Dr. Ben Kleinstiver

Ben Kleinstiver is a biochemist and genome editor whose research lab works at the intersection of protein engineering and the development of genetic engineering technologies. He received his Ph.D in Biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario, where he studied homing endonucleases and their application as monomeric nuclease technologies. He then completed his postdoctoral studies at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School, focused on developing improved CRISPR-Cas enzymes. The Kleinstiver laboratory is situated within the Center for Genomic Medicine at MGH and is focused on accelerating the development of CRISPR technologies as genetic medicines. The major research goals in Dr. Kleinstiver’s laboratory are to overcome the limitations of naturally occurring enzymes to design more optimal technologies, to develop new capabilities that solve outstanding needs in the genome editing field, with the hope of transforming these technologies into safe and effective genetic therapies for patients.