The Lead Discovery Centre was founded in 2008 and is a professional drug discovery company with all required infrastructure, core competencies and disciplines operating in a fully integrated way at highest industrial standards. The LDC is working closely together with an academic and industrial scientific network, e.g. the Max-Planck-Society, universities and pharmaceutical companies. LDC functions as a facilitator to translate academic basic research results into professional drug discovery projects and high-quality products – lead structures with proven efficacy in a therapeutic animal model. LDC is working on a broad portfolio of early stage drug discovery projects. The indications include cancer and metabolic syndromes, neurodegenerative diseases, inflammatory disorders and infections, as well as other conditions with high, unmet clinical needs. LDC offers the full workflow in early pharmaceutical drug discovery in its five scientific departments: Therapeutic Antibodies, Assay development & Screening, Biology, Pharmacology, and Medicinal Chemistry (www.lead-discovery.de).

Bert Klebl

Bert Klebl is the LDC´s Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer. Bert has gathered more than 20 years of professional experience in the life sciences industry. He has worked in different positions in drug discovery and early development, most recently as Senior Director Discovery Biology and Head of Biology at GPC Biotech. Before that he was Axxima’s Vice President Research responsible for the discovery and development of the company’s portfolio of kinase inhibitors for various therapeutic indications. In previous positions, he has worked as a project and platform manager, as well as a scientist at Aventis and Hoechst Marion Roussel. He earned his PhD in biochemistry at the University of Konstanz, Germany, and did postdoctoral work at the NRC Biotechnology Research Institute in Montréal, Canada. In the course of his research, he has published more than 55 articles in peer-reviewed journals and co-invented more than 25 patents and patent applications.

Jan Eickhoff

Jan heads LDC’s Department for Assay Development & Screening since 2008. Furthermore, he was involved in planning and implementation of the compound management and screening unit COMAS of the Max Planck Institute for Physiology in Dortmund, Germany. In addition, Jan was managing director of HDC GmbH in Constance, Germany between 2013 und 2015. Jan is an active member of SLAS – Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening. He studied Biochemistry at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, and at Imperial College, London, England, followed by PhD studies at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany. He started his industrial career in 2001 at Axxima Pharmaceuticals and GPC Biotech.

Within the AntiHelix consortium he has a role as supervisor of ESR10 and ESR11.

Anne-Kathrin Klebl

Anne-Kathrin has extensive experience in scientific administration and communication, including application and coordination of publicly funded national and international projects. Furthermore, she heads the department Operations & IT, Administration, and Public Relations at LDC. In her former positions she worked for Axxima, Munich, Germany in compound management and at the Landesamt für Umwelt, Augsburg, Germany. She earned her diploma in Genetics and Marine Biology at the University of Konstanz, Germany, where she worked for several years in the field of Molecular Marine Biology. In addition, she holds a MSc degree in Environmental Sciences.

Within the Antihelix consortium, she has a role as adminstrator and is co-organiser of some Research Theoretical Courses and Transferable Skill Courses.