A Year Like No Other

What a year. 2020 threw everything it had at us, and we at Intellia took on each challenge as it came. One by one and again and again, our team turned each obstacle into an opportunity. As the year comes to a close, all I feel is pride in the Intellia team and for the progress we made to advance our science, getting us that much closer to bringing potentially curative medicines to patients. When I think of 2020, here is what will stay with me.

We adapted despite uncertainties

When the pandemic emerged back in late February, we adapted and we adapted fast. We took swift action every step along the way to make sure we kept everyone safe and that Intellia continued to run sustainably, despite the incredible uncertainty. Importantly, during the pandemic, Intellia has not furloughed a single employee; in fact, we’ve grown, adding over 100 new colleagues who bring the capabilities we need to continue our trajectory in 2021 and beyond. And, we’ve shared new memories and found creative ways to keep Intellia’s culture alive and well in this new normal.

We took our Annual Summer Outing online this year! It’s a great example of how we’ve adapted our culture in a virtual environment.

Changing-the-world kind of people

This year, we were reminded that we have a lot of work to do to get to a society where we’re all treated equally. We gained a greater understanding of the issues and appreciation for diversity, equity and inclusion. At Intellia, we all want to change the world through our science. But, we want to do more than that. I saw the power of what we can accomplish together beyond scientific achievement. We renewed our commitment to educate and create awareness within our walls, develop new company resources and leverage employee skills and talents. In addition to establishing the new ~$40,000 Intellia STEM Scholarship in partnership with UNCF, a number of employees became mentors as part of MassBay Community College’s and Boston Public School’s programs. We also are working with UNCF and others to recruit minority candidates for next year’s Summer Internship program. I admire our team’s desire to not just bring medicine to people, but to fight for what’s right and to be in pursuit of bettering the world for everyone.

Intellia’s commitment earlier this year to do better.

I’m proud of the work we’ve done this year to bring change, and I look forward to continuing these initiatives in 2021.

Realizing our vision step by step

When I reflect on Intellia’s greatest hits of 2020, we showed that we could deliver on our (big!) imaginations. We’re at a pivotal point where we have answers to some core questions in preclinical model systems: Can we deliver CRISPR systemically in the body? Yes. Can we knock out genes? Yes. Can we fix a gene using insertion? Yes. Can we do that outside the liver? We’re working on it.

This year, we got into the clinic and dosed our first patient, and we are very proud of that. Now, we are progressing our cell therapy programs and our other in vivo liver programs, and are exploring other tissues in vivo, specifically bone marrow. We’re taking it to the next level in 2021. If you step back and think about our vision and the enablement that comes with it, what it can mean is simply huge.

Unexpected gifts

Despite the obstacles the pandemic has presented, I’m fortunate to have maintained my health and privileged to have had new experiences these past nine months or so. Like all of you, I tried to be really careful about not letting the time I had on my hands slip away from me. I read broadly – and by the way, I’m old-fashioned and still read hard-copy books. (I highly recommend the extraordinary book, Underland by Robert Macfarlane, as well as The Book of Eels by Patrick Svensson and Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinkner.) I also found myself in the kitchen more, trying new recipes, and working in my garden.

I’ve enjoyed working in my garden more than usual during the pandemic.

A reminder of the good things in life in their truest form, my son got married this year. Even though the plans changed from a large wedding to just immediate relatives, it reminded me how important family actually is. With only a handful of us there, the experience felt very real and was better than I ever could’ve imagined.

I’m looking forward to what 2021 will bring and to continuing the journey with the talented Intellia team. Happy holidays and see you in the new year!