About the webinar

In the NATworks webinar, 8 companies introduce themselves, each helping to replace animal testing with state-of-the-art technologies and innovative research. They provide information about career opportunities in the industry for those who want to work in a humane and cruelty-free manner. The webinar is aimed at students, graduates and anyone interested in pioneering animal-free methods.

The speakers are experienced employees of leading companies who present their research work and product developments in compact, 15-minute lectures. They provide inspiring insights into practice and science that can help plan and shape your career path.

English live-translated subtitles will be available.

What is so special about NATworks?

Direct exchange with experts: The speakers share their experiences and there is the opportunity to get to know the individual companies better in individual breakout sessions and to engage in direct dialogue.

Innovative methods: Learn about the latest industry developments in human-based, cruelty-free research. These technologies are not only ethically and scientifically advanced, but also offer immense growth potential for the future.

Discover career opportunities: Get valuable information about what a career in industry can look like. Our speakers show different ways of future-oriented work.

Programme

 Programme (PDF)

 

Companies (in alphabetical order) and speakers

DNTOX is a bioanalytical testing laboratory for the non-animal screening of chemicals for their potential to disrupt human brain development and cause developmental neurotoxicity (DNT). The in vitro test methods we use are based on human cell models and are evaluated using a specially developed AI. Our interdisciplinary team is united by the common goal of a future in which the safety of chemicals and medications can be assessed reliably and without the use of animal testing.

Dr. Julian Victor studied biology and molecular biomedicine at the University of Bonn and received his doctorate in the Institute for Physical Biology at the University of Dusseldorf, where he then worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the structural biology of nucleic acids. He then initially worked as a medical writer on public relations for pharmaceutical companies and, as a medical science liaison, formed the scientific interface between a medical technology company and medical professionals. In his role as Application Scientist at DNTOX, he has been advising customers on the comprehensive services of the bioanalytical test laboratory since June 2024.

 

Dy­nam­ic42 was founded 2018 in Jena as a spin-off of the Uni­ver­sity Hos­pi­tal Je­na. We de­velop and mar­ket hu­man or­gan-on-chip models for pre­clin­i­cal re­search and de­vel­op­ment as well as for testing novel phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal prod­ucts, chem­i­cals and food ad­di­tives.  

Furthermore, we are spe­cial­ized in immunocompetent or­gan-on-chip models, integrating components of the immune system, which play a sig­nif­i­cant role in the occurrence of ad­verse ef­fects of drugs and have been ne­glected in the in­dus­try and in two-di­men­sional test sys­tems. Our plat­form en­ables tox­i­c­ity screen­ings and AD­MET stud­ies al­ready in pre­clin­i­cal phases on com­plex mi­cro­phys­i­o­log­i­cal mod­els of hu­man or­gans. Hereby, we ac­com­pany com­mer­cial man­u­fac­tur­ers as well as sci­en­tists in biomedical research in the de­sign and ex­e­cu­tion of pre­clin­i­cal stud­ies.

In ad­di­tion, we de­velop hu­man dis­ease and infection mod­els in our chip platform, both in­ter­nally and with ex­ter­nal part­ners – es­pe­cially in ar­eas where no an­i­mal mod­els are avail­able.

Dr. Martin Raasch is CEO and Co-Founder at Dynamic42.

 

innoVitro GmbH is a contract research organization that offers human-based screening services for pharmacological risk assessment and efficacy testing worldwide. Each service is customized by a team of experts in close cooperation with the customer and carried out as an end-to-end study report in less than 6 weeks.

The screening parameters include structural and functional endpoints of human iPS cell-derived cardiac cells, which are analysed using a high-throughput system in 96-well plates. Drug-induced changes in healthy or diseased cells can be assessed in terms of cellular and electrophysiological properties as well as contractility.

Dr. Bettina Lickiss holds a degree in biology and a PhD in neurobiology from the Ruhr University in Bochum. Since 2019, she has been part of the innoVitro team, where she is responsible for scientific communication and business development. Previously, she gained extensive experience as a scientist at Axiogenesis AG, where she specialized in the use of human iPSC-derived cell models for preclinical research.

