kaertor

Team

We are a dynamic team with an innovative structure, based on relocation and globalization. This allows us to always be connected, from Galicia but without barriers, with the best in the world in this area.

Enrique Tellado
Patrono

Licenciado en Empresariales por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid – CEU San Pablo. Inició su carrera como consultor de empresas en McKinsey & Co. y The Boston Consulting Group. Posteriormente se incorporó al sector financiero, participando en la fusión de la Cajas gallegas y siendo el Director Financiero de Novacaixagalicia.

Posteriormente fue Consejero Delegado de EVO Banco. En la actualidad participa como consejero en diversas empresas y es también inversor en start ups digitales.

Jose Manuel Silva
Member

Member of the team that negotiated the treaty of accession / accession of Spain to the European Union during the period from 1980 to 1986. General Director of Agriculture from 1995 to 2006, followed by a mandate as general director for research from 2006 to 2010, and again Agriculture and Development Rural from 2011 to 2013. During his tenure as Director General of Research, he launched the 7th Research Structure Program, thus giving a new and strong boost to European research. Until his retirement in October 2019, as an advisory member of the Ministry of Science, he was the Spanish representative at EuroHPC (the European High-Perfomance Computing Joint Undertaking), the new European supercomputing program. He has been distinguished with the following honours: Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Vigo, Commander of number of the Order of Isabel la Católica and Officer of the Legion of Honor of the French Republic.

Ángel Carracedo
Founding Member

Founding Member and Scientific Director. Professor of Legal Medicine at the Universidad de Santiago (USC); Director of the Galician Public Foundation of Genomic Medicine and Director of the Spanish National Genotying Centre. Committee member in numerous international societies for Genetics, Pharmacogenomics, Cancer and Forensic Medicine, numerous advisory committees of research centers and regulatory bodies. He has published more than 600 articles and is the most cited authors in the field of Forensic Medicine. He has received numerous prizes and has been nominated Doctor Honoris Causa by various universities in Europe and Latin America.

Mabel Loza
Founding Member

Founding Member and Scientific Director. Professor of Pharmacology and leader of the BioFarma pharmacological research team at the University of de Santiago de Compostela. Active participant in public and private research programmes within the area of early drug discovery in Spain and Europe. She has participated in more than 90 research projects, in 70 of these as principal investigator. She has participated in the development of 15 new drug candidates that have reached clinical trial stages within R+D transfer programs carried out with the pharmaceutical industry.

Antonio López
USC Rector

Representative membership in the Foundation’s Board of Trustees as the Rector of the University of Santiago de Compostela. As Rector, he holds the maximum academic authority at the USC. Professor of Financial and Tax Law the USC.

José Arnau
Founding member

Founding member (on his own name). Holds a law degree from the University of Santiago de Compostela and is a former State Tax Inspector. Has held various positions in the State Tax Administration and was an associate professor in Tax Law at the University of A Coruña. In 1993 joined Industria de Diseño Textil S.A. as a tax advisor. Since 2001 has been a leading executive in the Pontegadea Group. Member of different Board of Directors, including Industria de Diseño Textil S.A., and vice-president of the Amancio Ortega Gaona Foundation.

José Manuel Santamaría
Economist and administrative manager

Graduate in Labour Relations and Master in Economy and Innovation Management by the University of Santiago de Compostela. He has been working as research manager since 1998 in the BioFarma Research Group at the University of Santiago de Compostela and in the Drug Screening Platform in the same University from its creation in 2004. He had different functions within the group related to the correct functioning and optimization of the resources. These functions include among other the economical and administrative management of resources both in the competitive public funded projects and contracts with private companies. In the private sector, he is member of the Board of Directors in several biotech companies and in the Galician Business Technology Cluster of Life Sciences (BIOGA).

Lola Macía
Pharmacy Graduate

Pharmacy Graduate by the University of Santiago de Compostela (2016). As part of the Graduates program, completed a year exchange program in the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (USA), a year internship in Biofarma group, and a 6 month internship in Le Mans’ hospital (France). Ephos’ Master’s degree & scholarship in Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies (Madrid, 2017). Fellowship in the Marketing and Medical department of the Antibiotic unit in AstraZeneca Spain (9 months). Fellowship in the Marketing department of the Respiratory unit in AstraZeneca Spain (7 months).

José Manuel Mallo
Economist

Graduated in Economics from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), he is currently an economist part of the Kærtor Foundation management team. He has previous experience in the insurance sector and, formerly, he was as a Purchasing Manager at ICT sector. He developed his professional career in the Biofarma Research Group (USC) management team as an economist, in projects at the regional, national and international level, as well as collaborating in the management of all the activities promoted and carried out by the Group.

Beatriz Noya
Project Manager

PhD in Organic Chemistry (University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain), European postdoctoral experience (Marie Curie fellow) and Master in Project Management (BES LaSalle-URL, Spain). More than 12 years of experience in Drug Discovery projects as senior organic and medicinal chemist, working both at academia and at private companies. From 2014, as freelance consultant and manager, has been collaborating with several Galician entities, e.g., in early stages of two spin-off companies and in the preparation of European project proposals (program H2020).

