University degree in analytical chemistry with specialization on LC/MS technology for the quantification of therapeutics in-vitro and in-vivo. PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry working on an experimental cancer chemotherapeutic approach by a combination of enzymes and co-administered cytostatic drugs. Post-doc in identification of markers in stress response at the James Hutton Institute in Scotland. Over 23 years now working as researcher at Novartis and currently in the position of manager within the field of automated open access analytics to provide fast result data for scientists in their daily research programs.
Kyle Tansill
Prior to leading Digital Manufacturing Strategy in Saint Gobain’s Life Sciences business unit, I had 15 years of experience in electrical installation, maintenance and automation engineering. This experience, coupled with a child-like curiosity in the power of technology, has led me to drive initiatives that focus on providing value in the trenches of the shop floor. Alongside a degree in Computer Science I hold vocational qualifications in electrical installation, machinery safety, automation engineering and Agile methodology. My greatest passion now is to find a way to bind people, technology and the business to drive ‘universe denting’ operational change over the isolated successes I have witnessed since the conception of i4.0
THOMAS ALTMANN
Thomas has 23 years experience as a technical consultant providing consultation on cleaning process optimization for pharmaceutical, API, biotechnology and cosmetic/personal care manufacturers in Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa. He is an expert in cleaning validation for product contact surfaces across all types of pharmaceutical and personal care production equipment. He is experienced in addressing regulatory inspection findings related to cleaning processes – and with implementing CAPA plans to prevent re-occurrence. Thomas has developed more than 1500 cleaning programs/recommendations for pharmaceutical and personal care industries over the past five years. He regularly contributes to presentations and workshops for thought leading and standardsetting organizations: ISPE (International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering), Informa LifeScience, VDMA and FDANEWS. Thomas contributed to the ASTM E55 Cleaning Task Group (ASTM Sciences and Risk-based Cleaning Process development and Validation) and published related articles as a co-author in “Pharmaceutical Engineering” as well as “Pharmaceutical Online” and “Biotechnology Online”. Prior to joining Ecolab, Thomas worked in the healthcare/pharmaceutical and food industries.
Dr. Trixie Wagner
Since 2022 Lead Lab Informatics & Lab Automation (LILA)
Global Discovery Chemistry, Novartis Biomedical Research Basel (Switzerland)
2018 - 2022 Group Leader Analytics, PhysChem, Separations & Lab Automation (AXS)
Global Discovery Chemistry, NIBR Basel (Switzerland)
2016 - 2018 Group Leader Analytics, PhysChem & Separations (AXS)
Global Discovery Chemistry, NIBR Basel (Switzerland)
2014 - 2016 Group Leader Analytics & Physicochemical Properties (AX)
Global Discovery Chemistry, NIBR Basel (Switzerland)
2009 - 2013 Group Leader Small Molecule Structure Determination (SMSD)
Analytical Sciences, NIBR Basel (Switzerland)
Paul Klaassen has more than 30 years of experience in the biotech industry, in different disciplines and different roles. The highlights of his career are the development of second generation of bioethanol yeast, and the development of innovative dairy culture solutions. Lab automation and screening have often been central in his work. He is currently principal scientific lab automation and screening at dsm-firmenich.
Dr. Trixie Wagner
An internationally experienced crystallographer, analytical chemist and passionate scientist with more than 20 years of experience in industrial pharmaceutical research. Has led a diverse Analytics group for 13 years, integrated physicochemical properties and separation technologies and built up an automation team from scratch. Her curiosity and her passion for science, technology, processes and data have inspired the creation of a new group at her current workplace: Lab Informatics & Lab Automation (LILA). LILA’s mission is to catalyze the digital transformation of synthetic chemistry and build a machine-readable data culture.
Dr. Börries Brandenburg
As a virologist and Scientific Director in R&D at Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), Dr. Börries Brandenburg was critically involved in JnJ’s Covid-19 vaccine development. He led the antigen design for a universal influenza vaccine program currently in the clinic. His team develops and automates assays to analyse the humoral responses in different clinical programs, such as Influenza and RSV.
Graham Young
Graham is passionate about governance, risk & compliance. In his role as Enterprise Sales Director he enjoys supporting highly regulated customers across the life sciences sector to achieve operations excellence that algins to their business needs & objectives.
Graham has worked with Ideagen for over 7 years & knows first-hand the value Ideagen’s solutions bring to our customers each day. Helping to centralise data, improve leadership overview, create a reporting culture & minimise operational risks.
Graham enjoys speaking with businesses to learn about their pains & problem solving to find a the best solution to support their digital transformation.
Hugh Devine
Hugh oversees the company’s sales and growth strategy. He is trained in US & EU IT Regulatory requirements and has led pilot projects for key IT systems within the regulated space.
He has significant experience in Product and IT Design Control Validation, Data Centre qualification, Product and IT Quality Strategies, System Implementation, Computer System Validation, commercialisation of Software as a Service applications all for the Life Science and Health IT Industries inclusive of HIPAA and GDPR compliance.
Seshasai (Sesh) Kandrakota
A versatile leader with nearly 3 decades of industry experience carrying extensive experience in digital transformation and process manufacturing Industry. An alum of Reliance, TCS, IBM and Accenture; Sesh now, as President of Caliber, leads the Global Business.
Axel Sinner
Axel Sinner currently holds the position of Director in the Life Sciences Industry at Capgemini Invent, showing his most recent achievement in a career that covers consultancy, pharmaceuticals, and biophysics.
Starting his professional journey with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, Axel's knack for strategic insights and forward-thinking quickly became evident. This prowess propelled him into strategic roles within the pharmaceutical industry, at renowned companies such as Merck KGaA and Grünenthal.
