Our team

Cristiana Pires is one of the co-founders of Asgard Therapeutics and serves as CEO since the start of the company. Cristiana performed her post-doctoral studies in Filipe Pereira’s lab and focused in dendritic cell reprogramming strategies to modulate immune responses, which then led to the creation of Asgard Therapeutics. Before that, Cristiana trained in pharmaceutical sciences and performed her PhD studies in Miguel Seabra’s Laboratory at Nova Medical School in Lisbon, Portugal. During her PhD, she explored direct reprogramming to generate retinal pigment epithelial cells for cell replacement therapy applications. Now as CEO, Cristiana has attracted 2.4 million Euros in non-dilutive funding, including the Horizon 2020 SME instrument and Eurostars grants as well as a Series A round of investment of 30 million Euros and a seed round of investment of 6 million Euros. By combining her pharmaceutical and scientific background with entrepreneurship experience, Cristiana is motivated to bring AT-108 to the patients.

Shane Olwill serves as Chief Development Officer of Asgard Therapeutics. Shane joined Asgard from Pieris Pharmaceuticals, now merged with NASDAQ-listed Palvella Therapeutics, to lead IND-enabling studies and clinical trials planning for Asgard’s lead asset AT-108. During his thirteen years at Pieris, Shane played a pivotal role developing its diverse pipeline of clinical programs in immuno-oncology and respiratory diseases – progressing nine programs into the clinic. Prior to that he was Director of Research at AIM-listed Fusion Antibodies, building out its research team and establishing its technology platform. With over 60 intellectual property rights to his name, he is a recognized leader in drug development and a regular reviewer for prominent oncology and drug development journals. He holds a BSc in Biomedical Sciences and a PhD in Molecular Hematology from the University of Ulster, UK.

Fábio Fiúza Rosa holds a master’s degree in Biochemistry from University of Coimbra, Portugal, and a double PhD degree in experimental biology and biomedicine from Lund University, Sweden, and Coimbra University, Portugal. During his research career, he developed a strong interest in deciphering how direct cell reprogramming can be used to modulate immune responses. Fabio pioneered the use of cell reprogramming to induce the dendritic cell fate in unrelated cell types. Fabio is also passionate about entrepreneurship, having participated in several acceleration programs and business competitions. As a result, he co-founded Asgard Therapeutics to help bringing highly innovative laboratory-based technologies to the clinic. He filed 4 patent applications and received over 15 different scientific and entrepreneurship awards. In 2021, Fabio was appointed Board Observer and Head of Research at Asgard Therapeutics to lead research and development activities and mature cell reprogramming technologies for cancer immunotherapy.

Filipe Pereira is an Associate Professor in Molecular Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of Lund University in Sweden, group leader of the Cell Reprogramming in Hematopoiesis and Immunity Laboratory and scientific co-founder and head of innovation of Asgard Therapeutics. Filipe Pereira has received his PhD at Imperial College London where he established cell fusion and heterokaryons to study cellular reprogramming mechanisms. Then he did his postdoctoral training at Mount Sinai in New York, where he applied reprogramming concepts to hematopoiesis. His group has pioneered cellular reprogramming approaches in immunology with the induction of dendritic cells from non-hematopoietic cell-types. This conceptual shift opened exciting opportunities to merge cellular reprogramming and cancer immunotherapy now being explored at Asgard Therapeutics. For his scientific accomplishments and innovation efforts, he has received several notable scientific awards, including an ERC Consolidator Grant, the Mount Sinai-KiiLN entrepreneurship award and a medal of merit from his hometown.

Jan Villadsen holds two Graduate Diplomas in Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School. He accumulated over 35 years of experience as a Finance Professional both as CFO and executive finance consultant in the biotech industry as well as Group Treasurer in a global company. He has held several senior positions in the Financial Sector primarily in investment banking and capital markets operations. Jan is currently Head of Finance at Asgard Therapeutics.

