Engineering ocular cell therapy to restore vision
About Us
GelMEDIX Inc. is an early-stage ocular cell therapy company committed to improving current approaches by engineering formulations to improve cell viability, engraftment, and tissue regeneration with the aim of restoring vision.
GelMEDIX was founded after multiple years of fruitful academic collaboration between our co-founders Reza Dana (Mass. Eye And Ear, Harvard Med. School) and Nasim Annabi (UCLA).
Our Technology
PROPRIETARY HYDROGEL PLATFORM
Our proprietary photo-crosslinked hydrogels uniquely enable
bioadhesion, tissue regeneration, tunable mechanics, and therapeutic loading across modalities from small molecules to cell and gene therapies.
Our lead program is an integrated hydrogel cell therapy designed to
restore vision for macular degeneration patients with Dry AMD and geographic atrophy.
Our Team
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Max works at the intersection of science and business operations for GelMEDIX. He has a PhD in Medical Engineering from MIT in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology with a research background in drug delivery.
CO-FOUNDER
Dr. Dana is the Chief of Cornea at Mass. Eye and Ear, Chair in Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, and Director of Immunology, Transplantation, and Regeneration Program. He is the founder of multiple ophthalmic focused companies with $100m+ raised to date with 15 INDs.
CO-FOUNDER
Dr. Ananbi is an Asst. Professor of Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering at UCLA. She is the recipient of multiple awards for young investigators from the Society for Biomaterials and the American Institute for Chemical Engineers.
SCIENTIST - BIOMATERIALS
Noel is an expert in biomaterials engineering and drug release. He holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University with a research focus on responsive hydrogel systems.
SCIENTIST - STEM CELL BIOLOGY
Alex is an expert in stem cell differentiation and neural cell biology. He holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan with a research focus in neuroplasticity.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE/ENGINEER
Arthur is a biomedical engineer with a focus on drug release with a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Sophia is a biomedical engineer focused on ocular stem cell differentiation and cell characterization assay development with a BEng in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University and a MEng in Biomedical Engineering from Northeastern University.
Partners and Advisors
Michael Cima, PhD
INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
MIT PROFESSOR, SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR
Dean Eliott, MD
CLINICAL ADVISOR
DIR. EMERETIS RETINA, MASS. EYE AND EAR
Brian Ballios, MD, PhD
CLINICAL ADVISOR
PHYSICIAN SCIENTIST UNIV. OF TORONTO
Safar Partners
LEAD INVESTOR
