10 EUROPEAN SCIENTISTS WHO HAVE CO-FOUNDED BIOTECH

COMPANIES BY WEI GAROFOLO

Life has always been known to move s lower in Europe

-- especial ly in regards to academic, sc ient i f ic , and

technological advances. However, in spite of this

perceived lag, there are st i l l ample inspir ing

examples of thr iv ing research in the Li fe Sciences

f ie ld. Here are a l ist of scholars who have helped

shape European Biotech into what i t is today:

EMMANUELLE CHARPENTIERA co-discoverer of CRISPR (c lustered regular ly

interspaced short pal indromic repeats) , Emmanuel le

is current ly the director of the Max Planck Inst i tute

for Infect ion Biology, as wel l as the recipient of

several pr izes for her work -- which has a global

reach and impact .  

However, Emmanuel le is a lso accredited for co-

founding ERS Genomics, which l icenses her

intel lectual property pertaining to CRISPR.

GREGOIRE COURTINECourt ine is both a scient ist and an entrepreneur.

Current ly , he is the lab director of the Center for

Neuroprosthet ics and Brain Mind Inst i tute at the

Swiss Federal Inst i tute of Technology (EPFL) , as wel l

as the CSO of G-Therapeutics , a company based both

in Switzerland and the Netherlands that is test ing

technologies to aid paralyzed pat ients walk again.  

LUIGI NALDINI Naldini is credited with enhancing gene transfers by

introducing lent iv iral vectors, which are now a widely

used tool in both emerging therapeutics and

biomedical research.  

Current ly , Naldini is the director of the San Raffaele

Telethon Inst i tute for Gene Therapy, as wel l as a

founder of Genenta, a company that is a part of the

scient i f ic board of US company Magenta

Therapeutics.

JENS NIELSEN With an astounding 400 publ ished academic papers

and several awards under his belt , Nielsen is now a

professor at Chaimers University of Technology in

Gothenburg, Sweden, as wel l as the CSO of Novo

Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainabi l i ty .

Nielsen is a lso known for founding several biotech

companies, including Fluxome Sciences, MycoTeQ,

MetaboGen, and Biopetrol ia .

MATHIAS UHLÉN Boast ing over 500 publ ished scient i f ic art ic les, Uhlén

now teaches courses in Microbiology and

Biotechnology at both the Royal Inst i tute of

Technology and the Technical University of Denmark.

Along with his extensive academic and scient i f ic

success, Uhlén is a lso credited with co-

founding Biotage, Aff ibody and At las Ant ibodies, as

wel l as s i t t ing on the boards of  Novozymes and

SweTree Technologies.

PHILIPP BECKHOVE Current ly , Beckhove is the director of

the Regensburg Center of Intervent ional Immunology

at University of Regensburg, Germany.

Seeing as much of his t ime is dedicated to

researching translat ional medicine to aid in cancer

treatment development, i t is no surprise that his

entrepreneurial work is a long the same vein.

Beckhove founded and is now the Chairman of iOmx,

an immuno-oncology Biotech.

DUSKO EHRLICH Ehrl ich is current ly the a Research Director at the

French National Inst i tute for Agricultural Research. In

this posit ion, he has coordinated large projects such

as MetaHIT and MetaGenopol is , as wel l as pioneered

research in microbial genet ics and and the

microbiome. 

He also co-founded Enterome in 2012, a Microbiome-

focused company now entering c l in ical tr ia ls .

MARK LOWDELL Lowdel l is the director of   the Cel lular Therapy at the

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust , as wel l as

a professor of Cel l and Tissue Therapy at the

University Col lege London. 

Addit ional ly , Lowdel l co-founded Achi l les

Therapeutics , which is current ly developing

personal ized therapies for metastat ic cancer.  

GREG WINTER A pioneer in the development of humanizat ion

techniques and avid researcher of the early history

of monoclonal ant ibodies, Winter is lovingly referred

to as the "Grandfather of Biotechnology."  

Given Winter 's extensive experience, i t should come

as no surprise that he launched one of the most

successful Biotechs ever: Cambridge Ant ibody

Technology, which was acquired by AstraZeneca for

over $700 mil l ion in 2006. Addit ional ly , he co-

founded Domantis , as wel l as Bicycle Therapeutics.

LUKE O’NEILL O'Nei l l is current ly a professor of Biochemistry at the

Tr inity Col lege Dubl in, where he is conduct ing

research on immunity and inf lammation.

In the past , he has identi f ied targets for drugs and

vaccines, f i led patents surrounding his research, and

co-founded Opsona Therapeutics. More recently ,

O'Nei l l co-founded Inf lazome, an early stage

pharmaceutical company developing targeted

therapies for inf lammatory diseases.

THANK YOU!