Cofounder & Scientific Advisory Board Chair
Cullen Buie, Ph.D. is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He completed his B.S. from The Ohio State University and obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford. Prior to joining MIT, Cullen was a President's Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. Cullen’s laboratory explores flow physics at the microscale for applications in biotechnology. With funding from DARPA, NSF, and NIH, his team has made advances in numerous areas including genetic engineering of bacteria and chemical communication in microbial communities. Cullen received many awards for his research and service including the NSF CAREER Award, the DuPont Young Professor Award, the DARPA Young Faculty Award, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He co-founded Kytopen in 2017 with his postdoc Paulo Garcia, Ph.D.
PAULO A. GARCIA, Ph.D.
Co-Founder
Dr. Paulo A. Garcia co-invented the Flowfect® technology while he was a Research Scientist at MIT. He is currently leading the development and commercialization efforts of the proprietary cell engineering platform for therapeutic and biotechnology applications.
CEO
Dr. Chiu joins Kytopen at the time of its accelerated roll-out of the Flowfect® technology to high-profile academic medical centers in the U.S. Prior to this, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Erbi Biosystems, Inc., which was acquired by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt Germany (MilliporeSigma in US), last year. Earlier in his career, he was a chief technology officer and senior executive with several high-tech companies, including Automation Engineering Inc. (acquired by Mycronic AB), Trophos Energy, and Teradyne. Dr. Chiu earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota and an M.S. and Ph.D. from MIT. He subsequently received an M.B.A. through the Sloan Fellows program at MIT.
BETHANY GRANT, M.S.
Chief Technology Officer
Bethany has focused her career on bringing innovative medical device solutions to market. She led concepts through launch and acquisition, and directed innovation and product development at J&J. She graduated from MIT with a B.S. and M.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.
DAVID BARONE
Vice President, Product Development
David has successfully developed a wide variety of medical devices from concept through commercialization, helping achieve 510(k) and PMA approvals along the way. He has developed vascular interventional devices for Medtronic and intravascular diagnostic systems for Infraredx. David graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.
ROSS BEIGHLEY, B.S.
Senior Systems Engineer
Ross Beighley, B.S. graduated from Tufts University where he studied Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. His professional experience centers on transitioning benchtop solutions to worldwide markets through automation.
LINDSAY BONVINI
Applications Specialist
With over 10 years’ experience in the biotech industry, Lindsay has a demonstrated history of working as an R&D Scientist, Field Service Engineer, and Sales Representative.
Lindsay is passionate about the development of accessible cell therapies and leverages her combined experience to bring innovative solutions to laboratories across the globe.
Lindsay holds a B.S. from Stonehill College in Biology and attended Quinnipiac University for her graduate studies in Biochemistry and Immunology.
CHARLIE BARRETT, B.S.
Software Quality Assurance Engineer
Charlie graduated Wesleyan University with a BS in Computer Science. He's been a QA Engineer in the biotech field for four years, with experience writing and executing manual test cases as well as creating tests utilizing multiple automation frameworks.
NAOMI DRUY
Product Manager
Naomi is passionate about building products that can change the world. She has managed products at all lifecycle stages from inception through launch. She is skilled at translating user needs into technical requirements to drive product development and is excited to apply these abilities in the cell and gene therapy field. Naomi holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Vermont and an M.S. in Business Innovation from the D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University.
NICK FENGER
Senior Associate Process Scientist
Nick graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.S. in biomedical engineering. His experience has focused on research in cellular biology and medical device development.
TIANNA GANNON, M.S.
Quality Engineer
Tianna has over 10 years QE experience in troubleshooting and remediation for commercial medical devices, working with engineering and clinical teams to identify and implement effective design, V&V, and process solutions to ensure that patient needs are met safely and effectively. She looks forward to employing those experiences to help ensure that medical technology is built right the first time. Tianna is a graduate of Bay Path University with a B.S. and M.S. in Forensic Science.
MATHEW GORDON
Senior Product Development Engineer
Mathew has spent his career in Product Development, bringing medical devices to market in both Orthopedic and Radiology Spaces. Mathew received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University.
