Bio: Prof Martin Bachmann (Jenner Institute, University of Oxford)
Martin Bachmann (48) grew up near Winterthur and studied Cell Biology at the ETH Zurich. He then went on to perform his doctoral studies in Immunology at the lab of Hans Hengartner and Rolf Zinkernagel in Zurich. Both his diploma and doctoral thesis were honored with a silver medal from the ETH. After graduating he worked for two year as a post-doc in the lab of Prof Pam Ohashi in Toronto and then became a member at the Basel Institute for Immunology. From the end of 1999 to 2012 Martin Bachmann was the CSO for Cytos Biotechnology in Schlieren. After leaving Cytos, he held various positions as guest lecturer at the University of Zurich, professor of Immunology in Oxford, research director of the cancer center in Doha, Quatar and full professor in Bern.
The focus of his research is the translation of novel immunological insights into therapeutics with clinical applications. He has helped develop 7 immune therapeutics from bench to bedside and clinical efficacy of several vaccines and immune modulators has been proven. CAD106, a vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease, is in phase III trials with Novartis at the moment.
Martin is the author of over 240 scientific publications and his work has been cited over 20’000 times. He is the inventor on more than 40 filed or granted patents. As the successor of Beda Stadler he now works as tenured professor for Immunology in Bern.
Bio: Dr. Aadil El-Turabi (Jenner Institute, University of Oxford)
Dr. Aadil El-Turabi Over a varied research career spanning academia, biotech and pharma including periods at Covance, Novartis and iQur (in the UK, Switzerland and Jordon), Aadil’s interests have squarely focused on translational research projects with therapeutic and diagnostic potential. He initially read Biochemistry with Molecular Biology (BSc(Hons)) at the University of Leeds, and enjoyed the natural beauty of the Yorkshire Dales so much that he stuck around to pick up a PhD whilst studying human Adenovirus receptors (in the lab of Prof G. Eric Blair). This was followed up with a postdoctoral position in Molecular Virology (with Prof Dave Rowlands) that brought him in to the world of virus-like particles (VLPs). He was awarded an Enterprise Research Fellowship that paved the way for a licensing deal that saw him move to iQur Ltd, a SME specialising in detection, treatment and monitoring of Hepatitis C and other liver diseases. There he was involved with initiating research programs that soon focused on therapeutic VLP vaccine approach, and he became Head of Protein Production and Bioprocessing. In 2014, Aadil joined the University of Oxford as a founding member of the newly formed Bachmann group at the Jenner Institute. Since then he has enjoyed pursuing several ambitious vaccine targets in the fields of neurodegeneration and inflammatory disorders (e.g. Parkinson’s Disease and Psoriasis, to name a few).”