Management

Originally a biochemist, Andy later specialised in Virology serving for 9 years at the MRC Virology Unit in Glasgow, Scotland, studying Herpesviruses and Adenoviruses. In 1995, he moved to the industry sector, initially as Director of Virus Validation services with Q-One Biotech Ltd, and later at served at the Pathogen Safety group of Baxter Healthcare in Vienna, Austria. Over the last 10 years Andy has presented at numerous regulatory agencies either in support of products or as an invited speaker at expert workshops. This has included presentations at the UK MHRA, German PEI, French AFFSAPS, US FDA, EMEA and JMHLW (Japan) in support of regulatory submissions for various products. He has extensive experience in regulatory affairs and virus safety issues. He currently serves as an external expert for the EU SCENIHR committee on emerging human health risks, and continues to be a frequent presenter at international biopharmaceutical conferences.

Walter is an established member of the ViruSure team and is responsible for management of the in vitro laboratories at the Tech Gate facility of ViruSure. He is a veterinarian by training and thereafter completed his Doctorate at the Institute of Virology, Universtiy of Vienna, Austria. He continued his postdoctoral activities at the Institute of Virology and working eventually for Austrianova, a company specialising in the development of encapsulated cell based therapies for the treatment of cancers. He comes therefore with significant experience in the GMP testing of cell based therapeutics gained during his time at Austrianova.

Dr Ralf Klein is Manager of Business Development at ViruSure, having joined ViruSure in August 2009. Ralf comes to ViruSure with ~15 years experience in the contract pathogen safety testing service industry. Prior to his position at ViruSure he has worked at several other CRO´s (BioReliance, Invitrogen, NewLab BioQuality and Charles River Laboratories). At BioReliance he was a Study Director for virus validation studies for about 4 years before moving into the role of a key account manager for biosafety testing services. His subsequent positions at other CRO’s has been in business development / key account management.

A graduate of the University of Heidelberg with a degree in Genetics, Microbiology and Biochemistry, he served for 4 years at the diagnostic laboratory Seelig establishing ELISA and PCR tests for virus and autoimmune diagnostics. He earned his Ph.D in virology at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg working on Hepatitis B Virus. Ralf worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Applied Tumour Virology at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg working on Tumour Suppressor Genes, and holds a patent on a p53 ELISA test.

Maria is a veterinarian by training, with significant experience in the handling of small animal models. Following completion of her veterinary training, Maria practiced veterinary medicince in Graz, Austria. Thereafter she completed a fellowship at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada studing the use of plant based medicines in the treatment of animals. Maria has remained active in the veterinary field and has instrumental in the the establishment of the ViruSure in vivo facilities in Vienna.

Dr. Alexander Vodopivec: Alexander serves as Chief Financial Officer. He has extensive experience in the founding, financing, operation and guidance of young start-up companies. He is currently also an executive officer of Busyangel (www.busyangel.at), a Vienna based investment company specialising in investing into small and growing start-up companies.