Zelluna is led by a management team of biotech entrepreneurs with deep experience in discovery through to clinical development of immunotherapies, TCR and cell-based therapies including marketed products. The team is based in Oslo, Norway.
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- Management
- Board of directors
Management
Namir Hassan
Chief Executive Officer
About Namir Close
Namir Hassan joined Zelluna Immunotherapy in August 2018 to serve as Chief Scientific Officer and subsequently as Chief Executive Officer from 2019. He has over 15 years of biotech and pharma industry experience spanning target validation through to early phase clinical trials with most of that spent on Immunotherapies. Prior to joining Zelluna, Namir was a VP at Immunocore, responsible for creating and growing the infectious disease unit and pipeline as well as helping to secure up to $40M of funding for the organisation. During his tenure with the company, Namir was also responsible for overseeing and strategically expanding biology, preclinical, biomarkers and development for the Oncology portfolio as well as successfully leading, the first in human study with KIMMTRAK, the first ever T Cell Receptor (TCR) bispecific subsequently approved for the treatment of uveal melanoma.
Geir Christian Melen
Chief Financial Officer
About Geir Close
Geir Christian Melen assumed the position of Chief Financial Officer on 31 December 2025. Since September 2018, he served as CFO and Finance Director at Zelluna Immunotherapy AS. Prior to joining Zelluna, Geir gained extensive management experience, including roles as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ostomycure AS and Clavis Pharma ASA, as well as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Algeta ASA and PhotoCure ASA. He has also held CFO positions in early-stage companies within the oil and gas sector.
Anders Holm
Chief Operating Officer and Head of Business Development
About Anders Close
Anders Holm joined Zelluna Immunotherapy in May 2017 and serves as Chief Operating Officer and Head of Business Development. He brings a combination of scientific knowledge and interest in immunology and immunotherapies with experience in licensing, IP strategy and financing. Prior to joining Zelluna, Anders was Technology Strategy Manager at Inven2 (technology transfer office of the Oslo University Hospital), where he built and led the scientific and commercial development of a large portfolio of early-stage drug development projects within immunology and immuno-oncology. Anders previously worked for 8 years as a scientist at the Institute of Immunology, Oslo University Hospital, primarily within the fields of autoimmunity and cancer. Anders received his PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Oslo in 2004.
Luise Weigand
Chief Scientific Officer
About Luise Close
Luise Weigand joined Zelluna Immunotherapy in January 2021 and serves as Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to joining Zelluna, Luise was Associate Director Translational Medicine at Autolus, setting up and delivering clinical biomarker analysis for a couple of clinical trials, as well as leading projects in early stage clinical trials at cross functional level. Luise previously spent over 7 years at Immunocore Ltd, where she built and led scientific teams from TCR discovery, through preclinical to early development. Luise received her PhD from the Technical University of Munich/Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen in cancer immunotherapy in 2011.
Emilie Gauthy
Chief Technology Officer
About Emilie Close
Emilie Gauthy joined Zelluna Immunotherapy in November 2022 and serves as Head of CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls). Prior to joining Zelluna, Emilie was Development and Validation Director at Celyad Oncology, leading the development of allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies from research to clinical manufacturing. During her 5 years at Celyad Oncology, she worked on several successful clinical trial applications in the EU and the US and was responsible for CDMO oversight and material selection. Emilie’s previous experiences encompass roles such as Quality Assurance for GSK vaccines development, and Project Management and Quality Control for contract manufacturers. Emilie obtained her PhD from the catholic University of Louvain/de Duve Institute in Brussels in 2013.
Julia Ino
Head of Project Management and Clinical Project Manager
About Julia Close
Julia Ino joined Zelluna Immunotherapy in April 2018 and serves as Head of Project Management and Clinical Project Manager. Her experience includes diverse support roles in the cell therapy industry, in project and intellectual property management and in business development. Prior to joining Zelluna, Julia was product team leader at Bone Therapeutics (Belgium) where she was instrumental in drug development and overall strategy to deliver a cell therapy product. Julia received her PhD from Paris XIII/Inserm in regenerative medicine in 2012.
