Amelia Zellander, PhD is a bioengineer by training with extensive industry experience in medical device and pharmaceutical R&D. During her PhD studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, she created a cornea replacement technology that was submitted to the United States Patent and Trade Office for a patent filing. In addition, she developed multiple biomaterials to further understanding concerning the mechanical and structural tunability of synthetic polymers and to identify tissue replacement applications for polymeric structures. After completing her PhD, Dr. Zellander developed cell therapies and medical devices in R&D roles at Janssen R&D (a Johnson & Johnson company) and Imvax. As a scientist at Janssen R&D, she conducted feasibility and stability testing for cell therapies for multiple myeloma and age-related macular degeneration. As Laboratory Lead at Imvax, she conducted and managed research that enabled regulatory filings for a glioblastoma cell therapy and positioned the company to file additional regulatory submissions for other oncology indications.

In 2017, while working full-time as a scientist at a pharmaceutical company, Dr. Zellander initiated a cornea research project with Lesley Chow, PhD at Lehigh University. Dr. Zellander continues to work with legal counsel to protect all intellect property and secure exclusive commercialization rights for jointly owned intellectual property. Together, Dr. Zellander and Dr. Chow developed a prototype for a novel polymeric membrane for cornea replacement. Dr. Zellander continues to collaborate with the Chow lab, mentoring Chow lab students and supporting grant writing for funding the joint research initiative. Prototype development in Dr. Chow’s lab has been funded by grants and BioLattice investment. For the $42,700 Pennsylvania Department of Health award granted to Dr. Chow’s lab in 2021, Dr. Zellander was a co-investigator and key contributor to the completion of the grant application. In 2023, Dr. Zellander’s fundraising efforts yielded over $300,000 in funding. Dr. Zellander won the $80,000 1st place prize in The Enterprise Center’s “Most Diverse Tech Hub” pitch competition in 2023. With the Enterprise Center funding, Dr. Zellander initiated two prototype development projects with private biomaterials development collaborators, contracted a regulatory specialist to establish a regulatory strategy for the engineered cornea, and contracted a COO to lead fundraising and refinement of the commercialization strategy. Also, in 2023 BioLattice was awarded $274,000 in National Science Foundation SBIR Phase 1 funding. Fundraising and R&D efforts continue to support the company’s next pivotal milestone: demonstration of engineered cornea function in an animal model.