Pioneers in delivering medicines of the future

Lorenz Mayr, Ph.D. is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Vector BioPharma. A biochemist, biophysicist and molecular biologist by training, he started his industry career at Bayer, subsequently assuming global roles of increasing responsibility at Novartis (Executive Director), AstraZeneca (VP and Global Head, Reagents and Assay Development), and GE Healthcare Life Sciences (Chief Technology Officer, Head of R&D). Prior to joining Vector, Lorenz was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Syncona. He holds Board positions at Phoremost, Mogrify and at Fraunhofer IGB, IPA and IZI. He is Chief Scientific Advisor to EQT Investments AB and holds a position as Guest Professor, Institute of Molecular Health Sciences at the ETH in Zürich. He trained at the University of Tübingen (Germany), University of Bayreuth (Germany), University of Colorado at Boulder (USA) and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass, USA).

Andreas Plückthun, PhD, is scientific co-founder of Vector BioPharma and a member of the Board of Directors. He is a full professor of biochemistry at the University of Zürich. An internationally recognized pioneer in protein engineering, his research has made fundamental scientific contributions to the field, resulting in development of synthetic antibodies, ribosome display, the Designed Ankyrin Repeat Protein (DARPin) technology and stable GPCRs for structure-based drug development. He is an elected member of the German National Academy of Science Leopoldina and the European Molecular Biology Organization and is recipient of numerous international awards for his research.

Prof. Plückthun is co-founder of Morphosys AG (Munich, Germany), Molecular Partners AG (Zürich, Switzerland) and G7 Therapeutics (now Heptares, part of the Sosei Group). He trained in chemistry at the University of Heidelberg, received his PhD from the University of California at San Diego, and was postdoc at Harvard University, and then group leader at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry (Martinsried, Germany).

Markus Enzelberger is a partner located in Basel where he plays a central role in the launch of future newcos from Versant’s Ridgeline Discovery Engine.

He is a seasoned executive with deep domain knowledge of drug discovery and development, especially in the protein field. Markus most recently was CSO and a member of the management board of MorphoSys. He joined the company in 2002 and is recognized as an authority in the field of protein engineering.

Andreas Plückthun, PhD, is scientific co-founder of Vector BioPharma and a member of the Board of Directors. He is a full professor of biochemistry at the University of Zürich. An internationally recognized pioneer in protein engineering, his research has made fundamental scientific contributions to the field, resulting in development of synthetic antibodies, ribosome display, the Designed Ankyrin Repeat Protein (DARPin) technology and stable GPCRs for structure-based drug development. He is an elected member of the German National Academy of Science Leopoldina and the European Molecular Biology Organization and is recipient of numerous international awards for his research.

Prof. Plückthun is co-founder of Morphosys AG (Munich, Germany), Molecular Partners AG (Zürich, Switzerland) and G7 Therapeutics (now Heptares, part of the Sosei Group). He trained in chemistry at the University of Heidelberg, received his PhD from the University of California at San Diego, and was postdoc at Harvard University, and then group leader at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry (Martinsried, Germany).