Team
Team
Annbjørg Falck
Chief Executive Officer
and Co-founder
Annbjørg Falck is a PharmD from the University of Oslo/University of Southern California, and she holds an MBA from the Open University in UK. She has broad experience from pharmaceutical and biotech industry, spanning from large international companies (GE Healthcare and Pfizer Norway) to pharmacy management (Boots Limited) and smaller Norwegian companies (Pronova Biopharma, Targovax, Zelluna Immunotherapy). Since 2010 she has worked in leadership roles within the field of drug development, with a main focus and enthusiasm for regulatory strategy and execution throughout the journey of bringing drugs through preclinical and clinical development to patients. Prior to co-founding NaDeNo Falck worked as an Entrepreneur in Residence for SINTEF TTO & Venture on the commercialization of SINTEF’s nanomedicine technology, resulting in the establishment of NaDeNo.
Yrr Mørch
Chief Technology Officer
and Co-founder
Yrr Mørch is a nanomedicine specialist and one of the inventors of NaDeNo’s technology. She holds a MSc in Chemical Engineering (sivilingeniør) from The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, specializing in biotechnology. In 2008 she defended her PhD in biopolymer chemistry for which she was awarded as the top PhD thesis from Tekna in 2008. Since 2012 she has been the project leader of numerous national and international research and industry projects, has led the Nanomedicine strategic area at SINTEF and was the lead scientist of NaDeNo’s nanoformulation platform technology. Mørch is author of >40 scientific peer-reviewed publications, inventor of eight patents and has contributed as invited speaker at scientific and popular science conferences, in several newspaper articles, a podcast, and in national TV and radio interviews.
Torgeir Vaage
Chief Financial Officer
Torgeir Vaage holds a MSc from Norges Handelshøyskole (Norway) and a PhD from UC Berkeley in Business Administration. He has more than 20 years of combined experience from the financing sector and biotech with multiple CFO and CEO roles in early-stage life science companies. Vaage is the former senior equity analyst of ABG Sundal Collier/Handelsbanken and management consultant at AT Kearney.
Sofie Snipstad
Senior Scientist
Sofie Snipstad holds an MSc degree in (Bio)nanotechnology (sivilingeniør, 2013) and a PhD in Biophysics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, 2017). Since 2013 she has been working with nanoparticle based drug delivery at NTNU and SINTEF, where she led various research projects and was awarded several personal research grants. Her PhD was awarded best thesis of the year in 2018 (NV faculty, NTNU). She is an author of >28 scientific peer-reviewed articles and >64 abstracts to scientific conferences. She has also contributed >70 popular scientific interviews, talks and articles in various channels such as newspapers, blogs, podcasts, TV and radio. She was the national winner of Research Grand Prix in 2016, and was awarded communicator of the year (NV faculty, NTNU) in 2021. In 2024 she received The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters’ award to young researchers who achieved exceptional results within their field. She is an Alumni member of The Young Academy of Norway and of SIKT after invitation from the Norwegian Crown Prince. She also serves in the editorial board for Journal of Controlled Release.
Glen Clack
Contract CMO
Glen Clack, MB BS MD FFPM, graduated from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London, and after spending 5 years in the British National Health Service, joined Pharma in 1997.
Glen initially gained Industry drug development experience in late clinical development with AstraZeneca’s endocrine portfolio, delivering 2 NDAs and an sNDA. Since 2002 he has been involved in translational medicine and has been accountable for the early development of anti-cancer compounds, from lead optimisation to clinical proof of concept in both solid and haematological malignancies i.e. small and large molecules, cytotoxic chemotherapy, anti-sense oligonucleotides and therapeutic vaccines. The relevant biological effect areas of these compounds include hormone manipulation, invasion, DNA damage repair, immune modulation, angiogenesis, CDKs, the MTOR/PI3K/AKT and WNT pathways, tumour genomic drivers. He was also the AZ Industry representative on the CRUK radiation combinations alliance.