Board of directors
Anders Tuv
Chair of the Board of Directors, co-founder
About Anders Close
Anders Tuv is Managing Partner at Clairon AS, a strategic advisory firm. He is a co-founder of Zelluna and served as its first Chairperson. He has previously chaired the boards of Nykode Therapeutics and OncoImmunity, and currently sits on the boards of Nextera AS, ClexBio Inc, DoMore Diagnostics and Aleap Ventures. Until 2026, he was Managing Director of Radforsk Invest, a life science investment company focused on cutting-edge immunotherapies and precision medicines. A seasoned entrepreneur and life science investor, Anders has driven strategic growth and value creation through operations, management, business development, global licensing, M&A, IPOs, trade sales and research collaborations.
Bent Jakobsen
Board member
About Bent Close
Bent Jakobsen is a pioneer of T cell receptor therapy for cancer with over two decades’ experience of establishing and providing scientific direction to leading T cell receptor companies such as Adaptimmune Therapeutics and Immunocore (both now listed on Nasdaq). In his academic career, Bent was Head of the Immune Receptor Group at the Oxford Institute of Molecular Medicine (1993 to 2000) and prior to this worked for the Danish Natural Research Council and at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Medical Research Council in Cambridge.
Bent is a visiting professor at the University of Oxford, has authored numerous scientific papers and is considered a world expert in the field of T cell receptor immunology. In 2015, he was recognised for his contribution to medical science with an election to the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Eva-Lotta Allan
Board member
About Eva-Lotta Close
Eva-Lotta has >30 years of cooperate, business development and operational experience from the biotechnology industry. During her five years as Immunocore's CBO she raised $320 million in a series A round and established significant partnerships with top pharmaceutical companies. She was previously at Ablynx, as CBO for seven years participating in taking the company public and completed several strategic partnerships. Before that she was Senior Director Business Development and Site Operations (Europe) at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Eva-Lotta is currently Non-Executive Chair of Draupnir Bio and Maxion Therapeutics and Non-Executive Director of Almirall (and Chair of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee) and Crescendo Biologics. Previous board appointments include BIA, Aleta Biotherapeutics, Targovax, C4X Discovery, Immunocore, Isconova and Vertex Ltd.
Charlotte Sofie Bergsagel Berg-Svendsen
Board member
About Charlotte Close
Charlotte Berg-Svendsen has broad professional experience across the life science industry from start-ups and Big Corporates within the biotech, medtech and pharmaceutical sectors. She has held leading international roles and board positions in life science companies such as Pronova Biopharma ASA, BASF SE Vitux AS and Kappa Biosciences AS, including Chief Legal Officer and VP of Strategic Innovation and IP Management at Pronova and BASF, and Chief Commercial Officer in PreDiagnostics AS. She is currently CEO of Cruda AS and chair of the board in Mo Industripark AS. Charlotte Berg-Svendsen holds a Master of Law (LLM) from the University of Oslo and an MBA from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).
Martin Welschof
Board member
About Martin Close
Martin Welschof brings over three decades of international biotech leadership, combining deep scientific expertise with a track record of building, partnering and financing clinical-stage companies in public markets.
He is currently CEO of BioInvent International AB (Nasdaq Stockholm), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company. Martin has previously served as CEO of Affitech A/S (Nasdaq Copenhagen) and CEO of Opsona Therapeutics (Dublin), and as Director of Technology at Axaron Bioscience AG (Heidelberg), giving him hands-on experience of leading listed life science companies through clinical development, partnering and capital raising.
Martin holds a PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in recombinant antibody technology and completed postdoctoral training at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Department of Recombinant Antibody Technology, and at the University of Heidelberg, Department of Transplantation Immunology.