Ben has devoted his career in academia and industry to the development of platforms for studying soft condensed matter and living systems. With a background spanning the fields of chemistry, materials science, engineering and computation, Ben has made significant contributions in advancing the understanding of colloidal physics, which led to the development of multiple single cell analysis platform technologies. Ben has co-authored 80+ publications, many of which appear in top journals, such as Nature, Science Advances, PNAS, and he has received numerous teaching and research awards. Ben co-founded Celldom while serving as a tenured professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke University, and then moved to a full-time role at Celldom in 2020, where he brings his expertise in computer vision, microscopy, and microfabrication to tackle big problems in rare cell biology. Having raised over $30M in his career in academia and industry, Ben is well positioned to lead the push to commercialize Celldom’s novel technology and impact the lives of cancer patients.

Eugene brings extensive expertise in cell assay miniaturization. His career in academy and industry was driven by the desire to explain heterogeneity of cellular behavior by analyzing one cell at a time. As a professor of Pediatrics at University of California, San Diego, his lab was studying vascular remodeling using microfluidic devices and animal models. In 2015, Dr. Tkachenko established MuWells, a microfluidic foundry, and was its CEO until the company merged with Celldom in 2022. Under his leadership, MuWells has completed more than 2000 custom microfluidic chip projects for over 70 customers in biotech, academy, and pharma; developed a CytoSoft® product line which was acquired by Advanced Biomatrix; and established patent-protected miniaturized cell assay platform which is now being commercialized by Celldom. Dr. Tkachenko has authored 24 articles in prestigious peer-review journals and 4 patents.

Harper brings a broad set of commercial and operational skills to the team – a formally trained developmental neuroscientist who is as comfortable with cell biology and platform technology development as he is with understanding customer pain points, addressing regulatory requirements, and managing partner relationships. Harper particularly enjoys the pace of early-stage startups, leveraging his unique insights in strategic, financial, marketing and operations to make an impact on customer and company success. After receiving his PhD in Neuroscience from University of California, San Diego, Harper assumed multiple commercial and leadership roles in cutting-edge life science and diagnostics companies, such as Illumina, Fluidigm, BioNano Genomics, and BioClavis. During the covid pandemic, Harper also served as Site Director at the UKHSA Lighthouse high-throughput RT-PCR lab, building the Glasgow lab to 105,000 test per day capacity. Harper is also a member of the editorial board of the Cambridge Press Journal: Precision Medicine.