
Velabs is a leading pioneer in microfluidics-based technologies for functional screening of antibodies. Our high-throughput screening platform allows for testing millions of correctly paired fully natural IgGs from humans and mice for therapeutic effects, rather than just for binding. Rare functional hits are readily identified, which might be laborious or even impossible using other technologies. Velabs’ antibody screens can thus significantly and competitively shorten pre-clinical development.
Our Mission
Velabs has pioneered the use of droplet microfluidics for the screening of antibodies that do not just bind to a drug target, but rather modulate its function.
Velabs technology is based on the direct screening of B-cell repertoires from mice and humans, which offers manifold advantages:
Velabs primarily aims at partnering with pharma companies in order to shorten the usual delay in preclinical hit generation and validation from several months or years to significantly shorter times.
Any partnering process with Velabs will speed up the discovery of efficient antibodies with almost no side effects.
Team







Management
Christoph Antz, Ph.D.
CEO
Christoph is an experienced company executive and former venture capital manager in the fields of life sciences with special focus on drug development (small molecules and biologicals), diagnostics and instrumentation.
Prof. Christoph A. Merten, Ph.D.
CSO
Christoph is a Professor for biomedical microfluidics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. He also holds an adjunct position at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR).
Martin Haase, Ph.D.
CFO
Martin Haase has more than 30 years of experience in globally active companies in the field of life science instrumentation and MedTech industries. He graduated in Mathematics and Chemistry at the University of Göttingen and received his PHD in metallic-organic chemistry and x-ray crystallography.
Scientists
Anna Pryszlak, Ph.D.
Head of Screening
Anna is a researcher specialized in medical biotechnology with a strong background in microbiology and microfluidics.
Steffen Runz, Ph.D.
Head of Antibody Development
Steffen is cell biologist with a strong expertise in early stage development of therapeutic antibodies.
Marian Weiss, Ph.D.
Head of Microfluidics
Marian has a background in Physics with a strong focus on droplet-based microfluidics for synthetic cell research and biomedical applications.
Sophie Kube
Junior Scientist - Screening
Jessica Seib
Junior Scientist - Screening
Jessica is a research associate with a background in molecular biology, microbiology and immunology.
Anja Thiel
Scientist - New Developments
Anja is a research associate with experience in lab management and a background in cell-, cancer- and microbiology.
Tatjana Schneidt
Junior Scientist - Cell Biology
Tatjana is a research associate with a background in cell biology, microbiology and biochemistry.
David Eustace
Engineering Graduate
David is an engineering graduate with a background in electronics and software.
Advisors
Prof. Hans-Georg Rammensee, Ph.D.
Hans-Georg Rammensee was appointed Chair of the Department of Immunology at the University of Tübingen in 1996, after spending three years as Head of the Tumor-Virus-Immunology Section of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg.
Alexander S. Hauser, Ph.D.
Alexander graduated from the University of Copenhagen with a strong background in G protein-coupled receptors focusing on the discovery of endogenous ligands and personalized medicine.
He is currently a postdoc at the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology and the Institute of Biological Psychiatry in Roskilde. Alexander studied molecular biomedicine in Münster, Germany with research projects in Hyderabad, São Paolo, Helsinki, and the European ScreeningPort GmbH with a focus on mathematical modeling and computational drug design.
Jesper Zeuthen, Ph.D.
Jesper is a graduate in molecular biology from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He subsequently was a research fellow at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and ass. professor at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Jesper has published more than 200 scientific publications and is an inventor on several patents.