Rob Etches is an internationally recognized leader in genetic engineering. His interest in the field developed at the University of British Columbia where he received his BSc, was fostered during an MSc program at McGill University, Montreal and was supported by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission during a PhD program at the University of Reading. He was awarded a PhD in 1975 and ten years later was granted a DSc from the same institution. Dr. Etches was a distinguished member of the faculty at the University of Guelph from 1975 -2000. In 1998, Rob was recruited as the founding VP Research at Origen Therapeutics where his group created the first modifications to the germline of chickens using primordial germ cells. In 2008, Dr. Etches co-founded Crystal Bioscience to develop therapeutic monoclonal antibodies from immunized chickens genetically engineered to produce human-sequence monoclonals. In 2016, the team at Crystal Bioscience released their HuMab chicken in which the endogenous IgH and IgL V regions are replaced by human counterparts. These birds are being used to create novel, fully-human antibodies as therapeutic candidates in fields as diverse as pain and oncology. In 2017, Ligand Pharmaceuticals acquired Crystal Bioscience for $35.5 million. Dr. Etches is currently the CEO of Renovate Biosciences whose goal is the production of transplant ready organs from genetically engineered pigs. Dr. Etches is a named inventor on 15 patents issued by the USPTO, 29 US patent applications and numerous applications and issued patents in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and Europe.