Kim Baden-Kristensen is CEO and Co-founder of Brain+.

Brain+ is Nordic evidence based digital therapeutics company working to find the digital cure to brain disease.

Brain+ apps are used clinical cognitive neurorehabilitation. Our clinical trial pipeline include Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s, Depression, Mild Cognitive Depression, Asymptomatic At-risk-Elderlies, Stroke, TBI in collaboration with institutions, the likes of Oxford University, Karolinska Institute, The Danish National Center for Neuropsychiatric Research and Alzheimer’s Europe, The European Brain Council. Kim is a founding member of the European Digital Therapeutics Partnership.

Kim is an expert of digital cognitive therapeutics, with particularly emphasis on neurogame-based rehabilitation and gamified behavioral therapy.

Dior Baumjohann, PhD is a Technology Manager at Ascenion GmbH. Ascenion is an independent technology transfer company working at the interface between science and business with exclusive partnerships with numerous life-science research institutions of the Helmholtz and Leibniz Associations, the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Hannover Medical School and associated organizations for translational research. In addition, Ascenion actively guides and supports spin-offs through foundation and growth.
Prior to joining Ascenion, Dior advised and supported scientists of the Max Planck Society in technology transfer at Max-Planck-Innovation and at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) she was responsible for intellectual property management. She holds a master’s degree in virology from Harvard University as well as a PhD in cell biology from the University of Bern.

Alexandra is a founding member and partner at Apollo Ventures, a biotech company builder and investment fund focused on developing interventions, that improve human health and longevity. At Apollo, Alexandra is leading the venture creation programs that aim at founding new biotech startups targeting the aging process at a molecular level. She is also managing the pipeline and diligence process for external investment opportunities, predominantly focusing on preclinical stage biotech companies.

Before joining Apollo Ventures, Alexandra worked with The Boston Consulting Group where she specialized in biopharma strategy, market assessment and asset diligence. Her PhD studies at Harvard Medical School were focused on investigating the molecular mechanisms that contribute to cellular aging and could be targeted to increase mammalian health span. She is also a trained pharmacist with expertise in pharmaceutics and pharmacology.

Prof Dr Chase Beisel leads the RNA Synthetic Biology group at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), a partnership between the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research and the University of Würzburg. Dr. Beisel was a faculty member in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University prior to joining HIRI in 2018. As part of HIRI, the Beisel group seeks to understand and harness CRISPR-Cas systems to advance the study, diagnosis, and treatment of human disease. Aside from leading his research group, Dr. Beisel co-founded a start-up company (Locus Biosciences) to commercialize CRISPR-based antimicrobials and serves on the scientific advisory board of the AgBiotech company Benson Hill Biosystems.

Inga Bergen is an experienced Chief Executive Officer and entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of working in the digital innovation and medical device industry. Skilled in Digital Strategy, Management, Business Development, Marketing, Product Development, Start-ups, and Service Design, she was the CEO of welldoo and built over 100 healthcare apps with her teaming Berlin. She is currently the CEO of Magnosco GmbH. Founded in 2014, Magnosco offers a non-invasive method supporting detection of malignant melanoma based on laser technology. Inga hosts the bi-monthly podcast „Visionäre der Gesundheit“ where she introduces entrepreneurs, scientists and medical professionals who build the healthcare system of the future.

Dr Daniel Hansen is the CEO and Cofounder of baccuico, a startup using AI, directed evolution, and synthetic biology to screen for novel antibiotics. Daniel received his bachelor from the University of Oxford and holds masters in both finance (IE Business School) and biotechnology (Imperial College London) and has a PhD in drug discovery from Imperial College London. Before deciding to found baccuico, Daniel worked as an investment banker for Barclays Investment Bank and also completed a short stint in VC at the UCL Tech Transfer Fund. Daniel’s main aim is to solve the antibiotic crisis – something he and his cofounders believe baccuico can achieve by 2025.

Rebecca Canter is an Investment Associate at the Dementia Discovery Fund, a specialist venture capital fund investing in therapeutics for diseases that cause dementia. She is based in London and works with the DDF team to source, invest in, and manage a portfolio of companies taking innovative approaches to tackling dementia through novel mechanisms, modalities, and platform ideas.

