About Biogents

Martin Geier studied biology in Regensburg and investigated the sense of smell of mosquitoes in his master’s thesis and doctor’s thesis. He did post-doc work in the Department of Entomology at the University of California in Riverside where he concentrated on the orientation of insects according to scents. After returning to Germany, he became director of the mosquito work group at the Institute of Zoology in Regensburg. A number of field investigations of mosquitoes led him to Brazil. He is a member of the American Mosquito Control Association, the European Mosquito Control Association and the Institute of Biodiversity. Dr. Geier speaks German and English.

Andreas Rose studied biology in Regensburg and at the University of Colorado in Boulder. In his master’s thesis and doctor’s thesis, he concentrated on the host-finding behavior of the Chagas’ bug, Triatoma infestans. After his post-doc work at the Regensburg Mosquito Lab, he worked for a producer of essential oils and plant extracts in France. There, he was responsible for research and development and for production and quality assurance. He is a member of the European Mosquito Control Association, the Pan-African Mosquito Control Association, the Society of Vector Ecology, the European Network for Arthropod Vector Surveillance for Human Public Health, and the German Association for General and Applied Entomology. He is also a member of the German National Expert Committee “Mosquitoes as Disease Vectors”. Dr. Rose speaks German, English, and French.

Hugo Plan is an experienced senior manager and was the general director of the company SPG (Société De Production Grainières), our French retail distributor, for many years. He played a leading role in establishing the Biogents brand on the French market and was an important support during the launch of our products into the European retail market by the SBM group. He is also the founder and president of CMC (Consulting Mosquitoes Control), a company that offers comprehensive solutions for an effective and sustainable mosquito control for the French professional market. In 2023, Hugo joined the management board of Biogents to support the future growth of the business. He speaks French, English, and some German.

Will Golland joins the management board of Biogents with 20 years senior commercial experience in the pest control industry. Having built and developed global manufacturing businesses at Bell Laboratories and Woodstream Corporation across multiple product categories, he brings significant commercial and management experience to add to the team. Over the past two decades, he has supported change and development in the industry through work with both National and European Associations. Will is now focussed on the future progression of Biogents global sales across both professional and consumer channels. He speaks English and French.

Ulla Gordon already worked at Regensburg University´s mosquito group as a student and joined the company in 2002. Her PhD thesis investigated so called “push-pull” control strategies for the yellow-fever mosquito Aedes aegypti, in particular the combination of BG-Sentinel traps with plant-derived spatial repellents. Between 2005 and 2018, Dr. Gordon was the head of Biogents´ contract research and development branch but lately took on a new, exciting challenge as our human resources manager. If you wish to apply for a job at Biogents she is the right person to contact. Despite her new tasks, she did not turn her back on science. As a member of Biogents´ internal Scientific Advisory Board she continues to consult and analyze current research projects in our scientific sector. Dr. Gordon is a member of the European and American Mosquito Control Association as well as the Society of Vector Ecology. She speaks German, English, and Portuguese.

Jennifer McCaw studied zoology at the University of California in Santa Barbara, and received her Master of Science degree from the University of Regensburg. In her master’s thesis, she optimized formulations of attractive odor mixtures for malaria mosquitoes for the mosquito contamination devices of the MCD project. She is head of sales and customer relations, organizes the international dispatch of the traps to distributors, and is the contact for the Biogents sales partners. Ms. McCaw speaks English and German.

Petra Schultheiss joined our team in April 2017 after several years working for a European NGO in the field of protected areas where she was in charge of project development and membership relations. She now supports the Biogents’ sales team as Key Account Manager, making sure that our international distributors get the products and information they need. As a geographer and cultural scientist by training, she naturally has a big picture view on many subjects. This paired with her passion for traveling comes in handy when it comes to building up new markets around the globe. Mrs. Schultheiss speaks German, English, Spanish and French and understands Portuguese.

Astrid Schuhbauer studied Biology at the Universities of La Rochelle, France and Vienna, Austria. Afterwards Ms. Schuhbauer gained first experience in mosquito control by identifying mosquito breeding sites in the March-Thaya wetlands in Austria and applying Bacillus thuringiensis (Bti) to suppress larval development. She joined our testing service department in April 2012 but moved on to the Biogents Sales Team in January 2018 as a key account manager for the European and African market. Ms. Schuhbauer speaks French, German, and English.

