About Us
Universal Cells is a Seattle-based company that is producing engineered stem cell lines that can avoid rejection and be used in allogeneic cell therapy treatments for the people who need them. One Cell, Many Therapies.
Leadership Team
Akina Hoshino,
Ph.D
Head, UDC Platform & Strategy
Akina joined Universal Cells in 2018, bringing with her experience in assay development and optimization of pluripotent stem cell cultures and differentiation. At Universal Cells she leads the Clinical Gene Editing team that generate final Universal Donor clinical clones for various cell therapy programs across Astellas and beyond. She also leads the Process Development team that continues to build on our editing technology platform. Since joining Universal Cells she has built and expanded her team and continues to grow their capabilities to include new editing techniques and documentation systems. She enjoys working with the project teams and is excited to contribute to the efforts to bring Universal Donor Cells to the clinic.
Akina grew up in Japan and moved to the United States to attend Vassar College where she received her BA in Biology and Chinese. She obtained her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, on her work studying the biochemistry of enzymes involved in the maturation of peptide hormones such as insulin/neuropeptides. She then moved to Seattle to do a postdoctoral fellowship, switching fields to stem cell biology and retinal differentiation. There she was involved in mapping expression of key markers in the developing human retina, and used this to evaluate whether miRNAs could be used to speed up and improve robustness of differentiation.
Lisa Petek
Head, Technical OperationsLisa joined Universal Cells in 2016, bringing over 14 years of experience working in research labs at the University of Washington in the departments of Medical Genetics and Pediatrics. Her work at the University of Washington was focused on the development of recombinant AAV as a tool for in vitro gene editing, as well the generation of pluripotent stem cell based disease models. Since joining Universal Cells Lisa has built a department which encompasses rAAV production and the development of molecular and cell based assays used to characterize gene edited PSC lines.
Lisa grew up in eastern Washington and earned a B.S. in biochemistry at Washington State University.
Our History
Universal Cells was established to commercialize gene-editing, stem cell engineering and immune rejection technologies for the treatment of human diseases.
The technologies were developed by Dr. David Russell, Founder of Universal Cells and a Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of Washington. He received his BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MD from Cornell University, and a PhD from Rockefeller University.
Dr. Russell has made major contributions in the fields of gene therapy, viral vectors, vector integration, gene editing, insertional mutagenesis, and the genetic manipulation of human stem cells. He published the original report of AAV-mediated gene editing in 1998, which was the first example of gene editing in normal human cells, for which he received a Presidential Early Career Award from the White House. Dr. Russell has been recognized for his contributions by election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and he served as President of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. Over the last decade, he has focused on the creation of gene-edited universal donor stem cells that escape allogeneic rejection. He founded Universal Cells to develop and commercialize universal donor stem cells for the treatment of human diseases.
Astellas - Our Parent Company
Astellas Pharma Inc purchased Universal Cells in February 2018 and we are now a wholly owned subsidiary. Astellas is committed to bringing value to their patients by becoming a leader in Cell Therapy, with a particular emphasis on allogeneic, pluripotent stem cell-derived products. Our relationship with Astellas provides us with unparalleled support for our programs, allowing us to focus entirely on the development of safe and effective cell therapy products.
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