CV
San Francisco, CA | USA & Italian citizen | gacarosso@gmail.com | gcarosso.bio | LinkedIn | GitHub | Scholar
Summary
Biomolecular engineer and biotech operator building programmable biological modalities and drug discovery platforms. As Founding Head of Research at General Control, set R&D strategy and advanced a multi-program, platform-engineered pipeline of epigenetic editors from concept to in vivo validation inside 18 months, supporting seed financing and a Novo Nordisk partnership. Previously a founding scientist at Epicrispr, co-developing the GEMS modality behind clinical-stage EPI-321 and durable-activation EPI-331. Skilled in architecting biological design-test-build loops for protein and mRNA therapeutics, quantitative experimentation, and agentic LLM frameworks for decision-grade reasoning. Expertise in technical tooling, scalable platform design, epigenetics, protein LMs and engineering, translational biology, and preclinical strategy/diligence (cardiometabolic, muscular).
Technical & Operating Skills
Discovery platforms: high-throughput synthetic biology; perturbation screening (CRISPRa/i); functional genomics; proteomics; scalable vector design; mRNA-LNP; NGS; Python (NumPy, pandas, Biopython); R (tidyverse, ggplot2).
ML-guided protein engineering: sequence–function modeling (ESM-2 embeddings, XGBoost); evolutionary optimization (EMCS); generative design (BoltzGen); structure evaluation (Boltz-2).
LLM tooling: multi-model agentic architectures (Conclave); evaluations & benchmarking; clinical landscaping (SAROS).
SELECTED OPEN-SOURCE CONTRIBUTIONS
Conclave—Multi-model LLM orchestrator (Claude, Codex, Gemini, Grok) for agentic routing, review, provenance.
SAROS—Clinical readout ledger (FY26–28) with sponsor info from public filings; compares programs, not molecules.
Experience
- Owned scientific prioritization across a multi-program epi-editor engineering pipeline: translated ambiguous biology into in vitro engineering and in vivo milestones, coordinated internal scientists, computational biologists, and CROs to connect platform proof-points to financing and pharma-partner objectives.
- Delivered concept-to-validation of preclinical platform for 6-of-7 programs in 18 months by designing and deploying rapid engineering and translational campaigns of novel epi-editors against industry benchmarks; established single-dose, multiplexed targeting as a modality differentiator, delivering 90% knockdown of three targets in parallel.
- Accelerated preclinical hit-translation cycles from 16 to 3 weeks by devising an IVT-compatible expression vector for high-throughput screening elements to proceed directly into the mRNA synthesis pipeline for animal dosing.
- Optimized editor potency and novelty profiles with a model-guided search strategy over peptide sequence space that generates diverse candidates, ranks by predicted function and structural confidence, and concentrates experimental resources on high-probability sequences. 155 novel editors outperformed benchmarks across diverse genetic targets.
- Shaped scientific IP and FTO strategy as lead inventor with counsel through PCT filings and evaluation of competitive patent landscapes.
- Co-developed GEMS modality platform by introducing a compact Cas chassis and engineering proprietary epi-editor domains behind EPI-321, now in first-in-human FSHD trial (NCT06907875), and EPI-331 for durable activation.
- Led discovery and engineering of hypercompact activator that sustained five-week LDLR activation via single-dose mRNA-LNP in vivo; first author on external preprint.
- Increased pooled-screen editor hit rates from 1% to 8%; generated sequence-function data and training set for collaborative ML-guided protein engineering. NeurIPS (2023).
- Integrated multi-omics data into a machine-learning classifier over genome-scale dual CRISPRi screens spanning 18,905 coding and 10,678 lncRNA loci, with the Weissman and Lim Labs. Cell Genomics (2022).
Education
- Discovered molecular drivers in pediatric disorders of chromatin machinery, novel roles for KMT2D in oxygen sensing during neurodevelopment. Dissertation, JCI Insight (2019).
- Secured NASA award for astronaut epigenetics in the ISS Twins Study Consortium (Feinberg Lab); co-developed first protocols for in-flight epigenomic sampling aboard ISS and experiments for astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly.
- Discovery of POLR3A mutations causing pediatric leukodystrophy. AJHG (2011).
- Elucidated mechanisms of medial prefrontal cortex dysfunction in cocaine abuse. Addiction Biology (2012).
Advisory, Public Engagement
- STEM diplomacy: Led a U.S. Department of Defense-funded neuroscience workshop with Clubes de Ciencia Bolivia; taught in Spanish and published on science diplomacy.
- Mindfire Global: Neurobiology consultancy; advised on neurodevelopment and human-centric AI collaboration.