After having worked in the tourism industry in Africa for many years, Johan made a switch to the world of mosquitoes end 2013. He battled malaria mosquitoes as a Field Operations Manager for the EU-sponsored ‘MCD-Project’ in Tanzania and the ‘Eavetube-Project’ sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Ivory Coast. Johan is since the beginning of 2017 working in Cambodia, where he set up an office under the name of “Biogents SEA” (Southeast Asia). His main task is to extend our network of (sales) partners in Southeast Asia and to push Biogents’ products to the next level. Johan speaks Dutch, German, English and Kiswahili.

Léonie Aslanidis completed two trainings in the fields of media and marketing and then started her career in the fashion industry, working in trade & retail marketing for several years. Before joining Biogents in the beginning of 2021, Léonie worked for a large publishing house in sales and as an online shop manager. At Biogents, she manages all D2C divisions of the business, which includes the development of D2C strategies and coordination of D2C campaigns in cooperation with our marketing department and external agencies. Ms. Aslanidis speaks German and English.

Hanna Rose studied German and English linguistics at the University of Regensburg. Since 2011, she takes care of the Biogents Webshops for professionals, researchers and retail clients, in both Europe and the US. Ms. Rose organizes the dispatch of the ordered products and is the point of contact for any questions related with the online orders. She speaks German and English.

Yvonne Weißflach completed her training as an office administrator in the real estate and housing industry in Munich in 2001. Afterwards, she worked for 15 years in the same company in Regensburg, where she was responsible for the finance and tax department as well as the general administration area. In January 2017, Ms. Weißflach joined Biogents and supported the entire team in her role as executive assistant. Two years later, she expanded her professional activities by joining Biogents’ webshops. Since 2020, Yvonne has been taking care of all processes required for orders in the EU webshop. Ms. Weißflach speaks German and English.

Marina Markova studied Economics at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria, and joined our team in the summer of 2021. As our new Online Marketplace Specialist, Marina is responsible for the daily business of our international D2C marketplaces with a focus on product range, account health and customer satisfaction. She speaks Bulgarian, English and German.

Jorge Garcia studied International Relations & Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg and subsequently worked in E-Commerce for two different companies. Mr. Garcia has been supporting our D2C team as an online marketplace specialist since fall 2022. He takes care of sales and maintenance of our international marketplaces, in particular the management and optimization of our campaigns. Mr. Garcia speaks Spanish, English and German.

Brigida Napolitano joined our customer care team in March 2020. She graduated in Foreign languages and International Relations in Italy. Since she moved to Regensburg, she has been working in Nature conservation for the EUROPARC Federation in the area of membership and office management. At Biogents, she works as first point of contact for the customers, managing customer requests and providing customer service and assistance with payments, billing, technical support and other general inquiries. Ms Napolitano speaks Italian (native speaker), French, English and German. 

Maria Nikolayczik studied International Relations and Management at OTH Regensburg. As part of her studies she spent one year in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She completed several internships in corporate environments and examined the innovative power of intercultural teams in her thesis. Most recently she worked in sales for a Tech Startup and moved on to join Biogents in April 2020 to support the Customer Care Team with full force. Ms Nikolayczik speaks German, English and Portuguese.

Lena Hauser is a trained industrial clerk and certified bachelor professional in management for industry and master professional of business management. After her training, she worked in internal sales and customer service in Regensburg before joining our team in the fall of 2022. Ms. Hauser supports our customers with all inquiries and is the contact person for orders, payments and technical support. She speaks German and English.

After his commercial training, Johannes Falke completed a Bachelor in logistics. After 9 years in the CEP industry, most recently as Operations Manager, he accepted a position in the automotive sector of a global electronics group where he gained 6 years of experience in logistics, production planning and control as well as customer support. Since March 2021 he is our new Operations Manager and responsible for the ongoing analysis and optimization of our internal & external production processes, logistics, supplier management as well as the further development of the ERP system. Mr. Falke speaks German and English.

After his apprenticeship as an office communication specialist at the main customs office in Regensburg, Christoph Ehrl joined the technology company Thermo Fisher Scientific GENEART GmbH, where he was responsible for the import & export business, especially the shipment of synthetic DNA. Subsequently, he worked for another three years at a logistics service provider for the automotive industry. Since November 2020 he supports the Biogents team in import, customs formalities and warehouse logistics. He speaks German and English.

Mr. Gasser is a trained businessman for office management and a certified business administrator. Before joining our operations team in the summer of 2022, he worked as an operational purchaser in different companies in Regensburg. Mr. Gasser is responsible for the purchase and procurement of goods and coordinates the flow of goods between national and international suppliers, our production, warehouse and international distributors. Mr. Gasser speaks German and English.

