The Cytheos Vision
At Cytheos, our mission is to redefine how biology is measured and analyzed. We are creating powerful tools that unlock ultra-rapid, massively multiplexed insights from the world’s most complex biological systems and samples. We aim to accelerate breakthroughs in human health, agriculture, veterinary medicine, and biosecurity. The Cytheos technology being developed will be reliable, fast, affordable, and universally accessible in resource limited settings where the logistics of cold-chain reagent storage are challenging or impossible. The ability to rapidly alter the targets detected by the array in the field will empower better decisions, earlier intervention, and smarter science everywhere.
The Cytheos Team
Justin Costa MS., Ph.D. Founder and Inventor
Cytheos was founded by Justin Costa, who holds a Ph.D. in biomedical science from The Mount Sinai Hospital with an emphasis on biophysics and nanotechnology. Prior to this he spent two years as a research fellow at the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, MD studying vertebrate developmental genetics. Justin also holds a master’s degree in biology from California State University, Fresno with a specialization in molecular oncology and angiogenesis. Before launching Cytheos, Dr. Costa spent six years leading a research group at Centrillion Technologies in Silicon Valley, developing novel microarray systems for spatial biology applications. Following this, Dr. Costa joined 10X Genomics in the departments of Assay Development (2 years) and then Chemistry (2.5 years), helping to realize the Xenium InSitu platform. He is the author of over 40 families of domestic and international patents and is the first author on publications in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. LinkedIn
Pradeep Ambrose Ph.D., MBA. Business Development
Pradeep is the CEO of XealousBio, a diagnostics company, and an interdisciplinary scientist who exists at the intersection of markets and molecules. He holds an MBA from Cornell Johnson School of Business, and a PhD in virology from Weill Cornell Medicine, and has extensive research experience in virology and how it applies to disease manifestation. Dr. Ambrose served as the Director of the COVID-19 Response for the Government of Bermuda and served as a personal advisor to Premier Hon. E. David Burt, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ayoola Oyinloye, and the Ministry of Health daily on the country’s COVID status during the Delta surge; overseeing a 99% reduction in average daily cases after taking over management of the lab responsible for all of Bermuda’s COVID testing. LinkedIn
Professor Alejandro Calderon-Urrea MS., Ph.D. Strategy and Mentoring
Dr. Calderon-Urrea was born in Colombia and received his bachelor’s in genetics from the Universidad del Valle in Cali. He received a master’s degree from Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, Belgium, specializing in plant molecular biology. After completing his PhD in plant developmental genetics from Yale and post-doctoral work at the UC-Berkeley/USDA Plant Gene Expression Center, Dr. Calderón-Urrea became a professor in the Department of Biology at California State University, Fresno where he has been for the last 25 years. Alejandro has also been a visiting professor at major universities in 5 countries and is the founder and CSO of Telluris Biotech India, which is developing products to protect crops against plant parasitic nematodes. Links to Telluris and ACU Lab and LinkedIn
Maurizio Righini Ph.D. Photonics and Engineering
Dr. Righini is a Staff Scientist at Pacific Biosciences in Menlo Park, California. He holds a doctorate in photonics from ICFO (The institute of photonic sciences, Barcelona, Spain) and an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Politecnico di Milano. Dr. Righini spent six years as a postdoctoral fellow in biophysics at UC Berkeley developing advanced techniques for using optical tweezers to manipulate nucleic acids. He has extensive experience working with microarrays and designing imaging systems for a wide range of biological applications. LinkedIn
David Braun MD./Ph.D. Clinical and Scientific Advisor
Dr. Braun is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and a member of the Center of Molecular and Cellular Oncology (CMCO) at Yale Cancer Center. His primary research focus and clinical care is for patients with kidney cancers. He received his PhD in Computational Biology from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science at New York University and his medical degree from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He completed his residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he received the Dunn Medical Intern Award and served as Chief Medical Resident before completing fellowship training in adult oncology through the Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare program where he was appointed the Emil Frei Fellow and the John R. Svenson Fellow. Link to Braun Lab and LinkedIn
Thomas Hays MD./Ph.D. Clinical and Scientific Advisor
Dr. Hays is a neonatologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He is a K23-supported early-stage investigator studying the contribution of genetic disorders to newborn critical illness and the use of genomic sequencing to improve NICU care. Dr. Hays focuses on the genetic basis of growth restriction and the genetic basis of morbidity and mortality experienced by infants born with low birth weight. He led the neonatal arm of the NIH funded project PrenatalSEQ, studying the use of prenatal sequencing to improve management in the setting of fetal anomalies, and recently identified a novel genetic cause of complex congenital heart disease. Link to Hays Lab and LinkedIn