- Languages: Italian, French, Spanish, English.
Patents
PCT/US26/24051— Systems and Methods for Upregulation of Exerkines. Filed 2026.
PCT/US26/24038— Compositions and Methods for Epigenome Editing. Filed 2026.
WO 2024/238661 A2— Systems and methods for regulating target genes. App. PCT/US2024/029475; pub. 2024.
US 2026/0085300 A1— Systems and compositions for fusion polypeptides and methods of use thereof. App. 19/123,019; pub. 2026.
US 2025/0388634 A1— Engineered gene effectors, compositions, and methods of use thereof. App. 18/842,718; pub. 2025.
WO 2023/172995 A1— Systems and methods for genetic modulation to treat ocular diseases. App. PCT/US2023/064004; pub. 2023.
US 2024/0254659 A1— Systems and methods for regulating target genes. App. 18/417,827; pub. 2024.
US 2024/0216482 A1— Systems and methods for regulating aberrant gene expressions. App. 18/542,396; pub. 2024.
Publications
- Carosso, G.A., Yeo, R.W., Gainous, T.B., Jawaid, M.Z., Yang, X., Kim, J.Y.S., … Qi, L.S., Collin de l’Hortet, A., Daley, T.P., Hart, D.O. et al. (2024). Discovery of hypercompact epigenetic modulators for persistent CRISPR-mediated gene activation. bioRxiv.
- Wu, D., Poddar, A., Ninou, E., Hwang, E., Cole, M.A., Liu, S.J., Horlbeck, M.A., Chen, J., Replogle, J.M., Carosso, G.A., … Shen, Y., Weissman, J.S., Lim, D.A. et al. (2022). Dual genome-wide coding and lncRNA screens in neural induction of induced pluripotent stem cells. Cell Genomics, 2(11), 100177.
- Zheng, S.C., Stein-O’Brien, G., Augustin, J.J., Slosberg, J., Carosso, G.A., Winer, B., Shin, G., Bjornsson, H.T., Goff, L.A., Hansen, K.D. et al. (2022). Universal prediction of cell-cycle position using transfer learning. Genome Biology, 23(1), 41.
- Breevoort, A., Carosso, G.A., Mostajo-Radji, M.A. et al. (2020). High-altitude populations need special considerations for COVID-19. Nature Communications, 11, 3280.
- Carosso, G.A., Boukas, L., Augustin, J.J., Nguyen, H.N., Winer, B.L., Cannon, G.H., Robertson, J.D., Zhang, L., Hansen, K.D., Goff, L.A., Bjornsson, H.T. et al. (2019). Precocious neuronal differentiation and disrupted oxygen responses in Kabuki syndrome. JCI Insight, 4(20), e129375.
- Carosso, G.A., Ferreira, L.M.R., Mostajo-Radji, M.A. et al. (2019). Scientists as non-state actors of public diplomacy. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(11), 1129–1130.
- Carosso, G.A., Ferreira, L.M.R., Mostajo-Radji, M.A. et al. (2019). Developing brains, developing nations: can scientists be effective non-state diplomats? Frontiers in Education, 4, 95.
- Ferreira, L.M.R., Carosso, G.A., … Gandarilla, O., Mostajo-Radji, M.A. et al. (2019). Effective participatory science education in a diverse Latin American population. Palgrave Communications, 5(1), 11.
- Benjamin, J.S., Pilarowski, G.O., Carosso, G.A., Zhang, L., Huso, D.L., Goff, L.A., Vernon, H.J., Hansen, K.D., Bjornsson, H.T. et al. (2016). A ketogenic diet rescues hippocampal memory defects in a mouse model of Kabuki syndrome. PNAS, 114(1), 125–130.
- Vanderver, A., Tonduti, D., Bernard, G., Lai, J., Rossi, C., Carosso, G., Quezado, M., Wong, K., Schiffmann, R. et al. (2013). More than hypomyelination in Pol-III disorder. Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology, 72(1), 67–75.
- Ben-Shahar, O.M., Szumlinski, K.K., … Carosso, G.A., Woodward, N. et al. (2012). Extended access to cocaine self-administration results in reduced glutamate function within the medial prefrontal cortex. Addiction Biology, 17(4), 746–757.
- Bernard, G., Chouery, E., Putorti, M.L., Tétreault, M., Takanohashi, A., Carosso, G., … Schiffmann, R., Vanderver, A., Brais, B. et al. (2011). Mutations of POLR3A encoding a catalytic subunit of RNA polymerase Pol III cause a recessive hypomyelinating leukodystrophy. American Journal of Human Genetics, 89(3), 415–423.