Glen is the honorary Professor of Translational Medicine in the Department of Oncology and Metabolism at the University of Sheffield, where his academic interest is in methods to maintain health into old age. He has been the industry representative for several Academic and Regulatory Alliances/’Think Tanks’ and acts as a Consultant to the Biotech Industry. He was elected a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in 2012 and is a tutor and lecturer in the School of Pharmacy at Manchester University.
Glen works with Academia, Medical Charities, Biotech and Small Pharma companies to move new treatments into the clinic and to proof of concept.
Gudrun Trøite
Head of Operations
Gudrun Trøite holds a PhD in medical physics from the University of Oslo. She has 20 years of experience with drug development in small and medium size biotech companies, mainly in roles within clinical operations, regulatory affairs and quality assurance. Trøite has successfully led multi-national studies various indications and in all phases of development, including large pivotal studies leading to regulatory approval. She comes from a management team role involving development and follow-up of the company’s overall strategy and direction. She is passionate about streamlining design and management of large projects, to ensure successful conduct
and reliable data to support drug development.
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Ole J. Dahlberg
Chair of the Board
Ole J. Dahlberg brings 25 years of experience from the life science industry. In addition to co-founded three start-up companies, Dahlberg worked both on the commercial side, and in R&D leadership roles, for German Biotech company Qiagen. Over the past 15 years Dahlberg has been in executive leadership roles in Life Technologies, as Managing Director for Norway based Dynal Biotech, and later for Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Until 2021 Dahlberg was based in California, USA, working as Vice President & General Manager with responsibility for Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Cell Biology Division. Dahlberg holds a few biotech company board positions, and currently works as CEO for Curida. Mr. Dahlberg holds a Master of Science in Genetics and Marine Biology from University of Oslo.
Cristianne Rijcken
Board Member
Cristianne is a serial life science entrepreneur, as apparent from 16+ years strategic and hands-on experience in various biotech companies. With a relentless and creative mindset, Cristianne spearheads startup’s entrepreneurial journeys with primary focus on viable business cases. Hereto, she seamlessly manages the diverse elements from pure R&D to corporate funding, investor relationship, talent acquisition and team growth, intellectual property strategy, business development, strategic assessments and boardroom alignment. She transforms scientific discoveries into commercially successful applications and drives a highly efficient development of innovative drug products to patient evaluation across diverse disease areas. Her core expertise is in nanomedicines in (immune-)oncology; and nowadays also experience with other advanced products in other therapeutic sectors.
As CEO of Liberates, she tackles complex challenges at life science startups with demonstrated ability to articulate long term strategy and focus, propose organizational change, and deliver operational excellence. Cristianne is founder of Cristal Therapeutics, and serves as Chief Scientific Officer of the company. She is inventor of 8 patents, (co-) author of ~ 50 scientific publications, received numerous awards and is invited speaker at various biopharmaceutical conferences.
Cristianne is passionate about the human body and how pharmaceutical compounds can modify (the majority of) its functions, hence beneficially shifting into better health and longevity. She is pharmacist by training, holds a PhD degree in Pharmaceutics from Utrecht University and resides in Maastricht (both The Netherlands)
Eli Grong Aursand
Board Member
Eli G. Aursand holds a master’s degree in product development and materials from the The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She has extensive experience in developing and scaling deep-tech companies from NTNU and SINTEF. Currently, she works as an investment director in SINTEF TTO & Venture with the main purpose of building tech start-ups based on SINTEF technology.
Jonas Hallén
Board Member
Jonas Hallén is the Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Calluna Pharma, a Forbion-backed company that develops monoclonal antibodies targeting innate immune amplifiers for the treatment of chronic inflammatory and fibrotic diseases.
Before joining Calluna, Jonas spent a decade in the pharmaceutical industry in various positions such as Nordic Therapeutic Area Director at Boehringer Ingelheim, Clinical Program Leader at Pronova Biopharma and Region Europe Medical Director (Cardio-Metabolic) at Novartis. His experience spans preclinical, early and late-stage clinical development as well as medical affairs.
Jonas is an MD from the University of Copenhagen and holds a PhD in cardiovascular disease from the University of Oslo.
