Bridging science and business
In early December, the Max Delbrück Center hosted a full-day partnering event to bring together scientists with industry representatives working in the predictive systems medicine space. The goal was to exchange information, to strengthen ties between our scientists and industry and to support entrepreneurship.
“To turn our discoveries into health benefits for society, we can’t do it alone,” says Professor Maike Sander, Scientific Director of the Max Delbrück Center, who kicked off the event with an introduction to the Max Delbrück center and its partner institutions. “We need the handshake with industry. This is going to be even more important as we move forward.”
Head of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Department Nevine Shalaby and Scientific Director Maike Sander from the Max Delbrück Center
During the morning sessions, investors such as High-Tech Gründerfonds and IBB Ventures introduced themselves and invited scientists to apply for funding to support their early-stage business ideas. Other companies such as Berlin Partner, BIH Clinical Incubator, and CellCo Lab presented and described the services they provide to scientists wanting to establish start-ups. In the afternoon, scientists from the Max Delbrück Center, its collaborating institutions and start-ups pitched their research opportunities for partnering. During breaks and two match-making sessions, participants had the chance to discuss potential collaboration in more detail.
“Events like this are important to learn about the opportunities available, to get to know people in the community, and understand their needs,” says Tobias Helmstorf, Project Lead at Bayer for the Berlin Center for Gene and Cell Therapies. “Things can really take off from there.”
Connections and new opportunities
As a new postdoc in the labs of Dr. Melissa Birol and Dr. Jacob Metzger, Laurent Jutras-Dubé, found the day especially insightful. Last year, both labs won a PreGoBio grant – a Max Delbrück Center funding scheme to help promising technologies reach the proof-of-concept stage. Jutras-Dubé was specifically hired to work with the researchers on further developing a high throughput drug screening method that combines brain organoids with multiple imaging modalities, assisted by AI algorithms to process data. Through the event, he connected with a few people in industry interested in the technology and has already scheduled informal meetings to further explore partnering opportunities.
“I came to the Max Delbrück Center with an interest in entrepreneurship. The contacts I made at the partnering event will hopefully be the stepping stone we need to move this project forward,” he adds.
Benefits cut both ways
Such events don’t only provide a chance for scientists to connect with industry – building networks works both ways. “Opportunities like these enable us to learn more about the research that is going on right here on campus,” says Andreas Hüser, CEO of CheckImmune, a spin-off of the Charité Universitätsmedizin-Berlin located in the BioCube on campus Buch. “We chatted with representatives of other companies and researchers to see how we might be able to collaborate locally, or move our business in new directions.”
One primary objective outlined in the Max Delbrück Center Strategy 2030 is to translate our research into clinical impact. Forging closer ties to industry and aligning our research with their needs helps our center move closer toward that goal, says Dr. Nevine Shalaby, Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “Collaboration with industry helps us learn how to find the discovery that will make an impact on society and what types of experiments we should be doing to take our research to the next level.”
The event was supported by Berlin Partner for Business and Technology.
Text: Gunjan Sinha
