In 2001 a team of the University-Children’s Hospital Zurich led by Professor Reichmann pursued the vision of bio-engineering personalized dermo-epidermal skin grafts, using patients’ own cells. One of the developed products, denovoSkin, is the result of fifteen years of research. A first-in-man safety study was completed with denovoSkin with very promising results. denovoSkin has obtained Orphan Drug Designation for a treatment of burns (by Swissmedic, EMA, and FDA). With the support of the regenerative medicine technology platform of Wyss Zurich the team will now proceed with product development, testing denovoSkin’s efficacy in pivotal phase II multicentric studies and prepare for market authorization in terms of regulatory and reimbursement activities.
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PROJECT PARTNERS
Tissue Biology Research Unit, University Children’s Hospital Zurich
SkyCell
University Children’s Hospital
Dutch Burn Center
VUMC Amsterdam
University Hospital Zurich
University Hospital Birmingham
Voisin Life Science Consulting
Fabienne Hartmann-Fritsch
Co-Project Leader and Clinical Trial Manager
Fabienne Hartmann-Fritsch joined Wyss Zurich in October 2016. She is responsible for the project leadership and the clinical trial management for the clinical trials with the personalized skin graft “denovoSkin”. In addition, she actively supports the GMP-production of the skin grafts. Fabienne received her MSc in Microbiology and Immunology from the ETH Zurich in 2008 and her PhD in Biology from the University of Zurich in 2013. During her postdoctoral studies at the Tissue Biology Research Unit of the University Children’s Hospital Zurich she specialized on GMP-production of human skin grafts as well as on clinical trial management and regulatory affairs.
Daniela Marino
Co-Project Leader and Business Developer
Daniela Marino is responsible for the development of personalized skin grafts for the treatment of skin defects. Daniela received her MSc in Biotechnologies from the University of Milan in 2005 and her PhD from the Institute of Pharmacological Sciences of ETH Zurich in 2009. During her postdoctoral studies at the Tissue Biology Research Unit in Zurich, she specialized in tissue engineering of skin, and also gained expertise in project management, product development, clinical trials and regulatory affairs. She is a co-founder of the UZH spin-off CUTISS AG, awarded with the Venture Best Business Plan prize in 2015. Her professional mission is to finally provide a real solution to patients suffering from skin defects.
Contact:
daniela.marino@wysszurich.ch
Martina Dragic
Head GMP Production
Martina Dragic joined Wyss Zurich as GMP Officer Production in April 2017. In her position, she built an important interface between the production and the quality management group. In June 2019 she became part of the Wyss Zurich Project denovoSkin. As Head of GMP Production she is responsible for for the GMP-compliant production of autologous bioengineered skin grafts for clinical trials. After her apprenticeship as a chemical lab technician, Martina obtained a Bachelor in Biotechnology, with major in Pharmaceutical Technologies, at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in 2008. As Head of Production and QP delegate, she was working for six years at the Center for Radiopharma-ceutical Sciences of ETH Zurich. Martina also managed projects from bench to bedside for First-in-Man clinical studies and gained wide experience in field of production, quality control, quality management and regulatory affairs. In 2014, she joined the Center for Radiopharmaceuticals of the University Hospital Zurich, which is the leading manufacturer of radioactive pharmaceuticals in Switzerland. With her extensive knowledge, she helped to build up a new production site and acted as head of production deputy.
Contact:
martina.dragic@wysszurich.ch
Arina Löw
GMP Production Technician
Arina Löw joined Wyss Zurich in January 2018 as GMP Production Technician for the denovoSkin project. She is responsible for the GMP-conform manufacturing of autologous skin-grafts and assists with the GCP documentation of the clinical studies. Arina received her MSc in Health Sciences and Technology with a major in Molecular Health Sciences from the ETH Zurich in 2017. She gained experience in the manufacturing process of skin substitutes during her master thesis at the Tissue Biology Research Unit of the Children’s Hospital Zurich.
Contact:
arinaalexandra.loew@wysszurich.ch
Monia Saglini
Head of GMP Production
Monia Saglini joined Wyss Zurich in October 2016 as Head of GMP Production for the denovoSkin project. She is responsible for the GMP-compliant production of autologous bioengineered skin grafts for clinical trials. Monia received her MSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Basel in 2013. In the same year, she joined the Tissue Biology Research Unit (University Children’s Hospital Zurich), where she was responsible for the translation and establishment of the production process in the clean room facility of the Wyss Zurich and then the production of autologous bioengineered skin grafts (denovoDerm and denovoSkin) for Phase 1 clinical trials. During this time, Monia completed several GMP- and GCP-training and she gained expertise on production processes, process and method validations as well as equipment qualifications.
Contact:
monia.saglini@wysszurich.ch
Chantal Stenger
GMP Production Technician
Chantal Stenger joined Wyss Zurich in November 2017 as GMP Production Technician for the denovoSkin project. She supports the production team in the manufacturing of autologous skin grafts for the treatment of skin defects. Chantal received her MSc in Human Biology from the University of Zurich in 2016. Prior to joining Wyss Zurich, she worked as a scientific assistant at the Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences.
Contact:
chantal.stenger@wysszurich.ch
Silvia Stüdeli
Operations Specialist
Silvia Stüdeli joined Wyss Zurich in December 2018 as Operations Specialist for the denovoSkin project. She is working on the technology transfer from Wyss Zurich to CUTISS AG and supports the manufacturing team. Silvia received her MSc in Interdisciplinary Sciences from the ETH Zurich in 2014. At the Tissue Biology Research Unit of the University Children’s Hospital Zurich, Silvia gained broad expertise in tissue engineering of skin. She also has profound experience as Clinical Project Manager from her work in clinical cancer research.
Contact:
silvia.stuedeli@wysszurich.ch
