Geoffrey Erickson, Ph.D., President and CEO
Dr. Erickson joined Humacyte as President and CEO in September 2006. Prior to Humacyte, Dr. Erickson was a Principal with Pappas Ventures, a life-science focused venture capital firm that manages $250 million. Prior to and while at Pappas he was instrumental in many life science company financing transactions as well as designing several startup companies. Dr. Erickson earned his PhD in the Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering Departments at Duke University, where he also currently holds an Assistant Adjunct Professorship in the Department of Surgery.

Dr. Laura Niklason, M.D., Ph.D., Founder and CSO
Dr. Laura Niklason, the Company's scientific founder, is a world leader in tissue engineering. Her research has appeared in some of the most highly regarded peer-reviewed scientific publications, including the journals Science and The Lancet. Dr. Niklason is currently Associate Professor of Anesthesia and Biomedical Engineering at Yale University. Dr. Niklason received her PhD in Biophysics from the University of Chicago and her MD from the University of Michigan. She performed her postdoctoral work at MIT in Dr. Robert Langer's laboratory.

Juliana Blum, Ph.D., Director of Business Operations
and Co-founder
Dr. Blum has spent the past several years in the field of biomedical engineering where she has combined her molecular biology expertise with tissue engineering to aid in improving the technologies surrounding human collagenous scaffolds. Dr. Blum received her doctorate in Molecular Biology from Loyola University Chicago in 2003. Prior to her time in graduate school, Dr. Blum completed her BS at Carthage College in Wisconsin.

Shannon Dahl, Ph.D., Director of Scientific Operations
and Co-founder
Dr. Dahl has been working in the field of tissue engineering since 1998, and brings a strong technical expertise to Humacyte. Dr. Dahl received her Ph.D. from Duke University in the field of vascular tissue engineering. Her research focused on culturing tissue engineered arteries in vitro, and investigating the relationship between tissue composition and mechanical behavior. Prior to her doctoral studies, Dr. Dahl completed her S.B. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Materials Science and Engineering.

Yuling Li, M.D., Ph.D., Principal Scientist
Dr. Li joined Humacyte as a Principal Scientist in 2005. Dr. Li received her medical degree and a master's degree in Public Health from Shanghai Medical University, Shanghai, China in 1988 and 1991 respectively. She was a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati in 1995 and earned her Ph.D. in 2000 with the research focused on the mechanism of cancer-prone genetic disorder Ataxia Telangiectasia. From 2000 to 2004, she did her first postdoctoral fellowship in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina. Prior to joining Humacyte, she was a postdoctoral fellow involved in developing biotherapies for diabetes using stem cells at Becton Dickinson.

Bill Tente, MS, VP of Manufacturing and Regulatory Affairs
Mr. Tente joined Humacyte in 2008. He has over 24 years of experience in product and bioprocess development for a variety of cell therapy and tissue-engineered products and biologics. He was the Vice President of Operations for Neurotech USA from 2002 to 2007. Neurotech USA has developed encapsulated cell technology products for the long term delivery of therapeutic protein factors to the back of the eye to treat chronic diseases of the retina. Prior to joining Neurotech USA, he was the Director of Operations of Chimeric Therapies, Inc. and was responsible for manufacturing, quality control and logistics for bone marrow processing and transplantation operations. Previously, he was the Director of Clinical Production at CytoTherapeutics, Inc., where he was responsible for biological process development, manufacturing and quality control for the encapsulated pain cell therapy product. He has also held managerial and research positions in process development and production of cell-culture-based recombinant pharmaceuticals at the Ares Serono Group, Charles River Biotechnical Services and Schering Biotechnology. Bill holds Bachelor and Master of Sciences degrees in cell biology and microbiology from the University of Rhode Island and studied at the W. Alton Jones Cell Sciences Center in Lake Placid, NY. He has been a member of the USP Expert Committee on Gene Therapy, Cell Therapy, and Tissue Engineering since 1997 and is currently the Chairman of this committee.