Dr. Gibbs earned his B.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Dundee, UK and conducted postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). This work led to multiple publications on lentiviral and AAV mediated gene therapies for retinal degenerative disease and the instigation of a phase I/II clinical trial by Oxford BioMedica/Sanofi for UshSTAT to treat Usher Syndrome 1B. He then established a viral vector production facility at the Salk institute before moving back to UCSD in 2012 for a faculty position in Neurosciences, where his group developed AAV-based viral vector platforms for targeting and cell type specific gene delivery in the nervous system, and the development of gene therapies for neurodegenerative disease, CNS injury and ocular disease.
Dr. Gibbs then rejoined the Salk Institute in 2018 as Director for Scientific Cores and Technology Initiatives, and the Scientific Director of the Gene Targeting, Transfer and Therapeutics Facility.
Currently, Dr. Gibbs is the Director of vector development at Locana Bio, Inc., a Biotech company developing AAV-based gene therapies targeting RNA. He is also the founder and CSO of Vecprobio, Inc., a biotech company developing new methods for manufacturing AAV and other viral vectors, and a consultant to industry for the regulatory management of human gene transfer and human gene editing clinical trials. He has over 20 years of experience in human gene therapy trials, biosafety for human gene transfer and human gene editing therapies and the production of AAV-based viral vectors for clinical applications.
Dr. Gibbs is interested and available for consulting in the areas of biosafety and clinical use of viral vectors, regulatory compliance for FDA, EMA for human gene therapy trials, and can provide expertise in basic and applied viral vector biology; with a specific focus on GLP and cGMP manufacturing for AAV and lentiviral vectors.
