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W I S S E N T E C H N I K L E I D E N S C H A F T

u www.tugraz.at

Experiences with the MSCA ITNs

BIOCASCADES PhotoBioCat

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Robert Kourist

Robert Kourist

Institute of Molecular Biotechnology

TU Graz

2 2 Contents

• The intention of ITNs

• ITN subcalls

• Involve the private sector

• Two successful examples

• The MSCA-EID BIOCASCADES

• The MSCA-EJD PhotoBioCat

3 3 What‘s an ITN

- Innovative Training Network (graduate research

school)

- 3-15 PhD students in an international environment

- Training program

- Workshops

- Secondments

- Participation of private sector is important

4 4 The intention of ITNs

• Standardization of PhD graduation within the

Bologna process (supervisory boards, career

development plan)

• Increase the employability of PhD scientists

• Involve the private sector to the training (industry

participation is crucial!)

• Strong focus on transferable skills

• Mobility of the PhD students

5 5 ITN subcalls

• European Training Networks

• Fewer rules than the other calls

• Hard to get (PhotoBiocat-ETN with 94% was not

funded in 2016)

• European Industrial Doctorates

• 50% of the time spent in industry

• Hard to motivate industrie to participate

• Barriers reduce competition (BIOCASCADES was

funded with 89%)

• European Joint Doctorates

• Joint or double degrees

• Paper work reduces competition (PhotoBioCat-EJD

was funded with 96% in 2017)

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• Bottom-up approach: Freedom to suggest an

interesting topic that is not covered by national

or H2020 calls.

• Excellent opportunity to enter a creative

collaboration with colleagues and to develop new

ideas.

• Strengthen on-going research foci of the groups

with international collaboration and

secondments.

• Higher flexibility about technology-readiness

levels.

• Reputation.

Chances and opportunities

7 7 Role of the private sector in Biocatalysis

Small and medium enterprises

Technology providers

Production usually by licensing to larger companies

Large industry

Resource providers and/or producing companies

Consulting companies

Project management, literature recherchés etc.

Translational institutes (Fraunhofer, SINTEF, acib)

Networking organizations (CLIB2021)

NGOs

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Host a PhD thesis

Need for accommodation and supervision of ESR and to

conduct research

Host PhD students a interns

3-6 months

Easier. Has scientific benefits, but less liberty to pursue your

own topic

Accompany the project

Participate in some meetings. Access to innovation

generated in the ITN.

Opportunities for the Private Sector

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Innovation: Discover a new topic in an innovative

network

Bottom-up approach – choose your topic according to

your requirements

Explore something new as beneficiary

Follow a current trend as partner organization

Flexibility

Choice of partners

Technology readiness level

Recruitment: Interact with excellent candidates for a

future career in your company

Opportunities for the Private Sector

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A B

B C

C D

D

? ?

? ?

BIOCASCADES: Multi-Enzyme

Cascade Reactions

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Enzyme cascade reactions are a highly attractive

concept for sustainable synthesis

Despite intense academic research and many nice

papers, very few industrial processes have been

developed

Several deficits have prevented the industrial application

Academic research often stops at “proof-of-concept”

Up-scale of cascade reactions is difficult

Deficits of the technology were discussed with industry

While focusing on a particular class of chemical

products, BIOCASCADES addresses these difficulties

BIOCASCADES: Multi-Enzyme

Cascade Reactions

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When looking for industry partners, we got the following

replies:

Why don’t you go for

something worth the work?

(Scandinavian translational

institute)

With an H2020 grant, we

can hire postdocs. ITNs

offer only graduate students

who bring less results

(SME)

We need to account

for supervision cost

and bench fees

(chemical company)

We like it, but our

supervisors say that the

time-to-grant is way too long

for our company (another

chemical company)

We are currently coordinating

an H2020 project and cannot

accommodate participation in a

large ITN

(chemical company)

Nevertheless:

Companies with hands-on experience are usually much more positive.

Problems about ITNs expressed by the industry

We often supervise

PhD theses. We like

this form of research

(another chemical

company)

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Frank Hollmann (TU Delft)

Redox reactions and

sustainability

Helmut Schwab (TU Graz)

Enzyme engineering

Harald Gröger (Uni Bielefeld)

Chemoenzymatic cascades

Francisca Rebolledo

(Uni Oviedo)

Organic Synthesis

Anett Schallmey

(TU Braunschweig)

Oxyfunctionalization

Matthias Höhne

(Uni Greifswald)

Aminofunctionalization

Robert Kourist (RUB / TU Graz)

Enzyme engineering

Per Berglund (KTH)

Aminofunctionalization

Technical Oxyfunctionalization

Access to new

technology

Enzyme formulation

Access to new

processes

Structure elucidation

New business line

Enzyme discovery &

engineering

Develop expertise in

up-scaling

Biocatalysis

Develop propriatory

aminofunctionalization

technology

BIOCASCADES consortium

14 BIOCASCADES: The Industrial Secondments

For comparison: A typical German M. Sc. graduate manages

either 3-6 months in industry or a research stay in a foreign

country. Both usually means longer study times.

