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Tamer Mohamed, CEO of Aspect Biosystems, sat down with Onyx for a feature-length interview.
ADDENDUM 09/01/24: Aspect Biosystems has closed a US$115 million Series B financing round led by Dimension, a leading investor at the intersection of technology and life sciences, with participation from Novo Nordisk and other notable investors. You can read more about this exciting development here.
Could you give us a quick overview of your career journey thus far?
My original training was in electrical and computer engineering at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. I've always been a geek at heart, an engineer fascinated by building computer systems with ones and zeros. Near the end of my undergraduate degree, I started taking a few biological courses. What became apparent to me was that we've understood the human body to a point where we could start using cells to build biological and living systems. That really piqued my curiosity.
In my graduate studies, I focused on building technologies aimed at creating these biological systems—specifically, advanced 3D printing technology capable of taking living building blocks, namely cells, and printing them into biological systems or tissues. These could then be implanted into the body to replace functions that have been lost due to disease. Aspect was born out of this work with the goal of marrying engineering with biology to pioneer the development of bioprinted tissue therapeutics for serious disease.
So, could you give us an overview of what Aspect Biosystems does?
We're pioneering a new class of cellular medicines designed to replace, repair, or supplement biological functions that have been lost inside the body. We call this new class "bioprinted tissue therapeutics."
Our full-stack tissue therapeutic platform—which includes our unique bioprinting technology, therapeutic cells, biomaterials, and computational design—allows us to harness the power of cells and marry that with our technology to create these functional, bioengineered tissues that can be implanted into the body to replace or restore lost function. Areas of focus for us are metabolic and endocrine indications including diabetes and liver disease.
If you look at our focus on diabetes, for example, we're not trying to create an entire pancreas. We're actually trying to create a functional tissue therapeutic that has the cells missing in those patients—specifically, the islets capable of sensing glucose and releasing insulin. Our tissues look nothing like a pancreas and aren't necessarily implanted anywhere near a pancreas, but they could provide a functional cure. Really what we’re doing is taking a bioengineering approach to therapeutic development.
We see these bioprinted tissue therapeutics as the next generation of cellular medicines—a new category in regenerative medicine. We've been achieving great success in applying our technology, attracting the attention of large biopharma companies, building a world-class team, and generating compelling data as we advance towards becoming a clinical-stage company.
Speaking of large biopharma, the $2.6B partnership with Novo Nordisk is a vote of confidence. Could you talk a bit about that partnership, how it's progressing, and what the long-term vision is?
We're thrilled to be partnered with Novo Nordisk. They bring such a rich history in the areas we're also focussed on. We’re aligned on a common mission to bring forward truly functional cures and disease-modifying treatments for the patients counting on us. There's a lot of strong alignment with Novo Nordisk, and we're excited about the progress we are making together.
We're bringing together not just a shared goal but also different technologies. Novo Nordisk is contributing their stem cell experience and capabilities, while Aspect is bringing our full-stack tissue therapeutic platform and expertise. Of course, Novo Nordisk also brings all the muscle that comes with a large biopharma giant.
In addition to our partnership with Novo Nordisk, we're also driving forward with our internal pipeline focused on metabolic and endocrine indications; liver disease and other endocrine disorders.
What has been the biggest challenge you've overcome with the company?
You can imagine all the different types of discussions we've had over the years regarding the various tissues we've looked at developing. The challenge has always been focus.
We've gotten really good at identifying areas of high medical need, where we can create highly differentiated products, and where we can deliver real impact on patients. We're focusing on those applications. As a team, we've become very adept at making strategic decisions about which indications to work on, which partners to collaborate with, and when we want to partner on a program vs. advance it independently.
It's clear this company is a passion project for you. How important do you feel being a founder-CEO is to making everything a success?
Of course, I'm biased, but I think it's crucial. Founders with a clear vision can bring a mentality of "anything is possible." Critics will often remind you of all the problems and how many things could go wrong. Founders are really good at finding the one reason something could work. But it’s also about so much more than the founder – what really makes me proud is that we’ve built an interdisciplinary team that shares the same vision and is driven to make an impact on patients.
