Markus Rimann completed his degree in Biology, specialty in Biotechnology, at the ETH Zurich in 2005. As a PhD student, he was developing a somatic gene therapy approach to improve cutaneous wound healing. He received his Dr. sc. nat. from the ETH Zurich in 2009. As postdoc at the Center for Applied Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine (CABMM) at the University of Zurich, he was focusing on the usage and tracking of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for the treatment of osteoporosis. Since 2011, he works at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in the Tissue Engineering team of Prof. Dr. Graf-Hausner. On one hand, he was responsible for the successful implementation of the promising bioprinting technology at the ZHAW and on the other hand, he was involved in initiating the TEDD (Tissue Engineering for Drug Development and Substance Testing) Competence Centre. The TEDD network is a collaborative innovation platform, dedicated to 3D cell culture technology and organ-like tissue models for drug development, substance testing, personalized and regenerative medicine. The network pools and transfers knowledge and technologies by combining diverse skills through integrative cooperation among academic, clinical and industrial partners. He works with different 3D cell culture systems with or without scaffolds. His research is mainly application-driven to make organotypic model systems available for industry as well as for the clinics. The focus is on developing 3D cell models for substance testing including automated production, maintenance and analysis. From 2016, he became a group leader in the team of Prof. Dr. Raghunath, the successor of Prof. Dr. Graf-Hausner. Since August 2019, he is leading the TEDD Competence Centre.

Katarzyna holds a position of Scientific Associate and Project Manager at the Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology at ZHAW. She is specialized in interdisciplinary projects and has extensive expertise in 3D models generation and analysis. Katarzyna has also expertise in digital science communication, community building and professional networking. Katarzyna holds PhD from the University of Cambridge (Hughes Hall), UK in Life Sciences completed at the Medical Research Council, UK. She did her postdoctoral projects at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, CA, USA and cancer research centre Institute Curie in Paris, France. She completed the Master of Science in Engineering in Biotechnology at the Warsaw University of Life Science (SGGW) in Poland. She also worked for the pharma company Bristol-Myers Squibb. 

TEDD is guided by the steering committee that consists of experienced academic and industrial professionals. Members of steering committee meet on the regular basis to identify milestones for TEDD. 

Members of the Steering Committee:

• Markus Rimann, ICBT, ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences
• Oliver Peter, Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd
• Katharina Maniura, Empa

Past members of the Steering Committee:

• Jens Kelm, PreComb Therapeutics AG 
• Giuseppe Perale, IBI-S.A.,Mezzovico-Vira
• Christoph Rindlisbacher, CELLnTEC, Bern

Steering committee is mentored by the international advisory board. The advisors are academic and industrial world recognized experts. The board is involved in defining well adapted strategies according to the international recognise needs and requirements with the final goal to implement 3D cell culture into routine application.

Members of the Advisory Board:

• Ursula Graf-Hausner, graf 3dcellculture
• Markus Ehrat, EK Biosciences GmbH
• Marcus Textor, ETH Zürich
• Marc Thurner, mimiX Biotherapeutics Ltd

Past members of the Advisory Board:

• Uwe Marx, TU Berlin
• David W. Grainger, University of Utah
• Thomas Singer, F. Hoffmann-La Roche