Leader in Biotechnology. Specialist in 3D bioprinting.

Matti Kesti is a biotechnology leader with a PhD from ETH Zurich. He has 10 years of experience as the CTO growing a biotech company and translating bioprinted combination product into clinical trials. He is also an angel investor supporting groundbreaking start-ups. He is a husband, a father of four and a passionate mountain climber in the Swiss alps. He has both the Swiss and Finnish citizenships, and is well connected internationally.

Executive summary

Specialist in bioprinting

Matti completed his MSc in Materials Engineering and PhD in bioprinting technologies at ETH Zurich. He was the CTO of Auregen Biotherapeutics, the company that translated bioprinted ear graft cell therapy to FDA clinical trials.

Innovated many patents in bioprinting technologies and cGMP processes to enable clinical translation of bioprinting.
Worked with bioprinting industry partners to develop their printers to be suitable for cGMP production.
Led the bioprinting scientific advice and technical discussions with EMEA and FDA.

Skills

Angel investor in early-stage companies. In 2025 joined the Switzerland's largest angel investor group SICTIC as a member. In 2025 joined the ETH Zurich entrepreneurship mentor program to advice university founders and their companies.
First 3D bioprinted cell therapy in clinical trials. Auregen Biotherapeutics, an ETH Zurich spin-off, was built on his PhD research to translate 3D bioprinted cartilage ear grafts. During his leadership in chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) group the company translated the technology to clinical trials under FDA (NCT06072040).
Graduated ETH Zurich PhD in 2018 from Prof. Marcy Zenobi-Wong group, specializing in 3D bioprinting technologies.
Founding Auregen Biotherapeutics SA on his birthday in December 2016.
Moved to Switzerland 2012 for biotech research and received the Swiss citizenship 2022.

Career Highlights

Leadership and management

Board Member
Executive and cross-functional leadership
Strategic Partnerships
Investor Relations
Company formation and recruitment
CapEx budgeting and financing
Entrepreneurship
Mentoring
Program and project management

Technical

Biopharmaceuticals
Cell & Gene Therapies
Tissue engineering (Cartilage, Bone, MSC)
Analytical testing (identity, potency, purity)
Release process and quality assurance
Technology transfer to CDMO
IP rights, licensing, portfolio management
Pre-clinical package (ISO-10993, Tox, PD, etc.)
Innovation management

Regulatory

Regulatory advocacy and strategy
CMC representative in multiple regulatory meetings (FDA, EMEA, etc.)
Manufacturing license approval
Audit readiness and audit participation
Pre-IND and IND meetings
IND module 3 author and complete IND reviewer
User testing and design history file

Professional Experience

Angel Investor member

SICTIC, Switzerland

March 2025 - Present

Member of the Swiss ICT Investor Club (SICTIC). SICTIC is the largest angel investor club in Switzerland with over 500 members.

Chief Technology Officer

Auregen Biotherapeutics, Switzerland

December 2016 - February 2025

Co-founder, CTO and board member at Auregen. Directed and developed teams across global sites (CH, DE, USA). Participated in cross-functional leadership, shareholder and board meetings. Experience in both fundraising and budget allocation, growing the company from a university spin-off to a clinical stage biotech.

Strategized and oversaw required pre-clinical development, IND enabling development studies and manufacturing process.
Build the R&D group and led the team of 10 FTEs. Responsible of the budget oversight and vendor contracts.
Invented multiple new technology patents and managed an IP portfolio with a legal team.
Led technology transfer to a CDMO and represented the client in process development and validation. Led analytical in-process and release test methods transfer to QC. Experience in aseptic manufacturing and cGMP requirements.
Represented CMC organization with global regulatory bodies (FDA, EMEA, PEI, TGA) and successfully prepared regulatory submissions and briefing documents, facilitating clinical trial approvals and venture capital investments.
Build strong supporting networks from KOLs, investors, CROs, partners and collaborators. Facilitated multiple user testing and surgical training days with KOLs and lead surgeons.

