Christian Heinis has already amply demonstrated his potential in protein engineering and synthesis of antibody mimics. For his dissertation, he developed methods for screening and selecting mutant enzymes from a vast library, in order to obtain improved enzymatic properties. He then specialized in the evolution of proteins, and has shown that randomly introducing bent fragments into a protein?s structure can change its specificity in relation to the substrate. As a post-doctoral researcher at Cambridge University, Heinis developed a highly promising synthetic-antibody production method based on deforming peptide chains by anchoring them around small chemical building blocks. Born in Aarberg, Heinis is a Swiss citizen. He studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (EPFZ), where he earned a degree in biochemistry in 2000. During his studies, he spent a year at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London as an ERASMUS student. In 2003 he obtained a PhD at the EPFZ. He then completed post-doctoral fellowships at the EPFL and Cambridge University.
A PHILANTHROPIC INITIATIVE OF A PRIVATE CONSORTIUM
Turning scientific innovation into entrepreneurial activity and job creation is the basis of societal and economical prosperity. In the very early stages, startups bear very high risks that are neither carried by public money nor by private investors. Supporting seed stage startups fills a crucial gap and is therefore purely philanthropic.
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