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
News and Trends 13 Feb 2019 First Plant in the Works to Turn Dairy Byproducts Into Plastics The company Glanbia Ireland is planning to construct the first industrial biorefinery that transforms dairy waste products into lactic acid, a building block for biodegradable plastics. Supported by the EU project AgriChemWhey, Glanbia Ireland plans to scale up biorefinery technology that ferments dairy waste, like whey permeate, into lactic acid, using a group of bacteria […] February 13, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 12 Feb 2019 First Industrial Plant to Turn Waste into Chemicals Will Open in France The French company Afyren has received up to €60M to commercialize a technology that uses bacteria to produce industrial chemicals from recycled plant waste instead of fossil fuels. Afyren takes sugars from the waste byproducts of agriculture, food, and other industries, and ferments the sugars into industrial chemicals using bacteria. With this new funding, the […] February 12, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Inside Labiotech 12 Feb 2019 Why We Love Being the Main Media Partner of BIO-Europe We love partnering with cool people and companies—in return, we get to be in the middle of the action, get our name out there, and bring you all the very best of the events we attend. One of our favorite partnerships is with EBD Group, which are running BIO-Europe. Here’s why we love partnering with […] February 12, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Philip Hemme Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Feb 2019 Series A to Fund Therapy That Exposes Cancer to Immune System The UK biotech Grey Wolf Therapeutics has raised €11.4M (£10M) to fuel the development of a cancer therapy that flushes tumor cells out of hiding from the immune system. Many approved cancer immunotherapies, such as CAR-T cell therapy and checkpoint inhibitors, have made a big difference for many people with cancer. However, a common problem with […] February 11, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 11 Feb 2019 CRISPR: One Patent to Rule Them All The gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 has revolutionized research in biology. With several parties fighting for the rights to the technology’s intellectual property, how difficult is it for third parties to access this coveted technology? The CRISPR patent dispute is quite unique. While universities usually work together to disseminate innovation and knowledge, in the CRISPR case […] February 11, 2019 - 5 minutesmins - By Timothé Cynober Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 8 Feb 2019 This Biotech Uses Genomics to Breed Super Peas This week’s biotech, Equi-Nom, is based in Israel. With its genomics and computer modeling technology, the company helps plant producers to breed pulses that contain more protein without any genetic modification. Mission: To boost the protein content in pulses, such as peas, without editing their DNA. Instead, the company speeds up traditional breeding by […] February 8, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 8 Feb 2019 Swiss Firm Launches Cancer Test That Gives Results in Minutes Lunaphore Technologies has launched a device for automated testing of cancer tissue samples that gives results in under 30 minutes. Lunaphore has developed a piece of next-generation equipment to perform immunohistochemistry (IHC) tests, a common technique used to find specific cancer biomarkers in tissue samples from cancer patients after a biopsy. The equipment, called LabSat, will […] February 8, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 Feb 2019 Anti-CRISPR Proteins Could Improve Gene Editing Precision A research group in Denmark has found proteins in gut and soil microbes that can inhibit the action of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, a finding that could help to control the technology with more precision and less risk. Bacteria and viruses have fought an evolutionary arms race for millions of years. Bacteria evolved CRISPR systems to […] February 8, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 6 Feb 2019 British Biotech Spin-Offs Get €40M Funding to Treat Narcolepsy Orexia and Inexia, two new virtual companies spun out of Sosei Heptares, will develop drugs for neurological diseases such as narcolepsy with funding from Medicxi Ventures. The companies will develop drugs that activate two molecules called OX1 and OX2. These molecules act as receptors of orexin, a protein that regulates arousal, wakefulness and sleep. The […] February 6, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 6 Feb 2019 Combo of Immunotherapy and Diabetes Drug Could Beat Breast Cancer A Finnish research group has combined two cancer drugs with the diabetes drug metformin, making mice with breast cancer survive for longer than when given the treatments individually. The combination therapy included metformin, which can inhibit tumor growth; the cancer drug venetoclax, which causes cancer cells to commit suicide; and a checkpoint inhibitor antibody, which […] February 6, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 6 Feb 2019 Engineered Chicken Eggs: The Future of Cheap Drug Production? Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have produced high-quality human proteins in chicken eggs, a method that could be significantly cheaper than the current standard. The researchers engineered the DNA of chickens to make them produce human proteins in the egg white, from where they can be easily purified. In a study published on the […] February 6, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email