Christoph Kahl, Ph.D.

Dr. Christoph Kahl has more than 20 years of experience in cell & gene therapy and vaccine development across industry and academia. After starting out as a Scientist at GenVec, he held leadership roles at OHSU, Atara Biotherapeutics, Amgen, and most recently Vir Biotechnology. Dr. Kahl brings a deep scientific expertise from a wide range of viral vector systems combined with a proven track record of translating complex gene delivery systems into clinically relevant and scalable production processes and validated assays. 

He has worked on programs spanning R&D and early-stage development, contributing to INDs and regulatory submissions, and helping to advance Ebvallo™, the world’s first approved allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy, through pivotal trials and enabling PPQ/BLA. His extensive responsibilities have encompassed process and platform development, design, optimization for manufacturability, process analytical technology (PAT) and data management, characterization; cell line development; analytical method development, qualification, and validation; adventitious agent testing, comparability, CMC strategy, and structured data initiatives for regulatory. 

Always at the forefront of science and technology, Dr. Kahl has spearheaded novel methods, instrumentation, data analytics and modeling, and has an extensive record of publications and patent applications. He earned his Ph.D. at Indiana University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Southern California, where he focused on advancing lentiviral vector platforms and cell therapy technologies for pioneering clinical trials. Dr. Kahl is experienced in technology transfers and establishing contracts and partnerships with US-domestic and international CDMOs/CTOs, fluent in multiple languages (English, German, and Polish), and is passionate about addressing unmet medical needs across the globe.