Jonas is excited about the development of technology and drugs that can address unmet medical needs and improve the lives of patients.
Jan Håbrekke
Board Member
Håbrekke is a highly experienced technology company investor and board member of numerous boards. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering and Microelectronics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim. Håbrekke has previously been CEO and co-founder of the oil service company Interwell AS, and is currently CEO of Investitude AS, a private wealth management advisory firm.
Scientific partners and advisors
Scientific partners and advisors
Kjersti Flatmark
Clinical research and advisor
Prof. Dr. Kjersti Flatmark (MD, PhD) is a clinician-scientist at Oslo University Hospital/Norwegian Radium Hospital, combining clinical work with building translational research projects focusing on treatment of peritoneal surface malignancies, locally advanced, recurrent and metastatic colorectal cancer. These cancers are the main clinical responsibilities of Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Norwegian Radium Hospital. She is the first clinician to hold a group leader position at Institute for Cancer Research. She has developed broadly collaborative translational and clinical projects spanning a range of medical subjects from evaluation of novel drugs in preclinical models to observational and interventional clinical trials. She has also developed robust national and international collaborations through regional (ACREDIT) and European (Cure4PMP) research networks. The group of Dr. Flatmark has been highly involved in the development of NaDeNo’s lead candidate.
Wim P. Ceelen
Clinical Advisor
Prof. Dr. Wim P. Ceelen (MD, PhD) is a surgical oncologist and associate Professor at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium. His interest is within advanced or recurrent GI cancer, soft tissue retroperitoneal cancers, ovarian cancer, and peritoneal metastasis. He leads the experimental surgery lab at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium, and performs clinical, translational, and basic research in the fields of intraperitoneal drug delivery, novel treatments of peritoneal metastasis, biophysical properties of cancer tissue, and lymphatic metastasis in colon cancer.
John Paul Y.C. Shen
Clinical Advisor
Prof. Dr. John Paul Y.C. Shen (MD) is a physician-scientist with a scientific background in chemical biology, network biology and functional genomics and clinical training in Internal Medicine, Hematology, and Oncology. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center with a clinical practice focused on colon and appendix cancers. His long-term research goal is to better understand the cancer genome, and to leverage that understanding to better the delivery of chemotherapy. Active research projects include generating novel preclinical models of appendiceal cancer, investigation of intratumor heterogeneity with single cell transcriptomics, and the automated extraction of clinical outcomes data from the Electronic Health Record to facilitate the development of molecular biomarkers.
Andreas Åslund
Nanoformulation development and synthesis
Dr. Andreas Åslund is a Research scientist at SINTEF and has a background in organic chemistry with a PhD from Linköping University, Sweden. For the last decade he has worked exclusively on the development of targeted delivery and (nano)formulation of drugs. These activities include the establishment of ultrasound mediated blood-brain barrier opening in Norway and mechanistic studies on ultrasound mediated delivery of drugs and nanoformulations to the brain and other target tissue. Within formulation he has been part of the team that developed the lead formulation for NaDeNo and in addition he has extensive experience from other polymer nanoformulation technologies. He is at the bord of the European Technology Platform for Nanomedicine and Chair for the working group Nanotherapeutics and Targeted Delivery. At SINTEF he is the project leader for all activities related to NaDeNo.
Geir Klinkenberg
In vitro characterization
Dr. Geir Klinkenberg is a Research manager at SINTEF with more than 15 years of experience in drug discovery, high throughput screening, in vitro cell-based assays and bioprocess development. Klinkenberg has also more than 15 years’ experience in management of large research projects for national and international biotech and pharma industry and is currently managing a project portfolio of more than 50 MNOK in SINTEF. Furthermore, Klinkenberg coordinated the work of in vitro cell viability and cytotoxicity in EU Nanomedicine Characterization Laboratory (EUNCL) as Assay Group Leader.
