Industry Experts

Michael Blank, PhD, is Senior Director MAP – Library Technologies at BioNTech SE, where he built a high-throughput platform integrating phage display and next generation sequencing (NGS) as a basis for ML/AI to further leverage the discovery and engineering of VHH antibodies. Originally trained in organic chemistry, he gained his doctorate at the University of Tübingen, devising tumor-targeting aptamer selection. He automated SELEX as Head of Aptamer Technologies at NascaCell, then coupled display formats with NGS at Helmholtz Centre Munich. In 2012 he co-founded AptaIT, acting as CSO and creating bioinformatics tools that leverage antibody/ligand identification from immune bleeds and in-vitro selections.