Gracell Biotechnologies Inc. announced the appointment of Dr. Jenny (Yajin) Ni as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO). In her role, Dr. Ni will be responsible for strategically leading CAR-T product development, Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Control (CMC), and supply chain management activities. Dr. Ni will lead the efforts to ensure the smooth technology transfer to Gracell's strategic collaborator, Lonza, for manufacturing of FasTCAR-enabled product candidates in the U.S. Dr. Ni brings over 25 years of experience in process and product development for gene & cell therapies and vaccines to Gracell. Prior to joining Gracell, Dr. Ni served as Head of Process Development at both Pfizer and Allogene Therapeutics, where she served in senior leadership roles in technical development and operation functions, led allogeneic CAR-T product development, and advanced multiple first-in-human allogeneic CAR-T pipeline programs through preclinical to clinical development, including five IND approvals for hematological malignancy and solid tumor indications. Prior to that, Dr. Ni also served as Director of Tech Operations at VIRxSYS Inc., where she held roles of increasing responsibility across process and analytical development, technology transfer, as well as technical support for GMP manufacturing and QC testing. While at VIRxSYS, Dr. Ni was instrumental in bringing the first-ever lentiviral vector-modified autologous T cell product for HIV infection into clinical development.