Cell-El Therapeutics Ltd.’ mission is to identify ASD in infancy and to advance AI‑based precision medicine. This approach may enable personalized therapeutic treatment options and improve outcomes.
Early intervention for ASD has been reported to improve long-term outcomes. Therefore, there is a need to diagnose ASD from infancy. The current diagnostic methods are subjective behavior profiling tests that are not applicable to infants. Cell-El’s AI-powered technology analyzes a blood-based protein biomarker (proteomic) panel to identify patterns that differentiate children with ASD from typically developing peers.
Cell-El’s AI-powered technology analyzes a blood-based protein biomarker (proteomic) panel to identify patterns that differentiate children with ASD from typically developing peers. The proteomic blood test’s algorithm resulted from Cell-El’s multi-center study of more than 400 children aged 2–12. The test has the potential to provide parents and clinicians with objective results. Cell-El’s blood test could allow earlier interventions to benefit the children and is being investigated as a tool for long term monitoring of treatment success.
Cell-El is actively recruiting study participants:
- High-risk infants (a sibling of a child diagnosed with ASD) aged 10-18 months and their mothers.
- Children aged 2-18 with ASD undergoing stem cell treatment.
If you are interested in finding out more, please contact us.
Meet the Cell-El Team
Benjamin (Beni) Gesundheit, MD PhD
Founder & CMO
Dr. Gesundheit brings his experience in the departments of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto Canada, the departments of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Soroka Hospital, Beer Sheva, Israel and at Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel to his methodical research in ASD and its immunological aspects as well as to the rationale for treatment with stem cells. He holds a MD from the University of Basel, Switzerland (1992). He received a PhD in Bioethics from University of Toronto (2004) with a dissertation on Jewish medical ethics. Dr. Gesundheit served on the faculty of the Department of Jewish Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Fred Samuels, PhD
CEO
Dr. Samuels has over 39 years of senior management experience in startup, mid size and large companies in the in vitro diagnostic (IVD) industry including Orgenics, Alere and Abbott. He has led the development, manufacturing and CE and FDA approval of many in vitro diagnostics (IVD) products. Dr. Samuels holds a Ph.D in Biochemistry from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1983) and was a Rockefeller Foundation Post Doctoral fellow at the Harvard Medical School (1983 -85) before entering the diagnostics industry.
Charles Piwko, PhD
Director of Business Development
Dr Piwko is a strategic thinker and contingency planner. He has the analytical skills for integrating and interpreting interdisciplinary projects. He has 20 years of experience conducting health economic research for the pharma, biotech, and medical devices industry. More recently he has assisted start-up companies to develop business plans and strategies, in addition to raising funds. He holds a Pharmacy Doctor degree and a PhD in Pharmacology both from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH) and an MSc in Health Administration (Health Economics) from the University of Toronto.
Tamar Heller, MBA
CFO
Ms. Heller has been working with Cell-El since its inception. She is responsible for the financial management of the company.
Ms. Heller is a certified accountant with a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in finance and information systems.
Philip David Zisman, PhD
Immunologist and Laboratory Director
Dr. Zisman has over ten years of experience in the fields of immunology, bioassays, biotechnology, biochemistry and cell biology. He is responsible for laboratory expertise, assay development and international collaboration for lab related issues. Dr. Zisman holds a PhD in Microbiology from the Lautenberg Center for Immunology, Hebrew University Jerusalem (2005).
Leah Hochbaum, MA OTR/L
Recruitment Coordinator
Mrs. Hochbaum has over 20 years of experience working with families of children with ASD. Leah speaks with parents and clinicians about our ASD diagnostic study, thereby enabling our research. Speak with Leah if you would like to join our team and work together at tackling the autism challenge. Leah holds a degree in BSc Biology from Touro College (1991) and an MA Occupational Therapy from New York University (1994).
