From research to application
All of the labs here are working on something new. Our job is to see how their research can make an impact.
Since October, Dr. Nevine Shalaby has been heading our new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Department, formerly the Technology Transfer Office. She began her career in biomedical research studying genetics and developmental biology at Boston College, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and then later at Freie University Berlin. She then shifted to industry, working first at a company focused on rare diseases, and then as a product manager at Medicover Genetics. At both companies, she worked on developing testing solutions to diagnose people with genetic predispositions in a wide range of fields including reproductive health, oncology and rare diseases. She also devised solutions to bridge company needs with their partners, and worked to ensure that company products and services met patient requirements and at the same time, advanced the companies’ objectives.
At the Max Delbrück Center, her team will advance our mission of transferring research into applications. The department aims to encourage and nurture new spin-offs and forge new industry partnerships, in line with our Strategy 2030 and the goals of the Helmholtz Association's Pact for Research and Innovation. “We will be closely looking at how our research can have more of an impact,” Shalaby says.
One of the top items on her “to do” list is to sort through patents held by Max Delbrück Center researchers. “We already have a pretty good patent portfolio in the pipeline from people who know about our office and understand the potential of their own work,” Shalaby says. Her team will be looking into which ones hold the most commercial promise and helping to guide their development into potential applications. Her department will also be visiting labs to learn about Max Delbrück research in depth, and to identify new opportunities to partner with industry.
“All of the labs here are working on something new. Our job is to see how their research can make an impact. This might be a technology platform that pharma or industry can use to create their own drugs, or it could be a new therapy that might benefit patients in some other form. Whatever it is, the sky is the limit and I am really excited about the work ahead.”
Text: Gunjan Sinha