Jérémie Parot
Physical/chemical characterization
Dr. Jérémie Parot, Research scientist at SINTEF, has a PhD in analytical chemistry and has extensive experience in the physico-chemical characterization of nanoparticles with wide expertise in drug delivery systems. Specialist in field flow fractionation (AF4) instrument and currently working on RNA-LNP design, production and quality control, Jérémie has also expertise in the standardization of methods from the lab to the standardization bodies.
Mark Tracy
CMC
Mark Tracy is Founder and President, Tracy BioConsulting, LLC. Dr. Tracy is known internationally for developing innovative first-in class complex injectables and nucleic acid therapeutics and vaccines. Dr. Tracy played a key role in developing Onpattro®, the first RNAi therapeutic approved by the FDA, EMA and other regulatory agencies worldwide. He has also played an important role in the development of lipid nanoparticle technology used in mRNA COVID-19 vaccines granted regulatory approval worldwide. Previously, he developed several complex injectable sustained release products that have been commercialized including Vivitrol®, Bydureon®, and Nutropin® Depot, which was the first long-acting protein product approved by the FDA. Dr. Tracy has extensive experience in the development of nano and microparticle-based products and other sterile injectable formulations from research through IND filing and commercialization. He has been recognized by peers internationally for accomplishments and leadership in the pharmaceutical product development, bioengineering, and delivery fields. Dr. Tracy is a Past-President and Fellow of the Controlled Release Society (CRS) and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
Ruth Schmid
Strategic and scientific advice
Ruth Schmid has more than 40 years’ experience in the field of preparation and characterization of micro- and nanoparticles by various technologies and from a wide variety of materials, as well as the surface modification of polymers and polymer particles to introduce tailor-made properties. A special focus has been on the encapsulation and immobilisation of liquids and solids from emulsions, for protection and controlled release.
The last 10+ years, she has shown a special interest is the emerging field of nanomedicine, targeted drug delivery and release, nanotechnology-based diagnostics, regenerative medicine, as well as preclinical characterization. Ruth introduced nanomedicine as a new business area at SINTEF and is the main inventor or co-inventor of several patents that are the basis for NaDeNo’s technology.
Ruth has a special focus on applied research and product-oriented solutions. She has long-term experience in translation from laboratory to pilot scale, e.g. through the development of the Dynabeads and SINTEFs various drug delivery platforms.
Ruth is a Swiss citizen living in Norway since 1979. She gained her Diploma (1975) and PhD (1979) in Natural Sciences (physical organic chemistry) at ETH Zürich, Switzerland. She is a member of ACS, CRS (member of the board of directors (2009-2018), President (2016-2017), the European Technology Platform in Nanomedicine (Chair 2019-2021) and the EARTO working group “Emerging Technologies for Healthcare”. She is author/co-author of 59 scientific publications and 18 patents and patent applications. Total number of peer reviewed publications: 77; citations 2543; h-index. 23 (Google Scholar, December 2022).
Bob Crutchfield
Business advisor
Robert (Bob) is a senior executive with over 30 years of leadership experience in healthcare services, healthcare IT, and surgical devices with major international companies, as well as entrepreneurial startups and venture capital. He is well-recognized for creating value, with experience in mergers and acquisitions, public corporations, venture capital firms, and startups. Today, Bob is leveraging his healthcare industry and venture capital experience as the Managing Director of Hotspot Ventures, LLC. Hotspot Ventures only works with private capital backed healthcare companies as a strategic advisor, independent board member or executive chairman. He is the executive chairman of the board for Synaptrix, a medical device company focused on post- surgical pain management using neuromodulation to allow hip and shoulder surgery patients to be pain free for 17 to 21 days post-op, for OrbitalRx, a pharmacy shortage supply chain software
company in Winston-Salem, NC, Pictor Labs, a digital pathology staining company in Los Angeles, CA. He is an independent member of the board of directors for AllerVie, an asthma and allergy practice rollup company in Dallas, TX, Private Health Management, a cancer-focused care management company in Los Angeles, CA, for Venostent, a medical device company focused on improving the quality and length of life for dialysis patients in Houston, TX, and Plueral Dynamics, a medical device company helping clinicians treat and manage chronic, recurrent fluid collections within the body in Wayzata, MN. He is also a strategic advisor and operating partner for Bronze Valley, a CDFI focused on investing in companies founded and/or led by diverse entrepreneurs in Birmingham, AL, as well as Good Growth Capital, an early-stage venture capital investment firm in Charleston, SC. Prior to this work, he served as the founding managing director for the American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Fund, where he built the back office, hired the initial team, led the first five investments,
