Meet the Team

Igor Balaž

Founder and CEO

Igor Balaž

Founder and CEO

Igor Balaž is the founder and CEO of Neovivum Technologies and Professor of Biophysics at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. His work rests on one idea: the evolutionary principles that let living systems adapt can be used to build artificial systems that learn, evolve and improve themselves.

Trained in biology (BSc), microbiology (MSc) and the physics of complex systems (PhD, 2011), he deliberately built a mathematical foundation for studying life as a dynamical process. He developed this further during research visits to Kobe University, Japan, with Professor Yukio-Pegio Gunji. He has since published more than 50 scientific works spanning artificial life, evolutionary computation and computational cancer research.

Igor has coordinated three EU-funded projects worth over €7M in total: EVO-NANO and PACE, on evolutionary design of cancer nanomedicine, and BioMeld, on biohybrid machines. In 2023 he received a US Office of Naval Research grant to develop evolvable digital metacognitive agents. That same year he founded Neovivum to turn his research into clinical impact. He conceived CancerScan, a €3M EIC Pathfinder project, in which Neovivum and European partners are developing a smart pathology scanner that builds patient-specific tumour digital twins to predict therapy response in pancreatic cancer. In 2026, CancerScan advanced in the EMA Breakthrough Medical Device designation pathway. Neovivum is also a partner in ABIGAIL4D, an EIC Pathfinder project developing generative AI to forecast how breast cancer evolves.

Igor keeps his academic post for rigor and freedom of inquiry, and leads Neovivum to turn ideas into impact for patients, clinicians, and researchers.

Marija Bukurov Cvetković

Research Development & Communications Coordinator

Marija Bukurov Cvetković

Research Development & Communications Coordinator

Marija Bukurov is a biologist and science communication professional with extensive experience in life sciences, research dissemination, and innovation management.

From 2022 to 2026, she served as Impact Coordinator of the Horizon Europe BioMeld project, leading communication, dissemination, and stakeholder engagement activities. She also has a long-standing career as a scientific translator, editor, and content writer, collaborating with researchers and healthcare professionals across biology, medicine, psychology, and environmental sciences.

Marija is passionate about translating complex scientific concepts into clear and engaging narratives and is particularly interested in the application of artificial intelligence and computational biology to precision medicine.

Koushika Rajasekharan

Bioinformatics Specialist / Systems Biologist

Koushika Rajasekharan

Bioinformatics Specialist / Systems Biologist

Koushika R specialises in life sciences and immuno-oncology. With over 4 years of experience, she focuses on integrating and analysing clinical and multi-omics data, applying machine learning and biostatistics to uncover insights to support cancer treatment decisions.

Academically, Koushika holds a Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology, complemented by a Post Graduate Diploma in Data Science in Health and Climate Change for Social Impact. Her technical expertise spans Python, R, scRNA-seq analysis, biomarker discovery, NGS pipelines, and bioinformatics data interpretation.

Throughout her career, she has worked across a broad spectrum of data science challenges in oncology. She has built predictive models using multi-hospital clinical data, performed TNBC subtype classification, analyzed RNA-seq and NanoString cohort data, developed Python-based assay automation tools, and conducted NGS analysis using GeoMx DSP tools and R-based pipelines. She has also applied machine learning algorithms to cohort classification, curated cancer-specific gene libraries, and independently developed reproducible scRNA-seq workflows that integrate tools such as Seurat, Scanpy, CellTypist, and DESeq2 for tumour microenvironment analysis.

A contributing author in Nature Communications, she has supported research on tumor-immune interactions in head and neck cancer. Driven by a deep commitment to improving cancer patient outcomes, Koushika brings scientific rigour, technical depth, and a passion for translating complex biological data into meaningful therapeutic insights.

Anshul Kamboj

Data Scentist

Anshul Kamboj

Data Scentist

Anshul Kamboj is a bioinformatician with over three years of experience working with next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, including RNA-seq and ctDNA datasets. Her work has involved NGS data analysis, bioinformatics workflow development, and data visualisation for biological and clinical datasets. She has experience with Python, R, R Shiny, Bash, Linux, and commonly used bioinformatics tools.

During her professional career, Anshul has developed and executed NGS data processing workflows using Snakemake, Docker, and AWS, and has worked on RNA-seq analysis, variant detection and annotation, and downstream analysis of high-throughput sequencing data. She has also worked with public genomic resources such as GEO and TCGA and applied approaches including differential expression, pathway analysis, and survival analysis to cancer datasets, including ovarian cancer.

