Former consultant in the Pharma & Healthcare practice of McKinsey & Company, combined with a PhD in molecular biology.

Dr. Erik Digman Wiklund is an experienced industry executive and the scientific co-founder of the Circio AB subsidiary. He previously worked for the Nordic cancer biotechnology companies Algeta and Targovax in various leadership roles, and has a background from management consulting in the Pharma & Health Care practice of McKinsey & Co. Dr. Wiklund is the co-discoverer of human circular RNA, and holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from Aarhus University, Denmark, and the Garvan Institute, Sydney, Australia

Deeply experienced tumor immunology scientist from international academic and industry roles, including John’s Hopkins, Roche and Molecular Partners

Dr Levitsky is a seasoned internationally recognized expert in immunology, oncology, T-cell immunotherapy and immuno-oncology with in-depth knowledge of preclinical, translational and early stage clinical drug development. He brings extensive experience in pre-clinical drug development of protein-based biologics and small molecules. Dr Levitsky is a medical doctor with a PhD in Virology and post-doctoral training in tumor biology at Karolinska Institute, Sweden. He spent the first 20 years of his career as an academic research scientist, including Associate Professor positions at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the USA. Before joining Circio Dr Levitsky served as Tumor Immunology Leader and Senior Principal Scientist with Roche in Zurich, and his most recent position has been VP, Head of Oncology Research at Molecular Partners, Zurich, Switzerland.

Dr Lubor Gaal is a seasoned industry executive with 25 years of experience working in large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in Europe and the USA.

Most recently, he served as Managing Director and Head of Europe at Locust Walk, a global life science boutique investment bank. At Locust Walk, Dr Gaal was responsible for overseeing all European strategic transactions, including financings, M&A and licensing. Before Locust Walk, he was Head of External Innovation and Licensing and a member of the R&D Management Committee at Almirall and Head of Europe Search and Evaluation for oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Prior to that, Dr Gaal held executive management positions at Neuro3d and Vectron Therapeutics, and global business development roles in Bayer. Dr Gaal has a Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley, USA.

In Circio, Dr Gaal´s core responsibilities will be to oversee all financial, investor relations and business development activities, as well as playing an integral role in defining and executing the corporate strategy.

World-leading pioneer of circular RNA

Dr Thomas Hansen has over 15 years’ experience in academic research. Before joining Circio he worked as assistant professor at Aarhus University where he led a research team focusing on RNA biology and bioinformatics. In 2011, Dr Hansen pioneered the discovery of circular RNA in human cells, and later in 2013 published the first functional characterization of circular RNA in Nature. Dr Hansen holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics from Aarhus University, Denmark.

With over 25 years’ experience in Biologics development, manufacturing and supply 

Ola Melin joins Circio with over 25 years’ experience in Biologics development, manufacturing, and supply, most recently as Director of Technical Operations at OxThera AB, where he was responsible for clinical supply and for establishing a commercially ready manufacturing process and supply chain. Prior to that he spent eighteen years at Biovitrum and Sobi AB, where Melin held senior leadership roles as Head of External Manufacturing and Head of Product Supply, as well as other CMC positions. He started his career with manufacturing process development at Pharmacia. Melin has studied Biochemical engineering at Mälardalen University.