OUR PEOPLE

We built a team with deep experience in serial entrepreneurship, MedTech product development and Liom’s key science disciplines.

OUR TEAM

Management

Leo Grünstein

Founder & CEO​

Founder of LG Capital, a Family Office focused on incubation of “big idea” ventures

Serial entrepreneur, investor & Co-Founder of more than two dozens international start-ups, with multiple VC investments and successful exits (e.g. MoneyPark, acquired in 2016 for CHF 153m)

Previously project manager at McKinsey & Co. & Analyst at HSBC’s M&A team

MBA Columbia Business School, B.A. St. Gallen University

Bernd Wittner, PhD

Chief technology officer

20 years of experience in the MedTech industry. Built and lead cross-functional and multi-national R&D organizations; successfully developed, launched and sustained complex therapy systems

Previously Senior R&D leader of the Acute Therapies business in Baxter Healthcare Inc and Gambro Lundia AB

PhD in Engineering Design from the University of Cambridge

Adler Perotte, MD

Chief science & innovation officer

Physician and scientist with over 15 years of experience in medicine, computational biomedical research, and innovation

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University;  created and lead a large research operation developing novel machine learning methods and biomedical devices; published in top-tier machine learning, clinical, and basic science journals

MD, Columbia University, MA in Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, AB Princeton University

Letizia Luperini

Chief revenue officer

Experienced executive with over 15 years in B2C and B2B sales, marketing, and operations

Founder of Pamono, Europe’s largest marketplace for vintage design, successfully scaling and leading it to acquisition. Previously an Associate at LGT Capital Partners, with prior marketing and sales roles at DuPont and Anheuser-Busch

MBA from Columbia Business School and a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana

Daniel Perotti

Chief operating officer

Former Associate Partner at McKinsey & Co. with 8+ years of experience in management consulting, focusing on strategy, M&A, and business building for major high-tech manufacturers and service providers

Operational experience in Design-to-Value, procurement and production programs for high tech products

MA in Economics University of Zurich

Nils Michaelis
Chief software engineering officer

Experienced technology and product leader. Skilled in building and scaling technology teams and developing digital products

As Director of Technology at Propportunity AG, he led the technological development of an AI-powered SaaS product, overseeing strategy, architecture, and team leadership. Previously, as Deputy CTO at Migros Online, he established a new development department in Zurich and drove the technical integration of LeShop, MGB and launch of the SubitoGo App

With a background in software development and modern leadership, he combines technological excellence with pragmatic execution. His focus is on building high-performing teams, scaling digital business models, and implementing agile methodologies

Management support

Övünç Okyay

Co-founder & venture builder

Managing Director LG Capital

Previously PE investor at The Carlyle Group’s $500m MENA Fund, analyst at Morgan Stanley and consultant at McKinsey & Co.

Diverse industry expertise with strong experience in investing, strategy and portfolio management

MBA Columbia Business School; M.Sc. Production Engineering TU Berlin


Jaime Moreno Mateos

Chief of Staff

15+ years of international experience in Information Technology, spanning across academia, R&D, start-ups and multinationals

Previously Team Lead Machine Learning at Credit Suisse, building ML-powered products to fight Financial Crime

MSc in Industrial Engineering from UPM. Data Science & ML management from EPFL

Biomedical sciences

Fabien Rebeaud, PhD

Director biomedical sciences

Executive Scientific Leader with 15+ years of experience in the biotech and medical device industries

Previously CSO of Abionic SA. Built and led cross-functional teams encompassing R&D, Clinical, Medical and Regulatory Affairs

Developed and brought to market innovative diagnostic solutions improving patient health

PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Lausanne

Migle Grauzinyte, PhD

Senior machine learning scientist

7 years of research experience in academia and industry

Expertise in the area of computational modelling, optimization, data science techniques and deep learning

PhD in Computational Physics from the University of Basel, MPhys from the University of Edinburgh

Biophotonics

Christian Zakian, PhD

Senior principal photonics engineer

15+ years of R&D experience in academia focused on clinical translation of optical and acoustic sensing and imaging technologies

Previous scientific lead in EU projects for advanced molecular endoscopy (Helmholtz Munich)

Expertise in translation of imaging techniques for dentistry

PhD in Physics (University of Manchester), Masters in Inflammation (Queen Mary University London)

