Alejandro Becerra, Matthias Hebben, Michael Mercaldi
Alejandro Becerra
Principal Applications Scientist and Global Purification Technical Lead, Thermo Fisher
Scientific
Dr Alejandro Becerra is a Principal Applications Scientist and Global Purification Technical
Lead. Alejandro has over 14 years of experience in downstream processing and customer
support having worked as Purification Team Manager and other bioprocess engineering roles
prior to joining Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2018. Dr Becerra is a subject matter expert in
preparative chromatography with expertise in the development, optimization and scale-up
of antibody, recombinant protein and viral vector purification processes. Alejandro holds a
PhD in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University.
Matthias Hebben
Vice President of Technology Development, LogicBio Therapeutics
Matthias Hebben has been serving as vice president of technology development at LogicBio
Therapeutics since February 2019. In his role, he is leading the CMC efforts, including vector
core, capsid optimization, process development, analytical development and clinical product
manufacturing. Before that, he served as director of technology development and head of
bioprocess development at Genethon for 6 years. Before that, he occupied several positions
at Vivalis (Valneva), Intervet Shering Plough and Virbac. Matthias has a PhD in molecular
biology and a MSc in bioprocess engineering
Michael Mercaldi
Senior Director of Downstream Process Development, Homology Medicines
Michael is the Senior Director of Downstream Process Development at Homology Medicines.
He is responsible for leading the development of Homology’s purification and drug product
manufacturing processes for their gene therapy and gene editing programs. He has held
positions in process development throughout his career at MedImmune/AstraZeneca,
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals and Codiak Biosciences before joining Homology. He holds a BS
in Chemical Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in Biochemical
Engineering from Tufts University.
