Bart De Wever

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Bart De Wever obtained a Bachelor degree in Pharmaceutical and Biological Techniques at the COOVI Institute in Brussels in 1984. From 1985 till 1992 he worked as a scientist at the Life Sciences Department of the Janssen Research Foundation, in Beerse, Belgium, first as research assistant in the Laboratory of Cellular Biology and later on as Head of the In Vitro Cell Culture Facility where he was actively involved in the characterization and development of human skin models for dermato-pharmacology and wound healing. During this time, he continued to study at the Hoge School West-Brabant, Ettenleur, The Netherlands, where he obtained the degree of Engineer in Biochemistry in Biochemistry in 1991. From 1993 till 1997 he worked as a consultant for Advanced Tissue Sciences, La Jolla, CA, USA, where he was responsible for the industrial implementation of their Skin2TM in vitro reconstituted human skin and mucosal models as alternatives to animal testing, primarily in European cosmetic industry. From 1997 till October 2004, he was Director of Business Development of SkinEthic Laboratories, based in Nice, France. Under his responsibility, 3D in vitro human models for skin, but also mucosa, including corneal, oral, gingival, esophageal, alveolar and vaginal mucosa were developed for industrial testing purposes. Since January 2005, he works as a business development consultant in the field of alternatives to animal test methods and was one of the co-founders of the CARDAM initiative at VITO in Belgium. He obtained his Ph.D. at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands, in 2006. He is an honorable member of the Society of Toxicology, USA. He is also sitting at the COLIPA Eye Irritation Task Force, is an active member of the EPAA, and was recently elected as Executive Officer of IVTIP (In Vitro Testing Industrial Platform). He is author and/or co-author of over 50 in vitro testing publications.