Trailhead Biosystems
The pioneer of HD-DoE™ (High-Dimensional Design of Experiments) Technology
Meet Trailhead
We are a biotechnology company headquartered just outside Cleveland, Ohio. We develop industrial-grade human cells from induced stem cells at a faster rate, dramatically lower cost, and with less R&D risk than current industry norms.
Our proprietary HD-DoE™ platform merges developmental biology with computerized experimental design, cutting-edge robotics, and thorough statistical analyses to perform process-specific parameter optimization,rapidly developing protocols for the development of any human cell type. These cells are ideal for use in the drug discovery process, or for therapeutic purposes. These protocols minimize the use of proteins in favor of far more stable and dramatically less expensive small molecules. Bioreactor-produced human cells have multiple uses, including drug discovery, 3D-organ printing, human disease modeling, and cell-based therapy.
Our current programs are focused on developing several types of human cells at large volume, for research use in order to accelerate the drug discovery, and to develop human cells for therapeutic purposes.
Meet Our Leadership Team
Jan is an internationally renowned molecular developmental biologist and bioinformatician. He held the Eddie J. Brandon endowed professorship at Cleveland Clinic in Diabetes research. Jan is the founder of Trailhead Biosystems, and has led numerous technology advances related to control of many types of stem cells. He is cited among the top 1% globally for his scientific contributions.
In addition to his work on our HD-DOE platform and our analytical technologies applied to mapping cellular fate spaces, Jan’s discoveries include the identification of the fourth major autoantigen in diabetes, ZnT8; and the discovery of the mechanism of how insulin producing cells develop in the organism. His broad interest in the fundamental principles in cellular differentiation has provided him a basis for his integrative approaches to complex living systems.
Jan covers multiple biological specialties through this work, such as precision medicine in cancer combinatorial drug development, anti-viral combinatorial drug development, stem cell differentiation of human cells, and methods development for regenerative medicine and cell-based therapy. Jan has leadership experience within multinational research collaboratives, and more than 25 years of experience in research coordination.
In his approach to his work, Jan constantly challenges the limitations of the scientific process as it is currently applied believing that system-level interrogations emerge as vastly superior to human-centered hypothesis-driven exploration.
Div oversees all operations and finances for Trailhead Biosystems. He also works on development and execution of long-term as well as short-term strategies for the growth and sustainability of Trailhead.
Div graduated as an Electrical Engineer and gained experience in engineering and manufacturing prior to joining Case Western Reserve University for an M.Sc. in Operations Research. He has also earned Six Sigma Certification and broad knowledge of Process Improvement across various industries.
Div also oversees development and continual optimization of Trailhead’s core analytic engine.
Our Scientific Advisory Board
José Oberholzer is the Director of the Charles O. Strickler Transplant Center at the University of Virginia. He is also the Founder and President of CellTrans, a faculty start-up company launched out of Dr. José’s scientific research group at the University of Illinois.
José has led the Islet Transplant Program at the University of Illinois since August of 2003 and his team has completed over 600 islet isolations as well as successful Phase I, II, and III clinical trials for islet transplantation. CellTrans aims to bring cell-based therapies including isolated islets, encapsulated islets, and human derived stem-cells to clinical application to combat the global epidemic of diabetes and other endocrine disorders.
José has performed over 1,000 transplant-related surgeries and is an expert in liver, kidney, pancreas and small bowel transplants, as well as organ transplants in patients with diabetes. In addition to his clinical practice, José specializes in islet transplantation and parathyroid transplantation, as well as vascular access for hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis catheter placements. Additionally, he practices minimal invasive, robotic assisted surgery, including robotic kidney and pancreas transplantation, living donor nephrectomy, adrenalectomy, liver and pancreas surgery and hernia surgery
Jose holds a Masters in Science degree in Health Care Management from Harvard University and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Zurich Medical School.
Junhyong is the Patricia M. Williams Term Endowed Professor of Biology and the Chair of the Department of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania. Junhyong is a Quantitative Biologist and Genomicist, who works at the interface of mathematical and computational biology, genomics, and evolutionary biology with a focus on Single Cell Biology. He uses quantitative models, statistical analyses, and collect genome-scale data to ask questions about mechanisms of cell function and their evolution. A key technological expertise in his lab is single cell analysis, including RNA sequencing from single cells and bio-photonic techniques.
Junhyong holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Stony Brook University.
Niels is Vice President of Research and Development Operations at Zymergen, a publicly traded biofacturing company headquartered in Emersyville, CA. Niels has extensive experience in leading biotech/pharmaceutical/medical device organizations in the USA, China, and Europe. He has served in managerial roles at Novo Nordisk, Xellia Pharmaceutical, and Zymergen, including as General Manager (USA), Head of Operation, Finished Product Director (China), Business Support Director responsible for Finance, Logistic, Sourcing and Planning, Director of Strategy & Project Execution, and Project Lead of a major new drug-delivering system.
Niels holds a Masters of Science degree in Engineering/Industrial Management from Aalborg University and completed Executive Education in Leadership and Strategy in Pharma and Biotech at Harvard Business School.
Join Us
Join our growing team. Learn more about our company. Meet fellow scientists, engineers, computer scientists and others. Apply for an open position using the links below!