Before joining the DDF, Rebecca did her postdoctoral research at Biogen in neuroinflammation and acute neurology. She has a PhD in Neuroscience from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a BA from Johns Hopkins University.

Daniela Couto is a Principal at BGV and serves on the boards of CatalYm and Fortico Biotech and is an observer on the board of Mironid. Daniela joined the fund in 2015.

Daniela served as the Managing Director of BGV’s portfolio company Staten Biotechnology from 2015 to 2018 and led the early discussions with Novo Nordisk that resulted in a collaboration agreement. Previously, Daniela served as CEO at Cell2B, a cell therapy company that she co-founded with IP and technology from the group of Prof. Sangeeta Bhatia at the Broad Institute, MIT, dedicated to treat immune and inflammatory diseases.

Daniela holds an MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering and a PhD degree in BioEngineering from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST-UTL) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT-Portugal Program).

Kiran Dallenbach is an Investment Manager at BioMedPartners, a Basel-based venture fund focused on private early- to mid-stage life science companies. Kiran joined the fund in 2019 and is involved in all stages of the investment process and responsible for BioMedPartner´s public portfolio.

Prior to BioMedPartners, Kiran was an Investment Analyst at Redalpine Venture Partners, where she gained experience in early-stage investments, company creation and venture fund operations. Previously, she was a researcher in the department of Immunotherapeutics at Cytos Biotechnology, focused on pre-clinical projects in the field of inflammatory autoimmune diseases. Kiran holds a PhD in Immunology and a MSc degree in Biotechnology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich.

Annegret de Baey-Diepolder is a Venture Partner at Seventure Partners SA, a leading international investor in the microbiome sector. Formerly she was co-founder and CEO of RNA-based immunotherapeutics company Rigontec GmbH, now Merck & Co., Inc..
As a life science industry consultant and former partner at private equity and venture capital companies TVM Capital and Gimv NV, she brings 20 years of experience in the life science and venture capital sector. Prior to joining the VC industry, she led a research group developing therapeutic vaccines at Micromet AG, now Amgen Inc..
Annegret de Baey-Diepolder is trained as an MD, and worked on her specialization in Dermatology and Allergology at the department for Dermatology at academic hospital of the LMU in Munich.

Gordon Euller is a Digital Health Partner at APEX Ventures, a european Venture Capital fund. Prior to joining APEX in 2019 Gordon worked as board-certified Radiologist at Medical University Vienna (AKH Wien) where he also graduated from medical school. Before starting his medical career he founded two companies in Eastern Europe, one of them focusing on the recruitment of nurses providing domestic care for elderly patients. As a management consultant with McKinsey&Company in London Gordon developed and implemented various digital and strategy transformations for his healthcare clients (payors/providers, pharma, med-tech). Gordon was also a project manager for the set-up of a private hospital in Abu Dhabi.

Marc Filerman is CEO of German Accelerator Life Sciences, an organization enabling US market access and growth for German startups and smaller companies. He co-founded a molecular imaging startup, was Chief Commercial Officer of an NIH-funded homecare technology venture, and has been a consultant since 2013 providing strategy, commercialization and investment guidance to startups. Prior to 2013, Marc held leadership positions in multiple large and smaller healthcare companies, including VP of Global Marketing at iCAD, an AI/ML-based image analysis software company, and Group Director of Marketing for Smith & Nephew’s operating room integration business. Marc has a bachelors and masters degree from MIT in Mechanical Engineering, and started his career designing ultrasound imaging systems.

Christine Günther, M.D., has been Managing Director, Chief Medical Officer and Qualified Person at apceth Biopharma since 2008. She is a clinical hematologist and oncologist by training with extensive experience in clinical stem cell transplantation, transplantation immunology and cell therapies.

apceth Biopharma, a subsidiary of Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd., is a pioneering company in regenerative medicines and a leading and certified Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization for cell and gene therapeutics. The company has a comprehensive expertise in GMP manufacturing of autologous and allogeneic cell types that are either native or genetically modified. apceth has successfully obtained manufacturing licenses for multiple cell therapy products for clinical supply as well as one commercial application.

