Hamid Khoja, Ph.D.

Hamid Khoja, Ph.D. joined FibroBiologics as Chief Scientific Officer in August 2021. He leads all research, development, and advancement for the pipeline of cell therapy candidates. He has more than 25 years of experience as a leader of scientific teams, development of cell-based genomic, proteomic, epigenetics assays, and tools, protocols, and technologies for use in drug discovery and development and clinical diagnostics.

He has distinguished himself with six patents issued/pending and 27+ peer reviewed published papers.

He most recently served as the Principal Scientist at Covaris, a privately held scientific tools company with emphasis in genomics, epigenetics, and proteomics. He provided long-term strategic applications proposals to the CEO, managed external collaborations for product and applications development, assessed new technologies for acquisition and OEM opportunities, and presented posters and presentations at numerous scientific conferences. He led the effort in successfully incorporating Covaris technology into the Illumina Next Generation Sequencing technology protocols leading to over 15,000+ citations. He also developed the Covaris chromatin immunoprecipitation methodology with 3,000+ citations in peer reviewed publications and positioned Covaris technology to be used for simplifying epigenetics assay workflows for use in drug development and discovery and clinical use. He led collaborations with NCI for successful development of microbiome DNA extraction using acoustics and the completion of FDA EUA SARA-CoC-2 bridge study design for approval of new sample collection and viral RNA extraction using Covaris technology. He developed a patented workflow for the manufacturing of synthetic cell-free DNA for use as reference standard in sequencing-based liquid biopsy clinical oncology-based assays.

Prior to Covaris, he was a scientist at Genomic Solutions, a startup scientific tools company later acquired by Harvard Apparatus. There, he led the development of a high throughput protein crystallization platform used in the pharmaceutical industry for drug development, managed the scientific applications group, presented company resources at scientific meetings, and assessed new technologies for acquisition and OEM opportunities.

At the startup phase of Sequenom, he established the methodology for a highly multiplexed PCR used in the development of Sequenom’s massEXTEND technology for MALDI-TOF MS-based analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms and genetic disease. As a scientist for the company, he led the effort in developing diagnostic MS-based assays for hemochromatosis, cystic fibrosis, and 10 predominantly Jewish genetic diseases using Sequenom’s massEXTEND technology, which were then transferred to a large clinical diagnostic company.

During his career at Eli Lilly as a scientist, he established a high throughput PCR and sequencing strategy using a variety of sequencing strategies and bioinformatic tools available in 1999 for obtaining high-coverage genome sequencing, which led to the finalization of the first ever complete sequence of the S. pneumoniae genome.

At Chiron Corporation, subsequently acquired by Novartis, he served as a scientist and helped in the design, development, and optimization of HTP- binding assays for FGFR, VEGF, PDGF, and EPO receptors. He also helped in the identification of novel g-protein coupled seven transmembrane receptors, novel proteins involved in the TNF signaling pathway, and development of branched-DNA based HTP screening for ligand-induced oncogene quantification.

He graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from the University of Southern California and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Boston University.