Management Team
Pluristyx’s executive management team combines over 50 years of rich scientific and commercial expertise in the fields of iPSC manufacturing, stem cell biology, cryopreservation, developmental genetics, and cell therapy project management.
Benjamin Fryer, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Ben Fryer received his Doctorate in Pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He has spent 18 years in industrial research, including 14 years as a stem cell scientist on innovative cellular therapeutic project ranging from basic research to translational R&D and clinical manufacturing. He is experienced in cross-functional team management, technical transfers to GMP environment, and managing large and diverse teams. Dr. Fryer has multiple issued and pending patents regarding processing, expanding and differentiating stem cells, and is a co-inventor on the foundational patent application for Semma Therapeutics, Inc.
Jason Carstens, PhD
Chief Operating Officer
Jason Carstens has over 20 years of process development, GMP manufacturing, and CMC project management experience in the biotech industry. Prior to Pluristyx, Dr. Carstens was VP of Manufacturing and Development at Nohla Therapeutics, a cell therapy company developing clinical products from hematopoietic stem cells. Dr. Carstens also spent five years as the Director of Cell Therapy Process Development and Manufacturing at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and spent 13 years at CMC Biologics as the Director of Upstream Process Development.
Dr. Carstens has an appointment at the University of Washington as an Affiliate Associate Professor. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington.
Brian Hawkins, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
Brian Hawkins received his Doctorate in Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He is an internationally recognized expert in mitochondrial biology, cell metabolism, and cell therapy project management with over 15 years of combined experience in academic and industrial research. Dr. Hawkins formerly served as a founding member and assistant professor in the Mitochondria and Metabolism Center at the University of Washington before transitioning to cell therapy as Scientific Applications Director at BioLife Solutions. Dr. Hawkins serves on numerous national committees that aim to advance the development and manufacture of cell therapy and regenerative medicine products.
Dr. Hawkins was the team leader for the ANSI/PDA Cryopreservation Standard recognized as a voluntary consensus standard by the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Kaye Reiter, PhD, JD
General Counsel
Kaye D. Reiter, PhD, JD has over 10 years of biotech law experience, counseling pharmaceutical companies and academic and non-profit institutions. She has substantial experience in preparing patent landscape, freedom to operate, and commercialization analyses; assessing intellectual property (IP); identifying strategic partners for growth and negotiating agreements that may develop from those activities. Kaye obtained her PhD in molecular biology from the University of California, Berkeley and then conducted research at a large pharmaceutical company before attending law school at the University of Washington.
After serving as patent associate for both Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati and Davis Wright Tremaine, Dr. Reiter served as Senior Licensing Associate and Technology Manager at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), where she played a significant role in negotiating several high-impact patent licenses and in promoting the establishment of a number of life science companies, including Juno Therapeutics, Nohla Therapeutics, and Rocket Pharma.