Menzo Havenga

Menzo Havenga (Rotterdam, 24 december 1966) is a Dutch virologist and expert on viral vectors for vaccine and gene therapy purposes.
==Biography==
 Havenga graduated cum laude in molecular biology from Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands in 1994. During his studies, he worked with, among others, Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. Hartmut Michel and Prof. Dr. Heribert Appelhans at the Max Planck Institute for brain research in Frankfurt and with Dr. Giel Bosman, with whom he conducted research on Alzheimer's disease. In 1998, he received his PhD from Leiden University on the development of retroviral vectors for stem cell therapy for Gaucher’s disease, an hereditary lysosomal storage disease. 
From 1998 to 2001, Havenga worked at the start-up IntroGene on the development of adenoviral vectors to combat cardiovascular diseases. Following IntroGene's name change to Crucell and the company's IPO, Havenga was promoted within Crucell to Head of Research and subsequently to Head of Research and Development. During this research period, from 2001-2007, Havenga worked mainly on the development of a technological platform of adenoviral vectors for vaccine applications against, for example, HIV, malaria and tuberculosis. 
In 2008, Havenga moved from Crucell to the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, where he headed a business unit active in pharmacokinetics, clinical trials, in vivo models and drug manufacturing technology development. In 2010 he started the company Batavia Biosciences BV , together with several partners, where he has since been Managing Director. 
===Contributions===
At Crucell, Havenga and his research team developed new adenoviral vectors and production platforms based on human serotype 11, 26, 35, 48, 49, among others. The choice of these viruses was based on the low sero-prevalence in humans worldwide. By providing the adenoviral vectors with genes coding for certain antigenic proteins from, for example, mycobacterium tuberculosis, the plasmodium falciparum parasite or the HIV virus, a potent immune response could be elicited after vaccination. 
At Batavia Biosciences Havenga has also been involved with the development of what is referred to as ‘the second generation of corona vaccines’.Leidschdagblad.nl. Gearchiveerd op 1 oktober 2021. Batavia Biosciences is going to supply the Swiss company RocketVax with the trial doses for the clinical trial of a new corona vaccine, which should provide much more comprehensive protection against viral mutations. 
At Batavia Biosciences and in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, Havenga developed the HIP-Vax production platform, which can produce vaccines very cost-effectively. The platform offers the ability to grow mammalian cells in small volumes to very high cell densities. This significantly reduces the amount of material needed for production and thus the production space and personnel required, and substantially reduces the cost of product purification. 
In addition to using the HIP-Vax platform for the development of inactivated and attenuated virus vaccines, the platform is used to develop gene therapy products and vaccines based on vector systems, such as adenovirus, and the vesicular stomatitis virus vector (VSV). The Lassa vaccine, which is being tested in phase II clinical trials, was also produced on the HIP-Vax platform. 
For the development of the HIP-Vax, Havenga and Batavia Biosciences have received multiple awards including the Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) Award 2022 and The Most Iconic Leader In Pharmaceuticals To Watch In 2024. 
===Acknowledgment===
Havenga is (co-)author of more than 150 scientific articles. Gearchiveerd op 6 augustus 2023.</ref> In May 2018, Havenga was appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau for his scientific work and for his commitment as an entrepreneur. In the years 2016-2017 and 2018, Havenga was voted CEO of the year by several national and international organizations.
Category:1966 births
Category:Virologists
Category:Dutch people
Category:People from Rotterdam