Dedicated to develop a disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson’s disease

Guus Scheefhals is Chief Executive Officer of Syngle Therapeutics since its inception in March 2020. Guus is a seasoned professional with more than 30 years of experience in the pharma and biotech industry. Since April 2010, Guus is CEO at Crossbeta Biosciences and was instrumental in the creation of two Crossbeta spin-outs, DegenRx and Syngle Therapeutics. Previously, he was member of the management team at various companies and held commercial and project management positions. Guus has a Master’s Degree in Pharmacy from Utrecht University.

Victor van Koolwijk is Chief Financial Officer at Syngle therapeutics. After spending his first 12 years of his career in a wide array of finance roles ranging from multinationals DSM and Shell to Corporate Finance boutique Kempen & Co, Victor started his own company 15 years ago providing finance management services to Small and Medium Enterprises. His client portfolio contained a number of Biotech companies, where he was not only involved in setting up and running accounting processes but also in various financing rounds.

Dr Bas Blits, PhD, is a passionate scientist and already for more than 20 years performing research in the gene therapy field. Initially as PhD student at the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, as post-doctoral associate at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis in Miami, USA and associate member of the Cristopher Reeve research consortium. Subsequently, Bas continued his career at gene therapy company uniQure, where he has worked for more than 10 years, most recently as Head of Neurobiology, responsible for preclinical activities in the field of CNS AAV-mediated gene therapy. He was also involved as principal scientist in development of several gene therapy programs in biotech startup companies, such as DegenRx, CrossBeta Biosciences and SanaGen. Bas is (co-)author of 50 publications.

Our advisors

Kees Been, MBA, is a seasoned biotech professional working originally at Monsanto and Biogen in senior positions. He transitioned to become biotech CEO in 2003, originally in the oncology field and now already for more than 15 years at companies focusing on treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, EnVivo/Forum Pharmaceuticals (Alzheimer’s disease) and Lysosomal Therapeutics/BIAL Biotech Investments (Parkinson’s disease). Proven biotech Chief Executive, known for securing funding, assembling and engaging star talent, sustaining energy around an ambitious vision, driving growth, and delivering extraordinary results and value. Skilled at executing quickly and passionately on the path from research to clinical proof-of-concept through a combination of targeted R&D and deal-making. Kees was also at the Supervisory Boards of Rodin Therapeutics, ProBioDrug/Vivoryon and Paros Bio.

Dr Lynne Hughes, B Med Sci., Ph.D., PMP, former Vice President and Head of Medical Strategy, Neurology at IQVIA, has worked in clinical research for more than 35 years. She has been involved, to varying extents, in the development of almost every neurology product on the market today and was involved in more than 125 AD trials, 85 PD trials, 76 MS trials and 55 epilepsy trials. Lynne represented IQVIA on the EPAD consortium for AD and she is a current member of the NIA-NIH task force for recruitment into AD trials and development of the US National Framework and is co-chair of the DAVOS (DAC) taskforce for expediting clinical AD trials, sponsored by WEF & CEOi . She works as a Senior Advisor to GAP and is a member of the G7 & G20 World Dementia Councils. Furthermore, she is a Venture Partner with the Dementia Discovery Fund, part of SV Health Investors. In addition, she works with several research organizations including ADI, Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Gates Foundation and NIH.

Robert Martone is a biopharmaceutical industry consultant who specializes in neurodegeneration, neuro-oncology, biomarkers and drug discovery. Most recently, he was Scientific Discipline Director in Neurology within the Biomarker Solution Center at LabCorp. Robert investigated hereditary neuropathies and the molecular biology of the blood-brain barrier at Columbia University and subsequently managed a portfolio of drug discovery programs at Wyeth Neuroscience targeting Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. He was the Neuroscience Therapeutic Area Lead for the Covance Biomarker Center of Excellence and later established a protein biomarker laboratory at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, was director of preclinical research at Cognition Therapeutics, and supported late-stage biomarker and diagnostics efforts at Biogen. He has collaborated with and advised government and non-profit organizations in the field including the NINDS, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Association and ILSI-HESI.

Dr Bernard Schneider, PhD, is heading the Bertarelli Platform for Gene Therapy at EPFL, a lab dedicated to the development of vector technologies and to promote the development of gene therapies tackling neurological diseases. His group has a strong expertise in the engineering and application of viral vectors for gene delivery to the central nervous system and explores how to translate fundamental discoveries of the mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration into effective gene therapies. Bernard Schneider obtained his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Lausanne, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He joined EPFL in 2006, to study how certain key genetic determinants of aging determine the fate of neurons in the context of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. As Research and Teaching Associate at EPFL, he is now exploring gene therapy approaches against motoneuron diseases, such as genetic forms of ALS. He has co-authored more than 120 publications and 5 patents.