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.

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.

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.

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.

Saska obtained her Ph.D. in 2012 in Life Science at the University of Lausanne, by studying the molecular pathways involved in beta cell dysfunction in Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity. In order to accomplish her Ph.D. thesis, she moved from Lausanne to Lille (France). After graduating, she joined the multinational company Bio-Rad, in the domain of Immunohematology. She worked during one year as Assistant Project Leader in the R&D department for the Integration and Validation System. In march 2015, she joined Lunaphore's team to implement and lead the development of Assays and Reagents for automated microfluidic systems.