Kris Abney

Kris Abney joined Flagship Pioneering in 2022 and serves as Senior Scientist of in vivo pharmacology for Pioneering Medicines. He is responsible for guiding the design and execution of animal studies to advance both platform technologies and novel treatments through preclinical studies towards first-in-human trials.

He has more than nine years of research and development experience, spanning target ID through preclinical studies. Kris has worked at Flagship-founded Laronde, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on projects as diverse as the gut microbiome, cell therapy, and novel closed-loop RNA therapeutics. At Laronde, he collaborated on projects across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities. During his postdoctoral research with Dr. Jacques Galipeau in Wisconsin, he leveraged novel mesenchymal stromal cell therapies for the treatment of traumatic brain injury. During his doctoral research with Dr. C. David Weaver, Kris focused on high-throughput screening of small molecules. He discovered modulators of GIRK ion channels and studied their involvement in pain pathways in vivo.

His scientific work has led to publications, an awarded patent, and recognition through various awards. Kris earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Meharry Medical College through the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance and his Bachelor of Science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.