BioInnovator Spotlight

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are revolutionizing almost every field. Drug discovery - the process of identifying druggable targets and potential therapeutic compounds - is a long, costly, and often laborious process wherein researchers may sift through thousands of therapeutic candidates for a target looking for a hit. After many decades of experimentation, millions of data points on targets and therapeutic compounds exist for all kinds of disease indications. This is far too much information for even a top team of humans to interpret, but can artificial intelligence algorithms make sense of it all to improve the drug discovery process? In this episode of BioInnovator Spotlight, we speak with Ségolène Martin, CEO and co-founder of Kantify, a company using AI technology to improve drug discovery in a variety of fields such as oncology and neuromuscular disorders.

Mammalian cell culture is difficult to scale up. Many cell types do not grow well in suspension and preferably attach to surfaces like the bottom of their flasks. Currently, researchers examine this growth manually and culture cells by hand in specialized cell culture flasks. Cell culture is critical in many fields of research, from healthcare to future food technology, and scaling this technique using automated processes is the holy grail of manufacturing cell-based products that are both affordable and high-quality. Unicorn Biotechnologies was founded by Adam Glen and Jack Reid to take on this challenge. In this episode of BioInnovator Spotlight, Adam and Jack tell us what motivated them to enter the world of automation, how they met at Entrepreneur First, and what they hope to achieve with Unicorn in the coming year.

Alternative meat products are a simple answer to the challenge of sustainably feeding a growing population worldwide. These foods, often made from plants and fungi, mimic existing familiar meat products like steak and fish fillets, but often lack the same taste, mouthfeel, and even some health benefits of the real deal. Upstream Foods is addressing this issue head-on by creating cultivated fat cells from fish. These cells can be used as an ingredient in alternative fish products, providing healthy omega-3 fatty acids as well as the taste and feel of real fish. We speak with Upstream's co-founder and CEO, Kianti Figler, about her journey from biology to food technology, why she founded the company, and the challenges she faces as a founder today.

Chronic wounds affect over 156 million people worldwide. These are skin wounds that fail to heal or heal slowly but recur. Common causes may include burns, trauma, infection, and cancer, and they can be exacerbated by underlying medical conditions like diabetes. While several technologies are available to treat the myriad types of chronic wounds, the field remains poorly understood. Healiva is working on a personalised approach to chronic wound treatment with a pipeline involving several of these technologies. In this episode, I speak to Priyanka Dutta-Passecker, CEO and founder of the Switzerland-based biotech. We chat about her journey from India to Europe and why she founded Healiva to help patients.

Age-related illnesses have a dramatic impact on quality of life as global populations continue to grow older. Among these conditions, bone health has a significant impact as deterioration can lead to disability and lengthy rehabilitation in the elderly, particularly those who suffer from osteoporosis. Currently, osteoporosis and similar conditions can only be diagnosed using the DEXA bone mineral density scan, which uses radiation. Now, ultrasound technology may open up a new method that improves upon the gold-standard diagnosis. In this episode of BioInnovator Spotlight, we talk to Julia Eschenbrenner, CEO of PoroUS, which is using ultrasound technology to observe the microstructure of a patient's bone surface to determine its health. She also shares her journey into life science and why she decided to take on the CEO role.

Cancer therapies such as chemo and radiotherapy can be extremely aggressive but, for many patients and their clinicians, preserving quality of life is a major factor in choosing their treatment. Today, there are few in-depth diagnostic methods that can distinguish aggressive tumours - which require intense treatment - from mild tumours. DoMore Diagnostics is developing technology that analyses tumour tissue to help determine which patients will benefit from additional therapy. In this episode, we speak to CEO and co-Founder about his journey from consulting firm McKinsey to DoMore Diagnostics.

Thousands of patients require heart valve surgery each year as a result of calcification. Currently, only surgical heart valve replacements are available as treatments - the two major options each having their own drawbacks - and surgical intervention in an often elderly patient group carries further risk. Additionally, the cost of these surgeries on healthcare systems is extremely high and is expected to increase as the global population ages. But what if there was a non-surgical option, such as a drug that prevented calcification in the first place? Arsenii Zabirnyk leads the Calinhib project which is searching for just that, molecules that block heart valve calcification, using cell biology and artificial intelligence (AI). In this episode, we discuss Arsenii's journey as a researcher from Ukraine to Norway and now from an academic to an entrepreneur. We also talk about the Calinhib project, supported by SPARK Norway, and its aims to support this growing patient population.

While many diseases are now known to have genetic components, many of the specific mutations involved are unknown in 60-70% of patients. Our DNA contains vast non-coding regions that Uirá Melo likens to dark matter in the universe - we know it's there but what does it do in these diseases? Now, thanks to new technologies in genome sequencing, he is working at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin to sort through this DNA dark matter from an array of patients. In this Episode, Uirá explains his work illuminating the darkness in DNA and how he decided to become an entrepreneur on his journey from Brazil to Berlin.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) has been characterised for many years, not just as a disease, but as a syndrome. It affects different phases of the immune system from the brain to the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system. Throughout the life of an MS patient, the disease has different phases. The most common is the relapsing-remitting stage, usually followed by the secondary progressive stage of multiple sclerosis. Most of the drugs on the market target the relapsing-remitting stage to decrease the number of relapses, but there is a huge need to target the progressive stages when demyelination occurs. In this episode, we talk to Antonis Katsoulas, a PhD student at the University of Zurich who is leading the Innunity project investigating treatments for MS. He tells us about his journey juggling both entrepreneurship and his PhD studies, and how he hopes to make a real difference for later-stage MS patients.