Varun joined Wellington Partners in 2018 as an Associate in the Life Sciences Team, where he has been involved in due-diligence and completion of several investments including Adrenomed, Sphingotec and STipe Therapeutics.

Varun gained his MSc degree in Medical Biotechnology from the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India, and was awarded a PhD with Summa cum Laude in Neuroscience from the Freie University of Berlin for his work on polyamine-mediated suppression of age-associated memory impairment, culminating in articles published in Nature Neuroscience, PLOS Biology and Autophagy.

Subsequently, Varun obtained an MBA degree from IESE Business School in Barcelona. While pursuing his MBA, Varun supported the investment teams of Forbion Capital Partners, Amsterdam, as well as Ysios Capital, Barcelona.

Miriam Haerst graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Munich and holds a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering. During her doctorate and scientific work, she focused on the processing of plastics for medical applications and the effects of a medical environment on plastics. In 2017, she co-founded the Kumovis GmbH, which develops 3D printers for processing high-performance plastics for regulated markets such as medical technology. The company focuses on the processing of high-performance plastics such as PEEK, which is already established in medical technology. With the innovative technology of Kumovis a reproducible production by means of additive manufacturing is realized. For example, patient-specific implants can be manufactured.

Hans Maria Heyn is Co-Founder and one of the Managing Directors of Smart4Diagnostics GmbH. The Munich based start-up in the field of digital diagnostics changes preanalytics from a trust to an evidence based system. He holds a PhD from Freie Universität Berlin, an MBA of the Berlin School of Economics and an M. Sc. from Krems University. Prior to founding DX-Labtrack he worked as IVD- and MD-regulatory affairs expert and headed the strategy development of a leading European think tank.

Andreas Huber is Scientific Director Life Science and Senior Investment Manager at Bayern Kapital. His background is in biology which he studied at the Technical (TUM) and the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich. Additionally, he obtained a degree in Business Administration and Economics.
Prior to Bayern Kapital he worked as an Analyst for a Munich-based Venture Capital company and as Business Development Manager with a Medtech-Software-Start-up.

Bayern Kapital is a Venture Capital company, founded in 1995 by the Bavarian government and invests- always together with other investors- in young, innovative high-tech companies in Bavaria.
Since 1995 Bayern Kapital has invested over 300m EUR in more than 270 companies, with a focus on Life Science and IT/Internet Start-ups.
Bayern Kapital currently has 325m EUR under management and received funding of almost 200m EUR including the Growth Fund (“Wachstumsfonds”).

As Investment Manager Damir sources, evaluates, and manages the Life Science investments at Wille Finance AG. He is looking to invest in exceptional life science companies with first-in-class therapeutic candidates in various therapeutical areas.

Before joining Wille Finance Damir worked at Deloitte Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers in deals-related advisory of corporate and private equity clients in the pharma and biotech sectors in the UK, Germany, and Switzerland.

Damir holds a PhD in medicinal chemistry from the Max-Planck Institutes in Münster/Dortmund and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School.

Karin Kleinhans, PhD joined LSP in 2015. Karin is an Investment Manager focused on unlisted equities, and is involved in all stages of the investment process. She has been involved in a large number of LSP’s investments and is a Board Director of Cardior and Board Observer of Endotronix and Lumeon.
Prior to joining LSP, Karin was an associate in an international patent law firm. Previously, she gained experience in clinical trials and regulatory affairs within pharmaceutical drug development. Before, Karin was a researcher at the Max-Planck Department for Stem Cell Aging and the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University Ulm where she received her Ph.D. Her research focused on the basic mechanisms of cellular and organismal aging, specifically on stem cell aging. Karin participated as a speaker in scientific meetings and lead scientific collaborations with world leading experts in the stem cell and aging field. She authored a number of scientific publications and book chapters in renowned journals.

