About us
How it all started.
Bernhard Paetzold and Marc Güell are the scientists behind S-Biomedic. In 2014, these two PhD-grads became fascinated with the applied health potential of the body’s microbiome. Inspired by gut microbiome transplantation, they set off to translate the concept of microbiome transplantation to the skin. Their goal was simple: “Restore the skin’s healthy balance”.
They were joined by business entrepreneur Veronika Oudova and S-Biomedic was born with the mission of transforming the paradigm of skin health care.
After years of intensive research, the team performed the first-ever skin microbiome transplantation. The process of transferring a healthy skin microbiome onto the skin of those suffering from chronic skin conditions (e.g. acne, eczema or psoriasis) proved to be a wild success.
Meet the team
Veronika Oudova
Bernhard Päetzold
Marc Guëll
Wesley Carpentier
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Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder
Veronika completed a master study in International Trade in Prague and a master’s in International Management within the program CEMS, located in Prague, Vienna and Rotterdam.
As co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of S-Biomedic, Veronika brings years of forward-thinking experience as a marketing consultant, business analyst and quality manager to her role at S-Biomedic. Under Veronika’s leadership, S-Biomedic has attracted the attention of several major investors and grant programs such as the EU’s Horizon 2020.
In April of 2019, Veronika was named one of the “top 10 Young European Biotech Entrepreneurs in 2019” by labiotech.eu. After years of working in business and market research, Veronika has never been so excited about a project—one that has the potential to both disrupt the skincare industry and help millions of people.
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Chief Scientific Officer & Co-founder
Bernhard completed his PhD in synthetic biology, and worked in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry to engineer bacteria as a living pill.
He is the scientific co-founder of S-Biomedic, and is leading research and product development.
He is fascinated by the untouched potential of active compounds naturally produced every day right on our own skin.
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Scientific Director & Co-founder
Marc is the non-executive Scientific Director of S-Biomedic. Currently, he is a tenure-track professor at Pompeu Fabra University.
His laboratory is focused on leveraging new gene editing technologies for therapeutic purposes. The two main lines of research there are mammalian genome engineering and microbiome engineering.
Previously, Marc was a Wyss Technology Development Fellow at the Wyss Institute (mentor: George Church, Harvard Medical School). While there, he developed gene editing technologies to create bio contained safe recoded microorganisms as well as engineered pigs for xenotransplantation.
A substantial part of his career has been spent in translational science. In addition to S-Biomedic, Marc is also the founding scientist of eGenesis, a company striving to provide an unlimited source of organs for transplantation.
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Chief Commercial Officer
Wesley has over 20 years experience in the field of in life-sciences—working for companies both large and small—in research, sales, and business and corporate development. For the majority of the past two decades, he has primarily developed fermentation products that address unmet consumer needs.
He served as Chief Commercial officer for Inbiose, and Director of Global Business Development for DuPont Industrial Biosciences and Danisco Health & Nutrition.
Purpose
To encourage hope, provide fresh perspective, and support new opportunities for people who care.
Vision
We believe in the innate power of the skin and its microbiome — together, this is the new frontier in health, dermatology, and skincare.
Mission
To become the global leader in the pioneering and commercialization of microbiome dermatological skincare solutions.
Core values
Develop networks, relationships, and ultimately solutions to drive advances in dermatology and skincare.
Meet our Board Members
Meet our Scientific Advisory Board
Prof. Gollnick is the key opinion leader in acne, non-melanoma skin cancer and general dermatology. He has over 400 peer-reviewed, 200 proceedings publications and 8000 citations in the dermatology field. He led and represented many scientific institutions within Europe.
He was a member of the Board of Directors of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. He was the Secretary General and President of the European Dermatology Forum (EDF). He was also Founder and Chairman of German Acne Academy and Global Alliance Acne.
He was President of the German Society of Dermatology and a continuous board member. He was President of the Dermato-Venereology Section of the European Union of Medical Specialists. Currently, he is a Visiting Professor of Kaunas Medical University Lithuania. In addition, he acts as advisor for international consultant agencies. Finally, he is honorary member of several national societies worldwide and has received highest awards from International League of Dermatological Societies, European Dermatology Forum and German Society of Dermatology.
