Tavira Tx
Meet The Team
Our team of Scientific Founders has 35+ years of collective expertise in gene therapy and AAV delivery
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Co-founder | Director & Scientific Advisor
Prof. Els Henckaerts, MD PhD
Els leads the Trellis Research Group at KU Leuven. She has profound expertise in AAV research, including AAV biology, vector design, capsid development, and vector production with previous positions at King’s College London and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She previously co-founded Handl Therapeutics (acquired by UCB).
Co-founder | Corporate development lead
Vibha Kiran Tamboli, PhD
As Technology Transfer professional, Vibha works on identifying and commercially exploiting new technologies in the life science field. She gained experience at The Institute of Cancer Research and University of Cambridge enterprise.
Co-founder | Platform lead
Benjamien Moeyaert, PhD
With a PhD and extensive research background, Benjamien brings over 13 years of experience in protein engineering, AAV biology and gene therapy. He has expertise in multiple disciplines, including molecular biology, development of advanced research tools, and therapeutic innovation.
Co-founder | Preclinical lead
Inge Van Hove, PhD
Inge brings over 15 years of research experience across academic and biotech environments. She has a strong expertise in uncovering cellular and molecular mechanisms, and has led preclinical studies in neuroscience, ophthalmology, and oncology.
Tavira Therapeutics' wider team brings together seasoned industry experts and scientific advisors
Director and Chairman | Tavira Therapeutics
Bob Smith
Bob has over 35 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. As Senior Vice President at Pfizer, he led the Global Gene Therapy Business, overseeing gene therapy and rare disease initiatives. Previously, he managed mergers and acquisitions at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and served on various industry boards. He is venture partner at Orbimed.
Director | KU Leuven Research & Development
Bart Geers, PhD
Bart holds a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from Ghent University and is currently an Investment Manager at KU Leuven Research & Development (LRD). He oversees the spin-out and investment processes for high-tech start-ups in health and biotechnology and represents the Gemma Frisius Fund in various spin-offs.
Strategic advisor | Early Bird VC
Florent Gros
Florent is a seasoned biopharma executive with 30 years of experience in investment and intellectual property management. He has successfully seeded, invested in, and managed multiple startups. He is the founder of three biotech companies: Handl Therapeutics, Amyl Therapeutics, and Priothera, focusing on innovative therapies.
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Director | CBO at General Inception
Francois Valencony
Francois is Founding Board member at Tavira Tx and Chief Investment & Business Officer at General Inception. He applies his experience in development of high tech platforms by investing in human capital, portfolio strategy and market positioning, M&A and business development.
Director | General Inception
Sara Jones, PhD
Sara has 8+ years research experience in both academic and industry settings. She has an extensive research background in cutting edge technologies and tool development for genome editing, novel viral approaches to gene delivery and biological imaging.
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Strategic advisor | Broken Lance Biotech
Stewart Craig, PhD
Stewart has over 30 years of experience in developing and managing complex biologicals. He has held executive roles in cell and gene therapy companies, overseeing CMC and GMP manufacturing. His extensive expertise also includes business development and regulatory affairs, supporting global cell and gene therapy submissions across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Switzerland.
We rely on the specific expertise of collaborating labs
Advancing AAV Gene Therapy
Trellis
The Trellis lab focuses on the non-pathogenic adeno-associated virus (AAV) and its application as a gene delivery vector. Through studying the virus’s biology, the team aims to improve its capability as a vector for gene therapy, as well as develop and test new AAV-based gene therapies.
The KU Leuven Antibody Center
PharmAbs
PharmAbs is the KU Leuven innovation, valorisation and incubation platform focused on (1) the development of novel antibody and nanobody discovery and delivery technologies and (2) innovative antibody-based therapeutics and diagnostics. PharmAbs’ expertise and technologies are used to translate basic scientific innovations emerging at universities into diagnostic or therapeutic solutions for personalized medicine that can be implemented in the clinic and/or commercialized by third parties.
KU Leuven Laboratory for
Therapeutic & Diagnostic Antibodies
The lab for Therapeutic & Diagnostic Antibodies at KU Leuven is led by Maarten Dewilde and focusses on the generation and characterization of monoclonal antibodies (Mabs), antibody derivatives, nanobodies and diabodies for application as either therapeutics, diagnostics or research tools.
Tavira Therapeutics is supported by
ignite. nurture. scale. repeat.
General Inception
General Inception works closely with researchers and institutions to facilitate the inception and acceleration of ambitious entrepreneurial projects. Since 2020, the company has co-founded over 35 start-ups in Therapeutics, Engineered Biology, and Life Science Tools & Diagnostics.
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Inspiring the outstanding
KU Leuven Research & Development
KU Leuven is Europe’s most innovative university (Reuters) and ranks 42nd in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. KU Leuven Research and Development supports scientists who want to transform their research into impactful innovations. In 2023 alone, this resulted in 3,031 new collaboration agreements with industry and other stakeholders, 163 new patents, a license income exceeding 150 million euros, and 5 new spin-off companies, including Tavira Therapeutics.