and realized an early exit in Castle Biosciences. Before BrightEdge, he was a partner at Harbert Growth Partners in Birmingham, AL. He led investments in WellCentive, IngagePatient, Caresync and Shipt. He also served as the board observer for nContact, MaxCyte, OpenQ and WiserTogether, among others. Bob also served as the senior vice president/general manager of the Pharmaceutical Services
Division at US Oncology, a privately held, vertically integrated cancer care provider network with cancer clinics in more than 440 sites of service and a physician network consisting of over 1200 medical oncologists and radiation oncologists that was acquired by McKesson. Prior to US Oncology, he was a senior executive at CardinalHealth where he served as vice president/general manager of
New Ventures. Prior to Cardinal he was the founder and CEO of Surgical Innovations & Services, Inc. (SIS). Under his leadership, SIS became a leader in the emerging outsource management sector, with over 300 hospitals and surgery centers under contract before being acquired by PhotoMedex. Bob serves on the boards of Health Connect South, SC Launch and the Global Center for Medical
Innovation. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Political Science and Chemistry. He resides in Charleston, SC.
Arthur Tipton
Business Strategy advisor
Arthur Tipton, Ph.D., is an independent consultant who aids companies in developing the next generation of drug delivery products. He previously held leadership roles in three drug delivery start-ups and played a key role in each company’s path to a public offering or acquisition.
The first company, Atrix, developed the leading in situ gelling injectable, Atrigel, where Art is on several patents and led the development and manufacturing of the initial products. The technology continues in two companies, Tolmar and Indivior with several injectable products including Eligard for prostate cancer and Perseris for schizophrenia. Following at Durect, Art led all biodegradable injectable programs including initial clinical development of Posimir now marketed by Innocoll for treatment of pain following certain surgeries. For the most recent company, he was founder and chief executive officer of Brookwood Pharmaceuticals, now part of Evonik. Brookwood became a leading supplier of commercial biodegradable polymers as well as developing final product such as Scenessse, an implant that delivers melanotan to treat patients with disabling skin conditions such as erythropoietic protoporphyria.
Immediately before his consulting business, Art was CEO of a 400-person nonprofit R&D group with a range of both life sciences and non-life sciences areas. The life science work included drug discovery with about a million-compound library and specific focus on cancer and infectious disease.
In his consulting business, Art is advising a range of companies developing injectable products including formulation, manufacturing, LCM and IP.
Dr. Tipton holds 43 U.S. patents; his inventive efforts have led to several publications and multiple commercial products. He currently serves as a board member for five organizations and has previous experience on 12 additional boards. His resume also includes induction into the National Academy of Inventors, the College of Fellows for the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the Controlled Release Society, where he served as president in 2015. Most recently, Dr. Tipton was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2021. He holds a Ph.D. in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts
Mary Reilly
CMC, Clinical and Quality
Mary holds a Master’s in Pharmaceutical Science, a Master’s in leadership and Organisational Leadership and a Diploma in Company direction and Corporate governance. Mary is known for leading and driving big pharma and small biotech portfolio through the entire drug development lifecycle to help change patient lives. Mary is a focused, resilient senior-level leader recognised for driving and delivering results across small molecule, biologics, and cell therapy products. She is known for leading and driving big pharma
and small biotech portfolio through the entire drug development lifecycle, delivering operational excellence through effective program management, human capital, CMC, and clinical operations. Mary is especially skilled at leading global operations and driving drug development through to execution into the clinic. She is an articulate communicator who builds lasting relationships with
stakeholders, clients, partners, clinicians, and vendors. Mary is known for building a strong company direction and developing corporate governance, and is eligible to function as a QP under EU Regulation 536/2014.
