Dr. Runze He is the founder, chairman and CEO and of Space Peptides a company that is dedicated to providing expert Peptide CDMO services and generic Peptides products to our clients from the pharmaceutical industry and adjacent areas. Runze holds a Ph.D. in Peptide chemistry from the University of Bern and did his postdoc with Prof. Reymond at the University of Bern. Overall, Runze has two decades of experience in research, development and the  application of Artificial Intelligence for Peptide pharmaceuticals. Based on this knowledge, Runze has been founding Space Peptides as a technology spin-out from Bern University in 2017 and gradually has been developing the company to become a key global player in this field, able to supporting the entire product development pipeline for peptide materials.
Key achievements of Runze include the planning and commissioning of Space Peptides’ Taizhou large scale manufacturing plant as well as the establishment of the Zhangzhou site for the expansion of Space Peptides’ custom synthesis activities.

Dr. Josef Schröer joined Space Peptides as Chief Commercial Officer from Merck Life Sciences, where he was instrumental in building fit-for-purpose CDMO operating models for their recently spun-out service business. Josef has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, chemical and laboratory automation industry. During his career he has served as a senior leader in various business, commercial and technical roles at Lonza and Chemspeed. Josef hold a Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University Bochum/ Germany and did his postdoctoral studies in the field of Catalytic Antibodies / Immunology at the Scripps Clinic & Research Institute in La Jolla/CA. Josef is German/Swiss binational and is residing in Switzerland.

Dr. Sacha Javor serves as the Chief Scientific Officer for Space Peptides. He did earn his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the EPFL in Lausanne, working with Prof. Schlosser. After that he joined the research group of Prof. Reymond at Bern University for his Ph.D. thesis in organic chemistry. Upon completing his postdoctoral studies with Prof. Rebek and Prof. Janda at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla/CA, he returned to the University of Bern where he – besides his CSO role – teaches chemical biology and data science as a lecturer. Sacha has authored numerous publications in the field of peptides, chemical biology and drug discovery. His current interests are focused on the development of new cheminformatics methods and concepts.

Tao Cai came to Space Peptides with more than 40 years of experience in pharmaceutical quality management and production. Her background includes specialized expertise in quality management for narcotic drugs and sterile injectables. Furthermore she has accumulated significant practical experience in the production and quality control of peptide-based and parenteral drug. Before joining Space Peptides Tao has served as a technical consultant for companies active in the area of traditional Chinese medicine, driving modernization and GMP compliance. With her broad experience in establishing quality management systems and safe-guarding regulatory compliance, she consistently leads the company to meet advanced international standards.

Jean-Louis Reymond is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Bern, Switzerland. He studied Chemistry and Biochemistry at the ETH Zürich and obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Lausanne on natural products synthesis (1989). After a Post-Doc and Assistant Professorship at the Scripps Research Institute, he joined the University of Bern (1997). His current research focuses on chemical space exploration methods combining data science, artificial intelligence, organic synthesis and bioassays to discover new bioactive small molecules and peptides (https://gdb.unibe.ch).