ADVISORY BOARD

  Dr. Manfred Kircher

   Chairman CLIB2021 (Cluster industrielle Biotechnologie 2021 e.V. )

Dr. Manfred Kircher received his Ph.D in molecular yeast genetics at the Institute of Microbiology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt/Germany.

Manfred Kircher is chairman of the board of CLIB2021 (www.clib2021.com) an association of companies, academic institutes and investors fostering industrial biotechnology. CLIB2021 pushes biotechnology by initiating and financing trendsetting R&D through partnering.

Dr. Kircher is deputed by Evonik Industries AG, where he is in charge of business venture biotechnology at Creavis, for the development of strategic options for Evonik's Science to Business Center Biotechnology. From 2001-2004, he managed Degussa's investment in Burrill & Company, a San Francisco based life sciences venture capital bank. He joined Degussa in 1981 and from 1984, after organising a biotechnological R&D department in Degussa's feed additive business unit, he was in charge of microbial strain development, and later helped to build up Fermas, an international joint venture for amino acid production in Slovakia. From 1996, Dr. Kircher was director of biotechnology project development in Degussa's R&D center Hanau/Germany.

Dr. Kircher brings along more than 25 years of experience in the field of investments, biotechnology R&D, production and project development.

   Dr. Jürgen Schumacher

   Serial entrepreneur and CEO BioRiver

Dr. Jürgen Schumacher received his PhD in biology at the Institute of Physical Biology, University of Duesseldorf/Germany.

In 1984, Dr. Schumacher co-founded DIAGEN Institut für molekularbiologische Diagnostik GmbH (Hilden/Germany), which was later renamed QIAGEN, and up to 1993 he was Spokesman of the Board. He is founder of NewLab BioQuality AG and from 1994 was CEO and major shareholder. In 2008, the company was acquired by a US investor in a successful sales trade. In 1994, he co-founded Evotec Biosystems (Hamburg/Germany) and in 2001, BiBiTec, which merged into NewLab BioQuality in 2002.

Dr. Schumacher is shareholder and a member of the supervisory board of a number of biotech companies as well as a member of many academic societies. Since 2004, he is a member of the board of the biotech initiative BioRiver and since 2008 its CEO.

For 15 years, Dr. Schumacher has been politically committed in the advancement of biotechnology in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.