Manjit Dosanjh is a CERN senior staff member and the advisor for life sciences since 2000.  She is an experienced molecular biologist in mechanisms of cancer resulting from environmental exposure. She holds a PhD in Biochemical Engineering and after her post-doctoral experience at MIT, she has held positions as a research professor at LBNL Berkeley, BEST professor at Jackson State University, visiting professor at the University of Padua and University of Cagliari.

She is actively involved in applying technologies derived from particle physics to the health field. She is the co-ordinator of the European Network for LIGht ion Hadron Therapy (ENLIGHT), as well as of a number of EC funded projects (PARTNER, ENVISION, ENTERVISION and the Networking Pillar of ULICE). Manjit also co-ordinates a recent initiative to design and build a biomedical research facility at CERN.

Manjit also contributes to a series of non-profit, non-governmental programmes for health and developing countries, acting as representative in front of the United Nations for CONGO (conference of NGOs), CSW (committee on the status of women), and IFUW (International Federation of University Women).

Paul Alvarez is the Administrative Student in the Life Sciences section of the Knowledge Transfer Group as of January 2012.

Paul joined CERN’s Knowledge Transfer Group to provide support with the organization of the ICTR-PHE 2012, a conference that brought together the International Conference on Translational Research in Radio-Oncology and Physics for Health in Europe. He’s worn several hats throughout his young career, including Junior consultant, Admissions Ambassador, and Philanthropic Marketing Specialist. Prior to CERN, Paul was a Junior Account Manager at CMF Advertising in Frankfurt, Germany where he was responsible for 22 Coca-Cola accounts and developed business strategies for TOOM Markt. Paul has also collaborated at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, U.S.A. as a Junior Technician where he performed gel electrophoresis on rodent DNA for cancer research.

Paul is active with the K.D.St.V. Teutonia im CV, a German student corporation and as an alumnus of his alma mater in Ticino. 

Paul received a B.A. in International Communications from Franklin College Switzerland (Lugano, Switzerland) in 2007, and a M.A. in European Business from Universität Freiburg  (Fribourg, Switzerland). He is a native Texan from Houston, U.S.A.

Silke Bachmann is the Administrative Officer for the Knowledge Transfer Group.

Before joining CERN (2010), Silke worked for 2.5 years at the European Space Agency (ESA) in Frascati, Italy, as Administrative Assistant in the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes (ESRIN). Silke was the Personal Assistant to the ESRIN Director during 1 year and was furthermore responsible for meeting preparation/organization with internal and external partners and for administrational support to the Coordination and Program Planning Office. Prior to this, Silke worked for 4 years at the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France, where she was dealing with the administrative procedures for international scientific visitors and the organization of special events and seminars. In 2000-2002, Silke worked for the City of Cologne, Germany, Department of Twin Cities Affairs, where she created and monitored international projects between Cologne and its twin cities, organized international business trips of the Lord Mayor/the City Councillors of Cologne, and edited a monthly journal (EuroCologne) on twin cities activities. From 1995 to 2000 she worked for the Environmental Department of the City of Cologne, where she managed evaluation/decontamination projects concerning abandoned industrial sites of the city of Cologne before new construction/use on these sites could be permitted.

Silke holds a university degree in Geography, Geology and Botany (1994), University Johannes Gutenberg, Mainz, Germany.

Matteo Castoldi joined the CERN’s Knowledge Transfer Group in May 2011 as Technology Transfer Officer.

Matteo first came to CERN in 1997 as a M.S. student where he contributed to the thermo-mechanical design of Large Hadron Collider (LHC) cryostat components.

From 1998 to 2001 he worked as CERN associate member of the personnel both in the Surfaces and Materials Technologies Group (Engineering Support & Technology Department) and in the TOTEM Experiment (Physics Department). He developed the technological aspects related to the metallurgy of MIG and Electron Beam welding processes, and contributed to the mechanical design and integration of complex experimental devices.