Frank Hennecke has 25 years experience in biopharmaceutical drug development, production, and clinical supply, and has held executive management positions in both publicly traded and privately held biotech companies. Frank has been responsible lead for CMC in pioneering immuno-oncology companies, among them Munich–based Rigontec (acquired by MSD for up to €464 million in 2017) and Boston–based Checkmate Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Regeneron for $250 million in 2022). Prior to that he worked with Zurich–based Cytos Biotechnology for 18 years, where he served as Executive Vice President Product Development, in which function he was ultimately responsible for all CMC-related matters including product quality, GMP and regulatory compliance of Cytos’ virus-like particle (VLP)-based investigational drug candidates. Frank holds a Ph.D. in natural sciences from the University of Göttingen and did postdoctoral studies in the group of Professor Andreas Plückthun at the University of Zurich. Frank is currently Head of CMC at Asgard Therapeutics.

Martin Bonde is CEO of Swiss-based oncology company Akylox Therapeutics ApS.  With 25+ years of international experience from the biotech industry, Martin has held several leadership positions as CEO for e.g. Vaccibody AS (now Nykode Therapeutics AS, Euronext Growth Oslo:VACC), Epitherapeutics Aps (sold to Gilead Sciences, Inc.), NatImmune A/S (sold to Azanta A/S), Combio A/S (sold to Arpida AG), Torsana Biosensor (sold to Celtor Bioscience, Inc.), and Osteometer Biotech (now Nordic Bioscience A/S). Martin serves on the Board of Directors in privately held digital pathology software company Visiopharm A/S and in BioInnovation Institute (BII), an international life science incubator funded by the Novo-Nordisk Foundation. Martin holds a Master of Science and Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark as well as a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (HD i Udenrigshandel) from Copenhagen Business School.

João Ribas is a Principal at Novo Holdings investing in and creating new biotech companies. João holds several board positions including Tribune Therapeutics and Orbis Medicines, the latter where he serves as interim Chief Business Officer. Prior to joining Novo Holdings, João worked at M Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Merck KGaA, participating in the transactions of Plexium and Pantheon Biosciences. He was a Fellow at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and a member of MIT Hacking Medicine. João holds a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Coimbra and performed his doctoral thesis at Harvard Medical School & Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He helped start companies in the US and Europe, and was the recipient of several entrepreneurial awards.

Philipp holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Basel and has a long track record of working in translational immuno-oncology (IO) research, infectious diseases, and general drug discovery within the pharmaceutical industry. In 2016 he joined Boehringer Ingelheim´s IO department, where he led multidisciplinary research teams and delivered the IO research strategy for innovative platforms and biology areas. Contributing to Boehringer Ingelheim´s external innovation strategy he further identified, evaluated, initiated, and managed alliances with multiple external partners. Philipp joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) as Investment Manager in 2020. With a focus on life sciences in Europe, he is responsible for identifying, evaluating, making, and managing equity investments to create options in new therapeutic approaches and businesses. In addition to Asgard Therapeutics, Philipp currently represents the BIVF in the Selection Committee of the AMR-focused incubator INCATE.

Jonas is an investment director and COO at Industrifonden. He has been focused on the commercialization of life science innovation for more than 20 years. Between 2001 and 2010, Jonas was the CEO of Cogmed, a start-up in the field of evidence-based cognitive training (clinically validated software, today called digital therapeutics), based in Stockholm and later in the US. Jonas took the company from the research phase at the Karolinska Institute in 2001, to acquisition by Pearson, in 2010. Before joining Industrifonden in 2017, Jonas also held various advisor and board member roles, in both early stage and public companies, and across digital health (such as Shim, acquired by Kry/Livi), medtech and biotech (such as Bioinvent). His background also includes strategy consulting work with The Boston Consulting Group in Stockholm and Paris. Jonas holds a M.Sc. from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Aleksei Zeifman is an Investment Manager at RV Invest. Aleksei holds a PhD in computational chemistry and an MBA from Mannheim Business School. Aleksei brings over a decade of experience in the biotech sector. He co-founded a drug development startup in the field of oncology and later transitioned to the venture capital side. Prior to RV Invest he invested in Biotech and Medtech startups at RBV Capital and SCOR Ventures (CVC arm of a tier 1 reinsurance company SCOR). In addition to Asgard Therapeutics, Aleksei represents RV Invest at the board of directors of Valink Therapeutics.

