Our Story

Empowering researchers and entrepreneurs

HOYA Consulting is driven by a singular mission: to assist academic researchers and entrepreneurs in bringing their cell therapy aspirations from the laboratory to patients in need.

That's our sole focus.

Elevating together

Drawing on our extensive knowledge gained through pioneering research on pluripotent stem cells, hPSC-based cell therapy manufacturing, and supporting inventors in venture creation, HOYA confidently stands by your side to bring research from "the bench" to the bedside and beyond to successful commercialization.

The name HOYA is derived from La Jolla, a vibrant neighborhood in San Diego. During our founders' introduction, they discovered that each of them had lived in San Diego at different times without crossing paths. Combining this serendipitous connection with our Swedish heritage, where "höja" means to elevate, HOYA became the clear choice for our name. We are committed to elevating our clients to the next level.

  • co-founder

    Professor Anna Falk runs a research team at the Lund Stem Cell Center. Anna is the Director of the ES/iPS cell core facility at Lund Stem Cell Center, coordinator of Indicell and Board Member (Global Alliance for IPSC Therapies (GAiT).

    Anna’s research centres on understanding the mechanisms that control human brain development and the regenerative potential of induced pluripotent stem cells in clinical applications. Anna’s lab has derived one of few GMP iPS cell lines that is now stored in a master bank.

    Anna received a degree in Molecular Biology at Umeå University, a PhD, from Karolinska Institutet and worked as a postdoctoral scientist at Cambridge University. On returning to Sweden, Anna established an iPS core facility at Karolinska Institutet and took a sabbatical at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California. Anna moved to Lund University in 2021.

  • co-founder

    Doctor Heather Main has worked with pluripotent stem cells since 2003 when she received her degree in Molecular Biology from The University of Adelaide. During her PhD at Karolinska Institutet Heather had the opportunity to be a visiting scientist at A*Star/Singapore, CMRI/Sydney and NIH/Maryland. Heather completed a post doctoral position at the University of Sydney, while at the same time working as the Manager of the NSW Stem Cell Network.

    Heather moved into commercial application of hPSC with the company Genea Biocells who subsequently moved from Sydney, Australia to San Diego, California. Upon returning to Sweden Heather performed intertwining functions translating a hPSC-RPE protocol to hands on GMP manufacture and worked as a communicator developing Sweden’s National and International cell and gene therapy pharmaceutical network ‘ATMP Sweden’.

  • co-founder

    Ajdin Jakupovic received a Master of Science in Pharmacology from the University of Gothenburg, including performing his Master’s thesis project at The University of California San Diego (UCSD). He holds a second Master of Science in Bioentrepreneurship from Karolinska Institutet where great emphasis was on finance for startups, marketing and sales.

    Ajdin was employed at Industrifonden as an investment analyst, has been a General Board Member of Apotekarsocieteten (West Coast) and Project Manager of BiotechBuilders Stockholm. To this, he currently works in medical device sales.