From 2001 to 2010 Matteo worked in the Integrated Safety and Environment Group (OH&S Unit) as Staff member. First involved in the mechanical safety assessment and review of projects, Matteo moved to OH&S and environmental management where he developed and managed the CERN OHS&E Management System, made available Safety Rules, and served as Lead Auditor. In 2008 he was appointed Section Leader. In 2009 he became Deputy and Acting Group Leader.

Previous to joining the Knowledge Transfer Group, Matteo also served in the Human Resources Department, where he had a major role in designing and reviewing the CERN technical competency model, and in defining footprints for main/recurrent jobs and managerial roles.

Aside his role of Technology Transfer Officer, Matteo is also active in the field of Fund Raising.

Matteo received a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (with honors) from the University of Genoa (Italy) in 1998, and an EMBA from HEC - University of Geneva (Switzerland) in 2004.

Antonio de Valladares Pacheco joined CERN Knowledge Transfer Group in March 2012.

Antonio is a part of a Technical Traineeship with the Fundação de Ciência e Tecnologia from Portugal. This Traineeship focuses on the on-the-job training of young MSc graduates at research centers around the world.

Antonio finished his M.S. in Technological Physics Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico of Universidade Técnica de Lisboa in 2011. He worked as a scholarship student at Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física de Partículas (LIP) studying particle physics, with a thesis on the “Drell-Yan process simulation in hadronic interactions in the COMPASS experiment” at CERN.

Helen has a BSc (Hons) degree in Biology and European Studies from Sussex University (UK). She came to CERN in 1998 and worked in the Procurement Service until 2011 when she joined the Life Sciences section. She provides administrative support for the activities of the Section and in particular for the EU-funded ENTERVISION project.

Virginia holds a degree in Micro-Electronics Engineering from the University of Pisa (Italy) and is finalising her Ph.D. thesis in Particle Physics at CERN within the TOTEM experiment.

Virginia joined the Life Sciences Section in 2011 as technical coordinator of the PARTNER project. As a former member of the CDF and TOTEM collaborations, she has expertise in detector commissioning and trigger strategy. She is also a qualified science journalist, and is involved in various CERN outreach activities such as Expanding Your Horizons and the European Researchers’ Night.

Zoe Lawson was recruited to the role of Technology Transfer Officer at the start of 2012.

With a research background in the structure and function of proteins, Zoe has a particular interest in the transfer of technologies from particle physics to the life sciences. Prior to her appointment at CERN, Zoe worked for 3 years as a Business Development Executive in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Nottingham in the UK. Zoe has previous experience in both private and public sectors and has worked in various technology transfer and research project roles.  After completing a post-doctoral fellowship in technology transfer at the University of Birmingham (UK), Zoe took a short visiting fellowship at the International Rice Research Institute (Philippines). Following this, she worked on an international project for agri-biotech intellectual property (UK & Malaysia), before entering her previous role at the University of Nottingham.

Zoe holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Science from Aston University and a PhD in Biological Chemistry from The University of Birmingham (UK). She is also currently studying for an MBA from the Open University (UK).

Telma Mantas is the Patent Portfolio Manager of the Knowledge Transfer Group at CERN as of 2010.

In 2005 Telma started her career in consultancy, first as a Quality Assurance Consultant and after as a Technology Services Consultant working in project management in the telecommunication field.

In 2007 she started working in Intellectual Property as a Patent Examiner at the Instituto Nacional de Propriedade Industrial (INPI) in Portugal.

In 2009 Telma got a position at CERN as a patent Engineer.

Telma received a M.S. (5 year degree) in Technological Physics Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Lisbon in 2005. In 2007 she attended several trainings in patent field including Intellectual Property Rights in Software, International Patent Classification, US Patent Practice, Patent examination and Patent searching. Since at CERN she has pursued her studies in Intellectual Property related to Technology Transfer (contract basics, confidential agreements, freedom to operate, IP due diligences , etc.)