Dr Christian Korz is a biochemist and obtained his PhD at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. He joined Roche Diagnostics in 2003 and held various positions in the Direct Procurement organization before he was appointed Head of Global Brand Management and International Marketing Leader for Roche Applied Science. Christian was responsible for European Pharma Alliances before in 2019 he joined the management team of the first Digital Health Accelerator in Munich – Startup Creasphere.

• General Partner at MIG Verwaltungs AG.
• Leads MIG’s activities in the life sciences.
• Involved in the exits of several biotech companies as well as in one IPO.
• Prior to MIG, Managing Partner with a strategic consultancy in the Life Sciences sector.
• Own entrepreneurial experience building and running several companies within and outside of the Life Sciences sector.
• Previously Senior Consultant with an international top management consultancy.
• Training in Biology and Chemistry at Munich University, King’s College London, UK, and Lund Universitet, Sweden; Ph.D. in microbiology from Munich University. Alumnus and member of the selection committee of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes.

coming soon ...

Dr Werner Lanthaler was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Evotec in March 2009. Since then, Evotec transformed from a specialised drug developer to a discovery alliance and development partnership company covering all activities from target-to-clinic.

Previously, Lanthaler has held positions as Chief Financial Officer at Intercell AG (2000 to 2009), as Director of the Federation of Austrian Industries (1998 to 2000), and as Senior Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company (1995 to 1998). He holds a doctorate in economics from Vienna University, earned his Master's degrees from Harvard University, and holds a degree in Psychology. Additionally, Dr Werner Lanthaler serves in the Boards of Directors of AC Immune SA and arGEN-X SE, and in the Supervisory Board of Topas Therapeutics GmbH.

As the Founder and Host of The Unconventionalists® and creator of the Impact Accelerator, Mark Leruste is on a mission to empower leaders and founders to find their true voice, unleash their powerful story and build a tribe of raving fans. He believes that being yourself is good for business and that clarifying your purpose is the best way to turn your message into a movement.

Mark previously served as Country Manager at the Movember Foundation, where he helped raise €2.8 million for men’s health and inspired 110,000 fundraisers to sign up, winning multiple awards along the way. Since then, his videos have been viewed over one million times on social media and has been featured extensively in The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Elle, Metro and VirginStartup.

If you want to join thousands of unconventional leaders, founders and entrepreneurs and learn how to leverage the power of purpose, join Mark's free weekly newsletter by clicking here: www.markleruste.com/newsletter

As an international TEDx speaker coach & storytelling expert Patrick Liebl’s mission is to facilitate impactful presentations, speeches and storytelling that resonate with the audience. He supports speakers, start-ups, institutions and companies to spread their ideas, inspire the audience, get fundings and to bring about change. His coaching, workshops and trainings focus on the three key elements content, authenticity and resonance. Because persuasive content that is shared in an authentic way and resonates with the audience is the prerequisite for every convincing, motivating or inspiring talk. 
You can connect with Patrick on linkedIn or at pl@infinity-institute.de

Therese Liechtenstein, PhD, is an Investment Associate in the Healthcare Fund of M Ventures, the strategic corporate venture capital arm of Merck. Therese is responsible for investments in early-stage therapeutics companies in the fields of Oncology, Immunology and Fertility. Previously Therese managed strategic projects for the Healthcare business of Merck in Darmstadt, Germany. Prior to Merck, Therese was a client relationship manager for the leading wealth preservation company Industrie- & Finanzkontor. Therese has a PhD in Immuno-Oncology from University College London, an MSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Amsterdam, and a BA in Biology and Business studies from New York University. Therese is based in Amsterdam.

Johanneke has a decade of experience in strategic and operational health care consulting and health economics, including as Senior Manager at KPMG Plexus in London and the Netherlands as well as at Medtronic. She is interested in accelerating the role of technology and innovation in improving health and the health care landscape. At NLC, in her role as Venture Development Manager, she carries main responsibility for a smooth venture building process and personal development of the people within.

