CAMBRIDGE, Mass.– Korro Bio, Inc., a leading RNA editing company focused on the discovery and development of novel genetic medicines, today announced the appointment of Steve Colletti, Ph.D. as Chief Scientific Officer.
Dr. Colletti is a highly respected scientist and seasoned biotech executive with nearly 30 years of experience working across diverse disciplines of R&D to deliver innovative medicines. He is joining Korro most recently from Zymergen, following its acquisition by Ginkgo Bioworks.
“We are pleased that Dr. Colletti has joined the Korro team to help us advance a new class of genetic medicines to treat diseases with high prevalence with an RNA editing toolkit,” said Ram Aiyar, Ph.D., MBA, Chief Executive Officer and President of Korro Bio. “Steve is an accomplished R&D leader with vast experience in advancing drug candidates across a wide range of therapeutic areas to the clinic, including progressing nucleic acid therapeutics, as well as modalities for cardio-metabolic diseases. Steve’s appointment will further strengthen our team, and we welcome his leadership and drug development experience to help Korro deliver on our vision.”
“I am thrilled to join Korro at such an exciting time for the Company and the RNA therapeutics field,” said Dr. Colletti. “Korro is a leader in the emerging RNA editing space, with an exceptionally deep understanding of disease biology, RNA chemistry and API delivery. Korro’s modular oligo-based platform for RNA-based editing therapeutics has the potential to expand the frontier of genetic medicines. I am looking forward to working with the team to bring these therapies to patients.”
Dr. Colletti has led drug discovery R&D for nearly 30 years in both large pharma and biotech settings. He previously served as Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery R&D at Zymergen (acquired by Ginkgo Bioworks in 2022) and as Chief Scientific Officer at Lodo Therapeutics (acquired by Zymergen in 2021). He has over 24 years of experience at Merck, with leadership in drug discovery and development across multiple therapeutic areas. At Merck, Dr. Colletti built and led the RNA Therapeutics Medicinal Chemistry department in 2008, and he was a core member of multiple teams that were responsible for discovering over a dozen preclinical candidates and advancing them to clinical development.
At Merck, his duties also included working closely with licensing and business development, evaluating external opportunities and helping to manage acquisitions. Dr. Colletti is an inventor and author of over 130 patents and publications. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Boston University and was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral research fellow in chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute.
