About

Cody McDonald

Scientist · Lab Builder · 3D Printer

Under construction! This site is actively evolving, check back for updates.

I do my best work where the job is solving problems.

I'm a cell and molecular biologist with 8+ years across AAV/lentiviral vector engineering, CRISPR cell line engineering, and cell & gene therapy process development at Neurocrine, Fate Therapeutics, Sana Biotechnology, Generation Bio, and Vertex. But the common thread isn't any one technique, it's the environment: I do best where the job is creatively solving whatever's actually in front of you, whether that's infrastructure, lab buildout, automation, or the science itself. When the tool I needed didn't exist, I designed and 3D-printed it. When a process didn't scale, I rebuilt it. Moving between hands-on bench work, hardware, and systems-level problem solving is the range I bring to a team.

Experience

Consulting2026 – Present

Neurocrine Biosciences2023 – 2026

Fate Therapeutics2022 – 2023

Sana Biotechnology2019 – 2022 Generation Bio2018 – 2019

Vertex Pharmaceuticals2017 – 2018

Medical Device Design Consultant · Odexxo

Part-Time · 05/2026 – Present

Working directly with the CEO to design and prototype medical devices for the European market, translating product vision into concrete design and engineering requirements.
CAD design and hands-on prototyping in Fusion 360, iterating device geometry across multiple revisions.
Testing and validating prototypes against design requirements, feeding results back into the next iteration.

Project Management · Carnition (Classic Car Repair Shop)

Part-Time · 05/2026 – Present

Authored and proposed a phased facilities/operations plan for a 10,000 sq ft, ~10-area compound (workshop, paint bay, lounge, apartment, outdoor space), scoping problems around single-point-of-failure workflow, missing cost/job tracking, and underused space.
Designed and built the shop's public website. View site →

Applied biotech lab and facility-setup experience (safety systems, equipment layout, SOPs, inventory, operations management) to a new physical-operations domain.
Phase 1 (Immediate Impact): room naming/signage and basic safety setup (eyewash, PPE, fire suppression, clear walkways) delivered, removing the owner as the bottleneck for day-to-day questions. Electrical mapping and the printed floor plan remain proposed, not yet done.
Phase 2 (Organization): zone/rack/box inventory system for parts and tools, searchable by location; contractor check-in workflow; rebuilt workstations with pegboard/wall storage.
Phase 3 (Infrastructure & Scale): a centralized Nextcloud-based business server for cost tracking, project tracking, and invoicing (not yet built); mesh WiFi across the compound; contractor bay formalization for rental income.

Scientist · Neurocrine Biotechnology

04/2023 – 01/2026 · San Diego, CA

Led design, cloning, and viral production of novel AAV capsid variants targeting blood-brain barrier penetrance. Generated internally developed capsids demonstrating CNS expression in animal models for the first time in company history.
Designed and built a small-scale AAV harvesting pipeline to screen capsid variants at 96-well scale, advancing top candidates to in vivo studies via flow-verified Incucyte imaging.
Designed (DOE), executed, and analyzed two multi-month mouse biodistribution studies; processed liver/brain tissue through DNA/RNA extraction and NGS analysis via a Python/Pandas pipeline.
Designed and 3D-printed a custom 96-well magnetic purification station, scaling weekly throughput from 12 to 96 variants; engineered custom centrifuge adapters and fixtures to eliminate needle-stick hazards during iodixanol gradient purification.
Led a transfection optimization project achieving a 100% improvement in AAV particle fullness and functional titer; authored SOPs and transferred the process to the scale-up team.
Managed Expi293 suspension and adherent neuronal (SH-SY5Y) cell line operations while supervising junior staff and a summer intern.

Principal Research Associate · Fate Therapeutics

09/2022 – 03/2023 · San Diego, CA

Recruited for a senior technical role driving cell line engineering strategy for iPSC-derived T-cell (CAR-T) therapies; position eliminated in a 70% company-wide layoff shortly after onboarding.
Used the transition period to build out CAD and hardware prototyping skills, later deployed at Neurocrine.

Senior Research Associate · Sana Biotechnology

04/2019 – 06/2022 · Boston, MA

Built a design-to-bank cell line engineering pipeline for ~40 pooled and clonal lines used in antibody screening assays for CAR-T therapeutics.
Created and optimized a lentiviral overexpression pipeline alongside an RNP-based CRISPR knockout pipeline, plus siRNA/miRNA knockdown strategies for transient assays.
Co-invented a recombinase-mediated cassette exchange (RMCE) platform for rapid, library-scale clonal line generation with novel protein expression.
Managed 3–4 color FACS workflows for pooled/clonal isolation and CD4/CD8+ characterization; maintained full QC/banking traceability in Benchling.

Research Associate · Generation Bio

06/2018 – 01/2019 · Boston, MA

Built an LNP-transfection and purification pipeline for SF9 insect cells producing the company's proprietary closed-ended DNA (ceDNA) product.
Delivered a 100% week-over-week throughput improvement through process redesign during the company's early-stage buildout.

Research Associate (Rotation Program) · Vertex Pharmaceuticals

06/2017 – 08/2018 · San Diego, CA / Boston, MA

Four-rotation internship program spanning multiple therapeutic areas: CRISPR knockout of CFTR in human lung cells at >90% efficiency, HTS small-molecule screening automation, and a custom western blot assay that identified a small molecule's binding site.

Skills