ANDREW HALLINAN, B.S
Research Associate
Andrew Hallinan graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. His previous research experience primarily focused on translational biomaterials and tissue engineering within the bone marrow niche.
TA-CHUN HANG, Ph.D.
Director of Biology
Ta-Chun Hang has worked in early development through commercial manufacturing for biologics and cell therapies, including supporting regulatory activities as well as heading pilot plant operations. He has combined his breadth of knowledge and expertise to drive innovation and novel approaches in process development. Ta-Chun completed two bachelor’s degrees (Biomedical Engineering, Human Physiology) from the University of Minnesota and a PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT.
LANE JOHNS
Software Engineer
Lane graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Political Science but decided he wanted to pursue problem solving in the software engineering world. After gaining experience creating full stack web applications and helping to build a data transformation product for the energy field, he decided to pivot to biotechnology and help build software for cell therapy manufacturing.
LEXI KANTOR, B.S.
Senior Manager of Talent Management
Lexi has spent her career building People Operations functions from the ground up and scaling them as the organization grows. She is passionate about building inclusive and safe communities that allow people to bring their full and best selves to work. Lexi graduated from Babson College with a B.S. in Business Administration.
MANISHA KRISHNAN Ph.D.
Scientist
Manisha Krishnan graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in Biology, and a PhD in Cancer Biology from the University of Chicago. Her expertise is in utilizing molecular biology techniques to understand the biology of hematopoietic cells, and she is excited to translate some of this expertise to the cell therapy field.
EDUARDO LATOUCHE, M.S.
Senior Manager, Technology Innovation
Eduardo is a hands-on technical leader and collaborator tackling complex problems. He has experience leading diverse technical teams in the medical technology space. Eduardo studied Engineering Mechanics (M.S.) and Mechanical Engineering (B.S.) at Virginia Tech.
GRETCHEN LEWIS, B.S.
Senior Scientist
Gretchen has spent much of her career understanding the use of hematopoietic stem cells in the treatment of genetic diseases, with a focus on early preclinical research. She joins Kytopen from bluebird bio, and holds a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
RAMEECH MCCORMACK, M.S.
Senior Engineer, Technology Innovation
Rameech McCormack, M.S. master’s graduate from the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT. He is also a co-inventor of the high throughput Flowfect® technology. Rameech leads the effort in product manufacturing, design, and integration.
VERONA OUTERBRIDGE, M.S.
Quality Leader
Verona is an accomplished Quality professional with extensive experience in regulatory compliance and quality management systems supporting pharmaceutical development and market approval. Her background includes regulatory compliance and inspection readiness, business development, laboratory operations, pharmaceutical research, and education. Verona graduated from the University of Massachusetts Boston with a B.S and M.S. in Chemistry.
DEVIN RESLOW
Associate Computational Biologist
Devin graduated from Northeastern University with a B.S. in Bioengineering and a concentration in Cell and Tissue Engineering. He specializes in leveraging computational methods to maximize experimental design space and elucidate the complexities of biological processes.
BEN SMITH, B.S.
Ben graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Biology. He joins Kytopen from Seattle-based Adaptive Biotechnologies with experience in lab operations and workflow optimization.
NORMAN WEN
Director of Engineering
Norman has made a career of bringing novel science and technology from research to reality. Previously, he was at Emulate, where he helped lead the buildout of its core technology and business to be a leader in the Organs-on-Chips and advanced in vitro model space. Norman graduated from University of California Berkeley with degrees in Mechanical Engineering B.S. and Materials Science B.S.
PERRI WEINSTEIN
Senior Associate Scientist
Perri graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology. Her experience in manufacturing commercial biologics and process development for cell and gene therapies is shaped by her passion for problem-solving and innovation.
JOHN ZHAO, M.S.
Senior Process Development Scientist
John Zhao graduated from Cornell with a B.S. in Bioengineering and University of Louisville with a M.S. in Biochemistry. His career has been dedicated to cell therapy in various roles including research, development and manufacturing. His primary focus is innovative process development techniques and applications.
