Last updated: 2.11.2022
The field of biotech has produced many pioneering technologies. Since 2006, dozens of inventors in this field have been recognized by the EPO's annual European Inventor Award. Meet a selection of these brilliant scientists whose genius and vision have made the world safer, healthier and more sustainable.
Thomas Tuschl's groundbreaking method of "switching off"
human genes has become a vital tool in developing new ways of diagnosing and
treating conditions from haemophilia to high cholesterol. The biochemist succeeded
in adapting a gene-silencing technique known as RNA interference for use in
human cells.
The British scientist developed a genetically modified mosquito
which, when released into the wild, mates with female mosquitoes to produce
sterile offspring. This reduces disease-carrying mosquito populations by over
90% and so helps to eradicate diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever and
Zika.
Laura van 't Veer is the inventor of a gene-based breast cancer
test. It evaluates tumour tissue for the 10year risk of cancer recurrence, thus
identifying high-risk patients who actually require chemotherapy, and low-risk
patients who will remain cancer-free without having to undergo toxic chemical
treatments.
Ushering in a new era of personalised medicine
and drug development, Dutch molecular geneticist Hans Clevers and teams at the
Hubrecht Institute and the University Medical Center in Utrecht pioneered what
are called "organoids". The "mini-organs" - including
livers, lungs and intestines - are grown from the stem cells of individual
patients and allow doctors to test the specific effects of drugs safely -
outside the body.
Thomas Scheibel had long admired the strength
of spider silk. His process uses advanced bioengineering methods to bring one
of the most resilient materials found in nature into industrial-scale
production. His synthetic spider silk is made by bacteria - no arachnids are
involved!
Biochemist
Katalin Karikó developed a way to modify messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) for
safe use in the human body.
