Tom Barnes

Orna Therapeutics, Chief Executive Officer
MPM & BioImpact Capital, Entrepreneur

Dr. Thomas (Tom) M. Barnes is an Entrepreneur at MPM and BioImpact Capital, an affiliate manager of MPM. He is the CEO of portfolio company Orna Therapeutics. Tom is a veteran entrepreneur who has turned creative scientific visions into successful businesses for both startups and established organizations, having led platform-based research and drug discovery teams for over 20 years. He has co-founded or helped launch several companies, including Intellia Therapeutics and Eleven Biotherapeutics. Prior MPM and BioImpact Capital, Tom was CSO of Intellia Therapeutics. There, he built and established the discovery team, and helped raise over $300M over several financings, including Intellia’s IPO. He led efforts to extend the reach of Intellia’s CRISPR platform into ex vivo delivery. He played a significant role as the main corporate spokesperson to lay and industry press, governmental and non-governmental organizations on the rapidly evolving CRISPR landscape. Tom has wide-ranging knowledge of biological systems through his work across diverse platforms, including gene editing, genomics/gene discovery, small molecule drug repositioning, and protein engineering. Previously, as VP of Discovery at Eleven Biotherapeutics, Tom built and led the research team in creating a novel chimeric cytokine antagonist, as well as novel half-life extension technologies for systemic and topical application. As SVP and site head of GeneLogic’s drug repositioning division, he oversaw technology platforms in metabolomics, toxicogenomics, gene expression informatics, and the genetics of drug metabolism and transport. Tom received his PhD from University of Cambridge, and completed research fellowships at Harvard Medical School and McGill University.