Dr. David Fischer joined BioFocus in October 2005 and has responsibility for the BioFocus target discovery and validation activities in Leiden, the Netherlands.  He oversees these activities on behalf of international partners, including both pharma and not-for-profits.  David holds a degree in chemistry and a PhD in molecular genetics, both from Leiden University.  During six years of post-doctoral fellowships at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam (an Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) and the Free University Amsterdam, he focused on neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease.  David also mentored two graduate students, at the University of Amsterdam and at Leiden University.  He has published over 50 patent applications and peer-reviewed papers in the fields of neurodegenerative disease, oncology, gene regulation and RNAi screening.