Having served as a research manager and senior investigator in both academic and corporate settings, Dr. Reinhard Ebner has extensive scientific, technical and strategy experience, combined with a broad knowledge of modern biology and the biomedical and biotechnology industry, with a recent focus in contemporary oncology, translational medicine and molecular diagnostics.

He received his undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Regensburg and his doctorate in Microbiology and Genetics from the University of Osnabrück, Germany, where he then served on the faculty of the Genetics department.

In 1989, Dr. Ebner was awarded a research fellowship to work as a visiting scientific specialist at Genentech, Inc. in San Francisco. There, he identified and cloned the long elusive first type I TGF-ß receptor. He was first to show TGFß-induced epithelial-mesenchymal-transitions (EMTs) in cells in culture and, in the years following, made a series of substantial contributions to the fields of cytokine biology, receptor-ligand interactions and intracellular trafficking, cell differentiation, early development and tissue repair, first at Genentech and then at the University of California, San Francisco and at Stanford University Medical School.

After moving to Human Genome Sciences in 1995, Dr. Ebner became one of the most productive novel gene finders there and the inventor of all the HGS targets now in clinical trials and discovered many other important proteins around which HGS established pre-clinical and clinical development programs, including such molecules as DR4, the first and long sought after receptor for the cytotoxic ligand TRAIL, as well as LIGHT, IL-17B and its receptor, BlyS and TR6. In 2000, he joined Avalon Pharmaceuticals – hired as the first scientist following the company founders, where he was instrumental in the initiation of intramural and external research programs and contributed to corporate and scientific infrastructure development, working predominantly in the fields of chemical genomics, cancer research, data mining and HTS assay development. He also coordinated the company’s therapeutic antibody target discovery alliances and has a long-standing interest in alternative and novel drug discovery paradigms and development strategies.

Dr. Ebner is a frequently invited plenary speaker at national and international conferences and member of several scientific advisory panels and has served on state and national study sections. He has authored nearly 100 original research publications, with several thousand citations by others. He is a recipient of grant and manuscript peer review service awards and society memberships, an ad hoc reviewer and editor for scientific journals, has over 50 issued US patents and is the primary inventor on more than 800 patent applications world wide. Several of his discoveries have led to new therapeutics now in the clinic or on the market.

Dr. Ebner has been involved with the National Cancer Institute for many years, and is currently a research adviser in its cancer genomics section. He also is a consultant to various biotech companies, and serves as the CSO of CytoTest Inc., a provider of innovative molecular diagnostic solutions.

Dr. Koehler graduated with a Diploma degree in Molecular Genetics and Human Biology from the Human Genetics Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany where he also received his Ph.D. in 1994. After working as a scientist between 1994 and 1997 in the laboratory of Prof. Michael Schmid (Human Genetics Institute, Wuerzburg University) – another pioneering research group in molecular cytogenetics – he joined the lab of Dr. Thomas Ried at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI/NIH) in the USA as a visiting scientist. At that time he made contact to Applied Spectral Imaging (ASI), the company which invented together with Dr. Ried`s group the famous multicolor Spectral Karyotyping (SKY®) application which revolutionized cytogenetic diagnosis and research. After his return to Germany Dr. Koehler joined ASI as Technical & Scientific Manager and headed the company’s European office for many years. Initially responsible for sales in Germany and technical support of ASI customers and distributors throughout Europe the demand for his expertise quickly increased and soon his activities were extended worldwide, providing customer support, giving lectures on international conferences, and supervising workshops in countries like China, India, Russia, Canada and USA as well as in multiple South-East-Asian, Middle Eastern and South American countries.

Dr. Koehler is author and co-author of more than 40 peer reviewed scientific publications and several industrial articles and application notes and has served as a reviewer for several scientific magazines in the field of molecular cytogenetics.

Mr,Thomasz developed and led strong multifunctional international commercial organizations. Built Abbott Central Eastern Europe  and Middle East Molecular Dx business from the establishing of Division to a $33MLN in sales.

Developed strategy and organization for key Emerging Markets such as Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Poland. Before transition to other division, initiated breakthrough projects in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Belarus.

Established local manufacturing of Real Time HIV viral load tests in Russia. 

Built strong network of distributors, established key collaborations with NGOs and government organizations in key Central Eastern Europe and Middle East markets.  Experienced in collaboration / co-promotion with Pharma Industry (Roche, Novartis, Pfizer) as well and Abbott Pharma.