Catch up on all the insightful presentations.
Ignacio Nunez is a seasoned operator and manufacturing executive with deep expertise in biologics, cell and gene therapies, and complex GMP manufacturing systems. He has spent his career helping organizations translate breakthrough therapies into scalable, reliable operations.
Most recently, Ignacio served as Chief Operating Officer of CellReady, where he led the company's operational expansion in the cell and gene therapy space. He drove large-scale organizational and manufacturing transformations, delivering material reductions in capital expenditure and development timelines while strengthening GMP manufacturing, quality systems, and supply chain performance across collaborations with global biopharma, emerging biotech, academic institutions, investors, and CDMOs/CROs.
Earlier, Ignacio contributed hands-on to the industrialization and commercialization of next-generation therapies, including some of the first FDA-approved cell and gene therapies. He founded BioExcellence to bring operator-led execution to clients—developing high-throughput manufacturing and operational excellence models adopted in the design and optimization of large-scale cell therapy production facilities.
Ignacio holds B.S. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Granada and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
Dr. Talar Tokatlian is an accomplished biotechnology leader with over 15 years of expertise in CAR T cell therapies, nanoparticle vaccines, and biomaterials. She currently serves as the Director of Discovery Research at A2 Biotherapeutics, Inc., where she has spent over eight years advancing innovative, logic-gated cell therapies (Tmod™ platform) for solid tumors. Her career at A2 Bio spans progressive leadership roles, including leading the Adaptive Innovation group which bridges late Discovery Research and Process Development.
Prior to joining industry, Dr. Tokatlian completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the lab of Darrell J. Irvine at the Koch Institute, focusing on nanoparticle design for HIV vaccines. She earned her PhD in Chemical Engineering from UCLA in the lab of Tatiana Segura, specializing in porous hyaluronic acid hydrogels for gene delivery, and holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley. A frequent speaker at industry symposia, she is a driving force in the Southern California cell and gene therapy ecosystem.
Dr. Sareen is the founding Executive Director and Chief Biomanufacturing Officer of the Cedars-Sinai Biomanufacturing Center (CBC). A visionary leader at the intersection of biology and engineering, he has extensive experience in human iPSC-based platform technologies, GMP biomanufacturing, space medicine, mechanistic drug discovery, and the clinical translation of genetically engineered cell therapies.
As a pioneer in the field, Dr. Sareen leads the CBC, a premier Center of Excellence for cell and gene therapy innovation. He spearheaded the design and construction of a cutting-edge 25,000 SF current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) facility. This "smart" infrastructure houses multiple ISO-certified cleanroom suites and leverages tech-enabled biology to support human IND-enabling clinical trials. Under his leadership, the CBC has established a robust biomanufacturing pipeline that bridges the gap between academic discovery and commercial reality.
Dr. Sareen is driving the next evolution of biomanufacturing by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning into the production workflow. His team is building automated, data-driven pipelines that optimize iPSC generation and cell differentiation, ensuring reproducibility and scalability. He led the development of the world’s largest ALS iPSC and motor neuron biorepository (Answer ALS), comprising over 1,200 patient lines (>4,000 clonal iPSCs) distributed globally. Beyond the bench, Dr. Sareen is deeply committed to enterprise formation and the commercialization of science. He established the CBC as a unique Partnership Development Manufacturing Organization (PDMO)—a hybrid model that not only provides cGMP services but actively incubates early-stage companies and fosters new ventures in the cell and gene therapy space.
His research group remains at the forefront of innovation, specializing in the differentiation of stem cells into neurons, vascular endothelium, and organoids. A prolific inventor, Dr. Sareen holds several patents on reprogramming, differentiation, biomanufacturing automation, and immune-evasion platform technologies. By combining modern genetic engineering with AI-enhanced automation, he is building the infrastructure to scale the next generation of "off-the-shelf" therapies, championing symbiotic partnerships between academia and industry to accelerate cures for today’s most intractable diseases.
Matthew Savary, MD, is Managing Principal of UCLA Ventures within UCLA Technology Development Group, where he leads venture creation and commercialization strategy for early-stage technologies across the university. Since joining UCLA in 2019, he has worked with faculty inventors, entrepreneurs, investors, and industry partners to advance emerging technologies toward startup formation, licensing, and investment.
Before UCLA, Dr. Savary held medical affairs leadership roles at Medtronic and trained in general surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He holds a degree in biomedical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and an MD from Tufts University School of Medicine.
Stephanie Hsieh is CEO of BioscienceLA, a non-profit organization founded by LA County in partnership with private corporations, research and healthcare institutions, and local philanthropists with the goal of driving economic development across greater LA through the life sciences. Under her leadership, BioscienceLA was part of a small coalition that secured $24M in state funding to execute a five-year regional industry strategy.
Stephanie's path to this role reflects over 30 years across the biotech industry — spanning intellectual property law, executive leadership at branded and generic drug companies, venture capital, and as the founding CEO at Meditope Biosciences, an early-stage biotech developing immuno- and cell- therapies for oncology. She also serves as an independent director on public and private company boards spanning biotech, fintech, and banking.
Stephanie graduated magna cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and Sigma Xi from Wellesley College, where she majored in Biological Chemistry; received a JD from Columbia Law School, as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. In 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026, she was recognized by the LA Business Journal as one of the “most influential leaders and impactful executives in Los Angeles.”
Dr. Derek Lee is a Lead Scientist and innovator in Dr. Lili Yang’s laboratory at UCLA, specializing in the development and translation of engineered immune cell therapies. He earned his PhD from UCLA, where his research focused on T-cell differentiation from hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), as well as T-cell engineering. Currently, he leads the IND-enabling studies for HSPC-derived CAR-NKT cell programs, with expertise covering therapeutic candidate development, process optimization and scale-up, early analytical development, technology transfer to GMP manufacturing, and collaboration with manufacturing and quality teams.
Dr. Lee also established an iPSC-derived CAR-T platform and advanced therapeutic candidates from early discovery through preclinical development. He is an inventor on several patents and patent applications spanning stem cell differentiation, protein engineering, and T-cell engineering. During his doctoral training, Dr. Lee and his team won first place in the Los Angeles chapter of the Nucleate bioentrepreneurship pitch competition. He is passionate about translating scientific innovation into novel therapeutics and bringing them from bench to bedside.
ScaleReady is a joint venture between Wilson Wolf Manufacturing and Bio-Techne.
