Our team of professionals, each with decades of experience, are dedicated to ensuring quality, effectiveness, and excellence of our therapeutics through our ongoing research and clinical trials. Our published scientists and expert professionals have held senior positions in leading-edge biotechnology and health companies and bring immense knowledge and dedication to RESTEM. Together, we hold an overarching goal of improving human health.
Rafael Gonzalez, PhD
Founder / Chief Development & Science Officer

Rafael Gonzalez, PhD
Founder | Chief Development & Science Officer
Dr. Rafael Gonzalez has always been passionate about helping those suffering from degenerative disorders. He graduated from University of California, Irvine with his Ph.D in Anatomy and Neurobiology and has since been responsible for the development of clinical stem cell applications for several diseases and trauma states. He leads multiple investigational new drug applications with patented stem cell technology, works on the clinical development of immune-based therapies with natural killer cells, and has several publications to back his expertise. He also teaches worldwide for the American Academy of Antiaging on age related disorders and the role of the immune system and cell therapeutics to aid in maintaining health. Dr. Gonzalez is well respected in the regenerative medicine sector for his ability to understand all aspects of cell-based therapeutics and their clinical applicability.
Toai Nguyen, PhD
Laboratory Manager / Lead Scientist

Toai Nguyen, PhD
Laboratory Manager | Lead Scientist
Dr. Nguyen has more than 30 years in the field of biological sciences. He has spent over 20 years in academia with a focus on molecular biology, virology, biochemistry, and genetics, where he lectured undergraduate and graduate students as Principal Scientist at University of California, Irvine. For the past 11 years, Dr. Nguyen has been implementing a development program by leading all GLP and cGMP testing to include validation of our cell-based and their derivatives platform. He also leads our reference lab with many years of experience with in vitro cell testing. He has several publications in cell and molecular biology and biochemistry.
Nickolas Chelyapov, PhD
Senior Scientist of Immune Based Therapeutics

Nickolas Chelyapov, PhD
Senior Scientist of Immune Based Therapeutics
With over 45 years of experience in the biotechnology sector, Dr. Chelyapov has studied, researched, and developed various vaccines, molecular disease targets, nano delivery systems and cell-based technologies designed to target age related disorders. He has several publications and patents in all aspects of biology and is a pioneer in developing cell-based therapeutics for senescence. He is dedicated to helping age-related disorders through targeted removal of old cells, which may force a natural regenerative healing response. In his tenure with RESTEM, he has developed highly active NK cells along with an understanding of various extraordinary properties that these cells are capable of.
Tatiana Estrada-Hernandez
Research Associate III

Tatiana Estrada-Hernandez
Research Associate III
With her extensive experience in cell therapy and her master’s degree in Pharmacology, Tatiana is responsible for incredible breakthroughs at RESTEM. She has worked in the field for over 10 years conducting in-vivo and pre-clinical studies, as well as biological manufacturing. She has developed and validated new mouse tumor models to evaluate the efficacy of novel immunotherapy products, with many publications behind her. At RESTEM, Tatiana establishes innovative in-vitro methods to study engineered cell therapies, as well as conducts pharmacological evaluation of test agents in various in-vitro oncology models. In particular, she conducts revolutionary studies on natural killer cells for cell therapy.
Marisol Castro-Paiz
Clinical, Regulatory and Quality Systems Director

Marisol Castro-Paiz
Clinical, Regulatory and Quality Systems DirectorHeather Vest
Business/Operations Manager

Heather Vest
Business/Operations Manager
Heather joined the team at The BioBox in 2022 after 6 years in the veterinary industry. Stemming from her years in management, she has experience in marketing, budgeting, event planning, team leadership, and client services. As the Business/Operations Manager at The BioBox, Heather is responsible for ensuring company efficiency, both in day-to-day operations and in long-term planning, as well as marketing, contract development, project oversight, sales, and overall company growth. She obtained her BS in Biology from University of California, Santa Barbara, and her MBA in Marketing from University of Redlands.
Want to join the team?
At RESTEM, we are always looking for ambitious, enthusiastic, and world-changing professionals.
If you are looking for an opportunity to build a better future for our world and boost your career, contact us now!