Our Team

Our cross functional team brings decades of experience in oligonucleotide CMC.

  • Analytical and organic chemistry

  • Chemical and mechanical engineering

  • Material science

Prof. Dr. Karsten Keller - CEO

Prof. Dr. Karsten Keller is a visionary business executive, scientist, and a cofounder of OligoStream Industries, bringing over three decades of global experience driving high-margin growth across the pharmaceutical, food, biotech, and chemical sectors. Known for unlocking massive commercial value from complex scientific innovations, he has a proven track record of scaling operations, securing intellectual property, and managing multi-million dollar P&Ls for market leaders. 

As an executive, Dr. Keller has repeatedly delivered high-return innovations: 

  • Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (R&D Consultant): Spearheaded the process engineering, design, scale-up, and CMC regulatory tech transfer for cutting-edge oligonucleotide therapies. His work directly optimized advanced manufacturing platforms, including solid phase synthesis, ultrafiltration/diafiltration (UF/DF) separation, and spray drying, crucial for scaling complex RNA-targeted therapeutics.  

  • Ingredion, Inc. (VP, Process Technology & Digital R&D): Directed a massive global innovation budget and spearheaded an AI-driven digital transformation that significantly increased new revenue while cutting food processing manufacturing costs in half. 

  • Nitto Denko Avecia (Director, Technology Innovation): Developed and patented a continuous manufacturing process that cut production costs by more than half. 

  • DuPont (Corporate Technical Manager): Handled technology evaluations for major global M&A opportunities, led corporate venture start-ups, and managed extensive annual open innovation and university capital portfolios. 

  • Solae (Director R&D Engineering): Rebuilt a global multi-site business back to profitability by reducing workforce turnover by nearly a third and commercializing proprietary food upcycling technologies. 

Dr. Keller is a deeply respected technical authority, holding 18 patents in a variety of technologies. He serves as an Honorary Professor at Technical University Freiberg, has published over 100 papers, and is the recipient of the prestigious Frank Tiller Award and DuPont’s highest honor for environmental sustainability. He holds a Doctor in Chemical Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.  

Dr. Roman Hillebrand is the CTO/COO and cofounder of Oligostream Industries. Roman has worked in the innovation space for the last 12 years.

  • Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (Associate Director Manufacturing Innovation): Spearheaded the process engineering, design, scale-up, and CMC regulatory tech transfer for cutting-edge oligonucleotide therapies. His work directly optimized advanced manufacturing platforms, including solid phase synthesis, ultrafiltration/diafiltration (UF/DF) separation, and spray drying, crucial for scaling complex RNA-targeted therapeutics.  

  • Nitto Denko Avecia (Sr. Innovation Chemist, Technology Innovation): Developed and patented a continuous manufacturing process that cut production costs by more than half. Initiated implementation of Process Analytical technology (PAT), spray drying, multicolumn countercurrent solvent gradient purification (MCSGP).

Dr. Hillebrand received his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Missouri - Columbia in Prof. Kent S. Gates group designing and synthesizing PTP1B inhibitors. After his PhD he joined Prof. Peter Dedons lab in Bioenginnering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Roman Hillebrand, PhD - CTO/COO

Fred Fleitz, PhD - CSO

Dr. Fred J Fleitz obtained his PhD in synthetic organic chemistry at Stanford University under the direction of Professor Barry M Trost.  Upon completion of his PhD, Dr. Fleitz moved to Merck and Co. working in their Process Research division on the development of cost effective, efficient, readily scalable syntheses of a multitude of small molecule clinical candidates being developed for the treatment of diverse diseases.  While at Merck, Dr. Fleitz was instrumental in the establishment of the Biocatalysis group, which utilized isolated enzymes to complete chemical transformations on the gram to tens of kilogram scale with excellent stereo/diastereo selectivity.  After Merck, Dr. Fleitz moved to Cambridge Major Labs, a small molecule CDMO, where he worked on process development of small molecule therapeutics for tox through commercial manufacturing.  In 2014 Dr Fleitz moved to Arrowhead Research Corp., now Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, where he rose to the position of Senior Vice President of CMC and Developmental Chemistry.  During his time at Arrowhead, Dr. Fleitz was responsible for all drug substance and drug product supplies for tox through commercial.  Notable achievements while at Arrowhead include establishment and growth of process and analytical development teams, building internal oligonucleotide manufacturing capabilities, and development of a supply chain team.  Working closely with Regulatory CMC, Dr. Fleitz was also responsible for authoring, reviewing and approval of all regulatory submission (IB, IND, IMPD), including responding to agency queries, as well as NDA and MAA submissions resulting in the regulatory approval of Plozasiran for the treatment of FCS.  At Arrowhead, Dr. Fleitz also established and supported an internal innovation team that evaluated and applied technologies new to oligonucleotide manufacturing.