The ChemCell project from IOCB gained attention at the Prague.bio conference
The Prague.bio Conference 2024, which took place on 24 September in Prague, welcomed 300 attendees, including scientists, biotechnology experts, and innovators from all over the world. The interest that the event had already registered last year was confirmed and even increased. Biotechnology, as one of the key technologies of the future, has its place and room for further development in the Czech Republic. The ChemCell project of Milan Vrábel's team from IOCB Prague was also presented at the conference and earned third place among the start-up presentations.
This year's event focused more on technology transfer to university spin-offs and building successful startups or industry-academia partnerships – fields with considerable growth potential.
The lectures by two experts on the transfer of intellectual property and the startup environment attracted a lot of attention this year. The conference was opened by Christian A. Stein, CEO of Ascenion GmbH, one of the largest technology transfer institutions in Germany, and founder of a several successful biotechnology companies. He spoke about the different models of IP licensing to start-ups from universities and research institutions, giving examples of models from the UK, the US and Israel, and a specific case study of Cardior, a spin-off of the Hannover Medical School, which was acquired this year by Novo Nordisk for €1.025 billion.
Another speaker was Silicon Valley expert Petr Jansa, Executive Director for Medicinal Chemistry at Biomea Fusion and co-founder of other innovative start-ups. His expertise builds on his collaboration with Professor Antonín Holý and the development of new drugs at Gilead Sciences. His presentation focused on the key drivers of innovation that are currently driving the world of biotechnology in Silicon Valley.
The conference offered a showcase of 12 biotech startups from the CEE region. The expert jury then selected the 3 best presentations. First place went to the Polish company nCage Therapeutics, which is developing technology for the creation of new types of vaccines. The jury selected the presentation of the Czech startup LAM-X as the 2nd best, in which they presented its antimicrobial nanotextile for wound dressings, significantly reducing the risk of infection. The third place was awarded to the Czech project ChemCell from the IOCB Prague, whose team led by Milan Vrábel is developing cellular immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer.
Prague.bio
The Prague.bio Conference is organized by Prague.bio association which was founded in August 2023 with the aim of developing the biotechnology segment in the wider Prague region. The association connects important actors in the public, private and academic spheres and promotes the region as a biotechnology hub on the map of Europe. Members of Prague.bio are the Institute of Biotechnology of the CAS, Bristol Myers Squibb, dubanska & co., i&i Prague, Kapaji, MCB Lab, Institute of Microbiology of the CAS, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the CAS, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS, University of Chemical Technology in Prague, Wolf Theiss and Zentiva.
