Management
Currently employing 40 staff, 4-Antibody’s potential is based on the expertise of the founding team in immunological research, leveraged by a management team with a strong and successful professional track record. This combined with the scientific and technical skill of our technical staff forms the core strength that will enable 4-Antibody to become a globally recognized player in the development of antibody based pharmaceuticals.
Chief Scientific Officer, (CSO) Ulf Grawunder, PhD
Dr. Grawunder is Chief Scientific Officer at 4-Antibody. He co-founded 4-Antibody in 2002 and led the Company as CEO, from its inception through the initial start-up period, until June 2006, when he assumed the role of CSO at 4-Antibody. Dr. Grawunder obtained his PhD from the University of Basel for research on early B lymphopoeisis at the Basel Institute for Immunology, Basel, Switzerland from 1991-1994. During post-doctoral work at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles, he worked on the genetic mechanisms responsible for the creation of antibody diversity, which led to several ground-breaking discoveries published in highest ranked journals, including Nature. Before taking an executive role at 4-Antibody, Dr. Grawunder held positions as principal investigator and group leader at the Basel Institute for Immunology, Switzerland, the University of Ulm, Germany, and the University of Basel. He is an expert on molecular and cellular aspects of early B cell development.
Dr. Grawunder has published more than 30 publications on B cell development and antibody diversification and is co-inventor of the 4mAb™ technology platform. In 2003, he was awarded the New Entrepreneurs in Technology and Science Prize of the Gebert-Rüf-Foundation, Switzerland.
Chief Technology Officer, (CTO) Marc van Dijk, PhD
Dr. van Dijk joined 4-Antibody in November 2008 as Chief Technology Officer, where he is responsible for the overall coordination and project management of the technology development and drug discovery programmes in the company. Marc has extensive experience in the antibody therapeutics field. He joined Medarex in 1997 as principle scientist, and from there moved to Genmab at its spin-out in 1999. He held various management positions, including Vice President antibody technology, was co-author of the business plan and responsible for setting-up the team and facilities of genmab’s Discovery facility in Utrecht. He was involved in the set up and management of partnerships with Immunex (now Amgen), and Roche, and served as project leader on discovery projects. In this capacity he was responsible for the discovery of HuMax IL-15 and HuMax-EGFr, two of Genmab’s drug candidates evaluated in clinical trials. He is inventor on several patents and author on numerous publications in leading scientific journals. In 2005 he joined Innogenetics in Ghent, Belgium as Director Applied Research & Development, where he was responsible for overall product development for the diagnostic arm of Innogenetics in the fields of tissue typing, neurodegeneration and infectious disease.
Prior to his entry in the Biotechnology industry, he worked as post-doctoral scientist at the University of California at San Diego and held a tenure track position in the department of immunology at the university medical center in Utrecht. He holds a Ph.D in Molecular Biology.
Head of 4-Antibody Germany, Eva-Maria Stegemann, MSc, PhD
Dr. Stegemann joined 4-Antibody in August 2004 as Head of 4-Antibody Germany, Jena. She has a dual background in science and business, holding a diploma in Biochemistry from Private University Witten/Herdecke, Germany, and a Ph.D. in Business from Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Germany. Dr. Stegemann gained first professional experience in the Life Sciences Team of Schitag Ernst & Young and afterwards in establishing the GET UP initiative at the University of Jena, that offered business consulting for high technology start-up companies within the framework of the EXIST initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research.
Whilst working and lecturing at the Department of Business Administration at the University of Jena, Dr. Stegemann has gained additional entrepreneurial experience by co-founding and serving as a start-up CEO for microfluidic ChipShop GmbH, Jena.