GRANT COMMITTEE

Boštjan Čeh, MBA
Head of Business Development at Labena d.o.o.

Boštjan Čeh holds a Masters of Pharmacy and has completed Executive MBA at the London Business School. Boštjan is an experienced senior commercial leader with over 13 years of high-performance track record across multiple leading pharmaceutical companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Novo Nordisk and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. In his last role, at Otsuka, he led a European cross-functional team of over 15 colleagues and was responsible for P&L for the commercial launch of a medicine worth up to €350m of peak annual revenue. Boštjan also co-founded a start-up and supports pharmaceuticals and life-sciences industry with commercial and strategic advisory services. Leading teams and organizations on a mission to solve problems that will improve people’s quality of life and the way we live, is his passion.

Uršula Prosenc Zmrzljak, PhD
Head of Molecular biology Laboratory at Labena d.o.o.

Uršula Prosenc Zmrzljak is a head of molecular biology laboratory at Bia Separations CRO, Labena d.o.o. and a driving force of various industry and research projects. She has more than 17 years of experience in molecular biology and extensive knowledge of various molecular biology techniques that she gained at the Faculty of Medicine Ljubljana, INSERM Montpellier, UT southwestern Dallas, Hungarian Academy of sciences Budapest, Hvidovre hospital Copenhagen and INEP Belgrade. With numerous collaborators she conducted research projects involving basic as well as applied scientific aspects. Among others, her expertise includes oncology molecular diagnostics which she acquired during her work at the Oncology Institute Ljubljana. Uršula Prosenc Zmrzljak holds a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and Molecular biology from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Mario Dananić, MBA
Business Development Manager – Life Science at Labena d.o.o.

Mario Dananić works as a business development manager and is responsible for sales in the LifeSciences segment as well as creating new business opportunities for Labena. His extensive knowledge of the medical, chemical, genomics and pharma industries makes him excellent at project development and management. He holds an MSc degree in chemistry from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia.

Marina Panek, PhD
Application specialist at Labena d.o.o.

Marina Panek is an application specialist at Labena d.o.o. She has more than 7 years of research experience in various molecular biology techniques with a focus on the isolation of human and bacterial DNA; DNA testing by PCR methods and gel electrophoresis; human gut microbiota analysis; next-generation sequencing; data analysis; blood sample processing and serum biomarker analysis. As an application specialist in Labena d.o.o. she offers pre-and post-sale support for all Labena life science customers. Marina Panek holds a Ph.D. degree in Biomedicine and Health from the School of Medicine, University in Zagreb, Croatia.

Agnieszka Ciesielska, PhD
10x Genomics Science and Technology Advisor

Agnieszka is science and technology advisor for 10x Genomics. She helps the customers with project design and advises on the technology and chemistry in the experiments to get the best possible results for each individual scientific question. She has extensive experience with field application support for different brands of manufacturers and service providers from the field of molecular biology (BioRad, Thermo Scientific, Eurofins…). She holds a PhD degree in molecular biology and genetics from the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland.

Nedeljko Milosavljević, PhD
External reviewer, Center for Technology Transfer of the University of Belgrade

Dr. Nedeljko Milosavljević is an experienced technology transfer professional, successfully leading the Center for Technology Transfer of the University of Belgrade for the last 11 years. To create a unified TT mechanism for a non-integrated university consisting of 31 faculties and 11 institutes, he combined his previously gathered experience as a researcher (PhD in Chemical Engineering) with knowledge and experience in the TT field, gained at reputable Institutions such as the University of Oxford, University of Ohio, University of Haifa, as well as from private TTOs like Ascenion. He was vice president of the Association of European Science and Technology Transfer Professionals -ASTP and a board member of HEPTech. Currently, he is a Co-Director of Founder Institute Serbia, a member of the International Board of the Association of University Technology Managers – AUTM (USA), an International Board member of the International Technology Transfer Network – ITTN (China), an international partner in the World Business Angels Investment Forum – WBAF, board member of the Youth Entrepreneurship Council and a board member of the Science and Industrial Cooperation Council.
Besides being a researcher and registered technology transfer professional, he also a co-founder of start-up Dr Knight ltd, established for further development and commercialization of the innovation created within his PhD research. During the years, he has had the opportunity to mentor, support, judge, and train numerous teams and individuals, and with an international team of peers to create a multilingual web-based platform designed to stimulate students’, researchers’ and teachers’ ability to use the results of their research and to start and carry out entrepreneurial projects.
Furthermore, Dr. Milosavljević is a senior consultant and business developer for Oxentia, an expert for the European Commission and World Intellectual Property Organization.