Team

Ata received a double B.Sc in Mathematics and Electronics Engineering, and holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Biomedical Microfluidic Systems. After developing a microfluidic chip technology during his PhD, he co-founded Lunaphore in 2014 with it at its core. He has 10 years of hands-on experience in design, development, fabrication, integration and testing of clinical microfluidic systems. He authored 6 patents, 10 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and 14 in international conferences. Ata is leading Lunaphore since its conception in 2013. As the CEO, he is directly responsible for fundraising, business development, intellectual property and general management of the company.

Diego studied bioengineering in Argentina. In 2008, he was awarded a scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in Nanotechnologies, as a joint program between Politecnico di Torino (Italy), INPG (France) and EPFL. He led his master's project at IBM Research (California). He pursued a PhD from EPFL, dealing with the development of microfluidic systems for applications in the field tissue-based diagnostics. Diego is one of the founders and CTO of Lunaphore. He is in charge of leading the activities of the R&D and Scientific Affairs teams, including the development of our instruments, microfluidic chips, immunohistochemical assays, software, and scientific partnerships.

Déborah obtained her bachelor in Life Sciences & Technology and her master in Bioengineering at EPFL. During one year, she developed a microfluidic platform to test drugs on cardiac tissues at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology in Boston (USA). After working at the EPFL Technology Transfer Office, she joined Lunaphore as a co-founder in 2013, excited to enter the startup world. Déborah loves taking up challenges and believes hard work and trust in the team is essential to go far. As the CMO, she is responsible for Marketing and Product Management.

Ms. Feng has long been passionate about healthcare. She received a B.S. in Business Economics and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked in academic research laboratories studying genetics as well as volunteering in local hospitals. Alice has over two decades of finance and corporate development leadership experience as well as investment banking expertise, participating in over 30 merger and acquisition and financing transactions with aggregate transaction value of $45 billion. Alice plays an instrumental role in Lunaphore’s fundraising activities and leads the development of new partnerships as the company continues to expand globally.  

Pierre has +10 years hands-on experience in design, development, fabrication and testing of microsystems for medical applications. He graduated in physics at ETH Zurich and then joined the laboratory of microsystems at EPFL where he defended his thesis in 2014. During his years at EPFL, he developed a strong interdisciplinary experience at the interface between medical sciences and microtechnology. In March 2014 he joined Lunaphore as an R&D engineer where he has been managing the further development of the microfluidic tissue processing and its integration as a stand-alone and automated system. He is currently heading the engineering activities of the company.

Maria Elena obtained her Bachelor and her Master in Biomedical Engineering in Italy at Politecnico di Milano in 2011. During her studies, she spent one year at the EPFL working on her master thesis in the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, focused on the neuromechanisms involved in body perception. After her graduation, she worked at the Diabetes Research Institute in Miami as R&D Bioengineer. Her project focused on the investigation and development of a non-occlusive intraperitoneal catheter for long-term glucose sensing.

From 2013 to 2016 she worked for corporates in the medical devices field, Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic. During these 4 years, she acquired experience in Quality, covering different activities such as Microbiology, Quality system, CAPA, Supplier quality and Project management.

In April 2017, she joined Lunaphore’s team as QA/RA Manager to manage and maintain the company’s Quality Management Systems and to ensure that products meet all necessary regulatory requirements. She is now leading the QA/RA team as well as managing Manufacturing, Operations and Supply Chain activities. 

Andrea obtained her Bachelor in Business Administration at University of St. Gallen and her Master in Finance at Imperial College in London in 2012. Following her graduation, she spent 2 years working in investment banking at UBS in Zürich, where she was involved in several M&A and capital market transactions. From 2015 to 2017, she worked in business development for the start-up Biolux Research setting up the European business activities as well as overseeing the accounting and budgeting. Andrea joined the Lunaphore team in February 2018 to support fundraising activities and leading the development of new partnerships.

Everton Robinson is a highly experienced International Commercial Business Leader with a proven track record of success in multi-channel disruptive technology sales and marketing operations in EMEA. Everton joined Lunaphore as a Sales VP. Prior to this, he worked at NanoString Technologies, where he was Director of EMEA Life Science and Diagnostic Sales Operations. Building the multi-disciplinary commercial infrastructure of the EMEA organisation from the ground to 50 FTEs and revenues of ~ $25M over 6 years. Prior to this, Everton was with illumina Inc. where he led the UK and Ireland’s sales organisation for the Genomic Analysis division taking revenues from $40M to $120M in 4 years. Additionally he has held various commercial positions at Roche, Thermo fisher, and Life Technologies. Everton gained his Doctorate in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry from The University of Sussex, United Kingdom. He is also a qualified Advanced Executive Leadership coach.

Diane has over 15 years of expertise leading and building HR teams and recruitment capabilities at technology-driven companies. She previously worked at Nexthink, where she was Director of International HR and created its HR department, supporting the company’s global expansion from 80 to over 650 employees in over 15 locations around the world. Prior to joining Nexthink, Diane was Manager at Michael Page, where she successfully established Michael Page’s first Swiss office in Geneva. After serving as onsite recruiter for various international companies, Diane served as EMEA Recruitment Manager at Lifesize, a U.S.-based video conferencing company and a branch of Logitech Lifesize Communications. Diane earned a Master in Sales Administration and completed the Leadership Development Journey at IMD Business School in Switzerland. She is also part of the Accredited Coaching Training Program from the International Coaching Certification (ICF). Diane joined Lunaphore as Vice-President of Human Resources in 2021 to fuel Lunaphore’s skyrocket growth ahead.

