Mr. Sturge is the Chief Operating Officer of Merck Serono.

He is one of the most successful and seasoned biotech CEOs in the UK and has built a very strong reputation not only in the industry but also in the investment community.

His experience includes eight years at Celltech (now owned by Lonza), and Mr. Sturge was the founder and CEO of RiboTargets, later reversed into Vernalis Plc. After serving as CEO of OctoPlus N.V. for two years, previously he was Senior Vice President of Boehringer Ingelheim’s Biopharmaceutical Business.

He is also a regular speaker at conferences including the World Economic Forum. Mr. Sturge was awarded UK Mediscience CEO of the year in 2005.

Mr. van Wezel is a Managing Partner at BioGeneration Ventures BV since 2006.

He has extensive international expertise in small and large pharma and biotech companies. After starting his industrial career at Chiron Inc., he served as a project manager at Johnson & Johnson, where he was involved in product development and licensing. Mr. van Wezel served as a director of business development at Pepscan Systems. As managing director of Macrozyme, he was responsible for the pre-clinical development of a new oral anti-diabetic compound and instrumental for successfully partnering this product with Genzyme Inc.

Mr. van Wezel holds an MSc in chemistry from the University of Utrecht and an MSc in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Delft.

Dr. Krul is the founder and a partner of Aglaia BioMedical Ventures.

He has been involved in anticancer drug development since 1993 and has a background in molecular biology and immunology.

Before founding Aglaia BioMedical Ventures in 2003 he was Program Director of the NDDO Research Foundation. He held several positions at NDDO Oncology BV (formerly the EORTC New Drug Development Office) with respect to oncology drug development strategies (1997-2002). From 1993 till 199.

Dr. Krul was Research Manager of the European Cancer Center and headed the Department of Molecular Virology at the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection from 1989 till 1993.

Dr. Kloosterman is (senior) investment manager for DSM Venturing (DSM’s corporate investment group), Limburg Ventures and Chemelot Ventures (both funds co-founded by DSM Nederland with regional focus). He has worked at DSM NV in various positions since 1985.

Dr. Kloosterman focuses on breakthrough private and listed companies in the areas of Life Sciences and Performance Materials that are looking for equity financing. He serves in non-executive boards of several European startup companies, and acts as advisory board member or jury member in several European panels.

Dr. Kloosterman holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Leiden University.

Dr Riddell MSc. MB ChB. DSc., has over 30 years experience in the pharmaceutical, life science and biotech industries including 20 years as main board director, 12 years as CEO and is currently Chairman of Feedback plc (AIM: FDBK), the South West Academic Health Science Network and non-executive director of AzurRx (NASDAQ:AZRX) and Nemesis Biosciences Ltd.

He has taken a number of products through the clinical trials process for companies including Lederle (now Pfizer) and Centocor (now J&J). He has led significant fund raising efforts including an IPO on UK’s main list and trade sales to Takeda in Japan and Stem Cells Inc. in the USA. He has also had several roles in UK government initiatives related to promoting cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and the NHS and assessing projects for funding with Innovate UK.

Mr. Van Hooland is Founding Partner at Droia. Previously, he was the Managing Partner from the foundation of Droia in 2012 through to 2018. Mr. Van Hooland is responsible for building the Droia network, developing investment opportunities and managing portfolio investments.

He acted as interim CEO for two of Droia’s portfolio companies, including at the creation of former portfolio company Tusk Therapeutics, which was acquired by Roche in 2018. Mr. Van Hooland is a Director on the Boards at Bioncotech, Cristal Therapeutics and Convert Pharmaceuticals.

He graduated as an engineer from the University of Ghent and has an MBA from INSEAD. He worked as a strategy consultant at BCG in Paris and Brussels, and has since been owner, manager and director of several companies before co-founding Droia. Mr. Van Hooland is a member of the Board of Directors of Gimv, a Euronext listed private equity and venture capital investor. He is also on the Advisory Boards of the Hermes Fund, which has succeeded IWT, the Flemish agency for innovation through science and technology, where he was a Director and of PMV, the investment company of the Flemish government. GIMV, IWT and PMV have been instrumental in the development of the Belgian biotech ecosystem.