Scientific Leader Xiaokui Zhang, Ph.D. Joins Aspen Neuroscience as Chief Scientific Officer

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Nov 18, 2021, 08:05 ET

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Aspen Neuroscience, Inc., a private biotechnology company developing the first autologous neuron replacement therapies to treat Parkinson's disease (PD), announced that Xiaokui Zhang, Ph.D., has joined the company as Chief Scientific Officer and as a member of the company's executive team.

Xiaokui Zhang, Ph.D., Aspen Neuroscience Chief Scientific Officer

With 20 years of progressive biopharmaceutical industry experience in research, discovery and development to advance programs into early clinical development, Dr. Zhang will lead current scientific programs, as well as future platform and pipeline investments for the autologous iPSC platform company.

"As Aspen grows, we are excited to welcome Dr. Zhang," said Damien McDevitt, Ph.D., Aspen Neuroscience president and chief executive officer. "Xiaokui's expertise, which combines a deep background in stem cell research with strong regenerative medicine industry experience, will be important to Aspen as we develop on the solid foundation built by our incredible and expanding R&D team."

"The next frontier in medicine is at the intersection of autologous, personalized medicine for every patient," said Dr. Zhang. "The team that built the Aspen platform have accomplished feats that wouldn't have been possible even 10 years ago, including combining autologous stem cells and AI-based bioinformatics to develop personalized therapies for patients with unmet medical needs. I am honored and excited for this rare opportunity to lead the next stage of Aspen's scientific vision."

Dr. Zhang's research in functional characterizations of JAK-STAT signaling pathways and placental progenitor cell differentiation resulted in numerous patents and publications in highly ranked journals including Science. She has also served as a mentor to early-stage professionals in the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT) and is the honoree of New Jersey Liberty Science Center Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Award.

Before joining Aspen. Dr. Zhang served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Celularity Inc., overseeing discovery, candidate development, preclinical, translational, process development and CMC activities to develop placenta-derived allogeneic, off-the-shelf cell therapy product candidates for immuno-oncology and functional regeneration applications. Dr. Zhang has also held various positions of increasing scope and responsibility at Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, including Director of Discovery Research and Senior Director of Research & Development. Before Celgene, Dr. Zhang led a gene discovery team at Helicon Therapeutics and conducted target identification studies in cognitive disorders.

Dr. Zhang received her undergraduate degree in Physiology from Nanjing University, Jiangsu, China and her doctorate in Molecular Cell Biology from the Rockefeller University, New York, New York, with further post-doctoral training in the Functional Genomics at Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

ABOUT ASPEN NEUROSCIENCE
Headquartered in San Diego, Aspen Neuroscience, Inc. is a development stage, private biotechnology company focused on personalized (autologous) cell therapies. The company is developing induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to address diseases with high unmet medical need, beginning with autologous neuron replacement for both sporadic and genetic forms of Parkinson's disease (PD) and extending across the brain and affected organs.

A leading iPSC platform company, Aspen combines stem cell biology with the latest artificial intelligence and genomic approaches to investigate patient-specific, restorative treatments. The company has developed a best-in-class platform to create and characterize pluripotent-derived cell medicines, which includes in-house bioinformatics, manufacturing and QC. For more information and important updates, please visit http://www.aspenneuroscience.com.

SOURCE Aspen Neuroscience, Inc.