Team

Navigo Proteins’ experienced management is supported by an interdisciplinary team of highly motivated scientists, engineers, and technicians. Our core expertise is protein engineering, spanning the fields of protein chemistry and analytics, as well as assay development, automation, and molecular and cell biology. This excellent expertise is complemented by our driven business development, project management and general administration teams, as well as bioinformatics and intellectual property specialists.

Navigo Team

Dr. Henning Afflerbach

CEO

Biography

Dr. Ulrich Haupts

CSO & Managing Director

Biography

Andreas Richter

CFO

Biography

Dr. Chris-Carol Bremer

CDO

Biography

Dr. Florian Settele

Head of Business Unit Precision Capturing®

Biography

Dr. Eva Bosse-Doenecke

Head of Affilin Discovery

Biography

Dr. Erik Fiedler

Head of Precision X & Precision A Development

Biography

Dr. Kerstin Haucke

Director Intellectual Property

Biography

Christian Schlossarek

Manager Human Resources

Biography

Advisory Board

Udo J. Vetter

Chairman

Biography

Prof. Dr. Dr. Rolf Werner

Honorary Professor Industrial Biology, University of Tuebingen

Biography

Oliver Buck

Biography

Winfried Storz

Biography

Partnering

Navigo Proteins creates innovation in next generation, best-in-class affinity ligands for both custom affinity chromatography and biopharmaceutical drug development. We initiate our ligand discovery programs together with our partners or on the basis of our own research projects. Our commercial strategy is founded on a strong IP position that provides full patentability of any derived products. The commercial prospects of our company are based on service fees and/or milestone components.

Dr. Henning Afflerbach

CEO

»At Navigo Proteins our core values are cooperativity, transparency, positive feedback and a focus on solutions. Adhering to these standards is fundamental in all our interactions with customers and colleagues. I am fully committed to maintaining and strengthening this culture which makes Navigo Proteins a reliable business partner and an attractive employer.«

Henning has been CEO of Navigo Proteins since 2013. He has a broad range of experience and a proven track record gained through his various roles in the biopharma industries and multi-national companies including; Peptor GmbH/Ltd (Rehovot, Israel/Erkrath, Germany), Develogen AG (Göttingen, Germany), DIREVO Biotech AG (Cologne, Germany). Henning’s background and areas of expertise include business development, strategic planning, licensing, deal oversight, strategic partnering as well as merger and acquisition activities with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Henning received his PhD in Biophysics from the Heinrich-Heine University of Duesseldorf, Germany.

Dr. Ulrich Haupts

»Working at Navigo Proteins is fun because of the combined expertise of all my fellow colleagues and their commitment to engineer the best possible molecules to even exceed our partners’ expectations. We employ our scientific creativity to explore innovative approaches and go the extra mile for the optimal solution. With our dedication we aim to contribute to the well-being of patients around the world.«

Uli joined Navigo Proteins in 2011 as CSO. Since 2013 he has had the additional role of a Managing Director. He is responsible for all the technical development of the Precision Capturing and Precision Targeting platforms. Uli has more than 15 years of industry experience in large pharma and biotech companies. At Bayer Healthcare he held the position of Director of Protein Optimization and he spent seven years as Vice President of R&D Biopharmaceuticals at Direvo Biotech. In addition, he worked at SmithKline Beecham, UK in the New Assay Technology group. Uli gained experience in the field of mass spectrometry and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy during his post-doctoral fellowship at Cornell University, US. He received his PhD in 1996 from the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany.

Andreas Richter

CFO

Andreas completed Navigo’s management team in April 2020 as CFO. Andreas has over 25 year’s experience in banking, consulting and finance; thereof 20 years as CFO/finance consultant for Life Sciences Companies (e.g. Direvo, 4-Antibody, AYOXXA). He negotiated and executed several financing rounds, collaboration deals and M&A-transactions (e.g. sale of Direvo Biotech AG to Bayer for 210m EUR, sale of 4-Antibody AG, CH to Agenus Inc., USA) and is a hands-on expert in financing, financial management and controlling. Andreas is co-founder, investor and member of the advisory board of several start-up and growth companies in the field of Biotech/Medtech and e-commerce in Europe and Asia. He studied Business Administration at University of Cologne (Diplom-Kfm) and at Penn State University , PA, USA.

