Jack Harvey joins the company as Senior Vice President of Process Development & Manufacturing and Rafal P. Witek joins as Head of Therapeutic Cell Platforms
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – September 28, 2021 – Aspect Biosystems, a biotechnology company pioneering the development of bioprinted cell therapies as medicines of the future, is pleased to announce the addition of regenerative medicine and therapeutic development experts to our leadership team: Jack Harvey and Rafal P. Witek. Jack and Rafal will play key roles in the Company’s mission to advance bioprinted cell therapies to patients.
“At Aspect, we have been driving our therapeutic programs towards the clinic at an increasing pace over the past year,” said Tamer Mohamed, CEO of Aspect Biosystems. “Jack and Rafal’s expertise in the development and manufacturing of cell-based therapeutics will further accelerate our mission to develop first-in-class bioprinted cell therapies for solid organs and transform how we treat disease.”
Jack Harvey joins the team as Senior Vice President of Process Development and Manufacturing and will help oversee the build-out of our clinical and commercial-scale GMP biomanufacturing for our bioprinted cell therapies.
Jack brings over 30 years of strong scientific, cell therapy development, and manufacturing experience to Aspect Biosystems. He has deep expertise in the development and optimization of cell-based production systems in complex regulatory environments, with a proven track record of guiding and executing organization-wide product development strategies from concept to commercialization. He most recently served as Vice President of Bioprocessing for Humacyte, Inc. and has previous held leadership roles at Lonza and other major pharma and biotech companies. Jack received his Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Harvard University and a Master of Public Health in Health Law from Boston University.
"I'm tremendously excited to join the world-class talent, technology, and science at Aspect,” said Jack Harvey, Senior Vice President of Process Development and Manufacturing at Aspect Biosystems. “I look forward to bringing my experience and expertise to the team to accelerate the creation of bioprinted cell therapies that could profoundly transform patient care."
Rafal P. Witek joins the team as Head of Therapeutic Cell Platforms and will take ownership over the build, implementation, and management of Aspect's therapeutic cell strategy for our pipeline of bioprinted therapeutics.
Dr. Witek is an experienced scientific leader in the field of liver biology with a strong track record of success working in the biotech industry and research space. He has over 12 years of industry experience, including leading the R&D group for hepatic biology and advanced culture models in the Division of Cell Biology at Thermo Fisher Scientific/Life Technologies, and most recently, leading process development activities for cell-based therapies for liver disease as Director of Cell Therapy Platform at Ambys Medicines. He also has over 20 years of research experience and extensive expertise in liver molecular and cell biology, toxicology, 3D and organotypic modelling. Dr. Witek received his PhD from the College of Medicine at the University of Florida where his research focused on using stem cells and gene therapy to correct liver metabolic disorders. Dr. Witek also holds an MBA from Duke University.
"Aspect's technology offers huge potential to advance de novo human tissue generation and engraftment for life saving therapies and potential replacement to current organ transplantation,” said Rafal P. Witek, Head of Therapeutic Cell Platforms at Aspect Biosystems. “I’m excited to join this innovative team and contribute to therapeutic strategy and overall company growth in the years ahead.”
About Aspect Biosystems
Aspect Biosystems is a biotechnology company creating bioprinted therapeutics as medicines of the future. Aspect is applying its microfluidic 3D bioprinting technology internally to develop these advanced cell therapies and partnering with leading researchers and industry innovators worldwide to tackle the biggest challenges in regenerative medicine. Learn more at www.aspectbiosystems.com.
Contact
Natalie Korenic
Aspect Biosystems
(604) 263-0502
media@aspectbiosystems.com