Meet the team that is making this happen
Leadership
Dr. Paul Bartels
CEO / Co-founder
Paul is a wildlife veterinarian with over 25 years experience in biobanking, cell culture and assisted reproduction technologies. He was the founder of the Wildlife Biological Resource Centre which later became the SANBI National Biobank. He is a recipient of a National Science and Technology Forum’s Science Engineering & Technology Award (2006/7) as well as the African Entrepreneurship Award (2017). Paul has a passion for contributing to a sustainable future for Africa
Dr. Sheena Fraser
CSO
Sheena is the founder of Quorus Biotech and co-inventor of Quorus’ patented single-use biomimetic bioreactors and high-fidelity automated bioprocess technology. She has extensive experience in the cultivation of algae, bacteria, fungi and mammalian cell lines for the production of natural and recombinant proteins and small molecules using traditional and non-traditional cell cultivation technologies. She has extensive experience in product design, prototyping, financial and strategic planning and oversight, data analysis and production and has insight into marketing, intellectual property auditing and commercialisation.
Markus Labuschagne
CTO
Markus has extensive experience in the development and commercialization of a wide range of products in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. He has won numerous accolades during his career in bio-entrepreneurship including the prestigious ‘African Finance and Investment Forum’ and Pfizer’s ‘Health Entrepreneur of the Year’ award. He is currently a PhD candidate in Human tissue engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Dr. Elize Venter
Policy Director / Co-founder
Elize has a BSc in Botany and Zoology and obtained her D.Ed degree from the University of South Africa. Her doctoral study took her to Uganda in central Africa and Borneo in the far-east. She has over the past decade worked on higher education training programmes focusing on behavioural change methodologies. Elize has extensive experience in health programmes, project management, stakeholder engagement, and policy planning, implementation and advocacy.
Tanya Smith
Research Scientist
Tanya holds a B. Pharm as well as a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical sciences, both obtained from the North-West University. She is a passionate researcher with her main focus being three-dimensional mammalian cell culturing. She has experience in anti-cancer research where she developed a three-dimensional spheroid model using clinostat based bioreactors. The model can be used for anti-cancer efficacy screening. Tanya also has experience in determining anti-cancer efficacy and toxicology of herbal medicine.
