Targeting cancer and autoimmune diseases

Jakub co-founded Machavert and acts as Chief Executive Officer. Prior Machavert, Jakub has worked as a scientist at numerous research organizations such as Argonne National Laboratory, IL, University of Gothenburg in Sweden and University of Liverpool in the UK. Jakub has also worked and was closely involved with our partner company Areko as a director and advisor to the executive team. Jakub graduated and holds Ph.D. from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague.

Neal Goodwin serves as Chief Scientific Officer responsible for all research and development programs. Neal recently served as Vice President, Corporate Research Development for Champions Oncology (NASDAQ: CSBR) where his responsibilities included the development of a patient-derived xenograft pharmacology portfolio for personalized oncology and translational oncology solutions. He previously served as the Director, Research and Development and the founding Program Director of JAX Cancer Services where he established a patient-derived tumor biology program in collaboration with over 20 clinical cancer centers. Dr. Goodwin is a co-founder and former Chief Scientific Officer of ProNAi Therapeutics (now Sierra Oncology; NASDAQ: SRRA) and he has served as a senior research scientist in genomic technologies at Pharmacia. Dr. Goodwin received a Ph.D. in Microbiology from The University of Montana and served a postdoctoral fellowship in functional genomics at The Jackson Laboratory with John Schimenti (now at Cornell).

Gavin Maitland serves as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) responsible for accounting and financial reporting, internals financials controls, compliance, and investor relations. Gavin began his career with Price Waterhouse Coopers in the UK, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He subsequently served as international accountant and then financial controller of various subsidiary companies of TNT Express Worldwide, now owned by FedEx. Subsequently, he served as CFO for APP Group, part of Warbug Pincus‘ portfolio of companies, in Prague, Czech Republic, and then as CFO for Axiomlab plc (AXM), a London-based listed venture capital fund, where he managed the company’s initial public offering on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange and subsequent public placement round. He has worked in life sciences for the past 14 years in the United States as principal at a private consultancy company that provides financial, marketing, and scientific services to the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.

Gavin earned a B.Admin with Honors bachelors degree from the University of Dundee in Scotland, an MBA from London Business School, and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS).

Greg focuses on discovery of new phospholipids and other small molecules and their modifications to create prospect candidates for drug development. Greg has over 15 years of experience in medicinal chemistry and has worked at research positions both at small and large organizations such as Abbot Laboratories, Array Biopharma and lastly as an Associate Director at the Colorado Center for Drug Discovery at Colorado State University. Greg has been involved in almost all aspects of preclinical drug discovery and has worked in the areas of cancer, inflammation, pain and anti-virals. Greg authored several research papers and patent applications, graduated from the University of Wyoming, obtained Ph.D. from Colorado State University and was an American Cancer Society post-doctoral fellow and the University of Texas, Austin.

Stanislav cofounded Machavert and provides advice on long-term strategy, investor relations and holding management. Stanislav resides in Luxembourg and his recent activities include running the Supply Chain Strategy for the Vodafone group focusing on technology for which he was recognized by major international awards. Stanislav holds a MBA in Banking and Finance from the University of New York in Prague.

Jakub co-founded Machavert and acts as Chief Executive Officer. Prior Machavert, Jakub has worked as a scientist at numerous research organizations such as Argonne National Laboratory, IL, University of Gothenburg in Sweden and University of Liverpool in the UK. Jakub has also worked and was closely involved with our partner company Areko as a director and advisor to the executive team. Jakub graduated and holds Ph.D. from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague.

Michal cofounded Machavert and helps with investor relations. Michal currently holds the CEO position in biggest online travel agency in CEE – Invia.cz, a.s. and as investor participates in multiple other projects in Czech Republic, Poland and Russia. Michal graduated at the University of Economics in Prague.

Radek is a serial entrepreneur and investor. Radek currently acts as CEO of several Universities and educational institution on the Czech Republic and manages a number of other entrepreneurial activities. Radek cofounded Machavert and provides general business advice to Machavert regarding seeking of funding as well as administrative tasks. Michal graduated at the University of Economics in Prague.