Nearly 900 million women worldwide use reversible contraception, but finding the right method can be difficult. One-third of women stop using contraception due to varying side effects caused by different methods. This challenge requires determining which side effects an individual can tolerate. Contraception is used to treat specific symptoms in many women, such as heavy bleeding and acne. These patients may also have underlying conditions like PCOS or endometriosis that need treatment. Elena Rueda co-founded Dama Health to help patients understand their needs, goals, and risks when using hormonal contraceptives in order to find them a better treatment match. Elena shares her journey from the lab to founding Dama Health and why she is motivated to impact women's health.

Measuring brain activity is a challenge in neuroscience. Unlike other medical fields, we can't directly measure the brain. This makes it difficult to develop drugs and determine their effectiveness. Objective measurements are needed to improve treatment decisions for patients. Improving neuroscience measurements could benefit drug development. Pharmaceutical companies prefer precedents, but personalised treatments for similar patient subgroups may be more effective for brain-related conditions. Dr Jenny Barnett co-founded Monument Therapeutics, a spin-out of Cambridge Cognition where she served as Chief Scientific Officer, focusing on developing personalised therapeutics for these underserved patient subgroups. In this episode, she tells us about her journey from psychology to CEO and we discuss the major unmet needs in the field of neuroscience.

Cell and gene therapies have effectively treated complex indications such as leukaemia. Despite their proven results, the high production cost and lengthy manufacturing time prevent all patients from benefitting from these remarkable technologies. ImmTune Therapies is building a platform that allows for the in-patient generation of cell and gene therapies, radically increasing the potency and reach of these therapies to all the patients who need them by using novel delivery vectors. Dr Bakul Gupta talks about her story as a founder and how she co-founded ImmTune with Dr George Tetley.

Many neurological diseases share similar symptoms, making correct diagnosis difficult and impacting the treatment of patients. While Alzheimer's Disease has made advancements in its diagnostic criteria becoming more based on biology, Parkinson's Disease and other neurological conditions lag behind and remain diagnosed mainly based on clinical presentation. Dr Ruiqing Ni is leading the NeuroPAT project, a collaboration between the University Hospital Zurich, ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, the University Hospital Bern, and the University of Aachen. They aim to develop a biological definition of neurological diseases, detecting molecular changes in the brain, which will help detect and treat the disease.

Preterm infants are uniquely at risk due to a lack of glucose deposits in their tissue compared to full-term infants. However, monitoring blood glucose is currently only possible by taking blood samples - a process limited to once per several hours due to their low blood volume. The Gluckli Project hopes to make a substantial difference for at-risk preterm infants. The Gluckli team is developing a non-invasive tool to continuously monitor blood glucose levels of preterm infants using microfluidics technology. The Gluckli project is based out of the University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich, and led by Dr Aldo Di Costanzo Mata, an Entrepreneur Fellow at the University of Zurich. He talks to us about his journey from Mexico to Switzerland and becoming a founder.

Cancer treatment has come a long way in recent decades, but a significant portion of patients remain unresponsive to traditional treatments and novel immunotherapies. Personalised cell therapy may be a new option in treating these patients. Persomed is developing such a platform targeting cancer patients and the company is led by Dr Lien Lybaert. She discusses her journey to the CEO role, Persomed's work on the platform, and her challenges raising funds for their first clinical trial.

Point-of-care imaging is a massive area of unmet need for patients. When neurosurgeon Dr Jinendra Ekanayake first met one of his co-founders, Tim Constandinou, as a PhD student, they found a shared interest in brain-computer interfaces. As years went by, their conversations on the overlap between electronics and biology became ideas about developing surgical innovations to address this unmet need for handheld surgical tools and integrating them with the next generation. Jinendra shares his story of co-founding Quetz at Imperial College London, and the challenges he faces in developing new tools and attracting funding in today's difficult environment. As always, our guest recommends an inspirational book for other founders.

Michael Hunt is CEO of the Imperial College London-based start-up NK:IO. In this episode, he tells us about his journey from accounting into the life sciences and how he became involved in the cell therapy space. We discuss the challenges facing innovative start-ups like NK:IO in this competitive field and why their technology presents a unique solution to fighting solid tumours. Michael also shares his reasons for taking on the CEO role in an early-stage company where risk is prevalent.

Aslak Christiansen is the co-founder of Myco4Food a new company based at the BII in Copenhagen, Denmark. We discuss the future of food, sustainability, and the challenge of plant-based products for meeting nutritional needs - and why fungi may be the answer. Aslak also discusses his motivations for becoming a founder and putting a PhD on hold. As always, we ask him for a book recommendation (or two!) that made an impact on his journey so far.

In today's episode, we speak with Dr Emiel Michiels, Entrepreneur in Residence at VIB in Belgium. He discusses his journey to found a company and the translation of his academic research on protein aggregation to practical therapeutic use. Protein aggregation diseases occur when clumps of protein are deposited in specific organs. Two of the most widely known are Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease, caused by protein aggregation in the brain, but there are several rarer diseases caused by a similar phenomenon. Emiel's future company aims to investigate if its technology can impact these aggregates and create a beneficial effect for patients.

Dr Alain Segers discusses his journey into life science which took him into medical devices and setting up his own consultancy. We also talk about why he decided to become a founder now and return to the therapeutics space. Alain joined the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie in Belgium as an entrepreneur in residence and is currently working on starting a company. His focus will be on proteins and he hopes to incorporate new developments in artificial intelligence in the protein biology space.