MIDA - Key Persons
Abhishek holds a PhD in Biology with specialization in cell and molecular biology from Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. He has a cumulative research experience of more than 11 years in stem cell biology in human pluripotent and tissue specific stem cells for disease modeling. In his post-doctoral research, Abhishek worked on identifying tissue specific stem cells in the testis, bone marrow, placenta and prostrate. Prior to joining MIDA, he worked on the development of cell-based therapies against kidney, vascular and peripheral neuron-related diseases and developed 3D organoids for drug screening. He has been trained in GMP manufacturing of ATMP from Biotech Facility Leiden and, as a senior scientist at MIDA Biotech, works on multi-disciplinary projects for the development of stem cell-based technologies and therapeutics.
Isaak is a quantitative developmental biologist, and his expertise lies in stem cell biology, neurobiology, and computer vision for biomedical applications (image analysis and machine learning). He graduated first from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and he has carried out research projects at the Karolinska Institutet, The Rockefeller University, the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, and the University of Chicago.
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientific Officer
- General Manager
With PhD in Neurobiology and metabolism, and rich experience in academic research and biotech industry, Malin is the General manager and leader of the three platforms of MIDA Biotech, stem cell biology, in vivo, and engineering, and their cross-disciplinary projects.
Malin graduated from University of Gothenburg in Sweden with a PhD in Medicine and Neuroscience and she continued on to work as a researcher at Technical university of Kaiserslautern and University of Copenhagen. Her research focused on the communication between different cell types in the brain, with emphasis on energy metabolism and neuron-glia interactions during aging.
Prior to joining MIDA, she worked as regional manager for leading producers of cell analysis and imaging solutions including Sony Biotech and Thermo Fisher Scientific and has substantial experience of the cell therapy field in northern Europe.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Senior Advisor
- Expert
Prof. Micha Drukker is an expert in stem cell research for clinical applications.
He graduated from the Hebrew University and was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University Medical School in the lab of Prof. Irving Weissman. He became and received tenure as a group leader and head of the induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell core facility at the Helmholtz Center in Munich between 2012 and 2020. Micha became a full professor in 2020 in Leiden University within the Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research
Micha's expertise lies in the applications of stem cells as "living drugs" in novel human therapies. His lab is involved in the manufacturing (GMP) of clinical-grade human PS cells that are immunologically matched to millions of individuals in Europe without requirement of suppressant drugs. His research profile combines stem cell biology, disease modeling in the dish using iPS cells, biochemistry, and immunology. His lab made pioneering discoveries including mechanisms of stem cell immunogenicity, embryonic progenitors that give rise to tissues in the human body including the heart, defects of the nervous system, and his lab developed technologies for iPS cell genomics. Micha was awarded prestigious grants including by the German Research Foundation (DFG), Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Horizon 2020, Volkswagen Foundation, the AЯRE Foundation and more, and his publication profile include top calibre journals including Nature Biotechnology, Molecular Cell, PNAS and more.
Job Titles:
- CFO
- Process Management Officer
Thom works as a Process Management Officer focusing primarily on accountancy and administration. Besides, Thom also supports MIDA Biotech with the general exploitation of the company. Thom obtained his BBA in 2020 from the IVA Driebergen Business School. Upon his graduation, he completed a finance traineeship at Profource after which he worked as a consultant in finance and IT. He supported the municipality of Rotterdam in setting up and ran the financial department of their COVID-19 department. He has recently supported the financial accounting department of APG, the largest Dutch pension investment company.