Jeremy Kolenbrander
SVP, Product Development and Engineering
Mr. Kolenbrander has been pushing the boundaries of innovation in a variety of industries for more than 30 years. He joined MaxCyte earlier in 2024 as the company focuses on new product development, making a positive difference for customers and leading to growth. Mr. Kolenbrander was the team leader that invented and brought to market Spectra Optia, an apheresis device used all around the world that collects the primary starting materials for cell and gene therapy. During his career, he most recently served as director of Systems Engineering for Cellares, following multiple leadership roles of increasing responsibility at blood and cell technology company, Terumo BCT, formerly known as Caridian BCT, Gambro BCT and COBE. Mr. Kolenbrander earned a Master of Engineering from Stanford University after completing his Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
What attracted you to work in the life sciences industry as a chemical engineer? To work in cell/gene therapy?
I love biochemistry’s complexity, and I love to make and grow things and people. I was drawn to cell and gene therapy as it has the ability to make a huge difference in the lives of patients and their caregivers.
What do you enjoy most about working with your team?
I am excited to be working with very cool people on cool projects that save lives. I used to be an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado and enjoyed teaching students. I like training the members on my team on effective ways to do product development. To work in this field, it’s important for them to be curious and to ask the right questions. Together, we are striving to be innovative and to think big in our product development efforts, constantly asking ourselves “is what we’re developing helping to create ‘magic’ for our users?” My team is working on future solutions to broader problems than electroporating cells in wells.
How will you push the boundaries at MaxCyte in cell and gene therapy product development?
I was brought onboard this year to lead MaxCyte’s efforts in new product development to fuel future growth. This starts with changing the company’s mindset from simply “doing what a customer asks” to “inventing something that solves the customer’s problem” in a much more in-depth way. By engaging with our customers and investing in cell and gene therapy product development, we are able to make a difference in what they do and how they do it, which in turn, positively impacts patients’ lives.
How is your team working to help to solve the challenges faced by MaxCyte’s customers?
We're incorporating a lot more voice of the customer in our product development – by that I mean talking directly with our customers and listening to their frustrations and pain points. What do they like and what do they hate? We are trying to understand their ‘why’ – why they want something or are doing what they do or are having a problem. We encourage them to think as if they had a “magic wand” and could create a “magic box.” What would the box do? What does it look like? How do you interact with it? If we begin to get the same types of responses after talking with multiple customers, it's a huge clue for us as to what we need to do to fix an issue or possibly develop a new product. It's an “a ha” moment where we can see the real problem.
It’s like making Jell-O. You add the powder and hot water and then stir until it gels. When you repeatedly get the same answers and same user needs, then the concept is starting to gel and make sense. That's when you do product development.
After that magic box conversation, we can then build an alpha prototype, obtain preliminary science data and take all of this back to our customers to see if it addresses their needs and validates their data. If they ask, “how soon can we get this,” then we know we’re on the right track. Our customers really appreciate this voice of the customer approach.
What do you want MaxCyte’s customers to know about your efforts to support them?
We work with our customers to create a solution that is indispensable for their investigations and production of clinical material. We recognize that everyone has a slightly different and equally valid view of the problem. This is why it’s particularly important to have the scientists, marketing and sales team, and engineers from MaxCyte communicate directly with a wide variety of our customers. For example, if only our scientists were to engage with our clients, then they might miss part of the problem if it pertained to engineering. All of us work together to make the best solutions for our customers’ day-to-day efforts.
Think back to the days when our only option was to pay bills by writing a check, putting it in an envelope, finding a stamp and mailing it. There was a constant worry if the check got delayed, then overdraft fees would be incurred. Many people hated doing this. By understanding consumers’ pain, banks, programmers, website designers and more were able to create online bill pay. Today, few people would be willing to go back to writing checks by hand. This is what product development is all about – listening to customers and addressing their needs.
How will you strive to make MaxCyte extraordinary?
By creating magic for our customers through engineering and product development!
