Melissa joined Nvelop as CSO in September of 2023. Prior to Nvelop, Melissa held numerous scientific leadership roles at bluebird bio. As Head of Research at bluebird bio, she led a team that was instrumental in securing FDA approvals for Zynteglo, Skysona, and Lyfgenia. Melissa received postdoctoral training at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Experimental Hematology focusing on hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) lentiviral vector (LVV) gene therapy and specifically working on HSC expansion technologies and LVV producer cell lines for scalable manufacturing. Melissa received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Delaware and her B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.