Speakers

• Barbara Bachler-Konetzki Group Leader, In Vitro Pharmacology
  

  Barbara Bachler-Konetzki

  Group Leader, In Vitro Pharmacology

  Barbara received her PhD in Biomedicine and Biotechnology from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria in collaboration with the Harvard Medical School / Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, USA where she focused on the profiling of protective anti-HIV antibody responses upon vaccination. After moving back to Europe, she continued to work on antibodies at MorphoSys, a biotech company based in Munich, Germany, well-known for the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies using human antibody libraries by applying the in silico phage display technology. During this time, Barbara successfully discovered a novel acting therapeutic antibody, and progressed it all the way from concept to pre-clinical candidate nomination. In 2021, this molecule entered clinical phase 1 testing in immune oncology. Joining Evotec in 2018, she played a key role in the establishment of the streamlined hybridoma platform and the implementation of the ATX-Gx™ mice from Alloy as source of fully human antibodies. She is now leading a group of scientists and technicians supporting internal and external antibody programmes from target identification to lead candidate nomination.

• Maria Pilla EVP Global Head of Preclinical Development
  Maria Pilla

  EVP Global Head of Preclinical Development
• Randal Ketchem SVP Discovery and Molecular Design
  

  Randal Ketchem

  SVP Discovery and Molecular Design

  Randy received his PhD in Molecular Biophysics from Florida State University, focusing on experimental protein structure determination, resulting in the first membrane-bound protein structure solved by Solid State NMR. As part of this effort he developed computational methods for the structure calculation and refinement of membrane-bound proteins. Randy continued his training in structural biology in a postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute where he expanded his experimental and computational efforts into solution-based protein structure. Randy then joined Immunex in 1997 to apply his expertise in protein structure modelling and analysis to efforts in the development of biologic-based therapeutics. During his many years of experience at Immunex, Amgen, and Just Biotherapeutics he has led efforts to engineer protein therapeutics, invented novel therapeutic modalities and computational methods for therapeutic design, and developed computational and experimental approaches to understanding and controlling biophysical properties of biological macromolecules. Randy has made significant contributions in antibody design, epitope mapping, molecular assessment, stability engineering, construct design, protein structure analysis, and protein engineering. At Just – Evotec Biologics, Randy leads the Molecular Design team, integrating biologics discovery and molecular design strategies into the entire therapeutic pipeline.