Case: Industry: Life Sciences & Health

3d-Brain Developing a bio-digital twin model of the human brain

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The EIC Pathfinder Open project ‘3D-BrAIn’ aims to revolutionize personalized precision medicine for central nervous system (CNS) disorders through development of a bio-digital twin model of the human brain. The project combines breakthrough human brain modelling technology, state-of-the-art 3D multi-electrode array technology, and a novel data analytical approach using tailored biology-inspired automated artificial intelligence (AI)-based…

EIC Transition: PacingCure developing a biological pacemaker

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Amsterdam UMC spin-off PacingCure develops platform gene transfer technologies for the heart. In the first cut-off of 2022 their project, TRACTION, was awarded the prestigious Transition grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC). TRACTION aims to establish Proof-of-Concept for BradyTx-01 – a novel gene therapy medicinal product (GTMP) for the curative treatment of life-threatening cardiac…

TargED Biopharmaceuticals: Developing the first targeted clot busting therapy

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Established in 2020, TargED Biopharmaceuticals B.V. (NL) is on a mission to accelerate thrombolysis in all forms of thrombosis – the phenomenon of blood clots blocking veins or arteries. Their lead compound, Microlyse, offers targeted and local breakdown of blood clots. Since 2020, Catalyze has collaborated on a number of successful projects with TargED, including…

ERC Starting Grant: Kai Kretzschmar’s €1.77M award to study oral cancer

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Approaching the 7-year post-PhD cut-off date for applications to the ERC Starting Grant, Dr. Kai Kretzschmar of the Mildred Scheel Early Career Centre for Cancer Research, a funding initiative of the German Cancer Aid at the University Hospital Würzburg, was awarded almost €1.77 million for his project, OralNiche. The project aims to dissect the impact…

ENPICOM: Addressing major hurdles in the antibody discovery process

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ENPICOM’s Innovatiekrediet project, “Antibody development module for immunerepertoire sequencing analysis platform”, commenced in 2020 after securing a €500K contribution from Innovatiekrediet towards the €1.2M project costs. In the project, ENPICOM leveraged their cloud software solution, the IGX Platform, to build an Antibody Discovery Module (ADM), in order to address major hurdles in the antibody discovery…

hDMT INFRA: infrastructure to bring human organ and disease models closer to application

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Driven by the success of the hDMT (Institute for human organ and Disease Model Technologies) consortium, the new not-for-profit infrastructure, hDMT INFRA, is making microphysiological systems (MPS) technology available to users, and ready for (end-) user applications. This will facilitate and boost the adoption and implementation of real-world applications of MPS-based models. Catalyze supported hDMT…

Achilles Therapeutics: Biomanufacturing platform for personalized autologous T cell therapies

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Achilles Therapeutics (UK) is pushing the frontier of personalized adoptive T cell therapies. In the first round of the 2022 EIC Pathfinder program, an Achilles-led consortium was awarded €4 million from the “Emerging technologies in cell & gene therapy” Challenge, to develop a proof-of-concept, first-in-class, smart bioprocessing manufacturing platform. We spoke with Dr Gioia Cherubini,…

LMNAcardiac.org: connecting the field to find a cure for LMNA cardiac disease

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LMNAcardiac.org is a new network for experts and patients focussed on LMNA cardiac diseases, with the aim of accelerating research and development to find effective treatments. The disease is caused by mutations in the LMNA gene, and is characterized by a high rate of major cardiac events caused by impaired contraction of the heart. Catalyze completed a…

Metriopharm’s early intervention treatment for mild-moderate COVID-19

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Metriopharm’s ‘iMPact’ project was awarded a €7.9 million grant from the COVID-19 work programme from Horizon Europe, to clinically validate MP1032, an early intervention treatment against mild-to-moderate COVID-19. Catalyze provided support to Metriopharm for their successful application and now supports iMPact as a project partner, providing project management and dissemination services. We spoke with Dr….

VarmX

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VarmX is a spin-off from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), on a mission to develop and manufacture therapeutic proteins that restore hemostasis in patients treated with anticoagulants. Catalyze recently supported their successful application for blended finance from the EIC Accelerator programme, to upscale and accelerate the manufacture of VarmX’s lead compound, VMX-C001. In October…