Change The World Webinar Series: Curing HIV/AIDS - A Conversation with Excision CEO Daniel Dornbusch

Wednesday, September 23rd, 3:00 PM EST

Hosted by Castor Ventures Partner Cainon Coates

Please join us for a discussion with Daniel Dornbusch, CEO of Excision. This Castor Ventures portfolio company is using CRISPR gene-editing technology to develop novel therapeutics to cure viral infections including HIV/AIDS, Covid-19, Herpes Virus, Hepatitis B, JC Virus, and others. As featured in Time Magazine, Excision is the first and only company to functionally cure HIV in animals and plans to start human clinical trials early next year.

Currently, people with HIV require lifelong medication of antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs that suppress viral replication, but do not eliminate the virus that persists in the body. When ART is stopped, HIV returns within weeks. Without fully curing HIV, patients are prone to HIV-related side effects (e.g., kidney issues, liver problems, HIV-associated dementia). Excision’s innovative approach targets viral DNA – the source of the infection – and uses CRISPR, a powerful gene editing technology, to remove the virus and generate a cure.

Join our webinar on Wednesday, September 23rd at 3pm ET to learn more about Excision and their cure for HIV/AIDS.

About Your Presenters

Daniel Dornbusch, CEO - Excision BioTherapeutics

Daniel Dornbusch is the CEO of Excision BioTherapeutics, a company which develops CRISPR-based products to cure viral infectious disease. Daniel Dornbusch has worked in the biotechnology industry for over 20 years for large pharmaceutical, small biotechnology, and diagnostics companies in roles including business development, mergers and acquisitions, marketing, sales, commercial strategy, and product development. He most recently served as founder and CEO of Acteris, an immunoncology company located in San Francisco. Daniel previously served as Chief Commercial Officer at Nodality, a therapeutic development company focused in immunology, oncology and immunoncology. Before Acteris, Daniel worked at Novartis in business development and later assumed responsibility as the Commercial Director of the Western United States and Latin America for the Diagnostics Division. Previous to Novartis, Daniel held roles in business development at Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, led business development and sales for NMCR, an oncology strategy arm of AmerisourceBergen, and led a hematology marketing team at Genentech. Daniel started his biotechnology career at the Genzyme Corporation and served in various roles including business development, product management, and corporate development. Daniel received his B.A. in Biology and English from Cornell University, M.S. from Tufts University School of Medicine and Emerson College, and M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Cainon Coates, Partner - Castor Ventures

Cainon has a background in finance and entrepreneurship. At Boston Consulting Group, he conducted due diligence across the semiconductor, transportation, and medical device industries. At PBM, a $500M healthcare-focused VC firm, he led the due diligence process and worked as an operating partner within portfolio companies. He is also an active angel investor in several MIT startups. In addition, Cainon co-founded University Laundry, which was acquired by a national operator and would be sold to Proctor & Gamble’s marquee Tide brand. He has an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and a BS from the University of Virginia in Systems and Information Engineering.