Does Physiological Complexity Kill Scalability?

Our Panelists

Academic Perspective

Prof. Jaap den Toonder, Professor and Chair of the Microsystems section, Eindhoven University of Technology

Jaap is a full professor and Chair of the Microsystems section at Eindhoven University of Technology, and former Principal Scientist and Chief Technologist at Philips Research. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Delft University of Technology. His research focuses on the investigation and development of novel microsystems design approaches and out-of-cleanroom fabrication technologies. His application focus is on microfluidic chips, biomedical microdevices, organs-on-chips, and soft microrobotics. The section’s research approaches are often biologically inspired, translating principles from nature into technological innovations.

Academic Perspective

Dr. Peter Loskill, Assistant Professor, Research Institute for Women’s Health, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen

Peter is an Assistant Professor at the Research Institute for Women’s Health Faculty of Medicine at Eberhard Karls University Tübingen. He is also Head of Innovation Field at Fraunhofer IGB, Coordinator of the European Organ-on-Chip training network MSCA-ITN-EUROoC, and Vice-Chair of the European-Organ-on-Chip-Society (EUROoCS). He holds a PhD in Physics from Saarland University and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. In 2015, he was named as one of Technology Review’s “Innovators under 35 Germany” and awarded a Fraunhofer ATTRACT starting grant. His interdisciplinary µOrganoLab combines approaches from engineering, biology, physics and medicine to generate and apply novel microphysiological tissue models recapitulating complex human biology in vitro.

Industry Perspective

Dr. Florian Fuchs, Senior Principle Scientist, Nuvisan Innovation Campus Berlin

Florian is a Lab head within Lead Discovery at the Nuvisan Innovation Campus Berlin and former group leader on complex cellular models and cell-based screening at Novartis Basel. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the Ludwig Maximilians University at Munich.

Biopharma Perspective

Dr. Olivier Frey, Head of Platforms and Technologies, InSphero AG

Olivier is Head of Technologies & Platforms and the Lead Project Manager of Microphysiological Systems at InSphero AG. He is a former group leader of the Bio Engineering Laboratory of ETHZ (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich). He holds a Dr.Sc in Microtechnology from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and an MSc in Microtechnology, Mechanics from ETH Zürich.