Jose María Palacios
Director of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs

Doctor in Chemistry Sciences by the Universidad Autónoma of Barcelona. Specialist in R&D applied to drug discovery, has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, 10 years in Sandoz (Switzerland), as head of a preclinical research group on the Central Nervous System, and 14 years in Almirall. He is also one of the most cited researchers worldwide  (over 20.000 references) and has almost 400 published articles in the top scientific journals, over a hundred book chapters and more than 300 communications in international congresses. Has been granted several awards, the Dupont prize on pharmacologic receptors investigation stands out.

Amparo Pérez
Drug Discovery Scientific Manager

Drug Discovery Research and Management at Kærtor Foundation.PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Formerly member of BioFarma Research group, she becomes a multidisciplinary scientist in the development and setting up of innovative therapeutic strategies in early drug discovery in the field of research projects in collaboration with biotech as well as pharmaceutical companies. Simultaneously, she has developed management capabilities in the environment of INNOPHARMA project, a pharmacogenomics platform based on genotyping and compound screening capabilities, based in open innovation and on the creation of new knowledge-based models of public-private partnership.

Richard Roberts
Director of Medicinal Chemistry

Richard obtained a degree in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Cambridge. He then carried out a postdoc at Imperial College, London, ultimately leading the TeknoMed industrial collaboration. After a brief spell as an agrochemical Team Leader at Syngenta, UK, he moved to Almirall in Barcelona in 2002. Since 2008 he has been a program leader in Drug Discovery, supervising medicinal chemistry projects related to asthma, cough and pruritus. In 2015 he joined Minoryx Therapeutics as Director of Drug Discovery, up to the successful spin-out of the discovery platform as Gain Therapeutics. He is author of nearly 40 articles and patents.

Fernando Ramon
Director of Drug Discovery Programs

Doctor in Biology with more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery research in big pharma. Initially involved in High Throughput Screening for a wide range of target classes and therapeutic areas at SmithKline Beecham, he became a pioneer in application of cutting-edge screening technologies. Later, he held managerial positions at GlaxoSmithKline in Spain, first as Head of Biological Reagents and Assay Development with deep involvement in Open Innovation and finally as Head of External Projects, where his department was responsible for evaluation and testing of therapeutic hypotheses from academics and biotech start-ups and coordination of drug discovery projects.

Eduardo Santamaría
IT Specialist
Eduardo Santamaría
IT Specialist

He is currently the IT specialist at Kærtor Foudation. Technical specialist in computer science and management with English skills acquired in the Sussex Down College from Brighton and in the Bradford College from Bradford where he also learned about Graphic Design (Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop). He has worked in the Company IRIS Computers as IT, arranging computers and helping in accounts. From 2013 to 2017 he develops his career at the Biofarma Group as IT, developing web pages, arranging computers and helping with administration tasks.

Michael Tadros
Hub and Drug Discovery Ecosystem Affairs Manager

Michael’s experience focuses on early biomedical developments of promising life science discoveries across a range of technologies and therapeutic areas, through research collaborations with top academic investigators, startup creation, investment, and for-profit life science companies dedicated to accelerating developments of scientific discoveries into viable innovations to improve health, wellbeing, and geared towards socioeconomic impact. Michael graduated from Concordia University in Montreal Canada with a Bachelor Degree in Specialization of Cellular and Molecular Biology and an Economics and Business Clusters. He received his Ph.D. from the National Biotechnology Centre at the University of Madrid in Molecular Biology. Michael also holds degrees from the Lycee Francais Jean-Renoir in Munich, and the JFK Institute in Berlin, Germany.

Daniel Torrecilla
Biotechnology and Innovation Manager

After Biology and Biotechnology degrees, Daniel developed his PhD in Molecular Medicine at University of Santiago de Compostela (Galician Group of Oncology Research) and he did postdoctoral work at Hospital for Special Surgery (New York, USA), in the Bone Cell Biology and Molecular Imaging Lab. Later on, he has worked at Galician Public Foundation for Genomic Medicine, focused in molecular diagnostics and functional genetics, and also in other institutions as University of A Coruna and BioFarma Research Group of University of Santiago de Compostela at CIMUS Research Center. Daniel has experience also working in different pharma and biotech companies and in project management, and he is interested not only in basic knowledge but also in applied sciences, technologies, innovation and tech transfer.

Maite de los Frailes
Director of Drug Discovery Programs

Scientific Advisor. Vice Dean of External Relations, Faculty of Experimental Sciences, University Francisco de Vitoria. Professor. Expert in Drug Discovery with more than 20 years of experience. Maite was Director of Molecular Discovery Research at GSK until 2016. She has a strong background in Cell Biology and Transnational Research and a broad experience in Portfolio Progression Management and Scientific and Managerial Project Leadership. She has also lead external Collaborations with Academy in the context of Industrial Environment, has more than 40 Research Papers and seven Research Awards, including the Prix Galien USA 2009 for the best Innovative Medicine.

