Aspen Neuroscience Announces Promotion of Andres Bratt-Leal, PhD, to Senior Vice President of Research & Development

SAN DIEGO, May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Aspen Neuroscience, a private biotechnology company developing the first autologous neuron replacement therapies to treat Parkinson's disease (PD), announced today that Andres Bratt-Leal, PhD, has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Research & Development.

An Aspen co-founder, Dr. Bratt-Leal has been instrumental in the company's transition from an early spin-off of groundbreaking research from Scripps Research Institute, to a development-stage platform company with a differentiated pipeline of autologous cell therapy targets for neurodegenerative conditions.

"Dr. Bratt-Leal has been central to the company's growth from a small start-up to an autologous platform company and we are excited to announce his advancement," said Damien McDevitt, PhD, president and CEO of Aspen Neuroscience. "We look forward to Andres' continued leadership in both the scientific and patient communities as we expand our team, build out our pipeline and continue Aspen's work to transform the autologous cell therapy field."

Dr. Bratt-Leal serves in Aspen's executive leadership, and leads the R&D team that developed the company's core technology platform: producing dopaminergic neurons from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Prior to co-founding Aspen, Andres also served as Senior Science Advisor and Director of Research and Development at Summit for Stem Cell Foundation, during which he led a team on the pre-clinical development of an autologous cell-based cell therapy for PD. Andres obtained his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his BS in Bioengineering from the University of Washington.

"Aspen was founded with patients at the center of our mission, and the Parkinson's patient community's contributions were integral to our formation," said Dr. Bratt-Leal. "It is a privilege to lead this tight-knit team of some of the world's best stem cell researchers, as we advance potential treatments for so many patients with serious unmet medical needs."

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.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aspen-neuroscience-announces-promotion-of-andres-bratt-leal-phd-to-senior-vice-president-of-research--development-301284747.html

SOURCE Aspen Neuroscience , Inc.