Interview 6 May 2019 2019 Will Be a “Year of Realism” for Biotech Investments Biotech investors regularly jump on new crazes, including the microbiome and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. At BIO-Europe Spring 2019, Regina Hodits, Managing Partner at German VC firm Wellington Partners Life Sciences, spoke to us about the firm’s realistic approach to biotech investment. Biotechnology is an industry with high risks and high rewards. Before a medical biotech […] May 6, 2019 - 6 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 1 May 2019 What’s Driving the Boom in Early Stage Biotech Funding? The biotech industry is seeing a massive increase in the amount of funding available to early-stage research. At Bio Europe Spring, we spoke to Nerida Scott, VP of New Ventures and Transactions at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, to learn more about what’s behind it. In the last five years, the total invested in seed and […] May 1, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 25 Apr 2019 European Biotechnology in 2019 and Beyond: What’s Hot and What’s Not? We spend a lot of time focusing on specific developments in biotechnology, but sometimes it’s good to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. With this in mind, I asked three experts at our recent Refresh event in Vienna to share what is hot in European biotech right now and what trends […] April 25, 2019 - 11 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 17 Apr 2019 What Does the Future Hold for European Biotech? Insights from Evotec’s CEO As the CEO of Evotec, one of Europe’s largest biotech companies, Werner Lanthaler is in a unique position to look into the future of the biotech industry. At Labiotech Refresh in Vienna, Lanthaler shared his views on where the industry is headed — and how to stay ahead of the game. The last decade has […] April 17, 2019 - 7 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 8 Apr 2019 Francis Mojica, the Spanish Scientist Who Discovered CRISPR Contrary to popular belief, Francis Mojica was the first person to discover the CRISPR mechanism and give it its name. He told me how the discovery came about, discussed the wide potential of the gene editing tool and shared his favorite CRISPR application. You’ve likely heard of CRISPR/Cas9, a gene editing tool that has taken […] April 8, 2019 - 11 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 1 Apr 2019 Chasing the Holy Grail of Cell Therapy Biotech entrepreneur Darrin Disley, ex-CEO and co-founder of the successful Cambridge gene editing biotech Horizon Discovery, has a new quest — creating the perfect cell therapy. He spoke to me about his position as CEO of new biotech Mogrify and why he thinks now is a good time to get into cell therapy. Following the […] April 1, 2019 - 7 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 20 Mar 2019 Unlocking the Potential of Fast DNA Synthesis While the price and speed of reading DNA have dropped massively, writing DNA fast and affordably still remains a challenge. Philip talked to Sylvain Gariel, COO of the French company DNA Script, who strives to reinvent DNA synthesis. DNA has become a basic necessity in any biology lab. Thanks to new technologies we can now […] March 20, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 11 Mar 2019 The Man Behind Next-Generation Sequencing Nick McCooke shares the story behind the invention of next-generation sequencing at Solexa and his latest adventure in the sequencing world with the company DNA Electronics. Nick McCooke led the pioneer team at Solexa that invented next-generation sequencing, a technology to read DNA at high speed that is nowadays used worldwide and has laid the […] March 11, 2019 - 9 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 27 Feb 2019 How to Make Cancer Drug Resistance Futile For many solid tumors, treatments undergo a cycle: the drugs initially work well, the tumor shrinks, but then becomes resistant again. Stefanie Flückiger-Mangual, CEO of the Swiss biotech Tolremo, believes that this cycle can be stopped. Solid tumors often act like a recurring villain in a TV series. Whatever drug you throw at them, however […] February 27, 2019 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 21 Feb 2019 Why an International, Diverse Outlook is Key for Modern Biotechs In a world that is becoming ever more connected, it is important to embrace globalization and diversity in order to get ahead. This is increasingly more important in biotech companies, according to Andreas Schmidt, CEO of Proteona, who I spoke to at our recent Labiotech Refresh event in Heidelberg. Schmidt is an expert on the […] February 21, 2019 - 6 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 13 Feb 2019 Embracing Risk to Succeed in Biotech Biotech can be a very risky business, but embracing the risk can be the key to success. At our last Labiotech Refresh in Heidelberg, we got to talk to Friedrich von Bohlen, scientist, entrepreneur and investor, about how he approaches risk and what he thinks about the future of biotech. Friedrich von Bohlen is the […] February 13, 2019 - 6 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 23 Jan 2019 Tackling the Complexity of the Gut Microbiome for Better Treatments An imbalance in gut microbe species is linked with gastrointestinal disease. Philip talked with the CEO and co-founder of the Swiss startup PharmaBiome, Tomas de Wouters, about the complexity of rebalancing the gut microbiome in these conditions. The microbiome is a hugely complex ecosystem of microbes living all around the body. Different parts of the […] January 23, 2019 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email