Quell Therapeutics

Engineered Treg cell therapies for immune dysfunction.

Quell Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company which is developing next generation engineered T regulatory (Treg) cell therapies for a range of immune dysfunction diseases.

Quell Therapeutics was founded by Syncona in partnership with six leading experts in the Treg field, cell engineering, solid organ transplantation and autoimmune diseases, including 
Hans Stauss, Professor of Tumour Immunology and Director of UCL's Institute of Immunity and Transplantation and Emma Morris, Professor of Clinical Cell & Gene Therapy and Inflammation, Immunity and Immunotherapeutics at University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre.

The Quell journey so far:

  • 2019: Quell Therapeutics is founded by Syncona Ltd 
  • 2021: Quell announces it has raised $156 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing
  • 2025: AstraZeneca selects a lead Quell Treg cell therapy candidate to progress from the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) program.
  • 2026: Quell starts a phase 1/2 clinical trial of its CAR-Treg therapy, QEL-005, in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Sclerosis.

 

Team

Professor Emma Morris

Co-founder

Director of the UCL Division of Infection & Immunity. Professor Morris' clinical interest is in the field of allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, cell and gene therapy.

Professor Hans Stauss

Co-founder

Director of the UCL Institute of Immunity & Transplantation. Professor Stauss has an international reputation as a researcher in cancer immunotherapy and has focused on T-cell research for many years.

Dr. Barny Cox

Senior Business Manager

Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging

Dr. Cox supports healthcare and life science IP. He held positions with the British Medical Association and two internationally-acclaimed patent and trademark firms. He holds a UCL doctorate.