Prof. Dr. Harald Gollnick
Holger is an Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedicine, Health Faculty, Aarhus University in Denmark since 2011. His team works at the interface of microbial genomics, medical microbiology and host-bacterium/microbiome interactions. He completed his PhD thesis at the University of Göttingen, Germany, in 2003. He was a Postdoc at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, France, for 3 years, followed by a staff scientist position at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany.
Prof. Holger Bruggemann
Dr Lieve Declercq is Innovation Consultant for Health and Beauty with 25+ years management experience. She is partnering with Belgian and international companies for technology validation, product development and market introduction, aimed at driving business growth.
Until end 2017, Dr Declercq was VP of Basic Science Research & Advanced Technologies at the Estée Lauder Companies, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of prestige cosmetic products (total net sales $13.68 billion in FY2018). She created strategies for technology innovation and product development with a global network of innovation partners. Her research was published in 35 scientific papers and she holds 20 US patents.
She obtained a PhD in Biochemistry- Molecular Biology (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) and a Certificate in Dermato-Cosmetic Science (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). Based in Belgium and a native speaker of Dutch, she is fluent in English and French, with basic knowledge of German and Italian.
Lieve Declerq, PhD
Rolf has a background within Biomedicine, and received his PhD in Experimental Infection Medicine from Lund University, Sweden. Rolf started his career 2007 working on the skin bacterium Propionibacterium acnes and bacteriophages infecting this bacterium. This research path has continuously been a major part of the research conducted in the Lood lab. Rolf is focusing his research within the field of Experimental Infection Medicine, with an emphasize on a) understanding the beneficial (molecular) role of the skin microbiota, b) elucidating molecular mechanisms behind spread of antibiotic resistance through bacteriophages, and c) investigating experimental means to combat infections. During the last years, a specific focus has been on the P. acnes secreted benevolence factor RoxP identified and characterized by our lab – a potent antioxidant able to protect human skin from oxidative damage.
Besides his academic position, Rolf is the CSO of the biotechnology company Genovis AB, developing enzymes for the study of immunoglobulins.
Rolf Lood, PhD
Dirk Gevers serves as the Global Head of the Janssen Human Microbiome Institute (JHMI). Dirk deepens the Janssen R&D leadership, scientific understanding and capabilities in this emerging and exploding area of science.
Previously Dirk served as Senior Group Leader of Microbial Systems and Communities at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. In this position, Dirk served as a scientific liaison between different organizational components, including the Broad Instituteās data generation platforms and both clinical and analytical collaborators on a number of microbiome-related projects. Dirkās research efforts at the Broad Institute included the characterization of the microbial imbalance associated with diseases such as Crohnās disease, type 1 diabetes and colorectal cancer.
He was also involved with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Human Microbiome Project (HMP), holding a leading role in the Data Analysis Working Group, consisting of over 50 investigators focused on human microbiome research. Dirk received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Ghent University (UGent), Belgium, and completed postdoctoral training at UGent and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in bioinformatics, comparative and evolutionary genome analysis and microbial ecology.
Dirk Gevers, PhD
Prof. Luis Serrano was previously the head of the Structural & Computational Biology Program at the European Molecular Biology Institute (EMBL) in Heidelberg. Since 2011, he has been the director of the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG).
His group is at the forefront of systems and synthetic biology in Europe. He has authored more than 270 scientific publications and 20 patents.
Prof. Luis Serrano
As an ICREA Research Professor Toni Gabaldon focuses on comparative genomics and phylogenomics to study the origin, evolution and function of complex biological systems.
He has more than 160 scientific publications in the areas of genomics, microbiology and bioinformatics.
Prof. Toni Gabaldon
Meet our Board of Directors
Bernhard completed his PhD in synthetic biology, and worked in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry to engineer bacteria as a living pill.
He is the scientific co-founder of S-Biomedic, and is leading research and product development.
He is fascinated by the untouched potential of active compounds naturally produced every day right on our own skin.
Bernhard Päetzold
Chief Scientific Officer & Co-founder
Veronika completed a master study in International Trade in Prague and a master’s in International Management within the program CEMS, located in Prague, Vienna and Rotterdam.