Ulrike Strohmayer is a trained management accountant and certified IAS accountant (Austrian Controller Institute in Vienna). She has over 20 years of experience in international accounting and controlling and has worked for Telekom Austria AG in Vienna and the Veolia Verkehr Group in Berlin. Before joining Biogents, Ms Strohmayer worked as an accountant and specialist for SAP FI processes at E.ON Business Services in Regensburg for 10 years. Since October 2021, Ms Strohmayer supports our finance department and is responsible for accounting, reporting, controlling and process optimisation. Ms Strohmayer speaks German and English.

Ana Maria Safta studied food chemistry at the University Lucian Blaga in Sibiu, Romania, before completing further training as a financial accountant. Most recently, Ms. Safta worked for a company in Bucharest in accounts payable. She has been supporting our finance department since the fall of 2022 and primarily handles accounts receivable and accounts payable as well as auditing, account assignment and entering of current business transactions. Ms. Safta speaks Romanian, German and English.

Lena Halbritter is a trained tax clerk. She has gained significant experience in accounting while working for different companies since she finished her training 10 years ago. In spring 2023 she completed the team of our finance department and supports us in accounts payable and accounts receivable as well as in booking of all current business cases. Ms. Halbritter speaks German and English.

Silke Göttler studied biology at the University of Regensburg, Germany. In her master’s thesis and doctor’s thesis she concentrated on cryptic endemism in several crab species using population genetics and morphometric techniques. Phylegenetic, phylogeographic, and ecological questions were parts of her study. Since 2012, she supports us in customer service, project monitoring and development of mosquito protection in gardens, restaurants, hospitals, and camping sites. Ms. Göttler speaks German and English.

Niko Zankl is a trained biotechnical assistant (BTA) and has a Master´s degree in Biology from the University of Regensburg. He wrote his thesis on “intraspecific variability and phylogeography in stone crabs”. Since April 2022, Mr Zankl is supporting the monitoring activities at Biogents and is responsible for various trap studies for the monitoring of invasive mosquitoes in Southern Germany. Niko Zankl speaks German and English.

Maximilian Epple is a state-approved biotechnical assistant and studied biology at the University of Regensburg. During his Master’s thesis at the Cell Biology and Plant Biochemistry department he focused on a putative amino acid transporter in the thale cress, Arabidosis thaliana. Maximilian Epple joined Biogents internal R&D department as a research scientist in April 2018. He is responsible for the scientific part of product development such as testing and evaluating novel trapping systems, synthetic lure development and other product innovations. He speaks German and English.

Elena Geiger studied biology at the University of Regensburg and the Julius-Maximilians-University in Würzburg. She wrote her master’s thesis on “A behavioral analysis of the Bombus terrestris queen sex pheromone”. Since fall 2022, Ms. Geiger has been supporting our internal research and development department and is responsible for planning, conducting and analyzing behavioral experiments with mosquitoes in both, the laboratory and field. Ms. Geiger speaks German and English.

Michael studied Physics at the TU Clausthal-Zellerfeld and the University of Bremen, and did his thesis work in Mass Spectrometry. After completing his graduate degree, he moved to Silicon Valley where he worked for over 25 years developing instruments for the scientific and semiconductor industry. He has been awarded 15 patents. When working on a project supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Michael got hooked on mosquitoes and technology to fight them. Michael joined our team in early 2016, and is responsible for the development of optical sensors, hardware, and software for the detection and classification of mosquitoes in connection with the EU-sponsored REMOSIS project.

Armin Kordus studied Process Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences of Regensburg. He is responsible for design and engineering in the development of the Biogents mosquito traps, their quality assurance, and technical documentation. Mr. Kordus speaks German, English, French, and Turkish.

Andreas Lugauer completed his master’s degree in electromobility and energy networks at the Ostbayrische Technische Hochschule Regensburg and most recently worked as an electrical engineer in hardware development at Vitesco Technologies. Mr Lugauer has been supporting our product development team since February 2022, primarily in the development of electronic hardware and software and the evaluation & optimization of electronic products and prototypes. Mr. Lugauer speaks German and English.

Sergej Sperling studied biology at the University of Regensburg. In his master’s thesis, Sergej investigated a novel separation method for extracts in chemical ecology. Sergej joined Biogents in 2014 as part of the EU funded MCD (mosquito contamination device) project and was involved with the development, implementation and evaluation of new anopheline control techniques under semi-field and field conditions in Tanzania. After the completion of the project, Sergej moved to Biogents´Contract Research & Development department in 2017 and took over the role of Director in 2019. He is responsible for lab- and field investigations on the effectiveness of anti-mosquito products and is the point of contact for general questions on efficacy testing of biocidal products, especially PT 18 (Insecticides) and PT 19 (repellents). Sergej speaks English, German and Russian.

