Ali Nahvi
Chief Technology Officer Nava Therapeutics
Ali Nahvi is the Chief Technology Officer at Nava Therapeutics where he is responsible for steering the company’s technology and innovation initiatives including chemistry, LNP discovery, targeted delivery, process development and manufacturing.
Prior to joining Nava, Ali was the Head of Platform at Flagship Pioneering’s Mirai Bio, where he helped to start the company from inception, implement the company’s scientific strategy and led it through to its next stage of growth. Previously, Ali served as Head of New Therapeutic Modalities at Spark Therapeutics and was responsible for driving research-related activities to expand the applicability of AAV and non-viral gene therapy platforms.
Ali holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and was a Life Sciences Research Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine characterizing the mechanisms of RNA mediated gene regulation.
Seminars
- Describing a modular LNP platform that facilitates functional delivery of nucleic acids to extra-hepatic cell types, including immune cells, kidney, and others, and has the potential to enable a wide range of therapeutic applications
- Showcasing NT-001, an in vivo CAR T-cell therapy utilizing a cell-specific binder targeting LNPs to cytotoxic T-cells. In humanized CD34⁺ mice and non-human primates (NHPs), two systemic administrations achieved full B-cell depletion across tissues, transient CAR expression, and a clinical chemistry profile consistent with a tolerable LNP.
- Demonstrating that novel kidney-tropic LNPs achieve preferential delivery to renal cell populations following intravenous administration. In mice, reporter expression exceeded 50% in Nephrin-positive cells, while Cas9 mRNA / sgRNA LNPs achieved efficient editing in the kidney, with editing efficiencies surpassing 60% in disease-relevant podocytes and proximal tubule cells as observed by spatial transcriptomics. Furthermore, kidney tropism was confirmed in NHPs
