Akira Kitamura,
CEO, NEC Bio

Akira Kitamura leads AI Drug Development business at NEC group worldwide, spearheading Biotech and related ICT new business development. He currently serves as the CEO of NEC Bio B.V. since March 2023, based in Hilversum, Netherlands. At NEC OncoImmunity AS, he holds the position of Executive Chairperson since July 2019. Akira Kitamura's extensive experience reflects his expertise in integrating AI with biotechnology to advance innovative healthcare solutions. His background includes technology-based new business development in Silicon Valley, global venture investments, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), and startup fundraising, making him a seasoned leader in driving growth and innovation across the globe.

Dr. Saverio Niccolini,
CEO, NEC OncoImmunity

With nearly two decades at NEC Laboratories Europe focusing on research and innovation across several industries and technologies, Saverio Niccolini now also serves as CEO of NEC OncoImmunity. He leads strategic initiatives, driving NEC OncoImmunity’s focus on developing cutting edge technology for drug discovery in the oncology and infectious diseases space. He has established himself as an expert on innovative research management and the integration of business and technology.

Dr. Heinz Lubenau,
CEO, NEC Bio Therapeutics

Heinz Lubenau is the CEO of NEC Bio Therapeutics, which leads in AI-driven neoantigen drug development and clinical collaborations. He joined NEC group in April 2022, through the partnership of NEC and Vaximm. Previously, he was the co-founder and CEO of VAXIMM until November 2022. From 2003-2008, he was Global Project Manager at BioGeneriX, leading biosimilar development. He started his career at Servier and holds a PhD in pharmacy from Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz. He has extensive experience and expertise in clinical development and Oncology, which drives innovation and clinical execution for NEC Bio group.

Dr. Kaïdre Bendjama,
CSO, NEC OncoImmunity

Currently serving as the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of NEC Oncoimmunity, Kaidre Bendjama oversees all oncology and infectious disease projects within the NEC Bio group. Kaidre is a seasoned translational scientist specializing in the development of vaccines for cancer and infectious diseases. Before joining NEC, he spent a decade leading various vaccine research and personalized medicine initiatives in a mid-size European biotech. Earlier in his career, Kaidre held several positions in small to mid-sized biotech companies, focusing on inflammation, infectious diseases, and medical devices, with a strong emphasis on collaborative research projects. Notably, he led the SAFE-T DIVI initiative, a significant cross-pharma industry effort aimed at the regulatory validation of surrogate safety endpoints. Kaidre has co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of vaccines and immunology and serves on the editorial boards of several international journals. Dedicated to bridging the gap between industry and academia, he holds a professorship in vaccine bioinformatics at the Nagasaki Institute of Tropical Medicine. Additionally, he is a member of the cancer expert panel for the Flanders Foundation for Research (FWO) and regularly teaches vaccine technology development at medical schools, including the University of St. Etienne and La Sorbonne – Paris School of Medicine.

Dr. Hans Peter Graf,
Senior Advisor

Hans Peter Graf is a senior advisor of NEC Laboratories America, focusing on algorithms and applications of machine learning, applied to text analysis, video interpretation, and biomedical analysis. He oversees technology transfer and commercialization, exemplified by the e-Pathologist system for histological sample interpretation. Formerly at Bell Laboratories and AT&T Laboratories, he developed neural net models and processors for high-speed address readers and check processing. Graf holds a Diploma and PhD in physics from ETH in Zurich and has authored more than 100 articles and over 80 issued US patents. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and member of the American Physical Society.

Dr. Mathias Niepert,
Senior Advisor

With over 20 years of experience, Mathias Niepert currently serves as a professor and head of the Machine Learning and Simulation Science Lab at the University of Stuttgart and Chief Scientist at NEC Laboratories Europe. His illustrious career includes varied roles such as Chief Research Scientist, Manager, and Senior Research Scientist at NEC Laboratories Europe, and postdoctoral positions at the University of Washington and University of Mannheim. He is a specialist in advanced machine learning research with a strong academic and professional background in the field. Mathias Niepert is the inventor of the GraphAI algorithms that power NEC’s cancer pipeline.

Dr. Martin Renqiang Min,
Department Head of Machine Learning, NEC Labs America

Martin Renqiang Min heads the machine learning research department of NEC Laboratories America. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Min’s Research focuses on deep learning, text understanding, video analysis, and precision medicine omics. His work was recognized by Science and MIT Technology Review. He co-chaired NIPS Workshop on Machine Learning in Computational Biology. Also, he taught and lectured on Deep Learning at Yale University. He holds a postdoc from Yale and a PhD from the University of Toronto.