Shuang Li studied Biology at the University of Regensburg. In her master´s thesis at the Biochemistry department, Shuang characterized processome submodules of the baker´s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. She joined our team in 2020 and is responsible for our mosquito breedings. Shuang speaks Mandarin, German and English.

Margit Lindner has been in charge of Biogents mosquito breeding from the very start. She is a psychologist by profession, and we can’t say whether that is the reason she has such good rapport with mosquitoes – at any rate, we can always count on Ms Lindner to provide us with enough active and hungry female mosquitoes for our experiments at any time. Ms. Lindner speaks German and English.

Ingeborg Schleip studied biology at the University of Regensburg. After completing her thesis in developmental biology on neurodegenerated mutants of Drosophila, she studied N- and O-Glycosylations in the Golgi of yeast with the Plant Physiology Group. After receiving training as digital publisher, she changed her focus, and followed a new path as a media designer, teacher of Biology and Chemistry, and then as marketing manager in a biotechnology company. Since April 2013, she has worked for Biogents in marketing and the field monitoring program and is now leading the marketing department. Ms. Schleip speaks German and English.

Christian Müller is a trained photographer and digital publisher. After having worked for 10 years as designer in Digital Works and authoring for CD-Rom, Blu-Ray and DVD, he changed into movie-marketing. In July 2017 he joined our marketing-Team and supports us here in the areas of web, social media, video production and the creation of illustrations, picture- and printmaterial.

Carolin Degener studied Biology in Regensburg and obtained her phD in Parasitology from the University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She had her first contact with Biogents during her time as an undergrad student when she worked as a test subject for our repellent tests. After three internships in our company she decided to dedicate to mosquito research and investigated yellow fever mosquito mass trapping in her master’s and phD theses. After a post-doc at Fiocruz in Rio de Janeiro where she worked in a project that developed a real-time dengue alert system for many Brazilian municipalities, she came back to Biogents in 2016. She supports the marketing team, performs data analyses of our studies and writes scientific publications. Carolin fluently speaks German, English, and Portuguese, and understands French.

Jennifer Hermann joined our Marketing team in September 2020. After completing an apprenticeship in business administration and sales, she worked at Deutsche Telekom before she started to study in Regensburg. Initially, she wanted to become a teacher in German and English for secondary school but switched back to business administration after a few semesters. She studied Business Economics at the OTH Regensburg and mainly focused on marketing, Employer Branding and business consulting. During her studies, she worked in marketing & PR for a tech start up and gained some knowledge in social media management, among other things. She is still passionate about tutoring, proofreading and consulting and works as a freelancer on the side. Mrs. Hermann speaks German, English and a little bit of Spanish and French.

Dave Avery has extensive experience in senior management roles within the pest control industry. He served as president of the Curtis Gilmour group, where he was responsible for the acquisition of Agrisense and Silvandersson, integrating these businesses into the business and growing both revenue and profit of the overall group. Having previously worked with Agrisense he was involved with Biogents as a supplier and supporter in the early years of the business, helping to develop trap and lure sales. As our management consultant he provides valuable support to help drive the next stage of Biogents growth.

Scott Gordon received his PhD from Colorado State University. He has over 40 years of experience in public health entomology, and is Board Certified in Medical and Veterinary Entomology. He previously worked for the Ohio Department of Health Vector-borne Disease Unit and served as a medical entomologist in the US Army Medical Service Corps. He has conducted research on a wide range of topics in vector biology and authored or co-authored 35 publications. Dr. Gordon is a member of the Entomological Society of America, the American Mosquito Control Association, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,  Society of Vector Ecology and the European Mosquito Control Association.

Before he retired in 2022, Dr. Gordon served as President, Treasurer and Secretary of Biogents USA and as research liaison for projects with external parties. He is still a member of our Scientific Advisory Board.

Polly joined the company in 2014, shortly after she left Bucharest to settle in Regensburg. She supports the team mentally and physically and monitors all company-related activities with great enthusiasm, especially during lunch breaks. Polly understands different languages – if it suits her – and is a member of the ESDA (European Street Dog Association).

A long office day can only be survived in yoga position.

Olli is living proof that our mosquito traps and pets are compatible.