Dr. Michael Sidler is a Board member at Lunaphore. He has co-founded Redalpine Venture Partners AG in Zürich in 2007 and acts as General Partner for Redalpine Capital I, Redalpine Capital II and Redalpine Capital III. Before Redalpine, Michael was responsible for corporate investments and M&A at Prionics AG, a Biotech company in Schlieren, Switzerland, where under his guidance several acquisitions have been completed. From 1998 to 2003, Michael was with The Boston Consulting Group in Zürich and Toronto as a Consultant and Project Leader in several different industries and roles. Michael Sidler has a PhD in Life Sciences from University of Zürich. He is a member of several organizations, juries and boards for the support of innovation and startups (Venturekick, Technopark Zürich, Swiss Startup Finance, Kickstart Accelerator) and a coach for the Swiss governmental program CTI-Startup.

Patrick Griss is a Board member at Lunaphore. He is the co-founder and Executive Partner of Zühlke Ventures, the early stage investment arm of the Zühlke Group. Patrick was Business Unit Manager at Zühlke from 2006 to 2010. From 2002 to 2006 he managed a development department at Roche Diagnostics. He holds a M.Sc. in Microtechnology from EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, as well as a Ph.D. on Microsystem Technology from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Matthias Weber is an international executive with more than 20 years of experience in the Medical Devices and Diagnostics industries. He is a Medical Doctor (MD; PhD) by training, and has professional experience in Cardiology, successively leading positions in Product Management, R&D, Operations and Sales & Marketing. Since 2004 global P&L responsibility with multiple global locations. From 2012 until 2019 he was the President of Leica Biosystems, a leading $1B Cancer Diagnostics company with extensive presence in the Immunohistochemistry (IHC) space. He joined the Lunaphore Board of Directors in 2021 to assist the company's next stage of growth.

Dr. Paolo A. Ascierto is the Director of the Department of Melanoma, Cancer Immunotherapy and Development Therapeutics at the National Tumor Institute in Naples, Italy. Professor Ascierto’s research interests include the genetics and proteomics of melanoma, assessment of new molecular markers for tumor progression, biochemical and immunological monitoring, immunotherapy and vaccination treatments in solid tumors, and combination strategies with immuno-oncology. He is a member of the Steering Committee of Society of Melanoma Research (SMR) and the Board of Directors of Society of ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (SITC), President of the Fondazione Melanoma Onlus, and of Campania Society of ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (SCITO). He is an Associate Editor for Onco-Immunology of Annals of Oncology, Chief Section Editor for Combination Strategies section of Journal of Translational Medicine, and Associate Editor of Journal of ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. He has been the Principal Investigator in over 100 clinical trials and is the author of more than 450 publications in peer-reviewed journals. In November 2020, Dr. Ascierto joined Lunaphore as a member of its Scientific Advisory Board.

Dr. Galon is the Director of Research at INSERM (French National Institute of Health and Medical Research), and Head of the Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Immunology at the Cordeliers Research Center in Paris, France. Dr. Galon defined the concept of cancer immune-contexture, pioneered the Immunoscore and is PI of the Immunoscore worldwide consortium, a scientific contribution acknowledged by many awards such as the William B. Coley Award, the Award from the National Academy of Science, from the National Academy of Medicine, and Euroepan Inventor Award 2019. He is the co-founder of HalioDx and the Chairman of its Scientific Council. In November 2020, Dr. Galon joined Lunaphore as a member of its Scientific Advisory Board.

Dr. Taube is the Director of the Dermatopathology division of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. She also serves as a Professor of Dermatology, Professor of Oncology, and Professor of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research primarily focuses on immune evasion by solid tumors—specifically studying the PD-1/PD-L1 axis—and the identification of potential biomarkers that predict response to novel immunotherapies. She developed the PD-L1 immunohistochemical assay and scoring system for the first in-human anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 clinical trials, versions of which are now FDA approved and mainstays of cancer treatment. Dr. Taube holds additional roles as Co-Director of the Tumor Microenvironment Laboratory at the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy as well as Co-Director of the Mark Foundation Center for Advanced Genomics and Imaging.

Dr. Bifulco currently serves as the Director of Molecular Pathology and Pathology Informatics at Providence, and as the Director of Translational Molecular Pathology and Molecular Genomics at the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute in Portland, Oregon, a division of the Providence Cancer Institute. He oversees the Province System Molecular Genomics Laboratory, one of the largest clinical genomics labs in the Pacific Northwest, which provides state-of-the-art genomic sequencing to cancer patients across the seven-state system. Prior to joining Providence, Dr. Bifulco served on the Pathology faculty at the National Cancer Center in Milan, at the University of Florida and at Yale University, and completed fellowships in Hematopathology at Yale and in Oncologic Surgical Pathology and Molecular Genetic Pathology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Bifulco is a Surgical Pathologist with additional fellowship subspecialty training, expertise, and board certification in Molecular Genetic Pathology and Hematopathology. Dr. Bifulco serves on the Global Colon Cancer Immunoscore Task Force led by the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) and is co-Chair of the SITC Pathology Task convened to establish multiplexed immunohistochemistry/immunofluorescence (mIHC/IF) standards. His current translational research is focused on supporting the characterization of the tumor immune microenvironment through immunohistochemical and image analysis techniques, and on the integration of genomics in immuno-oncology. Dr. Bifulco joined Lunaphore as a member of its Scientific Advisory Board in 2021 to provide strategic advisory support to the company’s scientific activities and product portfolio development.