2024
Taste shaped the use of botanical drugs
Bridging plant traditions and modern analytics. COO and Responsible Person at Phytax GmbH, expert to the EDQM and Swissmedic, builder of a machine-learning tool for the identification of TCM-granules.
My work sits where ethnobotany, pharmacognosy and pharmaceutical compliance meet. I grew up doing botanical fieldwork in Southwest China and the Mediterranean, did a doctorate on the chemosensory and phylogenetic patterns behind European herbal traditions, and now lead Phytax GmbH, a Swiss GMP contract laboratory for Chinese herbal medicines, Western phytopharmaceuticals and cannabis.
In parallel, I sit on the EDQM's Traditional Chinese Medicine Working Party and Swissmedic's Expert Committee on Complementary Medicine, contributing to the European and Swiss Pharmacopoeias. The thread running through all of this is the same: how do you make sense of a plant, taxonomically, chemically, regulatorily, and how do you do it well enough that someone can rely on the answer?
Strategic and operational leadership of a Swiss GMP contract laboratory for herbal medicines, phytopharmaceuticals and cannabis. QC release under Swiss pharmaceutical regulation, deviation and CAPA management, supplier qualification, regulatory communication with Swissmedic. Successfully led the lab through customer audits and regulatory inspections. Team of ten scientists and technicians. Sample volume and revenue doubled within two years.
Member of the EDQM Traditional Chinese Medicine Working Party, contributing to the elaboration of European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) monographs. Member of the Swissmedic Expert Committee on Complementary Medicine, contributing to the Swiss Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Helv.) and review of Ph. Eur. draft monographs.
On the board of the Swiss Medical Society for Phytotherapy (SMGP), the Swiss medical association dedicated to evidence-based phytotherapy and continuing education in herbal medicine for physicians and pharmacists.
A phylogenetic, chemosensory and neuropharmacological approach to herbal drugs in European tradition. Marie Curie Fellow, MedPlant ITN. Fieldwork across the Mediterranean assembling a botanical library of 697 herbal drugs from 404 species; FAAH-inhibition screen of 436 extracts.
An IR-based machine-learning identification tool for Chinese herbal granulates, built as Research Officer at Phytax. Trained on thousands of authenticated spectra, Phydent classifies new samples from their infrared fingerprint and returns a precise identification, bringing pharmacopoeial-grade botanical identity testing to pharmacies.
Pharmaceutical companies looking for a Responsible Person (FvP) under Swiss pharmaceutical regulation, pharmacopoeial second opinions, expert reviews for herbal QC or cannabis analytics, or method-development sparring. I'm reachable below.
Get in touchBest reached by email or LinkedIn. For pharmacopoeial questions, please add a brief note about scope and timeline.