Dr. Chris-Carol Bremer

CDO

„First-generation precision therapeutics are already making a big difference for patients with limited available options in today’s clinical practice, but I am convinced that a new era of targeted therapeutics is just starting, and Navigo Proteins is superbly positioned to provide the essential components of next-generation immunology and oncology products.”

Chris joined Navigo Proteins in February 2022 as Chief Development Officer (CDO) and is responsible for the development of Affilin®-based biotherapeutics. He has over 20 years of experience in Commercial roles, Business Development, Partnering and Product Development with an education as Medical Doctor and MBA. Before joining Navigo Chris worked for the Grünenthal Group in roles such as Commercial Director, Senior Vice President Marketing and Executive Vice President Early Products.

Dr. Florian Settele

Head of Business Unit Precision Capturing®

LinkedIn »Navigo Proteins’ aim is to deliver optimal solutions for the varying goals of our customers from different fields of the industry. Precise project coordination with our partners is crucial for every successful project. As Manager Commercial Alliances it is my goal to guide our partners through product development with open and transparent communication to reach the best possible outcome efficiently.«

Florian joined Navigo Proteins in 2011 as a scientist, first responsible for the selection of lead candidates by phage display. After developing into Project Coordinator from 2015-2017 for numerous external projects he became Manager Commercial Alliances from 2017-2019, being responsible for all external project communication and coordination with our partners. In 2019 he was appointed Head of Navigo Protein’s business unit Precision Capturing®. Florian received his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology at the German Cancer Research Institute (DKFZ) in Heidelberg and has since also completed a Master of Business Administration at the Handelshochschule Leipzig (HHL).

Dr. Eva Bosse-Doenecke

Head of Selection & Functional Validation

Eva joined Navigo Proteins in 2009 and now leads teams for the phage and ribosome display library construction and selection, molecular biology as well as the protein characterization with cell-based methods. Eva studied Pharmacy in Saarbrücken and carried out her doctoral thesis at the Institute for Medical Biochemistry at Saarland University. Before joining Navigo Proteins, she worked in different academic institutions, such as Technical University of Munich, Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg, MRC Cambridge, UK, and the Martin-Luther-University of Halle/Wittenberg. In her academic career she focused on voltage-dependent calcium-channels, G-protein coupled receptors, membrane transport proteins and Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Erik Fiedler

Head of Screening and Protein Engineering

»Working for Navigo Proteins is attractive for me because of the numerous challenges in our protein biochemistry field. All the varying projects and research tasks require competence, creativity, flexibility and engagement. Since all these virtues are combined within the Navigo team it makes a highly enjoyable place to work for me.«

Erik is Head of Screening and Protein Engineering with almost 17 years of protein engineering experience. He joined Navigo Proteins as a scientist in 2002 and now supervises the automated hit screening, protein production and protein analytics teams. He received his PhD in enzymology and protein crystallography from the department of Biochemistry of the Martin-Luther University of Halle/Wittenberg in 2002. Prior to that he was research fellow at the laboratory of molecular structural biology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Dr. Kerstin Haucke

Director Intellectual Property

Since 2008, Kerstin is responsible for all aspects of intellectual property at Navigo. She has more than 20 years of experience in patent law, starting her career in the US with a biotech company and continuing in Europe with a leading position in biopharmaceutical industry. She qualified as European Patent Attorney in 2010. Kerstin studied biology at the universities of Braunschweig, Freiburg im Breisgau and at the University of Reading (UK), writing her Diploma thesis at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ; Heidelberg). She received her doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Basel (Biozentrum; Switzerland). Among her honors are fellowships from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Christian Schlossarek

Manager Human Resources

»Navigo Proteins believes in open and transparent communication. Our employees gain broad experiences across many aspects of the biotech industry with a strong focus on autonomy, early responsibility and integration into our decision-making processes. With a shared view of the company's goals and ones’ own professional and social strengths, each individual and each team significantly contributes to our success. I understand corporate culture as a continuous development process involving both clearly communicated goals by the management a well as creative and responsible development of all colleagues.«

Christian joined Navigo in 2022 as a Human Resources Manager. After Christian finished his master’s degree in International Area Studies he worked as a recruiter and then started working as a Human Resources Manager.