Dr Christoph Massner is an Analyst in the Earlybird Venture Capital Health Fund. He works on deal sourcing, due diligence and deal closing in the sectors of digital health, medical devices, diagnostics, R&D platform technologies, and biopharma. Currently, he serves as a board observer of the Munich-based digital health company wellabe. Christoph holds a PhD in Synthetic Biology from the Technical University of Munich.

Sebastian works as Start-up & Portfoliomanager at Max-Planck-Innovation, the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society. He advises and supports scientists from the various Institutes in founding start-ups based on their inventios. He is also responsible for different entrepreneurship education programs and the evaluation of new research results and business ideas.

Before joining Max-Planck-Innovation, Sebastian worked as senior project manager for a management consultancy where he specialized in strategy development and corporate finance. Prior he was responsible for the controlling and finance department of a business incubator. He studied business administration at the LMU in Munich and completed a training as Certified Controlling Advisor (EBS). He also obtained a Bachelor degree in Psychology.

Dr. Peter Neubeck is a Medical Doctor, educated at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich as well as Harvard Medical School and holds an MBA from INSEAD. After tenures at Großhadern University Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital followed by McKinsey & Company and several leadership positions at Novartis, he entered the Venture Capital industry. He took on responsibilities as an Investment Manager and collected valuable operational experience in various executive roles in company creations. Since January 2019 he heads the investment business of Kurma Partners in Germany.

Pavel has many years of domestic and international project management experience in management consulting at Deloitte, working for large multinational companies in many European countries. Pavel co-founded successful boutique management consultancy in Prague. He was also part of the team responsible for exit of large Czech IT development company to Warburg Pincus. In Mindpax, he is responsible for strategic management and development of business relations.

David is a Senior Machine Learning Engineer at appliedAI, an UnternehmerTUM initiative to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence in industry as well as society.  He works with industry partners to implement initial proof-of-concept AI projects, with an interest in reinforcement-learning and biotech.

His PhD in chemistry was on optogenetics for brain activity at the MPI for Biochemistry. He then worked on robotics systems for HTS on optical biosensors, and Crispr-CAS9 for protein engineering whilst at the MPI for Neurobiology. He applied deep-learning algorithms to process imaging and protein biophysics data whilst at Nanotemper GmbH, before starting at appliedAI.

Before co-founding Mecuris as CEO, Manuel Opitz studied industrial & bioengineering at RWTH Aachen and Trinity College Dublin (MSc). After first experiences in innovation and operations management in Germany, China and Switzerland, he finished postgraduate studies in economics at the trinational CDI in Paris (MBA). Afterwards, he focused on medical technologies as a patent broker and startup consultant. In today’s role as CEO of Mecuris, he analyses orthopaedic production processes and uses digital tailoring and additive manufacturing to unlock automation potential for doctors, technicians and patients. As a regular speaker at healthcare, 3D printing & startup conferences, he aims to bridge the gap between digital manufacturing and medical technology.

Daniel joined TVM Capital Life Science in Munich in 2016 as Executive-in-Residence. He is responsible for deal sourcing, deal monitoring as well as transaction advisory and currently serves on the Board of a number of portfolio companies.

Prior to TVM, he spent 12 years at Novartis AG holding various Global line functions roles from Research to Sales in three Divisions including Global Franchise Head Strategic Marketing for Immunology & Infectious Diseases with Pharma in Basel, Switzerland, Global Head of Development, Diagnostics with Vaccines & Diagnostics in Emeryville, CA, USA and with Sandoz in Holzkirchen, Germany.

He oversaw and was a team member for multiple collaborations, licensing deals and acquisitions from academic to multi-billion dollar transactions, world-wide commercial launches and FDA / EMA / CFDA / ANVISA registrations with respective clinical trials.

Before joining Novartis he was in the Frankfurt office of McKinsey & Company, Inc.

He is an MD from Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany with clinical training in Germany, Switzerland and the USA and was a scientific co-worker at the Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine at the University of Mainz for several years.

Dr Martin Pfister studied biopharmacology at the University of Greifswald and New York University and completed his PhD on the subject of immunology at the University of Leipzig. The Senior Investment Manager is a technology expert in the biotech, medtech and healthcare sectors. Moreover, Dr Pfister has vast experience in the organisation, business development and financing of start-ups and is an expert in international market intelligence and marketing.

