Dominik Höchli has a medical degree (MD) from the University of Bern. After residencies in adult and pediatric surgery, he worked a few years for the consulting company McKinsey&Co, before starting a career in the life-science/bio-pharmaceutical industry. Dominik Höchli has 20 years of experience in commercial and R&D leadership roles, including the medical oversight of the hematology-oncology portfolio during the last decade. He led global product launches for major blockbuster products, including Venetoclax, and has executive experience, most recently as VP, Head of Global Medical Affairs at Abbvie.

Wiebe Olijve is an experienced research leader who has developed a range of biotech applications throughout his career.

Until recently he was the CEO and co-founder of BioNovion (now Aduro Biotech Europe). Before that, he was vice president of Schering-Plough Biopharma (now Merck Research Laboratories). He also founded the Organon Research Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where antibodies against oncological and auto-immune diseases were developed. During this time, Dr Olijve led the project that discovered pembrolizumab (Keytruda) – a humanized antibody used in cancer immunotherapy. He also spent many years leading pioneering research programs at Organon, using genomic and bioinformatics approaches to identify therapeutic targets. These endeavors advanced research in the Netherlands and the United States. Dr Olijve has been a professor of Applied Biology at Radboud University in Nijmegen since 1990.

Carlos Cuesta-Mateos is a senior scientist with over 15 years of experience in onco-hematology and onco-immunology.

He has an MSc in biology from the Complutentese University of Madrid, a PhD in immunology from the Autónoma University of Madrid, and trained as a clinical immunologist at La Princesa Hospital Madrid. Dr Cuesta-Mateos has worked in leadership positions at immunology laboratories in several clinical centers and as an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Medicine Faculty of the European University of Madrid. Currently he leads the target discovery/validation section and the flow cytometry platform.

Fernando Terrón is a biotech entrepreneur, with almost 20 years’ entrepreneurial experience, and has been with Catapult since its inception.

He has also founded three other biotech companies: Biolty (a life sciences consultancy), Immed (oncology target discovery), and ProRetina Therapeutics (gene therapy in ophthalmology), and is a board member of Biotools (manufacturer of molecular biology reagents), and Imegen (genetic diagnostics in cancer and rare diseases). He has an MD from the University of Navarra in Spain and an MBA from Duke University in the USA.

Bert Jan Haijema has over 15 years of experience as a senior biotech expert with an emphasis on CMC and preclinical related activities in the field of therapeutic antibodies and vaccines. He has been responsible for bringing several products from early R&D to the clinic. His work has focused on CMC, bioprocess development & transfer, GMP manufacturing and regulatory affairs amongst others. Currently he coordinates Catapult’s CMC activities.

Gerda van Tol is an experienced senior clinical trial manager with over 25 years of experience. She is knowledgeable in several therapeutic areas with a special focus on oncology, immunotherapy and hematology. She has a degree in Life Sciences and has managed global clinical trials for several large pharmaceutical companies. Currently Gerda is responsible for the management of Catapult’s Phase I clinical trial.