About Us

Noboru Yamaji is the President and Chief Intelligence and Liaison Officer of Universal Cells. He has more than 30 years of industrial experience with Astellas, where he has been involved in research activities for biologics and corporate-wide strategy making for antibody and regenerative medicine/cell therapy and its implementation as Head of the corresponding research departments. He has experience in working at bio venture companies, Genetics Institute in Cambridge, MA as a visiting scientist from 1991 t0 1993 and Agensys in Santa Monica, CA as Director, Target Discovery for monoclonal antibodies in the oncology field from 2008 to 2012.

Dr. Yamaji received a Masters degree and Ph.D from the University of Tokyo. He once served as vice chairperson of the Steering Committee of the Forum for Innovative Regenerative Medicine (FIRM), an industrial association for regenerative medicine in Japan.

David Russell is the Founder and Chief Science Officer 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. As a physician, he trained in internal medicine, and specialized in hematology/oncology and bone marrow transplantation.

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.

Kim Clary is Senior Director of Operational Excellence at Universal Cells. She has broad knowledge and expertise in many diverse areas including Gene and Cell Therapy, Intellectual Property, Contracts, Alliance Management, Program Management, Product Development, Facilities Operations, and Materials Management.

Dr. Clary received her Doctorate from Southern Illinois University in Microbiology and Immunology and has over 25 years of experience. Prior to working at Universal Cells, she spent 5 years as Vice President of Alliance Management at the Infectious Disease Research Institute in Seattle, and 20 years as Associate Director of Intellectual Property at Targeted Genetics.

George Padilla joined Universal Cells in 2019, bringing his people and culture expertise to a fast-paced, growth focused, cell therapy biotech firm. George leads the HR and Talent Management function at Universal Cells and supports Astellas Pharma West Coast affiliate locations as a regional Sr. HR Business Partner.

George is a well-rounded HR Leader with 20+ years of broad based HR experience. He specializes in Talent Management and Recruiting, Employee Relations and is an overall Employee Experience Champion. As a graduate of California State University, Los Angeles, he started his career as a Regional HR Manager in the hospitality industry, later transitioning to the medical device industry as Director of Human Resources for St. Jude Medical (Abbott Labs).