished career as a world-leading chemist in the areas of oligonucleotide chemical modifications, conjugation chemistry, and delivery platforms (lipid nanoparticles, polymer conjugates, and complex-forming strategies). He is an author of more than 200 publications (nearly 37,000 citations with an h-index of 85 and an i10-index of 329) and over 400 abstracts, as well as the inventor of over 225 issued U.S. patents.