Fiona is a Senior Director, Venture Investments, at Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., the strategic venture arm of Johnson & Johnson). Prior to joining JJDC, Fiona was a Director at Inkef Capital, where she led both pharma and MedTech investments and held board seats in a number of portfolio companies. As a qualified pharmacist, Fiona is passionate about helping early-stage companies establish a value-building trajectory by engaging and challenging management and creating optimal development plans. Fiona began her career in biotech focusing on the development of non-viral gene therapy and other novel delivery solutions. A fundamental interest in philanthropy led her to the Wellcome Trust and a focus on translational funding, including establishing a fund to support the development of affordable healthcare technologies in India. Fiona’s transition to venture investing began with a move to Advent Life Sciences, where she was involved in helping shape and build a number of early-stage companies, including Arrakis Therapeutics. Fiona is a pharmacist by training and has a Ph.D. in drug delivery from Nottingham University.

Cristina Csimma is a biopharmaceutical leader, board director and CEO with decades of experience in global drug development, new company formation and value creation in biotechnology, large pharma and venture capital.

Dr. Csimma is a Board Director of Syncona Ltd (a FTSE 250 company) and New York Blood Center Ventures. She serves on the Harvard MRCT Center External Advisory Board and on the Muscular Dystrophy Association Venture Philanthropy Scientific Advisory Committee.

Previously, Dr. Csimma was the Chair of the Board of Directors of Caraway Therapeutics (acquired by Merck), Executive Chair of the Board of Directors of Forendo Pharma (acquired by Organon) and Exonics Therapeutics (acquired by Vertex), a Board Director of Juniper Pharma, (acquired by Catalent), Vtesse (acquired by Sucampo), Aceragen Inc (formerly Idera Pharma), Palisade Bio (formerly Seneca/Neuralstem), T1DX (non-profit Type 1 Diabetes) and Cydan, where she was also the founding CEO and President. She has served on multiple NIH, academic and other non-profit advisory committees. Earlier in her career, Dr. Csimma was a principal with Clarus Ventures LLC (now Blackstone), VP of Drug Development at Virdante Pharma (platform acquired by Momenta/J&J) and held multiple roles in Clinical Development and Translational Research at Pfizer (formerly Wyeth/Genetics Institute), and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Dr. Csimma holds a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and a Master of Health Professions from Northeastern University.

Filipe Pereira is an Associate Professor in Molecular Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of Lund University in Sweden, group leader of the Cell Reprogramming in Hematopoiesis and Immunity Laboratory and scientific co-founder and head of innovation of Asgard Therapeutics. Filipe Pereira has received his PhD at Imperial College London where he established cell fusion and heterokaryons to study cellular reprogramming mechanisms. Then he did his postdoctoral training at Mount Sinai in New York, where he applied reprogramming concepts to hematopoiesis. His group has pioneered cellular reprogramming approaches in immunology with the induction of dendritic cells from non-hematopoietic cell-types. This conceptual shift opened exciting opportunities to merge cellular reprogramming and cancer immunotherapy now being explored at Asgard Therapeutics. For his scientific accomplishments and innovation efforts, he has received several notable scientific awards, including an ERC Consolidator Grant, the Mount Sinai-KiiLN entrepreneurship award and a medal of merit from his hometown.

Filipe Pereira is an Associate Professor in Molecular Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of Lund University in Sweden, group leader of the Cell Reprogramming in Hematopoiesis and Immunity Laboratory and scientific co-founder and head of innovation of Asgard Therapeutics. Filipe Pereira has received his PhD at Imperial College London where he established cell fusion and heterokaryons to study cellular reprogramming mechanisms. Then he did his postdoctoral training at Mount Sinai in New York, where he applied reprogramming concepts to hematopoiesis. His group has pioneered cellular reprogramming approaches in immunology with the induction of dendritic cells from non-hematopoietic cell-types. This conceptual shift opened exciting opportunities to merge cellular reprogramming and cancer immunotherapy now being explored at Asgard Therapeutics. For his scientific accomplishments and innovation efforts, he has received several notable scientific awards, including an ERC Consolidator Grant, the Mount Sinai-KiiLN entrepreneurship award and a medal of merit from his hometown.

