Authors

BIOGRAPHY

Alexey Bersenev received medical education and was certified as a general surgeon in Russia. After completing medical school, he received a PhD in transplantation/ pathology in 2003. Over the next six years, Alexey underwent post-doctoral training in the United States at Thomas Jefferson University and at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. During this period he gained expertise in immunology, hematology, stem cell biology, and published scientific papers. In 2011, Alexey started work as a cell processing technologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Over the next three years he received training in clinical cell processing in a GMP cell manufacturing facility. Since Feb. 2015, Alexey is working at Yale University (Yale-New Haven Hospital) as Facility Director of both the Clinical Cell Therapy Processing Laboratory and the Advanced Cell Therapy Laboratory. His expertise is in clinical manufacturing of cellular products for clinical trials, including product and process development, cell processing and culture, operations of academic GMP facilities and compliance with regulations. He is also Associate Research Scientist at the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Yale University.

BIOGRAPHY

Pedro Silva Couto received his masters degree in biological engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Lisboa, Portugal. His thesis examined the laboratory procedures for isolating and storing mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) from the human umbilical cord. Pedro has worked for the Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation since 2014, and joined the co-founders of CellTrials.org in early 2017. Pedro went back to school in 2017 to pursue a PhD in biochemical engineering at University College London (UCL). His thesis work under Dr. Qasim Rafik studied the growth of MSC and CAR-T in bioreactors. Upon completing his PhD, Pedro stayed on at UCL as a post-doc. In January 2026, Pedro became a Lecturer at the University of Bath, where he is running a research group that will focus on biomanufacturing for cellular agriculture. Together, Pedro and Frances have co-authored numerous blogs and several peer-reviewed publications. Pedro is a huge fan of the stem cells and regenerative medicine field and has contributed to the outreach efforts of professional organizations such as AABB and ISCT.  Pedro's interests also include piano, choir singing, and soccer.

BIOGRAPHY

Dale Stibbs joins Cell Trials Data as our resident expert on gene therapy. Dale completed his PhD at University College London (UCL). Dale spent three years building a database of clinical trials that employ pure gene therapy (without cells as carriers). The gene therapy trials for 2011 - 2021 were released in January 2022.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Frances Verter spent her first career as an astrophysicist, her second career as a computer programmer, and currently in her third incarnation she is the founder and CEO of Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation. Together with Alexey Bersenev and Pedro Silva Couto, she launched CellTrials.org as a subsidiary of the Foundation in 2017. Frances is also active as an advisor or consultant on the fields of biobanking and regenerative medicine. When she is not sitting at a computer, her main activities are walking her dogs and doing yard work around her house.

The core Team of Cell Trials Data consists of three people: Alexey Bersenev, MD PhD, Frances Verter, PhD, and Pedro Silva Couto, PhD. Alexey is the facility director of the clinical cell therapy processing and advanced cell therapy laboratories at Yale University. Frances and Pedro are the scientific staff of Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation. Frances is the director of the Foundation and holds a PhD in astrophysics from Princeton University. Pedro completed his PhD in biochemical engineering at University College London, and is currently a Lecturer at the University of Bath. We all work on the team data products, but within the field of advanced cell therapy, Alexey is our expert on immunotherapy, whereas Frances and Pedro are mainly interested in regenerative medicine.