Team
Modiblast’s core team unites individuals with decades of professional experience in different fields. They cover immunology, hematology, corporate R&D, start-up management and business development and are assisted by a panel of high-calibre experts. Click to see their career highlights.
Management Team
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Helga Schmetzer
CEO, CSO, Science & Research
Helga brings in more than 30 years of experimental research on immune escape, reactivation, modulation, and leukemia diagnostics. She invented the concept of the Modiblast therapy and is the driving force behind the Modiblast project.
In her role as Professor of Experimental Hematology at LMU Munich, she is our stronghold in academia. Helga has educated numerous PhD and master students, published more than 200 peer reviewed papers, established a vast network of experts in the field she cooperates with. She has a diploma and a PhD in biology, both from LMU.
Dr. rer. nat. Octavian Schatz
CBO, Bus Dev & Licensing
Octavian is a serial biotech entrepreneur by passion. He founded/co-founded/advised numerous life science startups and acted as CEO of his own companies (virus diagnostics, automated gene synthesis). At Modiblast, he oversees licensing affairs and business development.
Octavian holds a PhD in molecular biology (Univ. of Zurich). As postdoc (Roche, Ciba) and group leader (SRI, LMU) he led numerous projects in HIV research, (co-)authored 30 peer-reviewed papers with 1800+ citations. His inventions led to 5 patents.
Dr.-Ing. Nikolaus Schaller
CFO, COO, CIO
Nikolaus is an IT expert and entrepreneur. His job is to keep the Modiblast organization running and growing. He is an organisational talent with broad skills gained from various positions as senior product, innovation and marketing manager at Siemens AG.
Before his industrial career he was Scientific Assistant at TUM in artificial neural network research. He holds a Dr.-Ing. in Electrical Engineering & Information Technology. During his civilian service in a neurological clinic in Essen he developed a keen interest in medicine.
PD Dr. med. Behrouz Mansouri
Chief Medical Affairs
Behrouz is a hematologist and transfusion expert in charge of our clinical operations. He led the transfusion medicine and therapeutic apheresis unit at the Inselspital Bern (now Senior Consultant). He also served as Director of the Swiss Red Cross National Blood Transfusion Service.
After his MD (TUM), he habilitated in Transfusion Medicine and Hematology (Univ. of Würzburg). Behrouz has published > 150 peer reviewed articles, holds a Masters degree in Health Service Management (St. Gallen). He was awarded the Volkmar Sachs Medal and the Honorary Membership of SVTM (Switzerland).
Advisors
Dr. rer. nat. Bernhard Huber
Bernhard has more than 30 years experience in pharma development, manufacturing and supply chain management. He held positions at Astellas, SCM Medac and ITM Medical Isotopes. He has a PhD in Pharmaceutics (LMU Munich).
Sabine Kaiser
Sabine brings in more than 25 years of experience from venture capital and technology transfer as well as consulting and investment advisory, focusing on life science, deep tech and impact. She holds a M.Sc. in Biomedical Science and M.P.P. from Harvard Kennedy School.