Jean-Christophe Blancon, PhD

Manager biophotonics 

10 years of research experience in physics, materials science, and optics-photonics at Rice University, Los Alamos National Lab, Université de Lyon, and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Recipient of the 2018 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize for Semiconductor Physics and of the 2019 Highly Cited Researcher

PhD in Physics from Université de Lyon and MSc in Optics & Photonics from KIT

Olena Synhaivska, PhD

Senior biophotonic application specialist

5 years of research experience in biosensor development and optical spectroscopy at Empa

Development of biosensors for specific metal ion detection using peptides; expertise in optical spectroscopy techniques for characterization of proteins implicated in neurodegenerative diseases

PhD in Physics from the University of Basel

Onur Gökçe, PhD

Senior R&D engineer

15 years of multidisciplinary research experience in academia and industry at Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology, IBM Research Zurich, Institute of Neuroinformatics, ETH Zurich and 1Drop Diagnostics AG

Expertise in microfluidics, biochemistry at microscale and data science – and is a keen troubleshooter

PhD in Neuroscience from LMU Munich, MSc in Biosciences/Bioengineering and BSc in Mechatronics Engineering from Sabanci University

Pardeep Kumar, PhD

Principal photonic engineer

10+ years of professional experience, with strong expertise in the development of optical system instrumentation and ultra-precise measurements for data acquisition

Extensive research experience in the design and development of optical systems for the study of light-matter interactions

PhD in Physical Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and MSc in Chemistry from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India
 

Optics, photonics & electrical engineering

Luis Miguel Jara Casas

Principal electronics engineer

5 years of experience in applied electronics research for high energy physics at CERN

Deep expertise in ASIC testing and characterization, especially in radiation harsh environments; radiation effects to electronics for pixel detectors, total ionizing dose (TID), single event effects (SEUs) and data acquisition systems (DAQ) development

MSc in Electronics Engineering and in Physics from the Complutense University of Madrid

Paolo Livi, PhD

Manager electronics engineering

10 years of experience in R&D conducted in academia (ETH Zurich) and in the industry (Dectris Ltd.)

Design of analog and mixed-signal CMOS integrated circuits (ASICs); design of novel sensors and of integrated sensing systems (bio-chemical sensors, hybrid photon counters); ultra-low power electronics

PhD in Electrical Engineering from ETH Zurich

Benjamin W. McMillen, PhD

Principal optomechanics engineer

18+ years of experience in academic and commercial research and development in fiber optics, ultrafast laser materials processing, and systems engineering

Specialization in mechatronics and systems design with an extensive background in electrical and mechanical engineering, applied physics and optics, laser-matter interaction, and ultrafast laser systems

PhD in Electrical Engineering from University of Pittsburgh

Bauke Tilma, PhD

Senior principal photonics engineer

16+ years of experience in academic (TU Eindhoven and ETH Zürich) and commercial (Coherent Laser Enterprise Zürich) research, development and production of Semiconductor laser and Photonic integrated circuits for Sensing applications and Telecommunication purposes

PhD in Electrical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology

R&D initiatives

David Kallweit, PhD

Distinguished scientist

20+ years of experience in advanced development of novel technologies in MEMS and micro-/nano-optics with a focus on conception, feasibility, systems design and simulation

Previously with CSEM SA and Fraunhofer IPMS, led innovation and development projects in the fields of MEMS, optical biosensing, medical devices and lighting

PhD in micro-optics from IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Germany

Svenja Mauthe, PhD

Project manager (Principal engineer)

Expert in semiconductor optics and optical sensor development with 8+ years of experience in industry research

Previously managed and led interdisciplinary R&D programs and projects including state-aided projects leading to product development as R&D program manager at ams OSRAM

PhD in Photonics at ETH Zurich and IBM Research

Software & machine learning engineering

Florian Vogl, PhD

Senior algorithm engineer

11 years of experience in taking acoustical, fluoroscopy, robotics, and artificial intelligence projects from concept to prototype at ETH Zurich

PhD in Biomechanics from ETH Zurich, MSc in Experimental Quantum Physics from University of Innsbruck