His goals are to foster supportive and open interaction. To Christian it is essential to encourage individual strengths of employees and to enable both personal and corporate development in a balanced relationship of challenge and support.

Udo J. Vetter

Chairman

Udo J. Vetter studied clinical pharmacy at the University of Seattle. Following that, he worked for five years as a pharmacist at the pharmaceutical concern Schering-Plough Corp. (now Merck & Co Inc.) and set up production facilities in Puerto Rico. Subsequently he was, among other things, Vice President for Licensing and Production at Martec Inc., USA and President of Vetter Pharma-Turm Inc., USA Since 1987 he has held various senior management positions at Vetter Pharma and has been chairman of the board since 2008. In 2003 he established the investment company UV-Cap. He is a member of the supervisory board of Gerresheimer AG and of the expert association ISPE. Furthermore, he is chairman of the university council of the University Albstadt-Sigmaringen and since 2012 he is Vice President of European Family Businesses (EFB).

Prof. Dr. Dr. Rolf Werner

Honorary Professor Industrial Biology, University of Tuebingen

Prof. Dr. Dr. Rolf G. Werner is Honorary Senator of University of Tuebingen, teaching Industrial Biotechnology. He is member of the Advisory Board of Navigo Proteins GmbH in Halle/Saale. After his PhD at University Tübingen he spent more than three years in academia at Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany, and at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, Cambridge, USA. He has more than 35 years industry experience at Boehringer Ingelheim in top leading positions. Rolf was responsible for the development and registration of the first genetically engineered protein therapeutic from mammalian cell culture: tissue plasminogen activator for myocardial infarction and stroke. More than 20 therapeutic proteins and monoclonal antibodies have been developed, manufactured and regulatory approved under his responsibility and direction. Under his supervision, processes for viral therapeutics and vaccines have been developed. He is consulting with biopharmaceutical, viral therapeutic and vaccine companies in Europe and Asia in all aspects of research and production technologies. His achievements are recognized by the Prize of the City of Vienna, Austria, for outstanding scientific work, as well as from the Hangzhou Government, China, as Hangzhou Qian Jiang Distinguished Expert in Biotechnology.

Oliver Buck

Oliver holds a graduate degree in theoretical physics from the Technical University of Munich and is an alumnus of the German National Academy for Security Policy and the “Young Leaders Program” of the Atlantik Brücke/ American Council on Germany. He spent his professional career in a variety of entrepreneurial and management positions including being founder, managing director and developer of several companies in the fields of manufacturing, technology, demilitarization, pharmaceutical and information technologies. Oliver is the co-founder of ITM Isotopen Technologien München AG (one of the largest isotope manufacturing and distribution companies in the world) which was founded with Technical University of Munich. Since 2012, Oliver has acted as senior advisor to the CEO in a role that continues to support the ITM Group as it has become a leader in next generation medical isotopes and theranostics. Since 2017 Oliver has been a member of the board of Melbourne/Australia based Telix Pharmaceuticals -a specialist in the development and commercialization of molecular targeted radiation. At Navigo, Oliver advises the management and the board on how to grow and mature both business units – Precision Targeting and Precision Capturing® – so that they may become seamlessly interlocked solutions for next generation treatment concepts of personalized medicine.

Winfried Storz

Winfried Storz studied law in Freiburg. After finishing the internship Mr. Storz worked 3 years in higher service for the financial administration of the state of Baden-Württemberg. Subsequently he joined the parental tax consulting office and gained the accreditation as tax advisor in addition to the accreditation as lawyer. From that time on he works as chief executive officer and associate the SPK tax, law and business accounting group based in Weingarten. Mr. Storz is member of various advisory committees and supervisory boards of several medium-sized businesses. Furthermore, he is appointed to represent the internal revenue of Ravensburg in the Chamber of Tax Consultants in Stuttgart.