Kanika Chawla, Ph.D.

Dr. Chawla is a strategic and accomplished CMC leader with 20 years of experience across CAR-T, cell therapy, and biologics. She brings deep expertise in process and analytical development, CMC strategy, and technical leadership from early-stage development through commercial launch. Most recently, Dr. Chawla led Process Sciences at Cargo Therapeutics, where she played a key role in shaping CMC strategy and building manufacturing and analytical platforms for multiple autologous and allogeneic CAR-T therapies across the development lifecycle, from preclinical through late-stage programs. Prior to Cargo, she served as Head of Process Sciences at ArsenalBio, where she built the Technical Operations function and led the development of a non-viral manufacturing platform and analytical methods for an innovative CAR-T cell therapy targeting solid tumors. Earlier in her career, Dr. Chawla led analytical strategy at Vir Biotechnology, contributing to the development of therapies for infectious diseases, including sotrovimab, tobevibart, and elebsiran. She began her industry career at Cellerant Therapeutics, specializing in process and analytical development for an allogeneic stem cell therapy for radiation-induced neutropenia. Dr. Chawla completed postdoctoral fellowships in Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern University and in Chemistry at UC Irvine. She holds a PhD and MS in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico, where she was recognized as a Distinguished Young Alumna.