Co-Founder & CEO, Neurona Therapeutics
Dr. Cory Nicholas is a Founder and the Chief Executive Officer at Neurona Therapeutics.
Dr. Nicholas’ career has focused on the advancement of science and medicine through translation of regenerative technologies. In 2015, he co-founded Neurona, which was acquired by UCB in 2026 for a total transaction value of up to $1.15b. Neurona develops neuronal cell therapeutics for drug-resistant neurological disorders. Dr. Nicholas oversees a talented team of 126+ full-time employees and has raised ~$400M in private equity financing. He has also been the principal investigator on six CIRM awards, totaling $32.5M, to help advance interneuron cell therapy (rezanecel) for the treatment of chronic focal epilepsy. Rezanecel is being evaluated in two ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trials for drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy, and a pivotal Phase 3 trial is planned to start in 2026.
Before Neurona, Dr. Nicholas was a faculty member in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco where he investigated cortical interneuron development. Cory pioneered methods to derive interneuron precursors from human pluripotent stem cells, and he evaluated the therapeutic potential of interneuron cell therapy in multiple preclinical models of neurological disease. Cory’s post-doctoral work was conducted at UCSF. His pre-doctoral research at both UCSF and Stanford University studied germline stem cells and gametogenesis. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California San Francisco and his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Nicholas has also served on the Board of Directors for the non-profit Building Diversity in Science.
Inventions, patents, patent applications
Dr. Nicholas is an inventor on 21 issued patents and 14 patent applications worldwide.