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Emma Moonen and Joric Oude Vrielink appointed NWO Faculty of Impact fellows
The two entrepreneurial researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology were appointed Fellows within the Faculty of Impact on March 20. They are part of a group of 14 researchers working on innovations in the field of Life Sciences & Health.
The selected researchers with entrepreneurial ambitions will receive two years of intensive and personal guidance within the Faculty of Impact from experts in the fields of entrepreneurship, intellectual property and investment. They retain (or receive) an appointment at their home university for that period, but are exempted from administrative and teaching obligations. This gives them time and space to take their invention into the world.
Joric Oude Vrielink focuses his company on lung cancer: "Late detection and suboptimal treatments contribute significantly to a tremendously high number of deaths. After detection, a tissue biopsy is required to confirm the presence and type of cancer, which is crucial for establishing a treatment plan. However, for early-stage cancer, taking a lung biopsy is very challenging. This leads to proceeding with treatment that is often ineffective and in some cases does not even turn out to be cancer. To address this problem, we are developing a technology that helps in accurate positioning of needles that will also make biopsies of small lesions more successful ."
Emma Moonen focuses on measuring biomarkers in sweat: "We have developed a proof-of-concept device that can non-invasively and frequently measure biomarker concentrations in sweat from individuals at rest. Uniquely, the device can handle extremely low sweat quantities, which opens up possibilities for using sweat as a source of clinical information. The ability to analyze sweat using the skin-mounted device eliminates the use of blood, is patient-friendly, simplifies the workflows of healthcare professionals and reduces the time from sample collection to results. The integration of various biomarker sensors opens up a broad application area with a huge potential impact on health monitoring."
About Faculty of Impact
One of the ambitions of the Netherlands is to ensure that scientific research is used to tackle social issues and achieve economic growth. Many scientific inventions currently do not reach the market, partly because researchers often lack the experience and knowledge needed to make an innovation marketable and set up a commercial organization. The Faculty of Impact therefore offers an intensive, two-year program for scientists who want to make an impact with their research and start their own business.
About The Gate
Within Eindhoven University of Technology, The Gate is there for entrepreneurial researchers and students. They help set up companies but also function as a Knowledge Transfer Office within the university. For example, they guide researchers and students towards their spin-off or startup company.