His consultancy trajectory also saw notable stints at Camelot Management Consultants, where he worked in the spin-off of Hypertrust Patient Data Care. This venture seamlessly merged the innovative potentials of blockchain technology with the dynamic world of personalized medication. Further enriching his consultancy portfolio, Axel made significant contributions to Deloitte's Life Sciences Team, orchestrating transformative solutions with his deep-rooted industry knowledge.
Behind the strategist lies a dedicated scientist. With a solid grounding in biophysics, Axel's work on lipids and vesiculation holds resonance in today's age, especially in the thriving realm of mRNA medications.
Krisztian Kaszas
Over the past ten years at J&J, Krisztian developed a platform approach of automating key serological assays used in vaccine development and discovery. He combines process automation of laboratory work and experimental data management to build self-service workflows, bringing walk-away automation using complex integrated systems within the reach of most laboratory employees.
Marc Vorderman
Marc is the Director for the Europe Region at Caliber. With over 25 years of invaluable Business IT experience, he specializes in the Pharma, Food, and Chemicals industry. Deeply passionate about digitalization and the endless opportunities it can bring to Pharma quality operations, Marc actively contributes by publishing articles, giving lectures, and conducting workshops that tackle the complexities of data convergence, distinguishing between "Doing Digital and Being Digital
Ian Pepper
Ian is Director Technology Innovation at Novartis. In this role Ian tracks new and emerging technology with a view to strategy, adoption and scale-up within the organisation. Current areas of focus include emerging AI technologies such as distributed learning and large language models, along with quantum computing; 5G and edge compute. Prior to joining Novartis, Ian was CTO at a number of Irish and international companies. He is a frequent conference speaker, a published author and inventor with a number of US and European patents.
Alexis Charaudeau
After completion of a bachelor in organic chemistry I’ve joined Sanofi to work in medicinal chemistry then late development until I joined process chemistry working on route scouting for alternative route. I’ve been in charge of implementation of High-throughput experimentation. Since then, I’m running it at Sisteron, South of France in collaboration with US based team in Cambridge Crossing. Since September 2023 I’ve joined National Graduate School of Chemistry of Montpellier as a 3rd year student.
David Wolton
Operations Director with 38 years’ experience in Biopharmaceutical manufacturing and facility design. David has worked for Takeda, PM Group, AGC Biologics, Élan, Wyeth (Pfizer) and Lonza. Special areas of interest include large scale mammalian cell culture, OPEX reduction, lean manufacture, single use equipment design and mobile Robotics, resulting in active participation in the ISPE disposables steering committee and Biophorum robotics technology roadmap team.
Priya Vijayakumar
Priya Vijayakumar is the CEO and CO-Founder of WattIQ and has over 10+ years of experience creating and implementing global product strategy in the Industrial IoT markets across multiple startups. Priya holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto
Johan van Gerven
Johan van Gerven is Director Development at Kadans Science Partner in Haaren. Kadans Science Partner develops and operates tailor-made housing solutions, with a focus on housing knowledge-intensive technological companies and institutions (laboratories, cleanrooms, pilot plants and offices). As Director Development, he is responsible for the further growth of the real estate portfolio, with a focus on the development and acquisition of buildings at Science Parks in the Netherlands. Johan has 25 years of experience in the field of development, design, realization and operation of projects in various market segments (life sciences, microelectronics, sustainable energy generation, automotive, data centers, laboratories, healthcare and the office sector). Realizing complex projects is a challenge for Johan, where he knows how to keep all stakeholders on board. Johan is a driven team player who responds excellently to the wishes of his customers and knows how to translate this into concrete results.
Doug Martinez
Doug Martinez is an Industrial Engineering/Continuous Improvement (IE/CI) Manager, with a focus on Laboratory and Infrastructure systems. Before assuming his current role, he was an integral part of the Lab Operations team, where he managed equipment and streamlined processes. With four years of experience at Ginkgo, he collaborates with Foundry teams to drive increases in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and overall process efficiency (OPE), specifically by targeting and eliminating waste. His initiatives are characterized by a pragmatic approach to problem-solving and a commitment to excellence in continuous improvement endeavours.
Quentin Perron
Quentin Perron is a medicinal chemist by training. He holds a PhD in organometallic chemistry from the University of Geneva. During his post-doc fellowship at UCLA he worked on the total synthesis of Brasillicardin A, a complex natural molecule known for having a potent immunosuppressive activity. After working as a medicinal chemist in CNS indications at Laboratoires Servier, he switched to data science and chemoinformatics at Quinten, a company specialized in data science services. In 2016, with his business partners Yann Gaston-Mathé and Nicolas Do Huu, he co-founded Iktos, a start-up company developing AI technologies for new drug design. He is now the CSO of the company.
Alberto Pascual
Alberto holds a PhD in bioinformatics with a long experience in data science and biomedical domains. He graduated in Computer Science and received his PhD from the Autonomous University of Madrid. After some postdoc period, he joined the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB), leading a bioinformatics Research and Core facility group. He also co-founded Integromics, a Bioinformatics start-up, in 2003. The company received the Frost and Sullivan European Bioinformatics Project of the Year Award in 2007. Currently, he is the Director of Data Science and Analytics at IDBS, where he is responsible for developing and executing IDBS’ strategy on AI, Data Science and Analytics to deliver novel products and services to our customers in life sciences R&D markets.
Ivo Boruta
Responsible for global marketing strategy in Siemens Smart Infrastructure headquarters, Ivo Boruta has been driving digitalisation and sustainability at Pharma & Life Science customers for the past 4 years. With over 20 years of experience in process industry, Ivo held various roles in product management, sales, operations, marketing and key account management. Ivo joined Siemens in 2017 to drive strategic positioning, content development and thought leadership for digitalisation and sustainability with focus on labs and critical environments.