Priv.-Doz. Dr med habil. Dominik Pförringer is a specialist for orthopaedics and trauma  surgery, has completed the full-time MBA degree at INSEAD in Fontainebleau and Singapore in 2009. He is working as an orthopaedic and trauma surgeon and DRG officer at the Munich university hospital “echts der Isar” and acts as an advisor and consultant in the fields of venture capital and private equity, as well as the development of digital strategies in healthcare. Dr Pförringer is co-chair of the working group Digitalisation of DGOU (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie). Dr. Pförringer also hosts a quarterly startup meetup in Munich as well as an annual conference on digital health.

Dr Pichler holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Muenchen (Germany) and a Master in "Business and Management" and is responsible for Commercialization & Finances at PreOmics. Dr Pichler has contributed to the establishment of the customer base of PreOmics, which include more than 300 customers worldwide. He successfully led the market launch of PreOmics’ product portfolio and has developed marketing agreements with companies such as Bruker, HSE AG and Diagenode.

Sebastian Pünzeler is Investment Manager at COPARION since 2016 and responsible for Life Science investments and portfolio management. He currently serves as a board member for HepaRegeniX, Fasciotens and Protembis. Sebastian holds a diploma in Biology from the RWTH Aachen University / the LMU Munich and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the IMPRS-LS Munich.

COPARION provides venture capital to accelerate momentum and growth. With our current active fund of EUR 275 million we have the means to do so.

We support entrepreneurial vision with our know-how, but without intervening in daily business operations. Thanks to 25+ years of team experience in venture capital and in building companies, we discern potentials and open up new perspectives. We have the substance, tenacity and creativity required to mutually manage difficult situations successfully.

We only invest with other co-investors. Our focus is on German companies in the start-up and early growth phase. Per company we invest up to EUR 10 million, usually in several financing rounds of EUR 1-5 million each. We are based in Cologne and Berlin.

After working as a Product Manager with Biometra/ Whatman, he started his career in Venture Capital in 1997 as an Investment Manager at Technologieholding VC GmbH (acquired by the 3i Group in early 2000). Following this assignment, he became Principal and later Partner at Global Life Science Ventures. Holger has served on the Boards of numerous life sciences companies including Epigenomics (IPO 2004), MBT (assets sold to Medigene AG), 4SC (IPO 2005), NeurogesX (IPO 2007), Fibrex Medical (assets licensed to Ikaria Inc.), Agendia BV, Santaris A/S (sold to Roche) and Rigontec GmbH (sold to MSD). Holger holds board seats at Allecra Therapeutics GmbH, catalYm GmbH, Omeicos GmbH and Gotham Inc.

CEO of CatalYm since 2017. More than 20 years of experience in executive functions in the biotech industry. Prior to joining CatalYm, he was CEO of Kiadis Pharma N.V. as of 2011and restructured the company. He led Kiadis to its IPO on Euronext in 2015 and to submission of the company’s first MAA to EMA for approval of its lead product, ATIR101.

He served in executive roles as CSO and CEO of Cardion AG, CEO of Igeneon AG, COO of NASDAQ-listed Aphton Corporation, CEO of t2cure GmbH and Affectis AG. He also serves as a member of the Supervisory Board of 4SC AG and the Advisory Board of the ALS Investment Fund.

As Chairman apceth GmbH & Co. KG, he led the negotiations on behalf of its shareholders during the acquisition of apceth Biopharma GmbH by Hitachi Chemical in 2019. He studied biochemistry at Tübingen University and did his PhD work at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany.

Christian has over 20 years' industry experience in life sciences. He is currently Executive Chairman of STipe Therapeutics and Entrepreneur in Residence at Arix Bioscience. As CEO he built immuno-oncology company Rigontec and lead it to an acquisition by MSD for a total consideration of EUR 464 m. Previously he was President and CEO of Fresenius Biotech spunning it successfully out to the Neopharm Group to form Neovii Biotech. As SVP of European Operations he was part of the leadership team which built Coley Pharmaceuticals from inception, a NASDAQ IPO and the acquisition by Pfizer in 2007. Christian has a PhD in Molecular Biology and hold research positions at the Max Planck Institute and the Scripps Research Institute. He serves on the Board of Directors of Omeicos Therapeutics as an Independent Member.

