Latest Interview with LUMINARY: Mike G.W. de Leeuw

  Founder and CBO of InGellLabs BV

Founder and Owner of Branching Tree

Founder and CEO of OncoLize

CEO of MyLifeTechnologies BV 

“ My teachers were very stimulative, but the drive came from inside of me.” 

On December 13th during Winter’s Board Meeting in Lyon, France 🇫🇷 academic, industrial and early career scientists met to share scientific insights into their projects and challenges in drug development. 

Giovanna Lollo thank you for hosting the meeting at ISPB-Faculté de Pharmacie, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 

Board Members: Natalia Vtyurina, Jai Prakash, Koen Raemdonck, Rene Van Nostrum, Tina Vermonden, Ana Beloqui, Anne des Rieux, Giovanna Lollo thank you for presenting your progress in scientific research! 

Industrial representatives: Ajay Johni, Richard Broadhead, Dunja Sobot, Sharanya Sakar, Jacques Volckmann, Vincent Jannin thank you for providing insights into industrial challenges! 

Early Career Scientists: Annalisa Rosso, Mohamad TARHINI, Valentina Andretto, Alvja Mali, Camille Dumont thank you for helping to organise the meeting behind the scenes!  

Guest attendees: Klaas Poelstra, Eyad ALMOUAZEN, david KRYZA, Thomas Briot thank you for your contribution to the meeting!  

Precision NanoSystems Inc. acknowledgments for sponsoring the meeting!

This year 1300+ attendees were at the CRS Annual Meeting & Exposition in Valencia in the past July. Among them 49 countries represented, 75+ sponsors & exhibitors, 110+ speakers, 900+ poster presenters and 100+ received awards. Within 10 pre-meeting workshops & events there were a lot of activities organized specifically for the CRS Local Chapters allowing our Chapter to establish good communication with the Spanish-Portuguese, Italy, UKI and German Local Chapters. In one of these sessions two of our early career scientists gave an oral talk. 9 members were chosen/invited as a speaker. 4 of our early career scientists were awarded with the CRS Travel Grants. Among 10 posters from our Chapter members, 1 poster was nominated for the poster prize from the CRS Yearly Scientist Committee. During Networking Borrell of our chapter we hosted 39 members including early career scientists, assistant professors, professors and industrial representatives. In total, during this meeting we recruited 20 new members among which established connections which 10 industrial representatives and 7 companies. 

Most recently, the CRS BNLF Chapter established its Early Career Scientist Committee (ECSC): the team of six enthusiastic members who are coordinated by Roy van der Meel (Assistant Professor, Eindhoven University of Technology). The Committee is dedicated to contribute to the Chapter’s main objectives to support early career scientist members. To achieve this, the ECSC will regularly consult the Chapter’s early career scientist members to determine which opportunities and activities are most beneficial.

Examples of these activities include:

i) hosting sessions at local scientific meetings and conferences and acquiring sponsorship, fund travel grants;
ii) organizing webinars and workshops with leading scientists;
iii) creating mentorship and exchange programs, industrial internships.

We hope to grow further and welcome many more early career scientists to the Chapter. We are happy to announce our first members forming ECSC (see picture on the left).

On 16th of April the very first meeting between the Board Members of Local Chapter took place in Utrecht, the Netherlands. It has been decided that in the coming year our Local Chapter will adhere to the following two missions:

 1. Bridging industrial and academic experts in the field of drug delivery and targeting by providing them an extra opportunity to communicate with each other and stimulating collaborations and partnerships 

2. Supporting early career scientists by providing them opportunities for career growth in academia or industry and boost their professional and personal development