Andreas Möller, Professor, Director, JC STEM Lab of Personalized Cancer Medicine, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Conference Chairperson

Andreas Möller Biographical Sketch

Professor Andreas Möller is a trained biochemist and cancer biologist, with >20 years’ experience in cancer research. He is Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, supported by the prestigious Global STEM Professor fellowship. In addition, he is the Director of the Jockey Club Laboratory of Precision Cancer Medicine at the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences. Previously, between 2012 and 2023, he led the Tumour Microenvironment Laboratory at the QIMRB Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia. Professor Möller has a strong background in cancer cell biology, extracellular vesicle (EV) biology, hypoxia research, cancer metastasis and cancer immunology. He is Member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles since 2022, and since 2024 elected Executive Chair for Meetings and Programs as well as one of the founders and Executive Board Member of the Asia Pacific Societies of Extracellular Vesicles.

Steve Soper, Foundation Distinguished Professor, Director, Center of BioModular Multi-scale System for Precision Medicine, The University of Kansas

Steve Soper Biographical Sketch

Professor Soper (since 2016) is a Foundation Distinguished Professor in Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kansas. At KUMC, Prof. Soper holds an adjunct appointment in the Cancer Biology Department and is a member of the KU Cancer Center. He also holds an appointment at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Ulsan, South Korea, where he is a World Class University Professor.

As a result of his efforts, Prof. Soper has secured extramural funding totaling >$125M, has published over 245 peer-reviewed manuscripts (h index = 70; >17,000 citations); 31 book chapters and 71 peer-reviewed conference proceeding papers, and is the author of 12 patents. He is also the founder of a startup company, BioFluidica, which is marketing devices for the isolation and enumeration of liquid biopsy markers. Soper recently founded a second company, Sunflower Genomics, which is seeking to market a new DNA/RNA single-molecule sequencing platform. His list of awards includes Ralph Adams Award in Bioanalytical Chemistry, Chemical Instrumentation by the American Chemical Society, the Benedetti-Pichler Award for Microchemistry, Fellow of the AAAS, Fellow of Applied Spectroscopy, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, R&D 100 Award, Distinguished Masters Award at LSU and Outstanding Scientist/Engineer in the state of Louisiana in 2001. Finally, Prof. Soper has granted 50 PhDs and 7 MS degrees to students under his mentorship. He currently heads a group of 15 researchers.

His major discoveries include: (1) Technology for the detection of liquid biopsy markers that can manage a variety of diseases using a simple blood test (test has been demonstrated in multiple myeloma, pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, pancreatic, breast, colorectal, prostate, and ovarian cancers); (2) new hardware and assay for the point-of-care diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke; (3) single-molecule DNA and RNA sequencing nanotechnology; and (4) currently working on a home-test for COVID-19 infections (handheld instrument and the associated assay.

Sven Kreutel, CEO, Particle Metrix, Inc.

Sven Kreutel Biographical Sketch

Sven Kreutel studied biology at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. After his graduation in biology, he received his PhD in microbiology and protein biochemistry at the University of Hohenheim under Prof. Dr. Andreas Kuhn and Dr. Dorothee Kiefer working on the light sensing and signal transduction in photosynthetic bacteria. Since then he worked in different sales and sales manager positions within the life science industry from clinical research over biology to nanoparticle sciences. In 2021 he was appointed as CEO of the American subsidiary of Particle Metrix.