Dr. Eike Staub started his bioinformatics career as a Ph.D. student in one of the first oncogenomic drug hunting companies, metaGen in Berlin. After a short academic research phase focusing on evolution of protein families and genome content in the post-human genome era as a group lead in the Computational Biology group at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, he joined Altana Pharma to continue working on oncogenomics for drug research. In 2007 Eike joined Merck KGaA where he worked in various functions to leverage genome-scale data by bioinformatics algorithms, biostatistics, data mining & machine learning for oncology, from identification of drug targets to biomarker assessment in late clinical drug development.
Since 2015 he has been leading Oncology Bioinformatics in the Translational Medicine department at Merck KGaA, a team that is responsible for genome-scale data analysis from early pre-clinical research to late stage clinical development. His team is also committed to deliver computational infrastructure to enable Merck scientist to conduct biomarker research using self-service tools.
Dr. Angela Vasaturo is the Director of Scientific Affairs at Ultivue. Prior to Ultivue, Angela was a Senior Researcher in Dr. Jerome Galon’s Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Immunology at the Cordeliers Research Center. In 2012, Angela was among the first postdocs in Europe to be involved in the development of multiplex IHC and multispectral imaging and analysis of up to six immunofluorescence markers, and today is considered a leading European expert in multiplex IHC techniques, digital pathology, spatial biology and tissue imaging.
Serial entrepreneur that combines strong strategic, technological and managerial experience with proven track record of deal-making and fund-raising. During his career he achieved together with his different teams to bring four drug candidates from research to the clinics (up to phase IIb). Overall, Eric has raised as of now a total of more than €170 million from VCs and strategic partners in Europe, USA, Japan and Korea and have had numerous successes in the sale and initial public offering of biotechnology companies. He is CEO of the biotechnology company PDC*line Pharma and board member of Essenscia (Bio.be). Eric is co-founder of four biotechnology companies called Myosix (bought by Genzyme mid-2002), Murigenetics, HairClone and Digital Orthopaedics. He is co-Inventor of the first GMP approved mobile manufacturing unit for cell therapy. Eric worked for 12 years in the Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice of Arthur D. Little. Eric holds two master’s degrees in pharmacology and Molecular Biology and a MBA from ESSEC business school (Paris, France), with an advanced degree from the Health Care ESSEC chair.
Currently, Dr. Rick Kamps is working as a Laboratory Manager in the Department of Toxicogenomics and as a teacher supervising many Bachelor students in the concept of Problem Based Learning (PBL) in the Faculty of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences since 2010. Furthermore, he has more than 25 years of research experience in the diagnostics and biotechnology sector (e.g., Academic Hospitals in Aachen (Germany) and Maastricht (the Netherlands), and Philips Research Eindhoven (the Netherlands). He is more than a decade skilled in Next-generation sequencing in multiple applications (e.g., RNA/DNA sequencing). At the end of 2020, he gained a Ph.D. in Resolving the Role of Genetic Defects and the Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Mitochondrial Disease and Embryonic Development.
Raj is a serial entrepreneur with passion for identifying, nurturing and launching spin-out companies with over 20 years track record of building lasting partnerships.
Raj currently serves as CEO and NED of Adendra Therapeutics, a company he co-Founded as Entrepreneur in Residence at Apple Tree Partners (ATP). Raj is also co-founder and serves on the board of Revitope Oncology and on SAB of Hawk Biosystems.
He joined ATP from GammaDelta Therapeutics – a company he co-founded, served as interim CEO, board member and latterly as Director of Business Development. At GammaDelta, Raj led the efforts to raise >$100M, establish innovative partnership with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, acquisition of Lymphact and spinning out of Adaptate Biotherapeutics. Takeda subsequently acquired both GammaDelta and Adaptate.
Prior to GammaDelta Therapeutics, Raj spent over 18 years at Cancer Research Technology (CRT) where he served in a variety of leadership roles. Whilst at CRT, Raj founded and served as interim CEO/NED of BliNK Therapeutics