Singapore has been actively developing its Biomedical Science Industry over the last decade. Apart from wooing multinational companies to establish their manufacturing and R&D plants here, huge investments has been pumped into R&D at universities and A*STAR institutes, with an aim to eventually bring these cutting edge technologies into the market. Riding on these initiatives, there has been a growing presence of biomedical incubators and start-ups in Singapore over the past few years. However, bio-entrepreneurs face a unique set of challenges from other entrepreneurs, such as high market entry barrier, highly competitive global arena and stringent regulatory controls. In this panel session, not only will you gain insights into the different aspects of bio-entrepreneurship, from scientific research and product development to marketing and business development, you will also get to hear from the speakers their personal roller coaster experience in this exciting and promising field.

Dr Rahul Gopalkrishnan
Associate Director, Industry Liaison Office, NUS

Dr. Gopalkrishnan is an associate director at the Industry Liaison Office, National University of Singapore (NUS). He is responsible for life sciences and biomedical, patenting and marketing projects based on technologies developed at NUS and through international collaborative programs. He obtained his PhD in molecular biology from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His research background includes cell cycle research, cancer progression, cancer gene discovery and animal tumorigenesis models. Dr. Gopalkrishnan has published over 30 peer-reviewed publications, commissioned reviews and book chapters, produced during his research career at IGBMC Strasbourg, France and Columbia University, New York. He is co-inventor on several patent filings based on his research work. Prior to joining NUS, Dr. Gopalkrishnan worked on biotechnology related patenting matters at a New York City law firm.

Prof Dr Dieter Trau
Chief Scientific Officer, AyoxxA
Assistant Professor, NUS

Dr. Dieter Trau is an inventor of the company’s technology and leads AyoxxA’s research team. He holds an engineering degree (Dipl. Ing. FH) from the Aachen University of Applied Science, 1994 in Chemical- and Bioengineering and a PhD degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 2001 in Chemistry.

He started his entrepreneurial activities with the foundation of the biotechnology companies Xantec (1995) and 8sens biognostic in Germany (2000). He was a Visiting Assistant Professor at HKUST and since 2004 he is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Bioengineering and the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Dr. Trau is author of >30 international peer reviewed research papers and inventor of 12 patent families resulting in more than 60 patent applications of which 10 are granted and commercialized by different companies.

Dr. Dieter Trau is an inventor of the company’s technology and leads AyoxxA’s research team. He holds an engineering degree (Dipl. Ing. FH) from the Aachen University of Applied Science, 1994 in Chemical- and Bioengineering and a PhD degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 2001 in Chemistry.

He started his entrepreneurial activities with the foundation of the biotechnology companies Xantec (1995) and 8sens biognostic in Germany (2000). He was a Visiting Assistant Professor at HKUST and since 2004 he is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Bioengineering and the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Dr. Trau is author of >30 international peer reviewed research papers and inventor of 12 patent families resulting in more than 60 patent applications of which 10 are granted and commercialized by different companies.

Michael Tillmann
President & CEO, Vela Holding

Mr. Tillmann has over 20 years experience in senior executive positions in Multi National Companies in the Pharmaceutical and Diagnostics Industry. He recently founded Vela Diagnostics, a company focused on development and commercialization of Molecular In-vitro Diagnostics tests.

Previously he was President & CEO for Roche Diagnostics in North America and before in Asia Pacific and Europe. Prior to the Roche assignments Mr. Tillmann was Managing Director of the start up company artus GmbH which was later acquired by Qiagen.

Mr. Tillmann started his career in a pharmaceutical trading house, Holstein GmbH, as Managing Director, representing over 20 principals in Japan and South East Asia.

Theodore Tan
Director & Co-founder,  The Biofactory

Mr Theodore Tan has over 15 years’ experience in clinical sales and marketing of biomedical devices and products. He successfully ran Dyamed Biotech Pte Ltd, a medical distribution company which supplies innovative and highvalued diagnostic platforms and medical devices since 1998. His experience in reviewing and validating new medical technology potential to meet market demands has led to the successful introduction of numerous novel biomedical products to the market in the areas of biochemistry markers, orthopaedic spinal implants, coagulation platforms for cardiology and solutions for wound care. Mr Theodore Tan also has product development experience. Via Dyamed Biotech, he has built an intra-operative medical device for the treatment of peritoneal carcinoma. The system has undergone two animal trials and has successfully been used in five human patients at Singapore General Hospital and National Cancer Centre.