HDITX - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• CEO
• Co - Founder and CEO of Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics

Michaela Arndt is co-founder and CEO of Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics since its inception in 2016. In this role, she is responsible for the strategic leadership and corporate development of the company. She brings in her strong scientific background in clinical translation and expertise in the development of immunotherapeutics. Before assuming her current position as CEO of Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics, her positions in academia as scientific co-leader of the ‘Antibody-based Immunotherapeutics Development Group' at the National Center for Tumor Diseases Heidelberg (NCT) and founding group leader of the ‘Recombinant Therapeutic Antibody Group' at Essen University Hospital focused on early preclinical development of antibody and antibody-derived therapeutics. After receiving her PhD at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg she held a postdoctoral position at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institute of Health (NIH)/United States from 2000 to 2003.

Job Titles:

• External Consultant

Rico Laage has more than 20 years experience in clinical development and Life Science R&D. He joined Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics in 2018 where he is responsible for coordinating and accompanying the development of the clinical pipeline as senior consultant. In 2014 he founded ‘Guided Development', where he has an established track record in successfully supporting various start-up and clinical stage biopharma companies as strategic advisor and experienced project lead. Since 2001 he held various positions in translational research and clinical development in the Biotech industry. In this role he was planning and leading several clinical trials from first-in-human to multinational phase III studies. Rico Laage obtained his PhD in cell biology at Heidelberg University, he is author of more than 40 scientific publications and patents in the area of life science and clinical development.

Job Titles:

• Director for Research and Development at Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics
• Director of Research and Development

Rudolf Übelhart is Director for Research and Development at Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics and responsible for managing early research and discovery projects. He joined the company in 2020 with more than 12 years of professional experience in molecular immunology, immuno-oncology, synthetic biology, and the development of antibody-based therapeutics. Before joining Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics, he was a scientific group leader at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg where he focused on the development of CAR-T cell therapeutics for treating cancer. Earlier during his academic career at the Max-Planck-Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg and the University Hospital in Ulm, he worked in the field of B-cell antigen receptors and B-cell development and characterized the mechanism of autonomous B cell receptor signalling in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) patients. Rudolf Übelhart published in top peer-review journals including Nature and Nature Immunology. He obtained his PhD from the University of Freiburg and was a lecturer in Immunology at the University of Ulm.

Job Titles:

• Director of Preclinical Development and CMC

Torsten Schaller joined Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics in 2018 where he is currently serving as Director of Preclinical Development and CMC. In this function, he plays a key role in advancement and innovation of the company's lead therapeutic compounds. He is responsible for managing preclinical development of drug candidates and translational research. He leads a strong network related to all CMC aspects of the company's development projects and closely interacts with regulatory agencies and CDMOs. He has more than 15 years of experience in working with human pathogenic viruses as well as gene-transfer and expression systems such as lentiviral vectors in the research fields of virology, oncology and immunity. Before joining Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics he was group leader at the Department of Virology at the University Hospital Heidelberg, junior group leader at the Goethe University Frankfurt, and held postdoctoral positions at King's College London and University College London. Torsten Schaller is author of over 40 scientific publications including articles in Nature, Science and Nature Medicine, and holds a PhD degree in Infection and Immunity from the University College London.

Job Titles:

• Co - Founder
• Co - Founder and Medical Expert of Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics

Jürgen Krauss is co-founder and Medical Expert of Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics. In this role he is member of the leadership team and brings in intense clinical and medical expertise. He is an accomplished researcher and experienced clinician in the field of innovative cancer therapeutics development. Since 2016, Jürgen Krauss is heading the Section for Clinical Immunotherapy at the National Center for Tumor Diseases Heidelberg (NCT). In this function he has established an infrastructure for conducting early clinical immunotherapy trials following his main interest to efficiently translate academic research into successful clinical applications. He also directs the ‘Antibody-based Immunotherapeutics Development Group' at the NCT. The group has generated several antibody-based immunotherapeutics until the late preclinical development stage including its lead product HDIT101 being clinically developed by Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics. Before assuming his current position, Jürgen Krauss served as clinical oncologist and research group leader at Essen University Hospital from 2004 to 2008. Prior to that he held a research position at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the United States where he conducted cancer research and was responsible for the preclinical drug development of antibody targeted ribonucleases as novel anti-cancer drugs. He studied medicine at the Universities of Mainz and Berlin and received his doctorate from the Charité in Berlin.

Job Titles:

• Director of Clinical Operations

As Director of Clinical Operations, Stefan Schöffel leads the team of Clinical Trial Managers at Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics and has oversight of all clinical activities. Stefan Schöffel joined the company in December 2020 as Clinical Project Manager and was appointed Director Clinical Operations in August 2021. "After a 25-year career in clinical operations in leading clinical research organizations (CROs) worldwide, I felt the desire to reorient myself. I wanted to feel the spirit and can-do atmosphere of a promising biotech company and work close to the scientists who developed the compounds we are studying for the benefit of patients in our clinical trials," he explains. Prior to joining Heidelberg ImmunoTherapeutics GmbH, Stefan Schöffel was Senior Director Regulatory and Start-Up at SyneosHealth, where he led a team of over 70 employees and was responsible for the start-up of dozens of sponsor projects in the DACH and MEA regions. Prior to that, he gained hands-on experience in clinical operations in various positions of increasing responsibility at Quintiles (now IQVIA), most recently as Director Clinical Operations and Director Study Start-Up. Stefan Schöffel holds a degree in Biology from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and is a certified Project Manager (IPMA Level D).