Giorgio Racca

Junior algorithm engineer

1.5 years of experience in ML and Data Science

MSc in Statistics from ETH Zurich

BSc in Applied Mathematics from Polytechnic University of Turin

Juliane Klatt, PhD

Senior machine learning scientist

6 years of academic research experience in Theoretical Physics and Computational Biology, plus 2.5 years of professional experience as data science consultant at the UN

Broad expertise in mathematical modelling and applications of machine learning

PhD in Theoretical Quantum Optics from University of Freiburg, Germany

Thomas Berger

Data scientist

1+ year of experience in advanced spectroscopic analysis and data exploitation concepts in bioprocessing

MSc in Applied Computational Life Sciences at ZHAW Wädenswil

Michael Seitz, PhD

Senior algorithm engineer

6 years of academic and industry research experience in material science, physics, chemical engineering, and opto-electronics at ETH, MIT, UAM, Harvard, and Stanford University

Extensive experience in deploying time-resolved microscopy and spectroscopy techniques for opto-electronic materials

PhD in Condensed Matter Physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid. MSc and BS in Mechanical Engineering from ETH

Lidia Casado Noguerales

Junior machine learning engineer

1+ year of experience in industry on software engineering, MLOps, and process automation

BSc in Computer Science Engineering at UCM and EPFL, majoring on Algorithmics and Computational Science

Anton Holmberg

Data scientist

Six months of experience in applying machine learning to physics research

MSc in Engineering Physics from Uppsala University

Strategy & operations

Florian Wiedmann

Business development & operations lead

5 years of experience working in fast-growing start-ups and for a multinational professional services firm

Former Finance Director at a Swiss cybersecurity start-up

MSc in Business Analytics from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and a BA in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen (HSG)

Francesca Ingargiola Barbato

Administrative assistant

Administrative assistant with many years of experience in administration and supporting functions in a large corporations

Luca Flury

Junior associate strategy & operations

2 years of experience in dynamic startup environments and boutique consulting firms, specializing in strategy and business development

MSc in Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology from Imperial College London and a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Warwick

Sophie Bouchard, PharmD

Senior associate strategy

3 years of experience in pharmaceuticals & clinical pathology, focused on strategy and innovation 

Doctorate in Pharmacy, PharmD Candidate at Université de Lyon

MSc in Management at Emlyon Business School and National Taiwan University

System integration, optics & photonics

Chen Li, PhD

Senior principal system solution engineer

10 years expertise in design and simulation of micro optics, freeform optics and optical system for various applications in Fraunhofer IOF

4+ years experiences in product definition, system solution engineering, requirement engineering and technical project leading at ams OSRAM

PhD in Photonics from technical university of Vienna, Austria

Lukas Brückner, PhD

Senior manager system integration optics & photonics

10+ years expertise in the field of optical spectroscopy with focus on non-linear near-infrared Raman techniques

6+ years of experience working in a multi-national start-up environment leading the R&D team to implement innovative optical concepts for the design of novel miniaturized biomedical products

PhD in Physical Chemistry from Heidelberg University

Marcel-li Grimau Puigibert, PhD

Senior principal photonics engineer

+10 years experience in photonics R&D in both academia and industry

Deep expertise in photonic technologies for quantum communication and sensing applications

Previously team lead of at ams-OSRAM (Innovation office Lab) focused on the development of innovative photonic solutions for consumer market applications

PhD in Physics (University of Calgary), MSc in Photonics (ICFO-UPC, Barcelona)

Marco Rocca, PhD

Senior R&D engineer

4 years of research experience in microfluidics at IBM Research/KIT and 1 year of working experience at Cadence Design Systems

Expertise in microfluidics, capillary-driven flows, microfabrication, miniaturized assays, biosensing, prototyping, 3D printing and electronic package design

PhD in Chemistry from KIT and MSc in Nanotechnology from Politecnico di Torino

Robert Lovchik, PhD

Principal engineer

15 years of experience in developing microfluidics for diagnostics and cellular studies at IBM Research Zurich following 6 years on developing biotech and bioprocess engineering

Drove the productization of the microfluidic probe technology at IBM and worked with diagnostic companies to develop core technologies for research and market-oriented platforms

PhD in health sciences and technology from ETH Zurich, MSc in micro/nanotechnology (UAS Dornbirn), BS in biotechnology (ZHAW)

Quentin Dubout, PhD

Senior test and characterization engineer