Amelia Zellander, PhD is a bioengineer with extensive industry experience in medical device and pharmaceutical R&D. During her PhD studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, she created cornea replacement technologies and developed multiple biomaterials to further tissue engineering research. After completing her PhD, Dr. Zellander developed cell therapies and medical devices in R&D roles at Janssen R&D (a Johnson & Johnson company) and Imvax. Currently, Dr. Zellander is the co-founder and CEO of BioLattice Ophthalmics, Inc. BioLattice is creating alternatives to donor tissues, beginning with cornea. Over $1 million in funding has been raised to support the development of engineered cornea for use in the full thickness replacement of damaged cornea. Fundraising and R&D efforts continue to support the company’s next pivotal milestones: demonstration of engineered cornea function in an animal model and US FDA filings for a clinical trial.