Markus is head of the BayStartUP workshop and training programs. As a startup coach he supports founders and startup teams during all phases of setting up their businesses and finding investors. He has also managed the regional Businessplan Competition Schwaben for many years. Moreover he also has experience as coach in established companies. Markus has degrees from Augsburg University and from Pershore College Business School, Worcestershire, England. Before BayStartUP he worked for Zentrum für Weiterbildung und Wissenstransfer/University of Augsburg and Bang & Olufsen.

Dominic is a Partner of Syncona Investment Management Limited. He is a Director on the Board of Anaveon AG, Gyroscope Therapeutics Limited and an Observer on the Board of Freeline Therapeutics Limited. He was closely involved in the foundation and development of these companies, including their operational and strategic set-up. Prior to joining Syncona, he worked for strategy consultancy L.E.K. Consulting. Dominic received his PhD from the Department of Oncology at the University of Cambridge, where he was a Cancer Research UK scholar. He also holds a German Diplom Degree in Biochemistry and his research has been honoured with national and international prizes and published in Cell, Nature and Science.

Dr. Claus Schulte is a Business Developer at Ascenion GmbH. Claus headed several BD and licensing departments in technology transfer and biotech companies.

He also had brief stints as a biotech entrepreneur and continues to enjoy supporting new ventures.

Veronika Schweighart is the Co-Founder and COO of Climedo Health, a German technology company developing a cloud-based platform for high performance clinical validation of medical devices and pharmaceutical products. Among their first clients are Europe’s leading university hospitals such as the Charité in Berlin and the University of Heidelberg. Holding a degree in Business Administration and Technology Management, Veronika is a serial entrepreneur with international work experience in consulting, business development, and strategic marketing.

Dr. Strohmenger joined Wellington in 1997 and became a Partner in 2000, with responsibility for the Life Science portfolio. During his 22 years in venture capital, he has been responsible for the financing of more than 20 portfolio companies, 6 of which were taken public (including Actelion and Oxford Immunotec), and 8 of which were successfully exited through trade sales (incl. MTM Laboratories acquired by Roche, Definiens acquired by AstraZeneca and invendo medical acquired by Ambu). Prior to joining Wellington, Dr. Strohmenger was involved in research work in the fields of cardiovascular physiology and health economics. He holds a Doctor of Medicine and a Master of Economics degree from Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich (Germany), and was trained at the Entrepreneurship Center of MIT, Boston (USA). Dr. Strohmenger is a Member of the Venture Capital Council at InvestEurope and a Member of the Senate of the German Association of Small and Medium-sized Businesses (BVMW).

Fabian Theis is director of the Institute of Computational Biology at the Helmholtz Center Munich and coordinates the Helmholtz Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Unit (HAICU) which was launched in 2019. He is full professor at the Technical University of Munich, holding the chair ‘Mathematical Modelling of Biological Systems’. During his academic career Fabian Theis obtained MSc degrees in Mathematics and Physics at the University of Regensburg in 2000. He received a PhD degree in Physics from the same university in 2002 and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Granada in 2003. He worked as visiting researcher at the department of Architecture and Computer Technology (University of Granada, Spain), at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (Wako, Japan), at FAMU-FSU (Florida State University, USA) and at TUAT’s Laboratory for Signal and Image Processing (Tokyo, Japan), and headed the ‘signal processing & information theory’ group at the Institute of Biophysics (Regensburg, Germany). In 2006, he started working as Bernstein fellow leading a junior research group at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, located at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation at Göttingen. In summer 2007, Fabian Theis became working group head of CMB at the Institute of Bioinformatics at the Helmholtz Center Munich. In spring 2009, he became associate Professor for Mathematics in Systems Biology at the Math Department of the TU Munich. 2009-2014 he was member of the ‘Young Academy’ (founded by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina) and was awarded an ERC starting grant in 2010.
In 2017 he was awarded the Erwin Schrödinger prize together within an interdisciplinary team at the ETH Zürich. Fabian Theis is part of and also coordinates various consortia (i.e. sparse2big involving 8 Helmholtz Centers) and founded the network SingleCellOmics Germany (SCOG). Furthermore he coordinates the recently launched Munich School for Data Science (MUDS). Since 2019 he is associate faculty at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK and member of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS). His research interests include development of computational methods for analyzing and modelling single cell heterogeneities as well as machine and deep learning for prediction in biology and biomedicine.

