Andson’s mission is to accelerate the discovery, development and manufacturing of advanced cell-based therapies. We target the most revolutionary therapies including biologics, cell and gene therapies, tissue engineered medical products and even modern vaccine technologies. While modern therapeutics have shown unprecedented success in reversing the course of genetic disorders and curing cancer, they remain inaccessible due to lengthy developmental timelines, numerous regulatory delays and significant cost overrun during manufacture. We are driven by making therapies widely accessible and affordable to any patient in need.
Mason developed the DynaCHIP technology for his PhD dissertation at the Georgia Institute of Technology under Andrei G. Fedorov. During his postdoc, Mason served as the entrepreneurial and technical lead for the project, securing Biolocity and Georgia Research Alliance funding to support the development of the technology. Mason formally cofounded Andson Biotech with Andrei just before it was backed by the well-known accelerator, Ycombinator, for their Winter 2022 batch. Under Mason's leadership, Andson was selected into Merck Pharmaceutical's inaugural accelerator program, the Merck Digital Sciences Studio (2022-2023), as well as the prestigious BioTools Innovator program (2023), where Andson was selected as a top 4 finalist. Mason has served as a consultant on projects ranging from artificial intelligence cancer diagnosis to resonance-based diagnostics sensors. Before starting his PhD, Mason worked in hands on roles that have benefitted him tremendously as an engineer including a position at a sheet metal/frame shop and as a design engineer for a pharmaceutical packaging company.
Andrei is the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, Professor and Rae S. and Frank H. Neely Chair at the Georgia Institute of Technology Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. His scientific training and expertise are in electrohydrodynamics, complex fluids, (bio)chemical reaction engineering, biophysics and MEMS/nanotechnology. Andrei is also co-founder of a successful start-up company, OpenCell Technologies, which commercializes electrosonic microarray technology for high efficacy biomolecule delivery and gene transfection. As a serial entrepreneur and engineering professor with 20+ years of experience, Andrei has invented numerous technologies in diverse fields from thermal management and power generation devices to bioanalytical technologies. Andrei’s bioanalytical instrumentation development includes microfabricated ion sources for mass spectrometry, scanning electrochemical and mass spectrometry nanoprobes, environmental scanning electron microscopy of biomaterials, and microfluidic devices for separation/pre-concentration of biomolecules and gene/drug delivery. Andrei has authored over 150 archival journal papers and is an inventor on over 50 issued and pending patents. Further information is available at me.gatech.edu/faculty/fedorov.
Tom was the Co-founder and CEO of Axion BioSystems, a life science tools company that was acquired by Summa Equity in 2021. He currently serves on Axion’s Board of Directors helping the team explore global growth opportunities related to functional assays supporting the cell and gene therapy, and neuroscience markets. Prior to Axion, Tom held leadership positions with several global enterprises with a focus on operational efficiency and M&A. He has a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from The University of Chicago.
During his PhD program in Neuroengineering at Georgia Tech, Jim co-founded Axion Biosystems (acquired by Summa Equity in 2021). Axion was founded to revolutionize the way we capture complex heart and brain activity. Under his leadership as Co-Founder, Director and CTO, Axion Biosystems introduced the groundbreaking Maestro system in 2011, marking the debut of the industry's first high-throughput micro electrode array (MEA) platform. Jim’s expertise includes leading multidisciplinary teams in merging electronics with biology to create user-friendly tools for life science instrumentation, medical diagnostics, and bioelectronic medicine. With patents in electronically active cell culture assessment and non-invasive diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, his accolades include induction into the Young Alumni Engineering Hall of Fame at Georgia Tech.
During his PhD program in Neuroengineering at Georgia Tech, Jim co-founded Axion Biosystems (acquired by Summa Equity in 2021). Axion was founded to revolutionize the way we capture complex heart and brain activity. Under his leadership as Co-Founder, Director and CTO, Axion Biosystems introduced the groundbreaking Maestro system in 2011, marking the debut of the industry's first high-throughput micro electrode array (MEA) platform. Jim’s expertise includes leading multidisciplinary teams in merging electronics with biology to create user-friendly tools for life science instrumentation, medical diagnostics, and bioelectronic medicine. With patents in electronically active cell culture assessment and non-invasive diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, his accolades include induction into the Young Alumni Engineering Hall of Fame at Georgia Tech.
During his PhD program in Neuroengineering at Georgia Tech, Jim co-founded Axion Biosystems (acquired by Summa Equity in 2021). Axion was founded to revolutionize the way we capture complex heart and brain activity. Under his leadership as Co-Founder, Director and CTO, Axion Biosystems introduced the groundbreaking Maestro system in 2011, marking the debut of the industry's first high-throughput micro electrode array (MEA) platform. Jim’s expertise includes leading multidisciplinary teams in merging electronics with biology to create user-friendly tools for life science instrumentation, medical diagnostics, and bioelectronic medicine. With patents in electronically active cell culture assessment and non-invasive diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, his accolades include induction into the Young Alumni Engineering Hall of Fame at Georgia Tech.
