Hikaru is Chief Operating Officer and President of ThinkCyte, North America. He brings nearly 10 years of leadership experience at Mitsui & Co., working in various roles at international companies. Prior to joining ThinkCyte, he dedicated to establishing and operating a new company in the U.S. as a Commercial Director after the business acquisition, accountable for $50 million of global annual revenue in more than 50 countries. Previously, he served as a Vice President in the Specialty Chemical Division in another U.S. subsidiary company as well. Hikaru holds an MS in Bioengineering and a BS from the University of Tokyo and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Washington, U.S.

Keiji leads product design and development at ThinkCyte. Prior to ThinkCyte, he served as a mechanical engineer at EPSON, specializing in MEMS and microfluidics. He led the design and development of new electronic devices such as an ink-jet printer, which are now successfully commercialized globally. Keiji holds an MS in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Kyoto.

Ryo is Chief Financial Officer at ThinkCyte. He has nearly two decades of experience in finance and most recently was a CFO at a robotic technology startup, where he directed its fundraising activities and IPO preparation process. Before that, he was a director at Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), a private equity fund, where he orchestrated investment, integration, and restructuring of a private company after making over $2 billion investments, and successfully led the company to an IPO. Prior to that, he was a principal at Nikko Principal Investments and was responsible for multiple buy-out deals, totaling over $300 million. Ryo holds an MS in Physics from Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Eiji is Vice President of Intellectual Property and Legal Affairs at Thinkcyte. He brings to this role more than 20 years of experience in intellectual property and research in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining ThinkCyte, Dr. Nara served as Global Head of IP BD/Litigation at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he led the company’s worldwide IP litigations and IP due diligence for acquisitions, partnering, and product in-licenses. In recognition of his contribution at Takeda, he has received Takeda Global Award in 2011. Previously, he was a Senior Director of IP Department, where he was responsible for patent assessments, IP litigations, and other IP related advice or contract review for research collaborations. He started his career as a scientist at Takeda, specializing in a novel drug delivery system. Eiji holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Kyoto University.

Willem is Vice President of Business Development at ThinkCyte. With over a decade of experience in commercializing novel biomedical technologies, Willem joined ThinkCyte from Oxford BioDynamics where he led US business development. He started his career at a Boston-based biotechnology startup that was an early pioneer in combining molecular analyses with AI-based approaches. Willem holds a B.S. in Pharmacological Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from the University of California, San Diego and has authored over 20 publications on the industrial application of cell-based technologies.

Andy is the Director of Business & Corporate Development at ThinkCyte. He has held business development roles at Teijin Pharma and has management consulting experiences at LEK Consulting as a Sr. Life Scientist Specialist, gaining extensive experience and insights in the life science industry. Andy also holds a Ph.D. from U. Tokyo specializing in regenerative medicine.