The Team
River Biomedics is a biotech company that is dedicated to advancing drug discovery and introducing innovative technologies in this field. With a team of highly skilled researchers and scientists, the company is at the forefront of developing cutting-edge solutions that aim to improve the lives of people suffering from heart diseases. At River Biomedics, there is a strong belief that innovation and collaboration are essential for driving progress in drug discovery. The company works closely with academic institutions and other industry players to stay abreast of the latest scientific discoveries and develop new ideas.
With its dedicated team of researchers and cutting-edge approach to drug development, the company is poised to make a significant impact in the biotech industry.
Nicky Cooper
Nicky has a background in biology and a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Greenwich, and more than 30-years’ experience in drug discovery. Nicky’s experience and knowhow in drug discovery is key for developing a drug discovery strategy and execution.
Marcelo Ribeiro
Marcelo has a background in Drug Innovation and he performed his PhD at the department of Anatomy and Embryology of the Leiden University Medical Center on hiPSC derived cardiomyocyte maturation and disease modelling, Marcelo entrepreneurial spirit and the ultimate goal of societal valorization holds the key to bringing technology to market.
Ashlee van der Heyden
Ashlee van der Heyden is a Business Development advisor with >15 years experience in drug discovery BD (Oxitope Pharma, C4X Discovery, Cancer Research UK, Trans-Tasman Commercialisation Fund and Auckland UniServices). Experience across private and public Biotech supporting fundraising activities and leading the negotiation and execution of pre-clinical out-licensing, multi-asset and technology transactions. Ashlee holds a Masters in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Auckland.
Anke Vollertsen
Anke has background in Biophysics and pursued a PhD in the BIOS Lab on a chip group at the University of Twente. During her PhD she focused on the parallelization of nanoliter-sized cell culturing chambers for stem cell differentiation with automated medium exchange. Her expertise in microfabrication and microfluidic cell culturing will help to further develop organ-on-chip models.
Jiayi Pei
Jiayi obtained a Master’s degree in Molecular Life Science from Wageningen
University. During her PhD
she focused on acquired and inherited heart diseases and identified several
pathomechanisms underlying those diseases. At her post-doc position at Netherland Heart Insitute she investigated potential druggable candidates for developing new therapeutic strategies for heart failure patients. Now, Jiayi
aims to discover promising (novel) drugs for patients.
Chloë Feijer - Kaal
Chloë holds a master’s degree in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, during which she focused on studying underlying processes of disease and translating them into treatments for patients. During her internship she worked on maturation of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes in a heart-on-chip model. Chloë aims to translate research on heart disease models to effective treatment for patients.
Amelie Bocquet
Amélie obtained a a master’s degree in Bionanotechnologies from JUNIA ISEN Lille. During her Master’s internships, she worked at the University of Twente in the BIOS lab-on-a-chip Group and focused on a tool to potentially determine the integrity of the DNA of boar spermatozoa, and their viability, using microfluidics impedance cytometry. Amélie aims to use microfluidic technology to create and optimise devices to combine heart tissue in 3D with High Throughput Screening.
Daphne Laarveld
Daphne holds a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from the Radboud University. Through several internships, she has gained a special interest and knowledge in using microfluidic technology for (disease) modelling and drug evaluation. Now, Daphne aims to use improved heart disease models for better drug discovery and development.
Manuel Sambrotta
Manuel holds a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, specialising in cells, tissues, and biotechnology engineering. During his Master’s internship, he worked on a 3D culture model for spinal cord regeneration, focusing on the analysis of a material based on Self-Assembling Peptides. Now, Manuel aims to reproduce cardiac models and tissues to use them as devices for the study of new drugs and therapies.
