GeneNovate 2025: Entrepreneurship programme for gene and cell therapies

For the first time, the DKTK, together with other partners (DKFZ, H3 Health Hub, bioRN, Hei_Innovation, Health + Life Science Alliance Heidelberg Mannheim), is organizing the GeneNovate programme 2025 in Heidelberg. 

The program, which was initiated as part of the National Strategy for Gene and Cell Therapies (GCT), is coordinated centrally by the National Network Office Gene and Cell Therapies at the BIH in Berlin. GeneNovate is the first Germany-wide entrepreneurship program in the field of gene and cell therapies and started in 2023 as a pilot at three locations in Berlin, Mainz and Munich. This year the locations Heidelberg, Hanover and Dresden/Leipzig have joined the program.

The target group includes people in the early career phase, such as advanced students, doctoral candidates and postdocs, as well as experienced researchers and doctors. Participants are accompanied by various mentors and go through six modules in which they receive comprehensive information on topics such as Business Models, IP Protection, Regulation, Go to Market, Legal Foundations, Team & Project Management, Finance & Funding or Exit Options & Strategic Value. Aim of the program is to provide scientists and medical researchers with sound knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship, to support them in the development of therapies and to strengthen Germany as an innovation and business hub.
 

1st GeneNovate workshop in Heidelberg on January 28, 2025 © DKTK

From the Heidelberg region, the start-up Panosome was presented at the first workshop on January 28, 2025. Panosome is a biotech startup with a novel, proprietary platform to generate antibodies to small molecules, peptides, and proteins for a wide range of research, diagnostic, and therapeutic needs. The founders Prof. Nina Papavasiliou and Dr. Joey Verdi spoke about the founding history and the hurdles they faced when founding the startup. In the second workshop, Helge Lubenow, CEO, presented the start-up Epignostix, which specializes in DNA methylation-based tumor classification. Furthermore Dr. Alexandra Becker from DKFZ Innovation Management spoke on the topic of “IP protection and management”. In both workshops, there was a lively exchange between the participants and the invited speakers.