Advisory Board
DirectSens Advisory Board
Otto Kanzler
Otto Kanzler has more than 30 years experience in process- and business development in the biotech industry. As of 2007 he is serving as Management Consultant for production and technology-development for biotech- and pharmaceutical industry, specified for strategic and economic issues. Between 1993 and 2007 he was head of biopharmaceutical coordination and planning at Boehringer Ingelheim Austria, Vienna, responsible for the economic issues of the industrial biopharmaceutical business. Prior to this he was head of process development for biopharmaceutical processes at Boehringer Ingelheim Austria (1981-1993). In addition, Otto Kanzler is CEO and co-founder of several Austrian-based Biotech-Companies.
Stefan Podany
Stefan works as Director in the Strategic Business Development & Corporate Development at i5invest. In his role as Advisory Board member, he supports promising companies accelerating growth and finding the right strategic partner to scale globally. He started his career at PwC focusing on company and market analysis as well as company valuation. Before his business career he has been a professional Triathlete, that is why he is a biosensor and glucose-level measurement enthusiast.
Prof.
Anthony Cass
Prof. Anthony Cass is a leading expert in analytical biotechnology and biosensors. With a distinguished career at Imperial College London, his work focuses on the development of innovative biosensing technologies for medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring. Prof. Cass has published extensively and collaborated with various industries, making significant contributions to the field. His expertise brings valuable insights to our advisory board, especially in the areas of bio-electrochemistry and sensor development.
Prof.
Lo Gorten
Lo Gunnar Otto Gorton’s current affiliation is Department of Analytical Chemistry / Biochemistry and Structural Biology, University of Lund, Sweden.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree of genetics, botany, microbiology and a Master’s degree of chemistry from Lund University. He graduated as PhD with a thesis entitled: A Study of Modified Electrodes and Enzyme Reactors. After various positions at Lund University he became Associate Professor (docent) in analytical chemistry in 1986 and finally in 1997 Lo Gorton became the chair professor in analytical chemistry. Except for bioelectrochemistry his research interests cover immobilised enzymes, flow injection analysis, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, polysaccharide hydrolysing enzymes and their use for analysis and characterisation of derivatised cellulose, hemicellulose and starch.
Prof. Wolfgang Schuhmann
He obtained his diploma degree in chemistry from the University in Karlsruhe, Germany (1982) and his PhD from the Technical University of Munich (1986). After finishing his habilitation thesis at the Technical University of Munich in 1993, he was appointed to be a professor for Analytical Chemistry at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in 1996. His research interest addresses the development of reagentless amperometric biosensors, micro-electrochemistry, miniaturization of biosensors, scanning electrochemical microscopy, combinatorial microelectrochemistry, electrochemical robotics, biofuel cells, localized corrosion, new materials for electrocatalysis as well as the in-depth understanding of electrified interfaces.
Ass. Prof. Paolo Bollella
Paolo Bollella is an assistant professor at University of Bari in the Department of Chemistry. Till December 2020, he was a Research Assistant Professor at Clarkson University in the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Science (USA). After his PhD, he joined the Department of Analytical Chemistry at Åbo Akademi in Turku (Finland) with a Johan Gadolin PostDoc fellowship awarded from the board of Johan Gadolin Process Chemistry Center. In October 2018, he joined the group of “Bioelectronics & Bionanotechnology” led by Prof. Evgeny Katz. In 2020 and 2021, he was recognized among the top 100000 most influencing scientists and engineers (statistical analysis elaborated by Stanford University). His research interests lie in the interface of sensors/biosensors developing, nanomaterials modified electrodes and sensing/actuation processes.
Fredrik
Debong
Fredrik DeBong is a successful serial entrepreneur. In 1984 he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which led him to be one of the cofounders of mySugr, with the goal of making diabetes therapy more fun and engaging. The diabetes management system is, among other interesting tidbits, one of the first apps in the AppStore which is a standalone „medical device“, carries the CE mark and has been developed in accordance to European and US medical device guidelines and laws.
DI Dr. Michael Hammerschmid
Michael Hammerschmid studied Food- and Biotechnology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, and has over 17 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He held leadership roles, mainly at Boehringer Ingelheim RCV, Vienna (1994-2001, 2003-2013), developing expertise in a dynamic organization. He managed units in process science, production, quality control, and international contract manufacturing projects. His role as COO at VBC-Genomics (2002-2003) broadened his experience in startup environments. Hammerschmid is also CEO and co-founder of Transform Science Management GmbH (www.transform-science.com).
Dipl.-Ing. Manfred Augstein
He holds a diploma degree in mechanical engineering from technical university of Karlsruhe (KIT), Germany. After that he worked in software for automation technology, followed by 20 years of experience at Boehringer Mannheim/Roche Diagnostic in fields of CAD Implementation and construction, project leader mechanics, strategic purchasing, project leader PoC-platform, technology development “Lab-on- Disc”. Since 2010 Manfred Augstein is CEO of velixX GmbH. www.velixX.com