Mason developed the DynaCHIP technology for his PhD dissertation at the Georgia Institute of Technology under Andrei G. Fedorov. During his postdoc, Mason served as the entrepreneurial and technical lead for the project, securing Biolocity and Georgia Research Alliance funding to support the development of the technology. Mason formally cofounded Andson Biotech with Andrei just before it was backed by the well-known accelerator, Ycombinator, for their Winter 2022 batch. Under Mason's leadership, Andson was selected into Merck Pharmaceutical's inaugural accelerator program, the Merck Digital Sciences Studio (2022-2023), as well as the prestigious BioTools Innovator program (2023), where Andson was selected as a top 4 finalist. Mason has served as a consultant on projects ranging from artificial intelligence cancer diagnosis to resonance-based diagnostics sensors. Before starting his PhD, Mason worked in hands on roles that have benefitted him tremendously as an engineer including a position at a sheet metal/frame shop and as a design engineer for a pharmaceutical packaging company.
Andrei is the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, Professor and Rae S. and Frank H. Neely Chair at the Georgia Institute of Technology Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. His scientific training and expertise are in electrohydrodynamics, complex fluids, (bio)chemical reaction engineering, biophysics and MEMS/nanotechnology. Andrei is also co-founder of a successful start-up company, OpenCell Technologies, which commercializes electrosonic microarray technology for high efficacy biomolecule delivery and gene transfection. As a serial entrepreneur and engineering professor with 20+ years of experience, Andrei has invented numerous technologies in diverse fields from thermal management and power generation devices to bioanalytical technologies. Andrei’s bioanalytical instrumentation development includes microfabricated ion sources for mass spectrometry, scanning electrochemical and mass spectrometry nanoprobes, environmental scanning electron microscopy of biomaterials, and microfluidic devices for separation/pre-concentration of biomolecules and gene/drug delivery. Andrei has authored over 150 archival journal papers and is an inventor on over 50 issued and pending patents. Further information is available at me.gatech.edu/faculty/fedorov.
Tom was the Co-founder and CEO of Axion BioSystems, a life science tools company that was acquired by Summa Equity in 2021. He currently serves on Axion’s Board of Directors helping the team explore global growth opportunities related to functional assays supporting the cell and gene therapy, and neuroscience markets. Prior to Axion, Tom held leadership positions with several global enterprises with a focus on operational efficiency and M&A. He has a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from The University of Chicago.
During his PhD program in Neuroengineering at Georgia Tech, Jim co-founded Axion Biosystems (acquired by Summa Equity in 2021). Axion was founded to revolutionize the way we capture complex heart and brain activity. Under his leadership as Co-Founder, Director and CTO, Axion Biosystems introduced the groundbreaking Maestro system in 2011, marking the debut of the industry's first high-throughput micro electrode array (MEA) platform. Jim’s expertise includes leading multidisciplinary teams in merging electronics with biology to create user-friendly tools for life science instrumentation, medical diagnostics, and bioelectronic medicine. With patents in electronically active cell culture assessment and non-invasive diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, his accolades include induction into the Young Alumni Engineering Hall of Fame at Georgia Tech.
Edwin M. Horwitz, MD, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. A board certified pediatric hematologist/oncologist, Dr. Horwitz serves as Director of Transplantation Biology and Therapeutics at Aflac Cancer & Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Dr. Horwitz is a member of the Cancer Immunology research program at Winship Cancer Institute.Dr. Horwitz received his MD and PhD from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where he completed postdoctoral research in Biochemistry. He completed his residency in Pediatrics at Saint Louis Children’s Hospital and his fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri.Dr. Horwitz received his MD and PhD from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where he completed postdoctoral research in Biochemistry. He completed his residency in Pediatrics at Saint Louis Children’s Hospital and his fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Krishanu “Kris” Saha (he/him) is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical History and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was recently named the McPherson Eye Research Institute’s Retina Research Foundation Kathryn and Latimer Murfee Chair for 2019-2022 and an AIMBE Fellow (Class of 2022). His lab is at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID). He participates on campus in the executive committees of the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center, Robert F. Holtz Center on Science and Technology Studies, and Forward Bio Institute. Before he arrived in Madison, Dr. Saha studied chemical engineering and biotechnology at Cornell University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of California, Berkeley. In 2007 he became a Society in Science: Branco-Weiss fellow in the laboratory of Professor Rudolf Jaenisch at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT and in the Science and Technology Studies program at Harvard University with Professor Sheila Jasanoff in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At UW-Madison, major thrusts of his lab involve gene editing and cell engineering of human cells found in the retina, central nervous system, liver, and blood. He has published more than 80 scientific manuscripts, filed several patents, and received awards that include the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Biomedical Engineering Society’s Rising Star Award, and Gund Harrington Scholar Award. He is the leader of the gene therapy biomanufacturing impact area of the Grainger Institute for Engineering, a member of the National Academies’ Forum on Regenerative Medicine, a co-lead for the T cell testbed within the National Science Foundation’s Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT) and a Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of the National Institutes for Health’s Somatic Cell Genome Editing (SCGE) Consortium.
Bruno Marques, PhD
Bruno Marques has been building and leading the Process & Product Development team at Century Therapeutics toward manufacturing and supply of adult stem cell-derived allogeneic therapies against cancer. Prior to Century, he spent 14 years developing and commercializing biopharmaceutical products at Merck and GlaxoSmithKline. At GSK, Bruno held leadership roles in process development and portfolio management, contributing to the launch of several biological products. He eventually joined GSK’s Cell & Gene Therapy platform as Director of Manufacturing Strategy in support of autologous immunotherapies. Bruno is a Chemical Engineer by training, with a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