PhD Research

ETH Zurich, Department of Health, Science and Technology, Switzerland

January 2013 - December 2016

Matti performed his PhD research in Tissue Engineering and Biofabrication group of Prof. Marcy Zenobi-Wong. The Prof. Zenobi-Wong group is known for expertise in innovative 3D bioprinting methods, cutting edge materials science and deep understanding of cartilage biology. Multiple graduate PhDs have founded spin-off companies based on their research in the group.

During the PhD, Matti collaborated with multiple bioprinter providers including RegenHU and Cellink to provide feedback for further product development. Matti supervised multiple master thesis projects and collaborations from external laboratories such as AO Research Institute Davos. He was part of the organizing committee of 3D printing and bioprinting summer school at EPFL. He was a speaker and presenter in multiple biofabrication conferences and academic research meetings.

Teaching Responsibilities:

Competence on additive manufacturing of polymeric materials summer school (3D CAMP), September 5th-9th 2016, Lausanne, Switzerland

Member of the summer school organizing committee. This was the first in Switzerland additive manufacturing summer school aimed to teach doctoral students about the new technological development in flexible electronics, composite materials and Biofabrication. He was the main responsible of the Biofabrication workshop and study package.

Swiss Medical Student Convention (SMSC), November 13th-15th 2015, Fribourg, Switzerland

According to the convention theme ”SECOND HAND, how reusable is your body?” He worked as a teacher in a module: Clinical and experimental approaches for cartilage (re)engineering. Module consisted of lectures on current clinical cartilage reconstructions and a hands-on workshop in future cartilage tissue engineering approaches.

Matti developed multiple hydrogel formulations "bioinks" for extrusion based bioprinting. His materials science experience from PLA and PCL extrusion to stimuli-responsive hydrogels were basis for multiple scientific publications. Many bioinks were developed with in vitro cell interaction studies before testing the lead formulations in vivo. Novel bioprinting processes developed during the research included removable support printing with Pluronics that allowed overhanging features with cell-laden bioinks and composite reinforced printing to improve mechanical properties of large cartilage constructs such as ear cartilage grafts.

Research publications:

A versatile bioink for 3D printing of cellular scaffolds based on thermally and photo-triggered tandem gelation. Kesti Matti, Müller Michael, Becher Jana, Schnabelrauch Matthias, D'Este Matteo, Eglin David & Zenobi-Wong Marcy. (2014) Acta biomaterialia. Vol. 11.

Bioprinting Complex Cartilaginous Structures with Clinically Compliant Biomaterials. Kesti Matti, Eberhardt Christian, Pagliccia Guglielmo, Kenkel David, Boss Andreas & Zenobi-Wong Marcy. (2015) Advanced Functional Materials. Vol. 25.

Guidelines for standardization of bioprinting: a systematic study of process parameters and their effect on bioprinted structures. Matti Kesti, Philipp Fisch, Marco Pensalfini, Edoardo Mazza & Marcy Zenobi-Wong. (2016) BioNanoMaterials Vol. 17, PP. 193–204.

Biomaterial researcher

AO Research Institute Davos, Switzerland

July 2012 - December 2012

AO Foundation specializes in the treatments of trauma and disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Matti was working in musculoskeletal regeneration group under supervision of Dr. David Eglin and Dr. Mauro Alini as a polymer chemist. Research was focused on hyaluronic acid hydrogels and their use in tissue engineering scaffolds and drug delivery applications.

Biomaterial researcher Intern

Tampere University of Technology, Finland

April 2012 - June 2012

Matti was working in the biomedical engineering laboratory as an assistant. Work consisted of melt extrusion of PLA/PGA based fibers and their analysis. He analyzed polymer blending affects on melting and glass transition temperature of PLA/PGA material and modified PLA fibers used in further implant manufacturing. Performed degradation and release kinetics studies for fiber scaffolds used as clinical joint spacers in rheumatoid arthritis and in osteoarthritis (RegJoint, Scaffdex ltd.). The work was done under supervision of Professor Minna Kellomäki and Dr. Niina Ahola.