Team

The BACTherapy team consists of international experts in the fields of immunology, cancer therapy, microbiology and genetics. The team also has the legal and regulatory expertise that will be required to bring bacterial immunotherapy products to the market successfully.  

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  Aude Fahrer

  Professor Aude Fahrer heads a laboratory at the Australian National University, as well as having an appointment at the University of Canberra. Her major research interests are in immunology, bioinformatics and cancer immunotherapy. She has taken her novel bacterial-based cancer immunotherapy through pre-clinical trials in three species, and into phase I trial in cancer patients.

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  Mihai Netea

  Professor Mihai Netea was born and studied medicine in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He currently heads the division of Experimental Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center. He is mainly interested in understanding the memory traits of innate immunity (trained immunity), the factors influencing variability of human immune responses, and the immune dysregulation during bacterial and fungal infections. He is the recipient of the Spinoza Prize 2016 and an ERC Advanced grant in 2019, and since 2016 he is a member of the Netherlands Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW).

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  Mirjam Schenk

  Professor Mirjam Schenk is a Swiss biomedical research scientist with extensive expertise in basic and translational immunological research. She holds an appointment at the University of Bern and is currently leading two research groups: one in Davos, focused on investigating inflammatory skin diseases, and another in Bern, dedicated to studying tumor immunology. Her work has led to the development of a thermosensitive BCG-hydrogel that enhances tumor surveillance for the pre-clinical treatment of metastatic melanoma.

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  Mar Valés-Gómez

  Dr. Mar Valés-Gómez is a molecular immunologist working in the recognition of cancer by innate immune cells. She started her career at Harvard University, in the laboratory of Prof. Jack L. Strominger, working on Natural Killer cell activation and inhibition receptors. After a postdoctoral period at the University of Cambridge, studying mechanisms of immune evasion used by viruses, she obtained an MRC Young investigator Award to start her independent research. In 2010, she joined the Spanish National Center for Biotechnology where her laboratory uses high resolution cytometry and molecular techniques to study how exposure to BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guerin) potentiates immune recognition of bladder cancer.

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  Tahlita Zuiverloon

  Tahlita Zuiverloon is urologist and assistant professor at the Erasmus University & Medical Centre in Rotterdam. Tahlita treats bladder cancer patients with the bacterial immunotherapy BCG and performs research to further improve BCG and patient care.

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  John van der Oost

  Professor John van der Oost studied Biology at the Free University in Amsterdam. He is group leader of the Bacterial Genetics group of the Laboratory of Microbiology at Wageningen University. His current research focuses on bacterial anti-virus systems such as CRISPR-Cas and Argonaute, and on the development of related genome editing and diagnostic applications. He is member of the Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and he obtained prestigious grants (NWO  ERC) and the Spinoza Prize (2018). 

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  Alex van Belkum

  Alex van Belkum is former professer microbiology at the Erasmus MC and has since worked in industry in the development of microbial tests. Alex is currently CSO of Baseclear a company that specialises in next generation sequencing based analyses of micro-organisms.

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  Roelof van Ewijk

  Roelof van Ewijk is a research and clinical fellow at the Princess Máxima Center for Paediatric Oncology in Utrecht, the Netherlands. His research focusses on pediatric sarcoma, aiming to contribute to the improvement of care and survival in paediatric sarcoma patients.

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  Laurens van Pinxteren

  Laurens van Pinxteren has more than 20 years of experience as CMC/program manager in the pharma/biotech industry.

  Laurens holds a Masters degree on animal science at Wageningen University and a PhD on veterinary medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He received his MBA from Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in 2002.

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  Karin Verzijden

  Karin Verzijden is a life sciences lawyer. Her core expertise is to assist companies regarding the market introduction of innovations. Karin furthermore drafts and negotiates a variety of commercial contracts in her field of expertise.

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  Dan Morath

  Dan Morath has represented biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and chemical companies for more than 20 years with clients ranging from small startups to major research institutions and multinational pharmaceutical companies. He advises on a wide variety of complex IP-related matters, including international portfolio strategy and development, patent preparation and prosecution, due diligence, and general patent counseling.

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  Thie Watse Brouwer

  Thie Watse Brouwer is a seasoned CFO/COO. He has worked in Asia and the Americas and has over 15 years of experience as a CFO/COO in the distribution of Pharmaceuticals/Medical Disposables in Europe and the U.S.

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  Max van Min

  Max van Min is founder of BACTherapy. He has a degree in biotechnology from Wageningen University and was previously founder & CEO of Cergentis, a Dutch biotech company based on the TLA technology for gene sequencing he invented. Cergentis was acquired by the Swiss CRO Solvias in 2022 and works for the entire global pharmaceutical industry in the support of drug development and quality control.

  BACTherapy.org was inspired by a search for therapy options for Mischa Kulyk (2011-2022) a Ukrainian osteosarcoma patient who was hosted by Max’s sister and the Princess Máxima Center for Paediatric Oncology.