As co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of S-Biomedic, Veronika brings years of forward-thinking experience as a marketing consultant, business analyst and quality manager to her role at S-Biomedic. Under Veronika’s leadership, S-Biomedic has attracted the attention of several major investors and grant programs such as the EU’s Horizon 2020.
In April of 2019, Veronika was named one of the “top 10 Young European Biotech Entrepreneurs in 2019” by labiotech.eu. After years of working in business and market research, Veronika has never been so excited about a project—one that has the potential to both disrupt the skincare industry and help millions of people.
Veronika Oudova
Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder
Jeanne Bolger, MB BCh BAO, Vice President, Venture Investments, Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) has over 25 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in management roles across R&D, Commercial and Business Development (BD).
She spent 11 years in Licensing and Acquisition (L&A), most recently as Global Head of Scientific Licensing for Johnson & Johnson’s Pharmaceutical business, having joined Johnson & Johnson in 2005 from the Business Development group at GlaxoSmithKline. In 2009, Dr. Bolger became Vice President, Alliance Management at Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy, working with Pfizer and Elan.
In 2012, upon the establishment of the Innovation Centers, Dr. Bolger joined J&J’s corporate venture fund, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC. She is based in London with responsibility for investments across Europe in start-up and early stage life science companies in areas of strategic interest to J&J’s business sectors in Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology, Medical Devices and Consumer.
Jeanne Bolger
Carlos Gallardo has over 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry in several countries, including the United States, Spain, and United Kingdom. He has held managerial responsibilities at Pfizer and Almirall, in areas such as Licensing, Business Development and Country Management.
In his tenure as Almirall M&A Director, he was responsible to negotiating strategic company and product acquisitions such as Hermal GmbH and a Business Unit from Shire Pharmaceuticals. In his last executive assignment he was appointed Country Manager for the UK & Ireland, where he was responsible to set up from scratch and subsequently manage the company operations in these countries.
In July 2014 he joined the company Board as a Director. Since July 2014 Carlos Gallardo provides support as a Venture Partner to the venture capital firm YSIOS Capital, particularly in identifying and evaluating Digital Health and MedTech investment opportunities.
Carlos Gallardo
Christopher Sheldon is Head of Mergers & Acquisitions and Venture Capital at Beiersdorf and based at the company’s headquarters in Hamburg (Germany). He is responsible for Beiersdorf’s global M&A and VC activities and also a member of Beiersdorf’s Venture Investment Committee.
Christopher has more than 15 years of corporate finance experience including various roles in M&A advisory, debt and equity financing as well as corporate investment management. Prior to joining Beiersdorf he was VP Group Corporate Development / M&A at Deutsche Telekom and worked in investment banking at Credit Suisse.
Christopher holds a graduate degree in economics and finance from the University of Mannheim (Germany).
Christopher Sheldon
Philip Mertens is an Investment Associate at DSM Venturing, the corporate venturing group of DSM, and based in Amsterdam. His focus is on investments in Personal Care & Aroma, Human Nutrition & Health, and Biomedical.
Philip joined DSM Venturing following his studies. He holds a BSc in Business Administration and an MSc in Finance from KULeuven and a Master in Management from Antwerp Management School.
Philip Mertens
Dr Hart de Ruijter is an investor and entrepreneur in life science with over twenty-seven years of experience in the industry. After a start in clinical research at Sanofi, he founded MSOURCE, the contract research organization, in 1994.
After selling to TÜV SÜD in 2008, he started to invest in biotechnology and medical device start-ups with a focus on early stage. Cascara Ventures is his second fund, started in 2016. He is on the board of several life science companies.
His particular interests are to collaborate with excellent teams, working on promising scientific breakthroughs and creating meaningful improvements to healthcare. He also holds an MD from Leiden University and an MBA from Erasmus University in the Netherlands.
Adriaan Hart de Ruijter
S-Biomedic is a member of…
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Start it @kbc supports and promotes innovative and scalable entrepreneurship. With over 477 startups, is Belgium's largest startup community.
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flanders.bio is a cluster organisation with currently more than 330 members from Belgium and abroad empowering a life sciences driven network economy.
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The PRI is a European non-profit organization (French Association, 1901), focused on regulatory affairs in the microbiome field for the EU Market.
Get in touch.
If you’d like to hear more about what we do at S-Biomedic, or have a question for our team, drop us a message.