Eduardo Domínguez
PHD Pharmacy

He has a degree and a PhD in Pharmacy, with postdoctoral stay at The Scripps Research Institute (California, USA) and experience as Project Leader. He delivered science and methods to identify and validate targets of therapeutic interest. He has training in chemical biology and drug discovery, as well as in communication, planning and managing, and also with problem-solving skills.

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José Manuel Brea
Head of the Drug Screening Platform (USEF)

Head of the Drug Screening Platform (USEF) adscribed to BioFarma research group at the University of Santiago de Compostela. He has more than 15 years of experience in pharmacological research. He has authored more than 80 research papers covering different research fields focusing in early in vitro drug discovery. He is also interested in G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and the phenomena which regulate their functions (oligomerization, functional selectivity, allosterism, etc.). He has been involved in more than 30 research projects both from public and private funds.

The Advisory Board is formed by expert professionals in the drug discovery process from different perspectives (medical chemistry, business development, public-private collaboration, …), who directly advises the Board of Trustees on the main strategic lines of the Foundation.

Company Name
Almirall Beleta, Jordi
SAGE Therapeutics Blanco, María Jesús
Grünenthal Bloms, Petra
Roche Bodadilla, María
SGC, University of Oxford Bountra, Chas
SunRock Buela, Juan
Inveniam Group Canetti, Elena
Palobiofarma Castro, Julio
JNJ Chakrabarti, Parth
Sanofi Chao, Oliver
Merck Cornella, Iván
Astra Zeneca Díaz, Jose Luis
EU – Open Screen Fecke, Wolfgang
Janssen Fernandez, Javier
Active Motif Fernandez, Joe
Fraunhofer IME Frank, Ronald
Janssen Gemmell, Anthony
Company Name
Janssen Gómez, Antonio
GSK Holmes, Duncan
European Lead Factory Jaroch, Stefan
X-Chem Keefe, Anthony
Eli-Lilly Lallena, María José
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Levi-Schaffer, Francesca
Karolinska Institutet Lundback, Tomas
ESTEVE Merlos, Manuel
Glasgow University Milligam, Graeme
UPF Perez Jurado, Luis
Lilly Piñeiro, Marta
ESTEVE Plata, Carlos/td>
AZ Smith, Dave
WTCHG, University of Oxford Tomlinson, Ian
Prodigest Van Emeln, Kristof
ESTEVE Vela, Jose Miguel
WeillCornell Medical College Weinstein, Harel

The scientific committee directly advises the Scientific Direction of the Foundation in relation with the pipeline development from a scientific point of view.

Obesity, Metabolism

CLÍNICOS

Felipe Casanueva
José María Castellano
Enrique Domínguez
J.R. González Juanatey
Gonzalo Martín

BÁSICOS

Carlos Diéguez
José A. Enriquez
Kilian Hubert
María Teresa Miras Portugal
Fernando rodríguez de Fonseca

Enrique Saez
Juan Tamargo

Immunology

CLÍNICOS

Francisco Blanco
Miguel A. González Gay
Juan Gomez Reino

BÁSICOS

Monica Comalada
Iria Gómez Touriño
África González

Miguel González García
Francesca Levi-Schaffer
Isabel Mérida

Infectious diseases & vaccines

CLÍNICOS

Josep M. Miró

BÁSICOS

Julio Martín

Neuroscience

CLÍNICOS

Julian Álvarez
Celso Arango
José Castillo
Benedicto Crespo
Francisco González
Jose C. Pastor

BÁSICOS

Hector Caruncho
paolo cesare
Piero Crespo
Antoniio Ferrer
J. Antonio Lamas
Graeme Milligan

Leonardo Pardo
Ángel Raya
Jesús Requena
Jordi Sierra
María Jesús Sobrido
Olga Valverde

Oncology

CLÍNICOS

Alfredo Carrato
Jesús García Mata
Rafael Lopez
Manuel Macía

CLÍNICOS

Xosé Bustelo
Arkaitz Carracedo
Antoni Castells
federico Mayor
Clara Montagut

Francisco Real
Hamish Ryder
Alberto Villanueva

Complementary areas

BIOINFORMATICS

Manuel pastor
Jordi Quintana
Ana Ripoll
Ferrán Sanz
Alejandro Pazos

MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY

Jesús Jimenez Barbero
Ronald Frank
Phil Gribbon
Marcel Hibert
Jose Luis Mascareñas
Ana Martínez
María Jesús Vicent

SCREENING

Olga Genilloud
Mari Luz Rodríguez

The Investment Committee advises the Scientific Direction of the Foundation with regards to its projects’ funding and business model as well as its possible transfer.