Petra Budde
Chief Scientific Officer
Petra is the Chief Scientific Officer at Oncimmune Germany GmbH, a position she has held since 2023. Petra led the Medical Research department of Protagen AG from 2012 and on the acquisition of Protagen AG by Oncimmune in 2019 Petra assumed the role of Director of Medical Research. Prior to joining Oncimmune, she held senior management positions at Proteome Sciences (Frankfurt, Germany) and Digilab BioVisioN (Hanover, Germany), where she led autoimmune disease, diabetes, and oncology biomarker development programmes. In her previous roles, Petra worked for biomarker discovery companies specializing in proteomics and gained extensive experience in omics-type biomarker programmes, collaborating with pharma, biotech, and academic partners to address the need for biomarkers throughout all phases of clinical drug development. Throughout her career, she has specialised in B cell-mediated immunity, antigen presentation, autoimmunity, and allergy. She received her PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) from the University of Bielefeld (Germany) and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK.
Hans-Dieter Zucht
Chief Technical Officer
Hans-Dieter is an expert in biomarker and bioinformatics, boasting over 25 years at the forefront of the field. As the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at Oncimmune, he leads groundbreaking initiatives in autoimmunity, cancer research and diagnostics technology. He began his career after earning his Diploma in Biochemistry in Hannover, Germany, in 1991, followed by a PhD under Prof. Forssmann in 1994 at the Lower Saxony Institute of Peptide Research, specializing in bioactive peptides. In 1996, he joined BioVision, significantly advancing the nascent field of Peptidomics by integrating mass spectrometry with pioneering data science techniques. Since 2008, Hans-Dieter led the Proteomics Operations at Proteome Sciences in Frankfurt. He did his Habilitation in 2003, and is a visiting Professor at Paris-Lodron University in Salzburg, Austria. His prolific academic output includes over 50 influential publications, numerous book chapters, and several patents. He was member of numerous EU grants and reviewer for the European Union. His research focuses on biomarkers and data mining of highly dimensional data using cutting-edge multiplex technologies.
Since joining Protagen Diagnostics in Germany in 2013—later part of Oncimmune—he has transformed the technology to a world-class standard by integrating state-of-the-art Luminex technologies, advanced data science methodologies, and rigorous quality control systems.
James Heywood, S.B.
CEO, Alden Scientific
Geschäftsführer, Alden Scientific Immune GmbH
Jamie is a MIT-trained mechanical engineer focused on transforming health and disease discovery through engineering and individual empowerment. He entered biomedicine after his brother was diagnosed with ALS in 1999, a personal turning point that has guided his work ever since.
Prior to Alden Scientific, Jamie founded the ALS Therapy Development Institute, PatientsLikeMe, and AOBiome. He also serves on Michael Porter’s board at ICHOM, developing global health outcome standards. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, 60 Minutes, TEDMED, Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Wiener’s His Brother’s Keeper, and the Sundance award-winning documentary So Much So Fast.
Eva Maria Janerus
President, Alden Scientific
Geschäftsführerin, Alden Scientific Immune GmbH
Eva Maria is a passionate business builder and investor with a deep personal interest in distributing predictive, individualized healthcare. Prior to joining Alden Scientific, Eva Maria spent 20+ years in the investment industry in company analysis, portfolio management, and scaling large private funds. She joined Alden Scientific first as an investor, but after seeing the world through the Alden lens, she could not unsee it. In 2024 she left her fund to dedicate herself full-time to operationalizing and scaling the company’s technology.
Eva Maria has served on several nonprofit and for-profit boards, and has a particular interest in women’s reproductive health, social services, and social justice. She can often be found picking up shifts at her local food and clothing bank.
Eva Maria completed an individualized major (BA) from the University of Connecticut, graduating in less than two years, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Martin Gouldstone
Strategic Advisor
After leading the successful transaction bringing Oncimmune GmbH into the Alden Scientific family, Martin now serves as a strategic advisor to Alden Scientific and Oncimmune with both companies benefitting from his 30 years of corporate finance and business development experience in the CRO, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. Most recently, Martin was a Global SVP Business Development at Owkin, where he managed all of the commercial teams in the USA and Europe and led new strategic research partnerships. Over the last few years, Martin was Chief Business Officer at Sensyne Health where he helped to drive growth with particular focus on expanding reach in the US market and Pharmaceutical sector; Global SVP at Syneos One and Head of Capital Solutions for Syneos Healthcare where he developed and led Capital Solutions service; Chief Business Officer at BenevolentAI where he was responsible for all commercial activities. He was previously a Partner at Results Healthcare, where he co-led the healthcare practice;Head of Lifesciences in the UK for BDO, the Lead for the M&A process in Europe for Quintiles, and Business Development and Licensing Lead at Confirmant, Pharmacopeia, Sareum. He has extensive experience buying and selling multi-billion dollar deals across Europe and the US, architecting end to end portfolio out-sourcing deals, and negotiating multi-year research partnerships. Currently, Martin is a Non-Executive Board Director for hVIVO Plc and sits on the Board of Trustees of Orthopaedic Research UK. He holds a BSc in Genetics and has completed a range of post graduate management courses.