Management

Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer:
Bernard Coulie, MD PhD MBA

Bernard Coulie joined ActoGeniX as Vice President Research and Development in September 2006. In 2009, he was appointed Chief Medical Officer.

Prior to his appointment to ActoGeniX, Bernard was Therapeutic Area Leader Internal Medicine at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Pharmaceutical Research and Development Europe. Bernard joined J&J in 2000, and held various positions with increasing responsibilities in drug discovery and early clinical development. Between 1997 and 2000, he was staff Gastroenterologist at the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the Mayo Clinic (USA). Bernard holds an MD and a PhD from the University of Leuven.

He is a Board-certified Internist and Gastroenterologist and received his MBA from the Vlerick Management School.

Director CMC Operations: Sam Corveleyn, PharmD PhD

Sam Corveleyn has over 13 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry.

In June 2007, he joined ActoGeniX as Manager CMC and Qualified Person. Before joining ActoGeniX, he was Product Development manager at Nycomed (Belgium), where he held 9 years of management responsibility in pharmaceutical development, analytical development, validation and stability studies.

Between 2007 and 2010, he managed the biopharmaceutical process and formulation development and GMP manufacturing runs of all ActoBiotics™ investigational products based on the TopAct™ platform.

In March 2010 he took up the position of Director CMC at ActoGeniX. Sam holds a PharmD and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology from the University of Ghent (Belgium), and is an EU Qualified Person.

Sr. Director Technology Development: Lothar Steidler, PhD

Dr Lothar Steidler is the main inventor of the TopAct™ technology.

Lothar started his research career at the University of Ghent (Belgium) during the early 1990s and became principal investigator at the VIB in 2001. In 2003 he relocated to the prestigious Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre at University College Cork (Ireland), headed by Professor Fergus Shanahan.

In September 2006, Lothar returned to Belgium to take up the position of Director of Technology Development at ActoGeniX. Lothar’s research has shown that Lactococcus lactis, and food-grade microorganisms and commensal bacteria in general, can be genetically engineered to secrete biologically-active therapeutic molecules and can be applied as therapeutic products to treat diseases.

In recognition of this scientific breakthrough, Lothar received the 2001 William Grant and Sons Young European Prize for Invention and Discovery. In 2003, he was also awarded a Science Foundation Ireland investigatorship. His work has been published in various high-level scientific journals such as Science, Nature Biotechnology and Gastroenterology.

Lothar holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Ghent and is currently a guest professor at Ghent University, teaching host-bacteria interactions.

Director Business Development: Emil Pot, LL.M

Emil Pot joined ActoGeniX as a co-founder in September 2006.

In his previous position as Business Development Manager at the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB, Belgium), he championed the creation of the ActoGeniX spin-off. At VIB, Emil was also instrumental in the establishment of Solucel OY, a company that develops secondary metabolites from engineered plant-cell cultures.

Between 1994 and 2005, Emil held various business development and technology transfer positions at VIB and the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and concluded more than 100 agreements with companies and academic collaborators.

Emil holds a Master of Laws degree from the University of Groningen.

Director Regulatory Affairs: Decebal Bora, PharmD

Decebal Bora joined ActoGeniX as Director Regulatory Affairs in June 2007.

Since 1996, he has held various regulatory affairs management positions with increasing responsibilities in large biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including Baxter SA. (Belgium), Biogen Inc. (USA), Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (Switzerland) and Solvay Pharmaceuticals S.A. (France).

Decebal holds a PharmD degree from the University of Leuven (Belgium) and a Masters degree in Public Health from Jean Monnet Faculty in Sceaux (France)

Director of Laboratory Operations: Sabine Neirynck, PhD

Sabine Neirynck started her research career at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Ghent (Belgium). In 2003, she relocated to the prestigious Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre at University College Cork (Ireland), headed by Professor Fergus Shanahan. In September 2006, Sabine returned to Belgium to take up the position of Director of Laboratory Operations at ActoGeniX.

Sabine has several years of experience in the development and application of the TopAct™ technology, and played an important role in establishing the first clinical formulation of ActoBiotics™.

Sabine holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Ghent (Belgium).

Director Preclinical Operations: Pieter Rottiers, PhD

Pieter joined ActoGeniX from the start, in September 2006, as Manager and subsequently Director of Discovery Research. Currently, Pieter oversees all preclinical operations related to pharmacology, toxicology, and DMPK.

Prior to joining ActoGeniX, from 1998 to 2006, Pieter was a (principle) investigator at the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB, Belgium), where he focused on applications of the TopAct™ technology in various disease models. Pieter has several years of experience in (mucosal) immunology and preclinical pharmacology, and played a prominent role in obtaining in vivo proof-of-concept with ActoBiotics™.

Pieter holds a PhD in Biotechnology form the University of Ghent (Belgium).

Director Finance and Administration:
Magda Van Hijfte, MSc Biology

Magda Van Hijfte joined ActoGeniX in 2007. She brings to ActoGeniX more than 20 years of experience in establishing best financial practices.

She started her career with Tele Atlas and held several positions in this fast-growing group. She helped Tele Atlas to start up in Belgium, took up the position of Director Finance & Administration Europe, and left the company in 2004 as Director Enterprise Information Systems with worldwide responsibility. From 2004 to 2007, Magda joined the Belgian biotechnology company CropDesign as Director Finance & Administration.

After having supported the acquisition of CropDesign by BASF, she coordinated the administrative integration of CropDesign within the BASF-group. Magda holds a Master in Science from the University of Ghent and an Executive Master Class in Controllership from Vlerick Management School.