William Rust, United States

Will Rust, PhD CEO and President Seraxis Inc Will Rust, PhD, spent most of his scientific career developing research tools and therapies from embryonic and iPS cells. As an early mover with pluripotent stem cell technology, he was uniquely aware of the potency and limitations of these cells. He had a strong conviction that a modified or variant form of this cell type could be the basis for a superior cell therapy. Based on this conviction, Will Rust raised the funds to launch Seraxis Inc, where he developed an alternative stem cell line with enhanced pancreatic differentiation potential to be a basis for anti-diabetes islet replacement therapy. Under his leadership, Seraxis completed three rounds of funding, developed cGMP manufacturing of highly pure and potent replacement pancreatic islets and is preparing for clinical testing this year. In parallel, Seraxis has developed two proprietary methods of immune evasion to enable implant of its lab-grown islets in non-immune-suppressed patients.