iotaSciences, the Oxford-based leader in the rapidly growing field of single-cell handling solutions announced  the appointment of Dr. Michael Lutz as CEO and Director for Iota Sciences Ltd. He will also serve as Managing Director for Iota´s German subsidiary located at the Berlin-Buch campus.

Dr. Lutz holds a Ph.D in bioorganic chemistry from the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and is an experienced biotech entrepreneur who has spent the last 20 years in executive management positions with several Life Sciences companies where he successfully grew established companies or built early stage enterprises to a valuable exit. Prior to joining iotaSciences, Dr. Lutz was CEO of HepaRegeniX GmbH, a clinical stage company developing novel regenerative therapy approaches for the treatment of acute and chronic liver diseases. In recent years he has also acted as Senior Advisor/Board member to several innovative biotech companies in Germany, Denmark and Italy.

In his new role, Dr. Lutz will be supported by Iota´s current management team including Dr. Ed Walsh as Chief Innovation Officer and Founding Director who will continue to further develop and foster Iota´s intellectual property and its transformation into new products and offerings. Dr. Walsh is also a faculty member of the Engineering Science Department at the University of Oxford. Dr. Alexander Feuerborn, with a Ph.D in biology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and co-Founder of iotaSciences will assume the role of Chief Product Officer and focus on advanced product development and application sciences. Henry Walker will act as Chief Technical Officer focusing on all product manufacturing aspects. Henry graduated from the University of Oxford Engineering Science Department.

Since its inception in 2016, iotaSciences has been successfully building out a strong product portfolio for single-cell handling solutions based on its proprietary fluid-shaping technology. The product portfolio comprises platforms for single cell cloning and most recently also for single cell picking with a key focus so far on cell & gene therapy applications.

Commenting on his new position, Dr. Lutz said: “I am thrilled to join iotaSciences at this pivotal time with rapidly emerging applications and commercial opportunities for its proprietary single cell handling platforms. Given the recent acceleration of its commercial activities in Europe, the U.S. and Asia leading to a doubling of its installed base, I am eager to contribute to further unlocking the company´s full potential in the field of cell and gene therapy applications and beyond.”

Trevor Nicholls, Chair of the Board concluded, “We are delighted to welcome Michael´s arrival at iotaSciences, bringing his very strong track record in shaping and developing innovative Life Science companies. I look forward to working with him to help drive iotaSciences to the next level. At the same time, we strongly applaud what Ed, Alex and Henry have built so far around the company´s proprietary fluid-shaping technology and its increasing transition into markets with significant growth potential.”