Some, but not all German PhD students spend 3 months of their

thesis abroad.

Each BIOCASCADES-ESR spends 18 months in a researching

European biotech company.

The industry stays offer access to expertise and equipment not

available at the academic partner.

Cooperation and project discussions further increase industry

exposure.

18 months international exposure and industry experience

are a striking advantage on the job market.

15 BIOCASCADES: The Industrial Secondments

In BIOCASCADES, all secondments have a scientific

justification. For instance, one ESR uses at DSM a proprietory

method for process up-scaling that is not available elsewhere.

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1. Approach academia partners

a. Outstanding records and on-going project with cascades

b. Good personal relationship

c. Good balance between full professors and young researchers

2. Discuss idea at a conference dinner

3. Informal work-shop at Ruhr-University Bochum with core team,

one experienced researcher and one PI from industry

Define target product and scientific approach

Development of the BIOCASCADES project

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1. ITNs are difficult to get

2. Due to the highly applied character of the research, it is easy to

involve the private sector

3. Participation of 4 start-ups and 1large company makes focus on

entrepreneurship an obvious strategy (work-shops by company

founders etc.)

4. Industry partners are interested to participate in the actual research

Obvious choice: MSCA-EID, European Industrial Doctorates

Development of the BIOCASCADES project

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1. Scientific concept: Focus on novelty and commercial interest

2. Write training concept afterwards

a. Discuss transferable skills with industrial partners

b. Define motto: From Invention to Innovation

c. Strengthen role of company founders

d. Specific planning of work-shops and courses

e. Add a gimmick

3. Check of the proposal

a. By national contact point significant improvement

b. EU-office at RUB useful advise regarding implementation

Development of the BIOCASCADES project

19 Lessons from funding phase of BIOCASCADES

• After granting, EU conducted a thorough check of the

partners from private sector (own research facilities?!)

• Some partners could not contribute to the management

budget (bench fees, weird situation with Austrian

collective contract)

• Somebody read the proposal and pointed out

inconsistencies

• We had some trouble because an industry partner

changed the legal form. The EU officers were very

supportive in this situation

• The EU officer liked that the midterm meeting was

hosted by an industrial partner

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June 6, 2017

Lecture on metal dependent

enzymes

Progress report ESRs I

Family and career event (cancelled)

June 8, 2017

Gender event:

Workshop with PIs and ESRs on gender

equality in the biotech sector

June 7, 2017

Thesis committee meetings (2h)

Progress report ESRs II

Fireside chat with the CEO of

Infineon on gender & career

June 9, 2017

Workshop on visualization of scientific

results

Sample Training schedule for Workshop 1

Example for a BIOCASCADES

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Photosynthese 2 H2O

O2

hν

NAD(P)H NAD(P)+

2 Sub 2 SubH2

oxidoreductase

Development of PhotoBioCat

• Light driven biocatalysis allows the development of

sustainable processes

• In vitro

• In vivo

22 22 Development of PhotoBioCat

• Light driven biocatalysis allows the development of

sustainable processes

• In vitro

• In vivo

23 23 Development of PhotoBioCat

• Get initial funding of 50.000 € from Ruhr-University

• Form academic consortium

• Expertise with microalgae

• Expertise with light-driven biocatalysis

• Expertise in up-scale

• Find industry partners for three months internships

• Large producting companies (access to expertise)

• SMEs (development of their technology)

• Develop model processes with ‚hot products‘

• Plan suitable training programme

• Impact: Both graduates and products (i.e. jobs)

24 24 Change gears wtih PhotoBioCat

• Evaluation as MSCA-ETN in 2016: 94%, not funded

• What are our chances?

• Topic not fit for EID (TRL is too low)

• EJD seems promising

• New submission as EJD

• Find motivated co-worker who coordinates efforts for

double degree

• Some partners are well-organized, some slow, others

have very strict standards for PhD graduation

25 25 Lessons learned so far with the proposal

• Choice of subcall

• ETN: must be simply excellent

• EID: Difficult to motivate industry. What question

would be interesting for a consortium of 3-6

(competing) industry partners?

• EJD: ESR must travel a lot. Which topic is suitable for

3-15 double degree PhD theses? The topic should

require complementarity

• The scientific question should fit the subcall

• (subcalls will be adapted for next round)

26 26 Different grants for different challenges

• Horizon 2020: Specific calls, significant industry

involvement, usually high TRL (for biotechnology)

• ERC grants: Bottom-up, single group that pursues

innovative approach

• ITNs:

• Bottom-up

• approach that is suitable for diverse consortium

• No value chain is needed, lower TRL

• Interaction of work packages is very flexible

• Expample: Investigate light catalysis with 4

independent WPs by 2-3 ESRs

27 27 Lessons learned so far with the funding

• The administration and reporting is easy

• The recruitment is crucial because it is very difficult

to find excellent candidates who fit the Marie Curie

mobility criteria

• The workshops and secondments distract the PhD

students

• ITNs are excellent for networking and developing

ideas

• ITNs are an excellent opportunity for creative ideas

in training