Talk at the Institute of Agriculture Dr Roland Z Kozlowski PhD recently delivered a talk entitled "From the Bench to the Boardroom; biotechnology in action" at the Institute of Agriculture, University of Malta. Academics from all science disciplines attended. Dr Kozlowski is the chief executive officer of Lectus Therapeutics Ltd, a leading ion channel drug discovery business whose core technology is based on a leveraged enabled platform for high throughput screening. In addition to his commitments with Lectus, Dr Kozlowski holds an academic position as a Reader with the Department of Pharmacology, University of Bristol. During his talk Dr Kozlowski focused on considerations when commercialising technology, described different models of start-up biotech companies, highlighted indicators for success, and talked in depth about intellectual property (IP). Dr Kozlowski also stressed that strategic issues and market analysis have to be considered at an early stage in a company set-up. This was the first time a key player in biotech (ion channel drug discovery) came to the Institute of Agriculture, University of Malta and talked about this confusing buzzword by elucidating and illustrating concepts useful both at the bench or in the boardroom.


April 2004