 

​Lucero Bio is a spin-off of Gothenburg University whose mission is to further advance research on 3D cell models and organoids for the pharmaceutical industry. Since 2019, the team has grown to 5 employees who specifically deal with microfluidic methods. Based in AstaZeneca's BioVentureHub, the young company has already won several startup awards and national and European research funding. These include the prestigious EIC Transition endowed with 1.1 Mio. euros.

Dr. Falko Schmidt received his doctorate in applied physics from Gothenburg University in Sweden in 2021. During this time, he founded the biotech company Lucero Bio with other colleagues. Dr. Schmidt is currently continuing his research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich on optofluidic methods for manipulating organoids.

 

mo:re is a Hamburg-based biotechnology start-up founded in 2023 that is developing the new gold standard for animal-free drug development. We offer a laboratory platform that industrializes organoid culture workflows. Our protocol database provides users with validated organoid know-how, making their use cost-effective and reproducible for pharma & biotechnology institutions.

Lukas is co-founder & CEO of mo:re GmbH. He has been passionately researching the interdisciplinary field of 3D cell culture since 2019, which led to the spin-off of mo:re GmbH in 2023.

 

Led by Dr. Christian Maass, MPSlabs is a dedicated research and business unit situated under the umbrella of ESQlabs, led by CEO Dr. Stephan Schaller. MPSlabs spearheads the development of digital twin platforms for organ-on-chip and micro-physiological systems, bringing invaluable expertise to projects that require advanced simulation and modeling capabilities. ESQlabs specializes in modeling and simulation, focusing on pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling. The company is a significant contributor to and user of the open-source OSP Suite, enhancing its development and community engagement. ESQlabs offers a range of services that include model building, refinement, data integration, and consulting in life sciences and pharmacology. With a team of more than 30 skilled scientists, the company's expertise spans modeling, statistics, pharmacology, and software development. The OSP Suite, central to ESQlabs' operations, is continually expanding in its applications and user base, especially in creating digital representations of human biology.

Dr. Christian Maass is a physicist and computational biologist with over 15 years of academic and industrial international experience. He received his Master in Medical Physics from the University College London in 2012 and PhD from the University of Heidelberg in 2015 and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA until 2018. He specializes in developing and applying digital twins for micro-physiological systems and organs-on-chips (OoC). He is passionate about the integration of computational modeling and biological experiments for translational pharmacology applications. As a principal scientist in industry, Dr. Maass works on applications in various therapeutic areas, e.g. neurodegenerative, inflammatory, and metabolic diseases (Alzheimer, rheumatoid arthritis, NASH/NAFLD). Among others, he developed individualized PBK models for molecular radiotherapy (leukemia), automated workflows for big data (*omics), network-based analysis of inflammatory diseases, and mechanistic modeling of OoC data. He is also leading the division to develop further strategies integrating OoC data and computational modeling for translational pharmacology applications.

 

TissUse has been a driving force in the development of multi-organ chip technology since 2010. The commercially available HUMIMIC multi-organ chips make it possible to realistically model the complex functions and interactions of human organs. This innovative technology enables informed decisions in the drug development process. It supports the prediction of toxicity and efficacy and the evaluation of ADME profiles in vitro. In doing so, it helps to reduce animal testing and accelerate clinical trials. Academic institutions and industry rely on TissUse to obtain comprehensive safety and efficacy data and to make a sustainable change in research.

Dr. Anja Hellwig is a scientist and project manager at TissUse GmbH, where she leads the team of the company's human iPSC banking and differentiation program. Her doctoral thesis focuses on iPSC-based differentiation strategies for a wide variety of human tissue models. In addition, she conducted research on the establishment of various multi-organ chip assays for substance testing.

 

VITROCELL Systems GmbH specializes in the development, manufacture and sale of systems and components for in vitro exposure procedures. In turnkey systems, gases, complex mixtures, environmental atmospheres, nanoparticles and pharmaceutical active ingredients are analysed using lung cells at the air-liquid interface. The systems are also increasingly being used in virus research.

Tobias Krebs. Graduate in industrial engineering and MBA. Managing partner and founder of VITROCELL Systems GmbH in 2007. Over 20 years of experience in in vitro inhalation research.

 

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