Brian McCabe is a professor at EPFL - the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Switzerland, and the current Director of the EPFL Brain Mind Institute.

His research focuses on motor neuroscience, with the complementary goals of understanding the fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying motor synapse and circuit function and determining how these processes are disrupted by human disease. His laboratory has made fundamental discoveries in synapse biology and neurotransmission, provided new insights into the pathophysiology of motor system diseases, and identified novel therapeutic targets for motor system disorders.

He specialized in genetics as an undergraduate at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; received his PhD from the University of Cambridge, England; and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. Before moving his laboratory to EPFL, he was a faculty member at Columbia University Medical School in New York, USA. He is the co-founder of two start-ups including Avrion.

Bernard is a Research and Teaching Associate at the Brain Mind Institute of EPFL. Since 2017, he heads the EPFL Gene Therapy Platform, leading a team producing viral vectors and supporting the development of gene therapies for disorders of the central nervous system and sensory organs, including ALS. In 2006, he joined the Brain Mind Institute as senior scientist and later as a group leader in the team of Prof. Patrick Aebischer.

Bernard has 16+ years of experience in Neurosciences, with a focus on translational research for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. He is the author of 100+ publications related to neurodegenerative diseases. He has worked on the development of AAV vectors adapted to gene therapy against familial forms of ALS, deafness and blindness. Bernard holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Lausanne (2001) and spent three years for postdoctoral research in Neurosciences at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA.

With 27+ years of experience in the biopharma/life sciences industry, Maximilien is a seasoned Scientific Executive. He co-founded Avrion Therapeutics in 2020, where he now leads as CEO.

Prior to this, he held the position of COO at Cellestia Biotech from 2017 to 2020. Notably, Maximilien dedicated a decade to Debiopharm International SA as Associate Director, overseeing the Early Projects team. His academic achievements include a PhD from the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research and an executive MBA from HEC Lausanne. He spent three years as postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Molecular Oncology at Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, USA.

Harald has 20+ years of experience in the field of gene therapy. After his PhD on retroviruses, retroelements and cancer, he worked for 10 years at the German Primate Center on vaccines. During this time, he worked on a Polyomavirus-based gene delivery system which was transferred to Jenapharm GmbH for further development.

Harald joined Jenapharm GmbH in 2000. In 2002 he joined Berlex Biosciences (US) as Project Leader. In 2007, he became the Director of Research at Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT, which later became uniQure). In 2012 he was appointed CSO. During his 10 years at AMT/uniQure he was involved in the development of several gene therapy programs including Glybera for lipoprotein lipase deficiency. Glybera is the first gene therapy product approved in EU.

Harald holds a PhD degree from the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen (GER).

Patrik is Swiss attorney-at-law and a commercial mediator at Kellerhals Carrard, Bern, largest law firm in Switzerland with over 300 lawyers.

He has a broad knowledge of the medtech and biotech business. Between 2000 and 2006 he acted as General Secretary and Secretary to the Board of Berna Biotech (formerly Swiss Serum and Vaccine Institute Berne, now a Johnson & Johnson company).He was a member of the Board of directors of Arctos Medical AG, (developing an innovative gene therapy against blindness) since its foundation in 2012 until 2019. Thereafter and until the sale to Novartis in 2021, Patrik served as Arctos' Corporate Secretary (organizing administration, IT, finance and legal). Between 2007 and 2022 Patrik acted as General Counsel of Haag-Streit Holding AG, Koeniz, Switzerland, a worldwide producer and distributor of ophthalmic medical equipment.

Since 2022 Patrik acts as Head of Operations of ReMedys Foundation, a not-for-profit organization driving a novel, collaborative approach for translational research and development for novel therapeutic options.

Ravi is a Pharma and Biotech Business Development Executive with 37 years of industry experience (Novartis, Actelion, and Johnson & Johnson), including 20 years in business development, licensing, and alliance management.

His expertise spans deal sourcing, asset evaluation, due diligence, term-sheet development, and negotiation, covering transactions from research collaborations to clinical candidates. He has extensive experience managing strategic alliances and complex transactions across the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

Ravi has built a strong global network across Big Pharma, biotech, venture capital, investment banking, and industry analyst communities, and has excellent knowledge of licensing trends and healthcare opportunities. He is experienced in developing cross-functional relationships across R&D, Legal/IP, Regulatory, Commercial, and Technical Operations.

He holds Bachelors in Pharmacology, PhD and MBA and is an experienced presenter at international bio partnering meetings.