Tell us, Martin,
Who are you?
What is your background?
I am Martin Verkuyl, Business Developer Biotech Booster here in Groningen. I am looking forward to helping the Groningen academic community with the valorization of their biomedical research.
Over 15 years ago I made the decision to focus on applied research. While I very much enjoy the fundamental research as a PhD at the University of Amsterdam, and as a post-doctoral fellow at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel Switzerland, I wanted to use my expertise to make a more direct impact on the lives of people with a disease.
In 2008, I was recruited by the Novartis institutes for Biomedical Research, in the UK. Here I was a lab head and led global drug discovery project, working with Novartis colleagues from all over the world to validate new targets, preform high through put screens, and optimize new molecules all the way up to the pre-IND phase.
In 2014 I moved back to the Netherlands to lead the Neuroscience discovery team at Nutricia Research, in Utrecht. Together with an absolutely fantastic team we explored new medical food concepts, filed several patents, collaborated with key academic experts in the Neuroscience field, initiated clinical trials and supported colleagues from the medical affairs and business unit. The last few years, I was a Program Director at Scenic Biotech in Amsterdam, overseeing the drug discovery activities of three rare disease programs based on in-house discovered targets.
What will you do at Business Generator Groningen?
As a Business Developer Biotech Booster, I will support scientist from the University of Groningen and the University Medical Center Groningen with valorization of their biomedical research. I will focus on the Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products — therapies using genes, cells or tissues — as well as biopharmaceutical such as therapeutic antibodies or peptides. Several projects in Groningen have already received funding form Biotech Booster, I will help these programs with developing a drug or product development plan and help them work out a business plan. In a later phase, I will be supporting the scale out of the project, meaning that I will helping to set up a company or out license the invention.
Biotech Booster is a national program, as such I will also be involved in valorization initiatives of other universities. Currently, we are evaluating the new Proof of Principle applications. There are many promising proposals; however unfortunately each of the 5 thematic clusters of the biotech booster can only reward 3 Proof of Principle projects. Hopefully we launch a new funding round early 2026.
What would you like to pass on to entrepreneurial researchers in the biotechnology sector?
That’s an interesting question. One of the key lessons I learned early on at Novartis is that you need to think of the end game. What do you want to offer the patients? What are their needs and how can your invention help them? Once you have defined that, you can work your way back to determine what kind of evidence you need to generate in a clinical trial to get approval, and what data will convince the regulators that your product should be accepted on to the market.
Equally importantly is understanding how to attract investors and funding agencies. What will make them interested in your work and fund you. With keeping all this in mind, you can map out what you need to do today to get where you want to be in the future.
Contact:
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