Prof. Ellen Heitzer is an EU-registered clinical laboratory geneticist at Diagnostic & Research Institute of Human Genetics, Medical University of Graz, Austria, where she is heading the Research Unit for liquid biopsies for personalized medicine in cancer. Her research group has extensive experience in the analysis of plasma DNA and has established a plethora of plasma DNA-based approaches to study genome-wide copy number alterations and high-sensitivity approaches to detect specific mutations occurring at low allele frequencies. In this highly competitive field, the group is internationally recognized. As a steering committee member of the European Liquid Biopsy Society (ELBS), Prof. Heitzer advocates for the standardization and guidelines of LB approaches to enable widespread clinical use.

After earning a PhD in Phytopathology from the University of Constance, Wolfgang has accumulated over 25 years of experience in the biotech industry. Throughout his career, he has taken on diverse roles in sales and marketing within the life science and diagnostics sectors. Currently, Wolfgang holds the position of VP of Life Science Marketing and Sales at QIAGEN, where he leads strategic initiatives to drive growth and impact in the market.

Hélène graduated with her PhD in Molecular Biology in 2005 from Paris University. She has spent 13 years in academic research studying plant development and HIV molecular mechanisms (Institut Cochin, Paris and KCL, London). She joined QIAGEN in 2015 and rapidly moved into a Genomics Sales specialist role covering both LS and MDx segments in France and Belgium. In 2023, she joined the Genomics Product Management team.

Anita has a background in Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology from Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands. She is currently a Global Product Manager in the PreAnalytiX team, which is a joint venture between QIAGEN and BD. Prior to that, she worked as an NGS platform product specialist in Dubai and expanded into product management in preanalytical workflows.

Krishna holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park. Since joining QIAGEN in 2011, Krishna has worked on various technology developments, including qPCR and NGS technologies. Currently, she leads the Targeted Genomics portfolio at QIAGEN.

Simon holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Biochemistry from Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg. He received his PhD in 2020 at the Center for Regenerative Therapies TU Dresden, investigating mammalian neural stem cells and their contribution to recovery from brain injury. Simon joined QIAGEN in November 2020, where he focuses on developing nucleic acid extraction applications from FFPE tissue and plasma using the new EZ2 Connect platform.