Dr Fei Tian joined Vesalius Biocapital as an Analyst in 2012 and was promoted to Principal in 2017, and she is responsible for the deal flow management and due diligence process for the investments. She holds an M.D. (Medical Doctor) degree (2008) from Shanghai Tongji University, People's Republic of China. Fei began her career as a physician in emergency medicine and pursued her interest in pulmonary oncology research for her scientific doctoral degree for a PhD at the Ludwig-Maximilian University and Thoracic Oncology Center, Munich, Germany.

Joachim Vogt is Director Search & Evaluation Western Europe at AbbVie. He is responsible for the identification of European business opportunities across all indications and technologies of interest for AbbVie and serves as key contact for European partners, including academic institutions, biotech companies, venture capital, governments and non-profit organizations.

Joachim spent more than 15 years in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry in BD and research roles. He gained broad experience in- and outlicensing of preclinical and clinical projects as well as research technologies. Before joining AbbVie, Joachim was Director of Early Stage Partnering at Roche, served as Senior Manager at Wilex AG and was Head of IP Licensing at the tech transfer office Bayerische Patentallianz.  Joachim holds a diploma in chemistry and received his PhD in protein crystallography at the University of Freiburg.

Moritz Philipp Weisbrodt is the co-founder and CMO of KaiaHealth. During his business and management studies at WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management (Vallendar) and ESSEC Business School (Paris) he was able to gain first practical experiences in various industries. Before Kaia Health and together with his two co-founders Konstantin Mehl and Manuel Thurner he scaled the premium food delivery company Foodora up to 14 countries back in 2015. In his leisure time, Moritz is into various types of sports as well as into discussing new entrepreneurial ideas.

Jörg Wischhusen studied biochemistry in Tübingen. After his thesis on immune escape in malignant glioma (supervised by M. Weller and H.G. Rammensee) he became a junior group leader at the University of Würzburg. In 2013 he was appointed professor for Experimental Tumor Immunology. His group explores whether mechanisms that protect embryos from the maternal immune system represent new targets for cancer immunotherapy. This has resulted in the spinoff of a VC-funded biotech company. He is also co-inventor of a platform technology for antigen-specific immunosuppressive therapeutics. This pre-seed project is currently supported by an m4 Award. He authored >80 peer-reviewed publications, is key inventor on 6 patent families, advisor to biotech and pharma companies and an active concert pianist.

Senior research biochemist with +15 years experience in pharmaceutical industry (R&D). Passionate project leader of drug discovery projects with strong track record in different therapeutic areas. Keen interest in external collaboration and innovation. Hands on experience in the support and evaluation of start-up opportunities in the fields of life science (incl. pharma, diagnostics, med-tech) and chemistry.

Caroline Xu is co-founder and CEO of ViGeneron GmbH, a next generation gene therapy company. She has 15 years of experience in the life sciences industry. Caroline worked at Novartis for about 10 years, where she was responsible for global strategy and leading cross-functional team to deliver in-house & external new products in neuroscience, ophthalmology and oncology. Prior to Novartis, she was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she advised Pharmaceuticals and Biotech companies in Europe, US and Asia on strategy, R&D, M&A, marketing, and operations.

Caroline has an MBA from Cornell University. She was trained as pharmacologist, with postdoctoral research at the medical school of Columbia University in New York, Ph.D. from Technical University Munich, MS from Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.