果冻传媒

You have your degree in your hands and full of energy you step onto the career path. But how do you make the right choice within the endless possibilities that stretch out before you? Do you automatically follow the most obvious path or do you dare to take a surprising turn after a while?

Her fascination for nature-inspired technology and passion for sustainability are what drives Laure van der Sanden (26) to solve societal problems. Already during her graduation at Sustainable Energy Technology (ME) and Innovation Sciences (IE&IS), she started the project set up by Jaap den Toonder, professor of 果冻传媒 research group Microsystems (ME), and creator of Magnetic Artificial Cilia (MAC ). At the request of the team, she decided to lead the project and looked for a way to commercialize the technology for a relevant societal application, "Yes, that was quite a big step," she admits, "but because I strongly believe in the impact of this technology on society, I dared to do it."

Drug Trials

Driven by the urge to solve major problems in society with the use of nature-inspired technologies and to learn from nature, ARTIC Technologies focuses on improving drug trials based on MAC technology. "Small artificial hairs, inspired by natural cilia, for example on corals and human respiratory tracts, help to pump, mix or 'sense' liquids," Laure explains the technology. "Currently, drugs are tested on animals before clinical trials, which is problematic because animal reactions often do not match well with human responses," she explains. "This is one of the reasons that drug development is so expensive. Nevertheless, 115 million test animals are still used worldwide every year due to the lack of good, commercial alternatives."

Animal testing

According to her, the Organ-on-chip, a microfluidic chip with integrated channels filled with human cells, is a promising new method for testing drugs. This chip, which is being developed by others, has the potential to be more accurate than animal testing. "At ARTIC, we are currently building a pump that can mimic the flow of fluid in the human body on the one hand, and is easy to use on the other. We want to make sure that the pump is compatible with current practices in the pharmaceutical industry, which will hopefully facilitate its adoption," she says.

Motivating

While two members focus more on technology and the market, she is mainly involved in business development, fundraising and team management. Asked what gives her the most energy, she says: "If we make progress in technological developments and if we find new financing. I also find it very motivating to get confirmation from the market, when people indicate that the technology really solves a problem."

Advice

At the start of ARTIC, a lot of well-intentioned advice came her way, but through experience she has now developed a personal radar to determine which advice is immediately applicable and which is better suited to the long term. "I am now looking at which advice is in line with our chosen course. This helps us to maintain focus. Although a start-up is always uncertain and assumptions are needed, flexibility remains essential," she believes. She is very happy with the support from her team, The Gate, but also from other start-ups and spin-offs on campus. "Everyone tries to help each other. I am therefore looking forward to being in building Alpha with our team. Because you all run into the same things, you can experience a lot of support from each other."

Success

In ten years' time, Laure expects to still be working at ARTIC: "But I hope that as a company we have already successfully developed the MAC technology and marketed it as a pump for the Organ-on-chip or have been able to sell it to another party. I also assume that we have now further developed our technology for the next application, preferably something in the field of sustainable tech engineering," she looks ahead.