Dan Theodorescu is the Director of the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, CA. Dr. Theodorescu was previously the Director at the University of Colorado where he was also a Distinguished University Professor, incumbent of the Paul Bunn Chair in Cancer Research and Professor of Surgery (Urology) and Pharmacology. Dr. Theodorescu is known for his work on the molecular mechanisms underlying bladder cancer and tools that determine drug response as well as discovery of new drugs for cancer. Examples include discovery of genes that regulate tumor growth and metastasis (RhoGDI2, AGL, GON4L) and novel biomarkers (DNA/NGS, RNA and proteomic) and concepts for precision therapeutic approaches such as the COXEN principle, that are currently being tested in national (SWOG) clinical trials. He also conceptualized the approach and then led the discovery and development of a “first in class” RalGTPase inhibitor as a new therapeutic in cancer. This drug is now in commercial development. His laboratory is funded by grants from the NIH-NCI. Theodorescu has published over 300 articles including articles in Nature, Science, Cancer Cell, PNAS and JCI. He is the recipient of a number of awards, sits on several society boards and federal government committees and is the founding co-editor of Bladder Cancer, the first journal focused on this disease. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons (AAGUS), the American Surgical Association (ASA) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

David Brautigan is the F. Palmer Weber endowed chair for medical research and Director of the Center for Cell Signaling in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He is the co-leader of the Cancer Cell Signaling program, and member of the executive committee of the UVA Cancer Center. His research has focused on cell signaling and protein phosphorylation, and the biochemistry of phosphatase and kinase enzymes. Dr. Brautigan has authored more than 240 scientific articles, and been principal investigator of research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and various private foundations. He was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and serves on the editorial board for scientific journals, an advisor for programs and centers at Virginia and other Universities, and on scientific advisory boards for foundations. He was one a founding member of the Molecular and Integrative Signal Transduction (MIST) study section at NIH and its chairman 2010-2012. He has more than 30 years experience as a consultant for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and has supported commercial distribution of over a dozen licensed research reagents.

David Brautigan received his B.A. degree with honors in chemistry at Kalamazoo College, MI, a M.S. in chemistry and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He was a Muscular Dystrophy Association postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle with 1992 Nobel laureate Edmond H. Fischer. Before being recruited to Virginia in 1994 Dr. Brautigan was Professor of Medical Science at Brown University, Providence, RI where he taught biochemistry to undergraduate and medical students and served as Director of the Ph.D. program in Molecular, Cell Biology and Biochemistry.

Dr. Greenberg is the Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President at Atreca, a privately held biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics based on a deep understanding of the human immune response. He previously held positions including Senior Vice President for Translational Medicine at Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, Vice President of Global Research, Oncology, at MedImmune – AstraZeneca, and as Senior Director of Research, Oncology, at Pfizer. As an academic, Dr. Greenberg held appointments as a Full Member of the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and as a tenured Professor of Urology and Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Dr. Greenberg received a BSc in microbiology and immunology from the University of Toronto and a PhD in microbiology and immunology from the University of British Columbia. He performed postdoctoral research at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Pavel is cofounder and CEO of Areko, Czech Republic. Pavel ensures smooth cooperation between Areko and Machavert and advises Machavert in both business aspects as well as R&D matters related to natural phospholipid processing and manufacturing. Prior Areko Pavel held executive positions in a major Czech medical products manufacturer Chemopharma; including CTO and CFO. Pavel graduated at Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague.

Detlef advises Machavert on business strategy. His career included executive positions in Supply Chain Management, Finance and Operations in Germany, South Korea, Singapore, California / USA, England and Luxembourg. Detlef started his career with Siemens, worked for Applied Materials and lately for Vodafone as CEO of the Vodafone Procurement Company in Luxembourg and Group Supply Chain Management Director.

Ondrej is invested in Machavert and provides us with general business advice. Ondrej was the founder and for 16 years the CEO of Netretail, the largest CEE e-retailer with €400m revenues. He raised multiple funding rounds and managed several large M&A projects, including exit of the business in 2012 to Naspers and to Rockaway in 2015. Currently, he is general partner of Reflex Capital, investing in early stage innovative projects in Central Europe and U.S.A.