Scientific advisory board
Sir Gregory Winter is a scientific pioneer of protein engineering and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. He invented techniques to make humanized and fully human antibodies for therapeutic uses. His technology is used in over two-thirds of the antibody products on the market. He is a founder of Cambridge Antibody Technology (acquired by AstraZeneca) and also a founder of Domantis (acquired by GSK). In 2009 he co-founded Bicycle Therapeutics, a licensee of Pepscan aiming to develop small protein mimics. Greg Winter is Deputy Director at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. He is also Deputy Director of the MRC’s Centre for Protein Engineering. Winter has received numerous prizes and awards and was knighted in 2004 for his services to science.
Prof. Andrew Hamilton is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford since 2009. He is the former Provost of Yale and served as chairman of the department of chemistry at Yale. Hamilton obtained his PhD from Cambridge University and was assistant professor of Chemistry at Princeton University and professor of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests lie at the interface of organic and biological chemistry, with particular focus on the use of synthetic design for the understanding, mimicry, and potential disruption of biological processes. His lab is most noted for the design of barbiturate hosts, farnesyl tranferase inhibitors, protein surface binders, and helix mimetics.
Prof. Andreas Plückthun studied chemistry at the University of Heidelberg and obtained a PhD from the University of California San Diego. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Chemistry Department of Harvard University. From 1985 until 1993, he was group leader at the Genzentrum and Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie in Martinsried, Germany. He was appointed as a Professor of Biochemistry in Zürich in 1993. His pioneering scientific work on antibody engineering, protein engineering and directed evolution has made him one of the most highly cited scientists in protein science and his work has been honored by a number of international awards and membership of the German Academy of Science. In 1992, he co-founded the biotechnology company MorphoSys, a leading antibody company with successful deals with all major pharmaceutical companies. In 2004 he co-founded the biotech company Molecular Partners, which is located in Zurich.
Prof. Reinhold Förster is Professor of Immunology and Head of the Institute of Immunology at Hannover Medical School. He studied Veterinary Medicine in Munich and Cambridge (UK) and in 1991 obtained his PhD summa cum laude from the University of Munich. From 1991-1993, he worked at the GenCenter at Munich University starting his work on chemokines and their receptors. From 1994 to 2000 he worked at the Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin and in 2000, he was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Erlangen. In 2001 he was appointed to his current position at MHH. Reinhold Förster is an internationally acknowledged expert on chemokines. Using gene targeting in mice he has published fundamental papers regarding the function of chemokine receptors such as CXCR5, CCR9 and CCR7.