Insightful visits to this year's Science2Start award winners with VOELKER & Partner
This year's on-site visits to the Science2Start prizewinners once again provided exciting insights into the winners' current projects. This personal exchange helps to learn about the progress of the projects at first hand and to offer targeted support for the next steps. The winners' ideas form an important basis for future development in the life sciences.
Award ceremony with professional support
VOELKER & Partner is a long-standing sponsor of the Science2Start competition and supports the winners not only with legal issues, but also with a cash prize. Rahel Bleis and Sophia Wolf from BioRegio STERN and Dr Christian Lindemann and Dr Ulrike Brucklacher from VOELKER & Partner visited the University Eye Hospital Tübingen and the University of Tübingen. The prizewinners themselves presented their projects in detail once again in order to discuss concrete plans for the future and concretise topics for the advocacy hours they had won.
The winners and their innovative ideas
The winners of this year's competition were among the winners visited:
- 2nd place: Dr Sven Schnichels and Dr Jose Hurst with their project ‘REVeyeVE’
Their project focusses on the development of controllable and degradable nanopropellers that are specially designed for ocular gene therapy. This technology promises to fundamentally revolutionise the treatment of eye diseases and offer more precise, more efficient therapy options.
2nd place „REVeyeVE“: f.l.t.r. Rahel Bleis, Dr. Jose Hurst, Dr. Sven Schnichels, Dr. Ulrike Brucklacher, Sophia Wolf, Dr. Christian Lindemann
/ Copyright: Rahel Bleis/ BioRegio STERN Management GmbH
Team of „REVeyeVE“ present their idea again.
/ Copyright: Rahel Bleis/ BioRegio STERN Management GmbH- 3rd place: Dr Latifa Zekri with her project ‘Virus neutraliser’
Dr Zekri and her team are working on the development of an ACE2-M fusion protein as a potential therapeutic against SARS-CoV-2. This research aims to create a new approach for the treatment of COVID-19 and future pandemic viruses.
3rd place ‘Virus neutralizer’: from left to right Dr Christian Lindemann, Dr Rolf Hecker, Dr Ulrike Brucklacher, Dr Latifa Zekri, Sophia Wolf, Rahel Bleis
/ Copyright: Rahel Bleis/ BioRegio STERN Management GmbH
Dr Latifa Zekri cuts the cake at VOELKER & Partner.
/ Copyright: Rahel Bleis/ BioRegio STERN Management GmbHLooking to the future: licensing and implementation
In addition to congratulations and getting to know each other, the focus was also on technical topics. The next steps for the further development of the projects were discussed. These included questions on licensing, possible collaborations and the legal framework for a successful market launch. The five free lawyer hours provided by VOELKER & Partner represent valuable support for the award winners in overcoming legal hurdles and making the best possible use of the opportunities for commercialisation.
A sign of the region's innovative strength
Every year, the Science2Start ideas competition organised by BioRegio STERN Management GmbH honours innovative knowledge- or technology-based products, processes or services from the life sciences. The cooperation between BioRegio STERN, VOELKER & Partner and the award winners is a prime example of how pioneering research and entrepreneurial expertise can be brought together to get ground-breaking ideas off the ground.
The visits to the winners not only emphasised the importance of the projects, but also showed how important the support of experts from industry, law and science is for the success of such promising approaches. We can look forward to seeing what further successes the award winners will achieve in the coming years.
BioRegio STERN Management GmbH