Hi there Nicolaas Schipper!

Welcome onboard Nicolaas, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

“I work at RISE as Head of Manufacturing, which means that I am responsible for our pharmaceutical development test bed where we have our GMP production facilities. My focus is to develop pharmaceuticals from early clinic to marketed drug formulation and life cycle management. My research interest is in drug delivery, drug absorption and drug formulation.
Following my post-doctoral research at the University of Uppsala I have been working with the pharmaceutical development of new drug candidates from the laboratory to the clinic, to make sure that the quality and the quantity of new drugs fulfill the highest standards and new drugs can be studied safely in patients in the clinic. I have worked with and managed the pharmaceutical development of drug candidates at big pharma companies. Today, I help small biotech companies and EU funded drug development programs setting up strategies for their CMC work, support manufacture of GMP clinical trial material, setting up specifications, writing regulatory documentation and more. I have a research interest in drug delivery. Together with PhD students and post docs we try to use solubility enhanced formulations and lipid delivery systems to improve the exposure of drugs to their pharmacological target. 
Currently, I lead the RISE activities in the IMI funded consortium developing new sustainable production technologies. I act as the principal investigator in EU research programs such as the international transMed and TreatRP consortia, that aim to forward the translation of basic research in neurodegenerative eye disease into novel clinical applications.” 

What is the significance of participating in a competence center like NextBioForm for RISE?

"The significance is enormous, I think. Well designed formulations and drug delivery systems are critical in the development of new drugs, not the least for biological drugs. Sharing key competence in the development of such formulation between experts and between academia and industry will be instrumental in moving new therapies to the market and patients faster. The competence center will give us opportunity to do new research, share data and experiences and help us educate the formualtion experts of the future."

What are your expectations regarding being a part of NextBioForm board?

"I am really looking forward to work with all the NextBioForm people and get to know the project and activities better and learn about all exciting results. I hope of course although my active time in the project will not be very long that I can contribute positively to the progress of the program."