For over two decades Roland Martin and Mireia Sospedra have been pursuing research about the disease mechanisms and target antigens in MS. Andreas Lutterotti joined the research team in 2006 and has been instrumental in the development of a semi-automatic GMP process to couple autologous red blood cells with peptides and early attempts at antigen-specific tolerance induction.
The founders: Andreas Lutterotti, Mireia Sospedra, Roland Martin
Cellerys was founded in 2015 as a spinoff from the University of Zurich, where it conducted a successful phase I clinical trial with the support of Wyss Zurich, a joint accelerator of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich). The phase I trial showed excellent tolerability and safety and indicated the induction of several tolerance mechanisms.
In 2021, Cellerys entered into partnership with Novartis to support the Phase Ib trial for an immune tolerization therapy (CLS12311) in multiple sclerosis. This phase Ib trial (RED4MS) has now been finalized and has demonstrated the safety and tolerability of this innovative tolerance induction therapy. The treatment is now ready to enter into Phase IIa trial.
Leadership
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Andreas Lutterotti is co-founder and CMO of Cellerys. He is a neurologist by training with core expertise in early treatment development in multiple sclerosis. He previously held positions at the University of Zurich and the University of Innsbruck. Currently he is having a position as Lead Physician and Head of the Neuroimmunological Outpatient Clinic at Bellevue Medical Group and Department of Neurology, Hirslanden Hospital Zurich.
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Roland Martin is co-founder of Cellerys and CSO with an internationally recognised track record in the fields of MS pathogenesis, autoreactive T cells, antigen specificity, the role of genetic and environmental risk factors and the development of innovative MS treatments. He continues to pursue research at the University of Zürich and Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, and previously held positions at University Hospitals Würzburg and Tübingen, the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, the University Hospital Vall D'Hebron, Barcelona, the University of Hamburg and its University Hospital, and from 2011-2022 the University Hospital Zurich.
Clinical/Regulatory Team
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Nathalie Fournichot joined Cellerys in 2021 and is Operations Manager and QMS Administrator at Cellerys. She brings over 14 years of operations management and finance experience, having previously worked in finance and controlling at ETH Zürich, in HR, finance and third-party funding at the University Hospital Zürich, and as managing director at the Institute of Physiology, University of Zürich. She graduated in business administration.
Lab Team
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Zoe Marti is a PhD student at Cellerys since 2023, extending her research activities from her bachelor’s degree in biology and masters in neuroimmunology and multiple sclerosis at the University Hospital, Zürich, where she also represented the ETH Zürich student committee as head of PR and sponsorship. She also brings practical experience in administration and customer service in hospital-focussed cloud computing from her time at ametiq AG.
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Mireia Sospedra Ramos is co-founder and senior principal scientist at Cellerys. In her career spanning over two decades she has worked as an independent investigator in the field of human immunology in both Germany and Switzerland, complemented with Postdoctoral research in France and the USA. She has expertise in the field of identification and classification of autoreactive CD4+T cells, focussing on disease heterogeneity, tolerization approaches and identification of novel antigens in multiple sclerosis. She holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from Autonomous University of Barcelona, as well as master’s degrees in scientific communication and in nutrition and food.
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Vasileia Kalaitzaki joined Cellerys in March 2025, after completing her PhD in Neuroimmunology at the University of Zurich. During her PhD, she investigated the mechanisms of immune tolerance induction through peptide-coupled cells in an animal model of Multiple Sclerosis. During her master’s degree in Immunotherapy at University College London, she studied the use of immunophenotyping as a predictive marker of immunogenicity in Multiple Sclerosis. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Athens.
Magdalena Foege, Andreas Lutterotti, Nicola Rennie, Nathalie Fournichot, Laure Tillé, Roland Martin, Mireia Sospedra, Zoe Marti, Valentin von Niederhäusern, Nik Barbet, Jacobo Sarabia del Castillo, Yvonne Sturm
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Claudia Mitchell is the Chair of Cellerys and the CEO of Savantia, a biotech strategy and consulting firm. She brings over 20 years of leadership experience in biopharma across the US, Europe, and Asia. Claudia is also the Chair of Cellertz Bio and a member of the Board of Directors of Gubra and Coave Therapeutics.
Previously, she served as Senior Vice President of Portfolio Strategy at Astellas Pharma in Tokyo. Prior to that, she was CEO and co-founder of Universal Cells, a US-based biotech company acquired in 2019, and co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Halo-Bio RNAi Therapeutics. Earlier in her career, she held research leadership roles at INSERM in Paris and at the LGMD2I Research Fund, a US-based nonprofit.
Claudia holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Paris and an MBA in International Management from École des Ponts Business School. In 2018, she was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Life Sciences for the Pacific Northwest, USA.
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Nicolas Martin is the Chief Financial Officer of European Biopharma Therapeutics, a specialty pharmaceuticals company focused on rare cancers. Nick is a co-founder and director of Cellerys and served as its Managing Director from inception until 2023. Prior to Cellerys, he worked for over a decade as an investor in private and public equity at Consulta and KKR, as well as in investment banking at Morgan Stanley. Nick holds degrees in economics and international relations from the University of St. Gallen and Harvard University.