Industry veterans will build out cell therapy tech platform company’s business and operations functions.

Cellino Biotech, an autonomous cell therapy technology platform company, has announced the expansion of its executive leadership team with the appointments of Abhijit (Abhi) Kulkarni, PhD as Chief Operating Officer and Paulette Dillon as Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Business Officer. Together, these leaders are set to support the company’s growth and further enhance its ability to build an integrated technology platform for the development and scaling of regenerative medicines.

Longevity.Technology: Based in Cambridge, MA, Cellino is on a mission to democratise stem cell-based therapies for all eligible patients. Stem cell-derived therapies are poised to prevent, treat and potentially reverse diseases for which no options are available today or the current standard of care is insufficient. Currently, large scale production of stem cell therapies is challenging due to extensive manual handling, high variability and expensive manufacturing costs, but Cellino’s next-generation manufacturing platform combines AI and laser technology to automate cell therapy manufacturing to reduce expenditures and overcome scaling limitations.

“We are delighted to welcome Abhi and Paulette, who bring invaluable expertise in advanced technology development and business to Cellino,” said Nabiha Saklayen, PhD, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Cellino. “As we plan for several important milestones and continued progress in developing our precision platform for scaling regenerative therapies, we look forward to working with them both to drive our growth [1].”

Abhijit (Abhi) Kulkarni, PhD, Chief Operating Officer

Kulkarni brings over 25 years of experience working on innovative solutions spanning the disciplines of neuroscience, engineering, and physics. He is a passionate leader who has built diverse, high-performing teams and delivered multiple successful product launches across consumer and Class III medical domains, in startup, midsize, and large company settings. Prior to joining Cellino, Kulkarni was the Global Vice President of Research, Development and Technology for Neuromodulation and Pelvic Health, and Head of the Neuromodulation Technology Development Center, at Medtronic, where he led the development of several first-in-class products and therapy solutions.

Prior to Medtronic, he was the Global Vice President of Research, Development and Technology for Advanced Bionics and before that served in various roles at Bose Corporation. Kulkarni has an MS & PhD in Biomedical Engineering and conducted his graduate research at Boston University’s Hearing Research Center and at the Research Lab of Electronics at MIT.

Paulette Dillon, SVP and Chief Business Officer

Dillon brings more than 30 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and has been involved in building and growing several successful companies, as well as commercialising and launching novel technologies, platforms, and multiple approved drug products across a range of modalities and disease areas.

Prior to joining Cellino, Dillon was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Co-Founder of Atreca, Inc, a public biopharmaceutical antibody-based company. Prior to Atreca, she served sequentially as the chief business officer of Nuon Therapeutics, Anacor (acquired by Pfizer for $5.2B in 2016), Avidia (acquired by Amgen for $380M in 2006), and Celera Genomics (acquired by Quest Diagnostics for $344M in 2011), and held previous senior leadership positions including Vice President at Exelixis and Hoffmann-La Roche, and senior marketing and sales management positions at Syntex.

READ MORE: Cellino – longevity powered by AI, stem cells & democracy

[1] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220627005020