Our Mission
Vaccination is the safest and most effective way to prevent a number of diseases. Up to 3 million people are saved each year by vaccines. Our mission at SVF is to develop vaccines and immunotherapies in order to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases.
Matti Sällberg
CSO
Founder and Board member
Professor at Karolinska Institutet,
DDS and Ph.D from KI. Current head of the department of Laboratory Medicine at KI, and board member of Prebona AB. More than 20 years experience in vaccine development including leading vaccines to the clinical trials.
Gaston R. Picchio
Senior Advisor
A clinical virologist with over 35 years of experience in research and over 20 years in the industry, specializing in diagnostics, antivirals, and vaccines. He led the development and approval of antivirals and vaccines. Key roles include positions at The Scripps Research Institute, J&J companies, and Arbutus Biopharma.
Our Team
SVF has a diverse team, bringing many years of expertise. Our fully committed members are well plugged in about the advancements in the vaccine development field.
Elisabet Gimbringer
CFO
Economics and Business education from Stockholm University. Financial manager at Karolinska Development AB and before that financial manager, business controller and financial controller for a number of different companies and fields. Also worked as an approved public accountant for 10 years.
Lars Frelin
Senior Director Vaccine Discovery. Founder and Board Member
Associate professor at Karolinska Institutet. Ph.D from KI, previous researcher at Scripps Research Institute. Extensive experience in vaccine development and clinical development. Has developed several transgenic animal models. Member of the infrastructure council at KI.
Margaret Chen
Clinical Advisor
Professor, Karolinska Institutet, Guest professor at Tongji University, China. DDS and Ph.D from KI. Extensive experience in immunotherapies, gene design, cloning and generating new T cell receptors.
John Öhd
Chairman of the Board
M.D. and Ph.D. Has a broad knowledge and experience of drug development in a number of therapeutic areas, including CNS, cancer and blood diseases. He has worked as a Group Director within AstraZeneca's research organization, Senior Director of Experimental Medicine at Shire Pharmaceutical's facilities in Switzerland and Chief Medical Officer at Medivir.
Jens Bäck
Founder and Board Member
BSc in pharmacology from Uppsala University and more than 15 years experience from big Pharma. Extensive experience in launching and marketing pharmaceuticals at MSD and Abbvie, with a focus on the hepatitis market. Owner of KulMed and entrepreneur.
Gustaf Ahlén
Principal Scientist, Vaccine Discovery
Scientist and project manager at Karolinska Institutet. M.Sc. in Molecular Cell Biology. PhD in Medical Science from KI. Specialised in development and in vivo evaluation of vaccines. Several years of industrial experience in process development for upscaling of vaccine manufacturing.
Richard Bethell
Senior Advisor
Ph.D in Biological Chemistry from Oxford University. More than thirty years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry with Medivir, Boehringer Ingelheim, Shire (now Takeda), Pfizer and GSK, principally in the discovery and development of new products for the treatment and prophylaxis of infectious diseases
