Company

Gene Bridges GmbH, founded 2000 as a spin-off of the European Molecular Biology Laboratories (EMBL), commercialises the patented Red/ET Recombination technology. In May 2004, Gene Bridges opened its Commercial Centre (Licensing, DNA Engineering Services, Kit development) in the Technology Park in Heidelberg.

Directors

A. Francis Stewart, Chairman, is Professor of genomics in a new research center, BIOTEC, at the Technische Universitaet Dresden. From 1991-2001 he was a Group Leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Heidelberg, where his group specialized in advanced genetic engineering strategies using site specific and homologous recombination. Notable accomplishments were pioneering the ligand-inducible strategy of site specific recombination that is now prominent in mouse genetics; and, with Youming Zhang and Frank Buchholz, discovering Red/ET Recombination. He received his PhD from the University of N.S.W., Sydney, Australia and did post-doctoral work with Guenther Schuetz at the Deutsche Krebsforschungzentrum, Heidelberg.

Gary Stevens, Chief Executive Officer, combines more than twenty years experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry with a background in Marketing and Business Development. Prior to co-founding Gene Bridges, he worked with Hoechst and other international organisations in various European countries.

Youming Zhang, Chief Scientific Officer, is responsible for the coordination of research and development. He worked for over 5 years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Heidelberg and at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg. Youming Zhang and his colleagues discovered and developed Red/ET Recombination technologies in Francis Stewart\'s laboratory in EMBL, he holds a PhD degree from the University of Heidelberg, MSc degree in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Peking Union Medical College in China and a BSc degree in Biochemistry from the Xiamen University in China.