# Carbon Biosciences

> Carbon Biosciences is a Waltham, Massachusetts preclinical genetic-medicine company building gene therapies on non-AAV parvovirus vectors. Founded by Longwood Fund with gene-therapy pioneers John Engelhardt and Robert Kotin, it uses a proprietary vector engine (PAVE) to design capsids from the broad parvovirus family - including human bocavirus - that carry larger genetic payloads, target specific tissues, and provoke little pre-existing immunity, opening the door to re-dosing. Its lead program targets cystic fibrosis by delivering the full-length CFTR gene to the lung, with a second vector aimed at cardiac disease.

- **Founded:** 2022
- **Headquarters:** Waltham, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founders:** John F. Engelhardt (Scientific Co-Founder), Robert M. Kotin (Scientific Co-Founder), David Steinberg (Co-Founder and Founding CEO (Longwood Fund)), Jianming Qiu (Scientific Co-Founder (University of Kansas)), Ziying Yan (Scientific Co-Founder (University of Iowa)), Sebastian Aguirre (Co-Founder), Lucy Liu (Co-Founder (Longwood Fund))
- **Team size:** ~11 employees
- **Products:** PAVE vector engine, CBN-1000 / CGT-001, CBN-1100
- **Notable:** Launched in June 2022 with a $38 million Series A led by Agent Capital., Built a non-AAV parvovirus vector platform (PAVE) generating the CBN capsid class., Demonstrated full-length CFTR delivery and functional correction in CF patient-derived bronchial cells with CBN-1000.

## Products & services

- **PAVE vector engine** — Proprietary discovery and engineering platform that mines and re-engineers the broad parvovirus family to produce non-AAV 'CBN' capsids with tissue specificity, increased cargo capacity, and low neutralizing immunity.
- **CBN-1000 / CGT-001** — Lead pulmonary program - a human bocavirus-derived vector delivering the full-length CFTR gene to airway cells for cystic fibrosis, administered by nebulization, with strong transgene expression and tolerability shown in nonhuman primates.
- **CBN-1100** — Cardiac-targeting parvovirus vector with up to 5.9 kb packaging capacity (over 1 kb more than AAV); systemic dosing produced robust cardiomyocyte transgene expression in rodents and nonhuman primates with a clean tolerability profile.

## Achievements

- Launched in June 2022 with a $38 million Series A led by Agent Capital.
- Built a non-AAV parvovirus vector platform (PAVE) generating the CBN capsid class.
- Demonstrated full-length CFTR delivery and functional correction in CF patient-derived bronchial cells with CBN-1000.
- Showed nebulized CBN-1000 expression and tolerability in nonhuman primate lungs.
- Achieved up to 5.9 kb payload capacity with CBN-1100 - more than a kilobase beyond AAV.
- Presented four studies at the ASGCT 27th Annual Meeting in May 2024.

## Latest updates

- **2024-05** — Presented four studies at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) 27th Annual Meeting, detailing CBN-1000 (CF) and CBN-1100 (cardiac) data and CBN-1000 manufacturing process development.
- **2024-05** — Announced new appointments to its Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board.
- **2023** — Announced a collaboration with WhiteLab Genomics to apply AI-driven design to viral-vector discovery.
- **2022-06** — Emerged from stealth with a $38M Series A to advance its parvovirus vector platform and cystic fibrosis pipeline.

## Links

- Website: https://carbonbio.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/carbonbiosciences
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/carbonbiosci

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/carbon-biosciences
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Last updated: 2026-07-22