Melissa Carpenter

For over 25 years, Melissa has worked on the development of cell therapies using human adult and pluripotent stem cells, in academia and industry. Dr. Carpenter’s work involves discovery research and the translation of this research into therapeutic products, including developing strategies for cell manufacturing, preclinical development and navigating regulatory issues surrounding stem cell therapies.

Prior to ElevateBio, Dr. Carpenter founded Carpenter Group Consulting which works with early stage companies, academic groups and investors to translate discovery-based research into stem cell therapies suitable for clinical entry. In her consulting role, Dr. Carpenter has provided strategic, scientific, manufacturing, preclinical and regulatory guidance for the development of over 75 cell and gene therapies. Dr. Carpenter has a track record of launching programs and forming and building teams focused on early stage stem cell therapies. She lead the development of stem cell programs at CytoTherapeutics, Inc (StemCells, Inc), Geron Corp., and Novocell, Inc (Viacyte, Inc). All three of these companies went on to successfully test their stem cell products in First-in-Human clinical trials.

Dr. Carpenter has been named inventor on 34 issued US patents and has over 50 peer reviewed publications in the stem cell field. She received her PhD from the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology at University of California, Irvine and received her B.Sc. in Psychology from University of Oregon.