Prof. Aurélien Marabelle is a physician-scientist with expertise in oncology (MD) and immunology (PhD). His clinical practice is dedicated to early phase clinical trials of cancer immunotherapies within the Drug Development Department (DITEP) of Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in France. He leads a translational research laboratory (LRTI) with a focus on mechanisms of action of immune targeted therapies. He is also the director of the Clinical Investigation Center BIOTHERIS dedicated to intratumoral immunotherapies. He is a full professor of Clinical Immunology at the University of Paris Saclay. Dr Marabelle was initially trained as a scientist at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and King’s College London and as a clinician at the Léon Bérard Cancer Center in Lyon, France. He did his post-doctoral research fellowship in the laboratory of Prof Ronald Levy at Stanford University, CA on strategies to overcome the resistance to immune checkpoint targeted therapies. He has published more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and has a H-index of 60.  

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Lauer is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Tübingen and Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Oncology and Pneumology. He is also a medical oncologist at the German National Center for Tumor Diseases SouthWest (NCT-SW) and heads several critical initiatives, including the Virotherapy Center Tübingen (VCT), the Early Clinical Trials Unit Tübingen (ECTU), and the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society Center of Excellence Tübingen (ENETS). Ulrich carried out the first German clinical virotherapy trial employing a recombinant oncolytic virus. He graduated from medical school at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg and completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in oncology at the University of Tübingen. He furthered his expertise through postdoctoral training at the Department of Virology at Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany, and specialized in viro­therapy of solid tumors and gene therapy of monogenetic diseases, such as Morbus Wilson.

Prof Ignacio Melero is a leading expert in intra-tumoral immunotherapies who has served as Principal Researcher in over 65 clinical trials of cancer immunotherapies, including industry-sponsored studies. He co-chairs the Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, where he is a full professor. In 2023 he was appointed as Kidani Professor of Cancer Immuno-Therapeutics at the University of Oxford. One of Prof Melero’s key research areas is bench-to-bedside and vice versa translational research, including biomarker discovery and validation, as well as actionable targets and mechanisms. An important focus of his recent work has been pioneering studies on cross-priming and the cross-presentation of tumor antigens, which is a critical functional property of the cell subset induced by AT-108. Dr Melero earned his medical degree from the Universidad de Navarra and completed his residency training in Clinical Immunology at the Hospital Universitario de la Princesa, Madrid.

Joshua Brody is the Director of the Lymphoma Immunotherapy Program at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai and a member of several organizations including the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer and the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. Dr. Brody has developed a robust clinical program, as well as a translational Cancer Immunotherapy Lab which investigates basic and applied tumor immunology for the development of novel therapies, particularly for lymphomas, breast cancer, and head/neck cancer with results published in top-tier journals including Nature Medicine and Cancer Discovery. Dr. Brody has pioneered a therapeutic vaccine approach—in situ vaccination—that activates professional antigen presenting cells to induce anti-tumor immunity at the tumor site and in addition can cause regression of tumors throughout the body. Joshua Brody received his BA in Biochemistry at Harvard University, MD at Stony Brook University, performed his residency in Internal Medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital, and Fellowship in Medical Oncology at Stanford.

Johanna Olweus is Head of the Department of Cancer Immunology at the Oslo University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center and a Full Professor at the University of Oslo. Her research group is focusing on translational studies of T cell-based cancer immunotherapies, focusing on the identification of novel immune receptors for application in gene and cell therapies. She was Director of the K.G. Jebsen Center for Cancer Immunotherapy from 2013 to 2019, and will be co-Director of a Center of Excellence in cancer immunotherapy awarded by the Norwegian Research Council, starting in 2023. She was awarded an ERC Consolidator grant that started in 2020, her work has been published in top-tier journals, such as Science and Nature Biotechnology, and she is the inventor of several patents. Johanna received her MD degree, and PhD at the University of Bergen, Norway, and she is a specialist in Immunology and Transfusion Medicine (Clinical Immunology).

Dr. Brian Brown is the Director of the Icahn Genomics Institute and the Vice Chair of the Department of Immunology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He is an expert in cancer immunology and gene delivery, including both viral and non-viral mediated approaches. He has invented a number of widely used genomics and gene therapy technologies, including microRNA-based targeting, small RNA sequencing adapters, bispecific antibody-targeted nanoparticles, and Perturb-map spatial functional genomics. His lab has identified a number of genes and molecular programs important for the control of tumor microenvironment composition and immunotherapy resistance, and he made important contributions to the understanding of the immune response to gene therapy.