Yehudit Posen, PhD
Scientific Medical Writer
Dr. Posen consults at Cell-El, and prepares clinical trial-related documents and manuscripts for publication. She brings over ten years of experience as a medical and scientific writer, supporting both academic researchers and pharmaceutical and medical device R&D teams. Dr. Posen holds a PhD from the Department of Biological Regulation of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Refoel Guggenheim, MD
Study-Coordinator, Switzerland and Europe
Dr. Guggenheim is a clinical pediatrician affiliated at the Triemli Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. He focuses on pediatric developmental medicine and Allergy/Clinical Immunology. He studied in Zurich, Switzerland and specialized at the University Kinderspital in Zurich. Dr. Guggenheim’s fellowship was in Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He is engaged in Medical Ethics and organizes Conferences on Jewish Medical Ethics. He is co-editor of the pediatric journal Kinderärzte Schweiz.
Ashley Ansel, MA
Researcher
Susan Suna, MA
Web Development
Mrs. Suna has over twenty years of web design and development experience with small to large organizations as well as pharmaceutical companies. She works closely with the team crafting the website and its messaging.
Cell-El Clinical, Scientific and Strategic Advisors
Gerald Friedman, MD
Dr. Gerald Friedman is a consultant pediatrician at the Autism clinic of the Children Treatment Network (CTN) in Toronto. He is the principal site investigator for the Cell El Autism research study at CTN. He has a practice focused on Developmental Pediatrics and Pediatric Neurology.
Peter J Chung, MD FAAP
Dr. Peter Jinwu Chung is a board-certified general and developmental-behavioral pediatrician who specializes in neurodevelopmental disorders. He is a faculty member at the University of California Irvine and serves as the medical director at The Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders at UCI.
Dr. Chung completed his undergraduate degree at Harvard University and received a BA summa cum laude in social anthropology. He earned his medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City. He completed his internship, residency, chief residency and fellowship at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles. He also trained at UCLA’s Tarjan Center and at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles as part of the California Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (CA-LEND) program.
Paul Feigin, PhD
Professor Feigin is an authority on the statistical design of clinical studies and worked on methods for the analysis of genomic studies. His research projects range from the statistical analysis of genetic association studies to the analysis of customer patience in call centers. He is an elected fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and of the International Statistical Institute
Professor Emeritus Paul Feigin joined the Technion’s Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management in 1976, after completing his Ph.D at the Australian National University in 1975. Before retirement, he held the Gruenblat Chair in Production Engineering. Together with the late Prof. Ayala Cohen, he established the Technion Statistics Laboratory, which he continues to manage, and which provides statistical consulting services to academic and industrial clients. Alongside his academic activity he accumulated extensive experience in industry.
Markus Hosang, PhD
Dr. Hosang is a General Partner and Managing Director at BioMedPartners AG, a Basel-based venture capital (VC) firm specializing in early- to mid-stage life sciences investments. Over the last 20 years, he has been instrumental in identifying and nurturing numerous innovative (bio)pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies. Dr. Hosang serves as Chairman of Unitectra AG, the joint technology transfer office of the Universities of Basel, Zurich, and Bern, and sat or still sits on the boards of numerous portfolio companies.
Prior to joining BioMedPartners, Dr. Hosang spent close to two decades at Roche in senior management positions within the Pharma Division. As Head of Pharma Development Projects in Basel, Chief Scientific Officer, and Deputy Head of Genetics and Integrated Medicine, he pioneered the foundations of “Personalized Medicine.”
Dr. Hosang earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). His postgraduate training was conducted at Stanford University School of Medicine in Neurobiology and at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
Zafrira Avnur, PhD
Senior Biopharma Executive and Strategic Advisor.
Zafrira (Zafi) Avnur, PhD, is a senior biopharma executive with nearly 40 years of experience spanning global pharmaceutical R&D, translational development, and external innovation. She held senior leadership roles at Roche and later served as Chief Scientific Officer and Partner at Quark’s Global Health Science Fund. Drawing on her extensive background across drug discovery, clinical strategy, and commercialization, she helps early-stage companies design development pathways that integrate scientific rigor with business and regulatory realities.
Dr. Avnur has founded, invested in, and advised numerous biotech and healthcare technology ventures, with board experience across rare genetic diseases, cell engineering, genomic diagnostics, and AI-enabled therapeutics. She currently serves on the Board of Nemdex, is a member of the Investment Committee of Mass General Brigham Ventures, and supports emerging platforms advancing next-generation cell and precision medicine. She earned her PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science and completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford University.
