RVB Translational Medicine Book
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“Academia and industry need to work together to bring<br />
new concepts to the market.”<br />
Johan Garssen<br />
Director Platform Immunology at Nutricia Research, and Professor of Immunopharmacology at<br />
Utrecht University<br />
“At Nutricia, the majority of my work focuses on<br />
translatability, to develop things that can directly help<br />
patients. It is always in the back of my mind: can I<br />
translate this into something that can be used by<br />
patients 10 years from now? I think that both academia<br />
and companies like Nutricia have changed over the last<br />
years. Let’s be honest, ten years ago we would just look<br />
at your CV and ask how many publications you have as<br />
a scientist and what the impact factor is. This is still<br />
important, but now there is another aspect: translating<br />
science into something that can help patients and<br />
prevent diseases.”<br />
“I am in a unique position since 2005, having a parttime<br />
position with both Nutricia and the Faculty of<br />
Science of Utrecht University,“ says Johan when he talks<br />
about his two jobs. “I do fundamental work on immune<br />
regulation at the university which is not directly<br />
translatable, but I combine it with experiments that will<br />
hopefully lead to new drugs, medical food, or food for<br />
pregnant women or babies.” He concludes, “You need<br />
academia for the basic knowledge, and you need<br />
industry to translate the scientific concept into the<br />
actual drug or nutritional product or vaccine. Academia<br />
and industry need to work together to bring new<br />
concepts to the market.”<br />
UMC Utrecht 71
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