gene therapy
About Us
Our Team
The people at Phlox Therapeutics are leading academics and company builders. Together with investors, advisors and other collaborators, we develop promising gene therapies for the benefit of cardiac patients. Meet the team:
Yigal Pinto - CMO (founder)
Prof. Dr. Yigal M Pinto, Founder and CMO of Phlox is a key opinion leader in cardiology and has received numerous awards for his work. Yigal is a professor at the University of Amsterdam, where he leads the department of Experimental Cardiology in conjunction with his clinical practice in cardiology focusing on heart failure. He initiated and executed several prospective clinical trials on heart failure management. The research group of Yigal is specialized in the genetics of human heart failure and the role of RNAs and their application. The group of Yigal generated an EU registry to identify the most important risk factors to guide treatment decisions. This has led to changed clinical guidelines on this topic.
In 2004, his scientific work led to the discovery of galectin-3 as a novel biomarker for heart failure which eventually led to galectin-3 being the second biomarker approved by the FDA for heart failure in 2010. This exemplifies his passion to bring basic biologic insights to clinical concepts and applications. In recent years his group has focused on RNA biology and uncovered a number of novel mechanisms in relation to microRNAs and recently circular RNAs.
Yigal currently coordinates national consortia that aim to translate novel insight in RNA biology toward clinical therapies for patients with cardiomyopathies.
In 2004, his scientific work led to the discovery of galectin-3 as a novel biomarker for heart failure which eventually led to galectin-3 being the second biomarker approved by the FDA for heart failure in 2010. This exemplifies his passion to bring basic biologic insights to clinical concepts and applications. In recent years his group has focused on RNA biology and uncovered a number of novel mechanisms in relation to microRNAs and recently circular RNAs.
Yigal currently coordinates national consortia that aim to translate novel insight in RNA biology toward clinical therapies for patients with cardiomyopathies.
Eva van Rooij - CSO (founder)
Prof. dr. Eva Van Rooij, Founder and CSO of Phlox is a key opinion leader in RNA therapeutics. Eva is Professor at the Hubrecht Institute, and Professor at the University Medical Center, Utrecht in the Netherlands. In her current work, she combines high-end sequencing technologies, stem cells, mouse genetics, animal models of heart disease, and molecular biology to identify important pathways for cardiac remodelling and repair and explore ways to enhance the cardiac efficacy of new drugs.
Eva published over 100 studies in top scientific journals, including Science, JCI, Nature Medicine, Circulation, Circulation Research, Nature Communications and Science Translational Medicine. Currently, she is part of several prestigious (inter)national research networks and was awarded a Vici grant from the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO) in 2020.
During her postdoctoral training in Molecular Biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in the lab of Dr. Eric Olson, she was a lead scientist in the groundbreaking studies that linked microRNAs to cardiovascular disease. Her work subsequently became the foundation of miRagen’s patent estate on the therapeutic applications of microRNAs in human disease. Eva subsequently was miRagen’s Senior Director of Biology, where she oversaw the pre-clinical studies for the company’s microRNA programs.
Eva published over 100 studies in top scientific journals, including Science, JCI, Nature Medicine, Circulation, Circulation Research, Nature Communications and Science Translational Medicine. Currently, she is part of several prestigious (inter)national research networks and was awarded a Vici grant from the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO) in 2020.
During her postdoctoral training in Molecular Biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in the lab of Dr. Eric Olson, she was a lead scientist in the groundbreaking studies that linked microRNAs to cardiovascular disease. Her work subsequently became the foundation of miRagen’s patent estate on the therapeutic applications of microRNAs in human disease. Eva subsequently was miRagen’s Senior Director of Biology, where she oversaw the pre-clinical studies for the company’s microRNA programs.
Margien Boels - Director of Operations
Margien Boels is the Director of Operations and has over 10 years’ experience in life science and has worked both in the scientific field, as well as in multinational corporations. She obtained her PhD at Leiden University Medical Center in the field of diabetic nephropathy with an emphasis on the treatment of vascular damage. Upon finishing her PhD, she continued her career at Eli Lilly, followed by Nutricia, a Danone company, where she held several medical positions with a focus on chronic diseases, resulting in a strong competence of network building and stakeholder management.
Margien also holds the position of Senior Impact Officer at the Dutch Cardiovascular Alliance. She is dedicated to turn valuable research into impactful start-ups by being the linchpin between scientific researchers, entrepreneurs and potential business partners in the cardiovascular field. With her keen eye for identifying commercial interesting opportunities within the wealth of scientific findings, she supports promising initiatives to establish (start-up) ventures and make them “investor-ready”.
Margien also holds the position of Senior Impact Officer at the Dutch Cardiovascular Alliance. She is dedicated to turn valuable research into impactful start-ups by being the linchpin between scientific researchers, entrepreneurs and potential business partners in the cardiovascular field. With her keen eye for identifying commercial interesting opportunities within the wealth of scientific findings, she supports promising initiatives to establish (start-up) ventures and make them “investor-ready”.
Rianne Ellenbroek - Non-executive Director
Rianne is investment manager of the FIRST fund at BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) since 2020. Prior to joining BGV, Rianne was an associate in the healthcare investment team of INKEF Capital. She is a medical biologist by training and obtained her PhD at Leiden University that was focused on regenerative medicine for metabolic diseases, while performing part of her activities at Galapagos. Afterwards she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Kovler Diabetes Center at the University of Chicago. Next to performing her research, she was a fellow at the university’s Technology Transfer Office which has sparked her interest in the early stages of life sciences ventures.
Ross Gordon - Observer
Ross Gordon is Investment Manager at UvA AMC HvA Ventures Holding BV since 2019 and director of Amsterdam Academic Angel Fund. Prior to joining UvA AMC HvA Ventures Holding, Ross was business development director at Photanol. Ross is a start-up mentor at ACE Venture Lab, the startup accelerator for Amsterdam University. With 12 years of experience in cleantech and biotech, Ross is driven by the challenge of making hard things a reality. .
Investors
Our investors
AMC Ventures Holding is an early-stage investor in academic spin-off companies from the Academic Medical Center (AMC). AMC Ventures Holding works closely with academics and entrepreneurs at the earliest stage of company formation to support the commercialization of knowledge.
Fonds InvesteringsRijpe STarters (FIRST) is a pre-seed fund that finances pioneering scientists in The Netherlands active in the emerging fields of regenerative medicine and cardiovascular diseases. FIRST is founded by the Dutch Cardiovascular Alliance (DCVA) and Regenerative Medicine Crossing Borders (RegMed XB) with support of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) supports the FIRST fund as registered fund manager, making available its network, expertise, and facilities.
Utrecht Health Seed Fund (UHSF) is an early-stage life sciences & health investment fund based out of Utrecht, The Netherlands, focused on scalable technologies in the field of Life Sciences (therapeutics and diagnostics), Medical Devices, Digital Health, and Animal Health, in the earliest stages of development. UHSF is established by Utrecht Holdings with the assistance and support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), UMC Utrecht, and the University of Utrecht.
Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland (“INH”) is an initiative of the Province of North Holland, the University of Amsterdam, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam UMC and Sanquin, with support from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency & the European Union through the European Regional Development FundINH supports entrepreneurs within various sectors in the Province of North Holland by financing innovations in the Proof-of-Concept phase through providing convertible loans.
