Introducing our Non-Executive Director and Scientific Advisor, Professor Per Venge.
A BIT ABOUT Professor Per Venge
Professor Per Venge graduated as a medical doctor from Uppsala University in 1973 and presented his thesis 1975 on the discovery and purification of the Chymotrypsin-like Cationic Protein (later renamed Cathepsin G) from human neutrophils. He has worked most of his time as a physician at the University Hospital in Uppsala and also as lecturer in Clinical Chemistry at the university. In 1989 he was appointed professor in clinical chemistry at the university and held that chair until his retirement. He has published about 600 original scientific reports and together with his research team has discovered and purified several new proteins originating from eosinophil and neutrophil granulocytes. These discoveries mostly led to the development of sensitive immunoassays which are used in the assessment of the activity of eosinophils and neutrophils in human disease. After his retirement he founded Diagnostics Development, a company which produces unique antigens and antibodies sold over the world. He is also actively involved, together with other companies such as AgPlus, in the development of novel and clinically useful diagnostic tests.
COMPANY ROLE
I sit on the Board of Directors as a Non-executive and I bring to the table my experience and expertise in the development and validation of novel point-of-care applications for major unmet clinical needs. Recently my company and AgPlus signed a partnership in which we both will benefit from our mutual developments and marketing efforts.
STARTING WITH AG+
My start with AgPlus in 2018 was purely coincidental. The research director called me and asked about one of our antibodies for a test that AgPlus was about to develop. In the talk with her she described the technology AgPlus was developing and I immediately became attracted by the platform since it might fulfil the requirements for our own development of a point-of-care test for HNL based on whole blood activation.
BEST PART OF THE JOB
Working together with the skilled and visionary people at AgPlus, follow the development progress of our IP-protected assays and to see our ideas realized on a superb point-of-care platform.
Worst Part of the Job
Patience.
THE YEAR AHEAD
We are close now. HNL will be ready for the Agilis platform and clinical validation studies will be started. When we show that the AgPlus platform performs as expected from our previous studies i.e., superior distinction between acute infections caused by bacteria or virus, this will be the starting point for the development and launch of a number of other clinically useful point-of-care applications on the AgPlus platform.
CONTACT Professor Per Venge
If you’d like to get in touch with Professor Per Venge directly, please call +44 (0) 1234 867100 or click here to email.