A billion-dollar bet on CRISPR gene editing is being led by a 30-year-old female founder.

• Jennifer Doudna, a Nobel Prize winner, is well-known as a co-founder of CRISPR start-up Mammoth Biosciences, but Janice Chen, the sister of U.S. figure skating champion Nathan Chen, is also one of its four co-founders and the chief technology officer.
• Since the pandemic started, Mammoth has secured $100 million in big pharma contracts and government grants, quadrupled its workforce, and continues to hire, resulting in a $1 billion valuation in a venture deal with Amazon and Apple's Tim Cook.
• As an independent company, Chen aims to achieve a $100 billion valuation.

A biotech start-up named Mammoth Biosciences, founded in 2018 by Nathan Chen's sister Janice, is quickly gaining recognition in the field of CRISPR technology.

Unlike her famous siblings and Mammoth co-founder, Chen's work in gene editing technology is at the forefront of medical discoveries, including identifying bacterial and viral infections and early cancer detection.

By using CRISPR, which consists of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, it is possible to precisely cut genomes and target specific DNA sequences to treat genetic diseases.

Nathan's gold medal victory was a surprise to many, as few knew he was Chen's sibling outside of a close circle of colleagues. Chen recalls being with her family in Seoul four years ago and watching him compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics. During breaks, she was busy contacting lawyers to start the process of setting up the company.

The biotech start-up has experienced rapid growth since the pandemic in 2020. The company secured around $100 million in contracts with Bayer and government grants, increased its employee count from 30 to 130, and is currently hiring at least 55 more. Its valuation has skyrocketed to $1 billion, with a $150 million venture deal last September that involved Amazon, Mayfield, and Apple's Tim Cook.

Chen believes that the exit strategy for the company is not through acquisition. Instead, the goal is to become a $100 billion company in the field of next-generation CRISPR technology. Chen sees numerous opportunities for creative building and new technology that can emerge from gene editing discoveries. To achieve this, Chen had to step out of the lab and focus on scaling the company. Chen, who worked remotely during the pandemic, is now back at the company's headquarters in Brisbane, California, where its distinctive green and white elephant-shaped signage stands out.

Salt Lake City roots, Silicon Valley growth

As one of five siblings, including Nathan, 22, who is the youngest, Chen, now 30, grew up in Salt Lake City with immigrant parents from China who encouraged her to reach her full potential and pursue what was best for her. Chen excelled in various activities, including playing the violin, competing in chess tournaments, and performing in dance. In chess competitions, where she was often the youngest and the only female, she learned how to lose and win strategies.

At her father's small biotech business in Utah, she found her love for bioscience.

Chen has recently taken up running in San Francisco's hills to relieve the stress of scaling up Mammoth Biosciences. She got up to speed for on-the-job managerial challenges by reading "The Founder's Dilemma." She also sought the advice of an executive coach who helped her determine "what kind of leader do I want to be." She added, "I want to help myself and others reach full potential. It's about understanding each person's motivations, what they want to try and learn, and making them part of the company ecosystem."

At UC Berkeley, Chen earned her PhD as a researcher in a lab known for innovation, and the technology she developed there forms the foundation of Mammoth Biosciences.

Doudna advised Chen to establish her own business after graduation instead of working at a prominent biotech company. "She said I wasn't aiming high enough," said Chen, who holds degrees from Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, as well as an internship at an HIV research institute in Durban, South Africa.

Doudna, a leader of the technical team and an overall strategist with deep scientific knowledge and creativity, stated that her UC Berkeley lab has been involved in an ongoing patent battle over ownership of biomedical technology. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently ruled in favor of the Broad Institute, a partnership of MIT and Harvard University, which impacts licensing for several CRISPR companies. However, this decision does not affect the particular gene editing system used by Mammoth Biosciences, of which Doudna is also a co-founder.

At age 26, following graduation, Chen and Lucas Harrington, a fellow student and lab researcher, founded a company together. They established their business at a biotech incubator in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood. According to Harrington, they spent their time working in the lab and creating prototypes, as well as pitching to venture capitalists. Chen's husband, a scientist in San Francisco whom she met at Johns Hopkins, supports her journey and understands the dedication required to start a game-changing company. "It's my life right now," she stated.

Ursheet Parikh, a Mayfield partner, introduced Trevor Martin to Doudna, who was advising Martin on launching a diagnostics testing start-up. The venture investor brought together Martin, Doudna, Harrington, and Chen, and they formed Mammoth Biosciences. Martin is CEO, Harrington is chief scientific officer, Doudna is chair of the Scientific Advisory Board while Chen is CTO.

Mayfield's Parikh, a board member and investor in her company, stated that she is a multi-talented individual and undoubtedly a genius.

VC investing in gene editing reaches billions

Since 2014, CRISPR start-ups have received $3 billion in venture capital, according to Chris Dokomajilar, founder and CEO of biopharma database company DealForma. An analysis by GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center reveals that there have been 74 VC deals for CRISPR technology companies since 2012, with Mammoth Biosciences being the most well-funded start-up, having raised $265 million in four financings from at least 15 VC firms and angel investors.

During the pandemic in 2020, the company's work expanded rapidly, with seven firms receiving $249 million for rapid tests of Covid-19 from the National Institutes of Health. The firm scaled up its patented DetectR test for commercial labs diagnosing the virus. In collaboration with GSK Consumer Healthcare in Warren, New Jersey, a handheld device that can perform rapid diagnostic tests of the coronavirus is being created. Additionally, Mammoth Biosciences teamed up in early 2021 with Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara to develop CRISPR testing systems for labs to expand and speed up detection of the coronavirus disease.

Harsh Patel, co-founder and managing director at Wireframe Ventures, stated that she possesses a unique ability to envision the future and how this technology can benefit humanity. He added that she has the capability to transform groundbreaking scientific discoveries in a laboratory into commercially viable products. This is a significant departure from the laboratory setting.

In 2021 and 2022, several developments were made in quick succession, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals' $41 million investment in cell and genetic therapy tools, which could result in $650 million in royalties. Additionally, Bayer AG paid $40 million to Mammoth Biosciences to focus on treatments and cures for liver diseases, with potential royalties of up to $1 billion. This January, the FDA granted emergency use authorization to a CRISPR-based molecular diagnostic testing for the coronavirus.

Chen's accomplishments have tested her strength as an innovator and business leader, but investors say she is unflappable.

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