The uPATCH Team

The uPATCH Team consists of a healthy mix between Science and Product Development. We have the know-how about how to effectively apply microneedles while also having the skills to design,  develop and test functional products to realise this.  

Founders

Bart van Oorschot

During his study as a Strategic Product Designer in Delft, Bart van Oorschot gathered knowledge and experience in engineering, design and building healthy companies. After his study, he gathered more technical insights by working at an engineering company as well as a design firm. After this, he co-founded uPATCH together with Koen van der Maaden. While Koen has scientific experience in the application of microneedles, Bart has experience as a product designer. The working principles that Koen gathered during his research on microneedles could be converted into a functional applicator in a real user environment. This is where Bart's vision of making healthcare available for every person on Earth began to take shape. His passion for including every person on earth in basic healthcare using microneedle applicators is the core foundation of uPATCH.




 

Koen van der Maaden

Dr. Koen van der Maaden is working on intradermal cancer vaccination at Leiden University (LU) and LU Medical Center (LUMC). He studied pharmacy at Utrecht University (2004-2008; Bachelor) and bio-pharmaceutical sciences at LU (2008-2010; Master). After obtaining his Master’s degree with honors (cum laude) he enrolled into the PhD program of LU. During his PhD project, he focused on microneedle-based intradermal vaccine delivery systems for minimally-invasive and pain-free vaccination. In 2014 he obtained his PhD degree with honors (cum laude) and obtained the C.J. Kok prize for best annual PhD dissertation of the Faculty of Science (LU). After his PhD, he worked at IntraVacc on vaccine delivery via nanoporous microneedles. With his knowledge on microneedle application, he co-founded uPRAX microsolutions in 2014-2015 to push the field of microneedle technologies forward. From 2015-2019 he was postdoc researcher at LU, focusing on microfluidics-based nanoparticle preparation and microneedle-based intradermal injection systems. In 2019-2021 he focused on intratumoral injections and liposomal SLP formulations for immunotherapy of cancer at LUMC (personal EU H2020 grant).

Team

Bart van Oorschot


Chief Technical Officer

Besides being the founder and CTO of uPATCH Bart is an enthusiastic team player who always knows the answer to every difficult entrepreneurial question.


Paul Bromberg


Chief Executive Officer

Paul realizes the general strategics and scaling up while maintaining a ambitious but realistic view on the future goals of uPATCH. 


Maarten Smit


Design Engineer
Maarten is the very first employee of uPATCH. As an Industrial Designer, he is responsible for the development process and all other R&D related challenges.

Jeroen de Wilde


Business Development
Jeroen helps uPATCH with business development and client relations, he will spread the products around the world!



Koen van der Maaden

Research and Development
Koen is the co-founder of uPATCH but foremost the genius (mad) scientist in charge of R&D.





Sajjad Maleki

Biomechanical Engineer Intern
Sajjad helps uPATCH by doing an in-depth analysis of the skin stretch legs. With his skills in Ansys, he will discover the optimal geometry for the right skin stretch. 



Yasmin Hendriks

Biomedical Technology Intern
With her experience in biomedical technology and user-centred design, Yasmin will help us improve the feedback and usability of the microneedle application process. 


Board of Advisors

Pieter Stenfert

Leadership and Teamwork

Alain Zeilstra

Strategy and Operations

Johan Renes

Legal and Intellectual Property