Michael Panebrattsev

Software Developer

Michael Panebrattsev

Software Developer

Michael Panebrattsev is a software developer with more than two decades of experience in software engineering, full-stack development, data analysis, web development, and project management. He holds a BSc in System Analysis and Management from Dubna State University, Russia, and an MSc in Bioinformatics from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Michael began his career at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, where he worked as a software engineer for 20 years. In parallel, he has been active in software and web development and project management through InterGraphics LLC since 2009. His professional background also includes 3.5 years’ experience at Google as an IT, data and analysis engineer, as well as 2.5 years as a leading full-stack developer role at Focus Innovations in Liverpool, England.

Since 2024, Michael has been working as a software engineer with the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, and contributes to Neovivum’s technology development. His combined expertise in software engineering, bioinformatics, data systems, and web technologies supports the development of advanced computational tools for biomedical research and predictive biology.

Ana Firanj Sremac

Research scientist

Ana Firanj Sremac

Research scientist

Dr. Ana Firanj Sremac is a researcher specializing in multiphysics modeling and complex system simulations. Her expertise centers on developing and implementing advanced numerical models for coupled physical processes, with particular emphasis on environmental systems.

She has pioneered innovative approaches to computational modeling that integrate multiple physical domains and spatial scales, demonstrating the practical applications of digital twin concepts in environmental science.

Her work in high-resolution modeling has advanced understanding of complex physical interactions, while her background in meteorological analysis provides valuable context for environmental applications. Her expertise extends to digital twinning concepts in climate science, high-resolution environmental modeling, and FAIR data principles.

Marina Kovačević

Research scientist

Marina Kovačević

Research scientist

Marina Kovačević is a Research Associate at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, where she also received her B.Sc. in Biochemistry, M.Sc. in Chemistry, and Ph.D. in Physical/Theoretical Chemistry with a focus on multiscale modeling of biological systems.

Her research spans computational modeling of nanoparticle drug delivery systems, cancer digital twins, and biohybrid robotics, with contributions to multiple European H2020 projects. She also led the Human Digital Twin project.

Alongside her research, Marina is active in the broader innovation ecosystem as Chapter Leader at the Serendipity Collective and Scientific Advisor at IdeatePlus.

Kevin D'Silva

External associate - Serendipity Collective Ventures

Kevin D'Silva

External associate - Serendipity Collective Ventures

Kev is the founder of Ideateplus and Nestlé’s employee-driven innovation program (InGenius).

Ten years as a serial intrapreneur within a complex corporate landscape resulted in insights that helped inspire others to kick-start or persevere in their enterprise innovation journey. His latest endeavor, Ideateplus provides a rapid innovation process that accelerates an organization’s ability to achieve customer-validated experiments, while developing the competence of their employees. Ideateplus provides tangible results to enterprise innovation while creating a functionally diverse and fun learning environment.

The Serendipity Collective™ is a platform to explore the potential for a future reimagined. We are not looking to solve the problems of today or tomorrow. Instead, we are building a platform that allows futuristic ideas, agnostic to an application, an opportunity to mature, envision, dream up, and not merely disrupt the status quo—but to transcend the limits of our imagination.

Irena Milobratović

External Associate - Regulatory and Clinical Translation

Irena Milobratović

External Associate - Regulatory and Clinical Translation

Irena Milobratovic is a pharmacist and certified regulatory affairs professional, founder, advisor, and partner, driven by a core belief: regulatory is a force for innovation, not just a framework for compliance.

With over 20 years' experience in the (bio)pharmaceutical and medtech sectors, and more than 15 of those in regulatory affairs, she has supported companies in bringing their products to patients from the early development stage, through marketing authorisation, to lifecycle maintenance across different jurisdictions, focused on, but not limited to, the EU and the US.

Her current focus is on regulatory science and clinical translation solutions within the complex innovation landscape, where both sectors converge: pharma or biotech, and medtech or healthtech. Irena brings deep expertise in regulatory strategy, clinical translation, and marketing authorisation across jurisdictions, helping organizations navigate regulatory and clinical complexity while accelerating pathways to patient access. She is known within her professional network as a trusted partner who transforms regulatory challenges into strategic innovation opportunities.

Irena embraces her multifaceted identity as a mother, wife, daughter, friend, refugee, immigrant, and returnee to her homeland. She is also an Estonian e-resident, devoted to building inclusive, empowered communities within the life science sector. She has served the regulatory community as a long-time RAPS volunteer, author, speaker, and committee member, contributing to regulatory education and evolving thought leadership in the field.

Meet the Team

Igor Balaž

Marija Bukurov Cvetković

Koushika Rajasekharan

Anshul Kamboj

Ana Firanj Sremac

Marina Kovačević

Kevin D'Silva

Irena Milobratović

Transforming precision medicine through AI-powered computational biology

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