Management Team
Victoria Lunyak, PhD
Founder, CEO & President
Dr. Lunyak’s areas of expertise include epigenetics, genomics and stem cell research. She has a distinguished track record of research discoveries and innovations, as a grant recipient from the International Soros Foundation to her stellar accomplishments in academia. +/-
Dr. Lunyak carried out her research in world-leading institutions, including Brown University, the University of California, San Diego, and most recently, at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.
Her research discoveries have been published in Science, Cell, Genes and Development and other journals, with more than 5,000 scientific citations and coverage in media across the globe. Many of her scientific innovations are patented and licensed worldwide.
Dr. Lunyak has presented hundreds of lectures and seminars at leading universities as well as at national and international scientific meetings. She has served on numerous journal editorial boards as well as study sections, panels and committees for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and many other national and international agencies.
Dr. Lunyak received her Master of Science degree in Biophysics from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in St. Petersburg, Russia, and earned her PhD in Molecular Biology from the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute at the Russian Academy of Science.
Clyde Shores
Executive Business Consultant
Clyde W. Shores serves as an executive business consultant to Aelan. Mr. Shores has more than 25 years of commercial experience with private and publicly traded healthcare companies. His broad range of experience includes medical diagnostics, devices, biologics and pharmaceuticals. +/-
With expertise firmly grounded in stem cell therapy and oncology, he has been involved in all phases of commercialization for multiple companies including the successful pre and post launch and marketing of innovative medical products such as Amgen's (AMGN) blockbuster, Neupogen®. Mr. Shores most recently served as Chief Commercial Officer for Gensignia Life Sciences, a privately-held miRNA diagnostics company. Prior to his tenure with Gensignia, he was Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Cytori Therapeutics (CTYX) and Vice President of Global Marketing for Baxter International's (BAX) Renal Business.
Mr. Shores has also held global commercial leadership positions at deCODE Genetics (DCGN), Prometheus Laboratories (acquired by Nestle), Amgen and Abbott Diagnostics (ABT). He received a B.B.A. from the Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico.
James Tollervey, PhD
Director, Molecular Diagnostics
Dr. Tollervey’s area of expertise includes research into the mechanisms that underlie human aging and age-related diseases utilizing a wide variety of molecular biology techniques. +/-
This includes 10 years of direct experience in the use of next-generation sequencing and proteomic approaches to identify novel biomarkers of aging and disease.
Dr. Tollervey received his BS (Hons) in Molecular Biology from Edinburgh University and his PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge. His PhD work was carried out in the prestigious Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, identifying molecular biomarkers of frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Alzheimer’s disease, two of the most prevalent forms of age-associated neurodegeneration. More recently, Dr. Tollervey performed his postdoctoral research at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging alongside Dr. Lunyak, studying epigenetic changes during the processes of cellular aging.
Dr. Tollervey has published research papers and reviews in multiple high impact journals, including Nature Neuroscience and Genome Research. He has also presented his research at numerous international conferences.
With Aelan Cell Technologies, Dr. Tollervey will build on his expertise by heading the Molecular Diagnostics division with a goal to develop proprietary tools for the early diagnosis of human aging and age-related pathologies, empowering clinicians to provide improved patient care.
Meenakshi Gaur, PhD
Director, Stem Cell Clinical Program
Dr. Gaur’s areas of expertise include megakaryocytopoiesis, molecular biology, stem cell biology, and translational research. +/-
Prior to leading Aelan’s research team to develop technology aimed at using human mesenchymal stem cells for clinical applications, Dr. Gaur was a consultant for Applied Stemcell Inc., Menlo Park and until recently was the Director of Cell and Molecular Biology at MandalMed, Inc., San Francisco. In this capacity, she led complex research projects using primary cells and stem cells to create bioreactors, leading product development in collaboration with stem cell researchers at Stanford University.
Dr. Gaur has carried out her research in world-leading institutions, including All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She studied human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) as a senior scientist in Lab Medicine and also led translational studies in cardiology division at the Department of Medicine at UCSF.
Dr. Gaur’s research discoveries have been published in several top journals, including Blood, PLoS One, Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Cytotherapy, and Stem Cells and Development. She has been involved in the patenting and licensing of multiple scientific innovations. Dr. Gaur has also been awarded Small Business Innovation Research grants (SBIR) by NIH, as a co-investigator.
Dr. Gaur received her Master's degree in Biochemistry and PhD in Biosciences and Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco.