Rebel connects information technology- and software developers – and soon also companies working in the cancer field. They are located in the renovated Televerket building in Universitetsgata 2 in Oslo. All photos: Rebel

New collaboration with Rebel

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Drone photo of a square at night.Rebel

Rebel and Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator start a collaboration to tighten the ties between cancer research and information technology.

The world of cancer treatments and the world of information technology sometimes seem far apart. A new collaboration between Rebel and Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator sets out to be beneficial to companies that inhabit both worlds – and to our society in general.

“Technology is about more than lines of code and gadgets. It is also about solving big societal challenges. This is an opportunity for us to contribute in one of the most important cases there is – cancer. Imagine how rewarding it is for tech heads to use their knowledge to improve diagnostics and cancer treatments,” said Peter Jetzel, Chief Rebel.

Rebel connects information technology- and software developers in the centre of Oslo. Since the hub opened last autumn, they have experienced that the need for technological competencies in Oslo is massive, also in the health sector and in companies that are traditionally considered biotech.

 

Man on hood of car - DeLorian

Peter Jetzel, Chief Rebel, on the hood of the DeLorian in one of the common areas in Rebel.

 

“Technology is an important driver in the future of cancer treatments, as digitalisation changes how we understand and develop medicine,” said Ketil Widerberg, CEO at Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator.

 

Wonderful spaces

The emerging health industry in Norway is booming, and more space is needed as the main Oslo Cancer Cluster hub at Campus Radiumhospitalet develops. While the construction of a second part of Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park is under way, companies in Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator can find space and new partners at Rebel.

Rebel has offices, conference rooms, project rooms, studios, makers spaces and a software lab in the area of Tullin, in the middle of Oslo. These will be made available to companies in Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator.

 

A meeting room.

Some of the meeting rooms in the Rebel building come with a view.

 

A dynamic collaboration

The collaboration is dynamic and full of opportunities. There is room for projects, exchange of expert competencies, new establishments, and common arenas. The ambition is that the initiatives will grow from the grass, so to speak, on arenas that are made for knowledge sharing.

“To give the right treatment to the right patient at the right time, artificial intelligence will be central. To accelerate development of new cancer treatments, health data will be collected and analyzed in entirely new ways. In short, we need to think differently,» said Ketil Widerberg.

«Collaboration in clusters and collaborations between clusters are two sides of the same coin. Our two knowledge environments have different professional anchorages, but we are heading towards the same goal. We are starting this collaboration to find synergies and energy for mutual benefits,” said Peter Jetzel.

Rebekka Rolfsnes will be working at a lab at the Department of Pharmacy during her PhD, but in this photo, she and Pål Rongved are in one of Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator’s labs.

A PhD on antibiotic resistance

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Two people at a lab, one in a white coat.OCC

Rebekka Rolfsnes is doing her PhD with the start-up AdjuTec Pharma AS and the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Oslo (UiO). Together, they will look for solutions to antibiotic resistance.

 

Rebekka Rolfsnes has a Master’s in molecular biology and will be starting her PhD next month. The subject is antibiotic resistance, and more accurately she will study the mechanism of action of one of AdjuTec Pharma’s new compounds, called APC247, on resistant enzymes, bacteria, and off-target effects in human cells. The PhD project is a result of a collaboration between the industry and the university.

Read more about the industry PhD scheme at UiO’s web pages.

A hope to save the world

When asked why she wanted to work with AdjuTec, Rebekka Rolfsnes said:

“Working with a start-up in this field is a unique opportunity to be part of something big all the way from start.”

“Besides, the combination of pharmacy and microbiology is the most intriguing I know,” she added.

Rolfsnes will be writing three articles that will cast new light on the global health problem of antibiotic resistance.

“This is the subject that is closest to my heart because it is a global challenge and there is a hope to save the world. Although it is also a very scary issue,” Rolfsnes admitted.

Win-win relationship

Professor Hanne Cecilie Winther-Larsen at the Department of Pharmacy, UiO, is Rolfsnes’ main PhD supervisor.

“This PhD project will meet one of the largest challenges our society is currently facing, antimicrobial resistance, and we are happy to be a part of it. In the early phase of this project, there are many questions to answer and experiments to perform, which we find scientifically interesting,” said Winther-Larsen.

Woman in lab coat at lab

Professor Hanne Cecilie Winther-Larsen, in the lab at the Department of Pharmacy, UiO.

The Department of Pharmacy offers both competence and the infrastructure to support a successful outcome for the project. Professor Winther-Larsen had no doubt:

“The mutual relationship between the industry and the university creates a win-win situation.”

 

The slow pandemic

Antibiotics are important for treating infections but also for prophylactic use during major surgery, cancer therapy, and for patients vulnerable to infections, such as patients on immunosuppressive drugs and catheterized patients. But after many years of successful treatment of bacterial infections, there has been an alarming increase of infections that are resistant to even last-resort antibiotics.

Pål Rongved, founder, project leader, and CSO in AdjuTec, and professor at UiO, put it this way:

“Antibiotic resistance is the slow pandemic. It is a steadily increasing threat.”

Antibiotic resistance, or antimicrobial multidrug resistance, is due to decades of overuse of antibiotics in agriculture and human medicine, and with few antibiotic innovations. This creates all kinds of problems in hospitals, where the presence of bacteria is high.

5 people in front of a modern building in sunshine

The entire Adjutec Pharma team in front of Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park. From the left: Pål Rongved, Bjørg Bolstad, Ragnar Hovland, Rebekka Rolfsnes and Bjørn Klem.

AdjuTec’s story

AdjuTec’s story started in 2009, when professor Pål Rongved and one of his PhD students at UiO, Alexander Åstrand, found a remarkable effect in their PhD project (which was a collaboration with The University Hospital of Northern Norway and the University of Tromsø).

The effect was this: A chemical compound that could inactivate bacterial resistance enzymes, thus preserving the effect of common antibiotics.

In 2019, Rongved established AdjuTec Pharma to commercialize his invention, which he called the ZinChel technology. The first drug candidate was called APC148 and targets one of two main resistance enzyme families, the metallo-beta-lactamases (MBLs). APC148 is the lead product of AdjuTec in preclinical development, planning for clinical trials in healthy volunteers next year.

AdjuTec has been heavily supported by the Norwegian Research Council (NRC) from the start, and with private investors also on board, the company can now develop its pharmaceutical projects and hire the right people. The company was recently awarded financial support from the City of Oslo, an industry innovation project (IPN) from NRC as well as Eurostars to kick-start the new APC247 preclinical program.

A new drug candidate

During the summer of 2021, AdjuTec designed a new substance that works on a broader spectrum of bacteria compared to APC148. This next-generation compound is called APC247. It is based on a different technology that shows promise in inhibiting both the main resistance families, the prior mentioned MBLs and the serine-beta-lactamases (SBLs).

Both AdjuTec products will be administered intravenously to patients in combination with antibiotics. If successful, and with various regulatory fast tracks, AdjuTec expects that the new drug candidate can be ready for market in five years.

Read more about AdjuTec and their progress on their homepage.

 

Hege Eiklid is the new coordinator of the Nordic Mentor Network for Entrepreneurship (NOME) in Norway. Photo: PatientSky

Meet our new NOME coordinator

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Woman smiling looking into camera outside

Hege Eiklid is the new coordinator of the Nordic Mentor Network for Entrepreneurship (NOME) in Norway.

“As a startup company, one is incapable of immediately building a team of world-class experts. To become a successful company, mentorship is necessary,” said Hege Eiklid.

The new coordinator of NOME in Norway has no doubts about the importance of world-class mentors for promising life science projects.

The essence of NOME

Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator has coordinated NOME activities in Norway since 2016 and is actively seeking both start-ups and mentors to join this programme, offering free mentoring to promising start-ups in the life science sector.

NOME is a not-for-profit mentoring network in the life sciences, managed by Accelerace AS. The goal of NOME is to increase the success rate of Nordic life science start-ups by giving access to experienced mentors. Participation is free of charge and funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The mentors also work for free.

“Because NOME mentors work pro bono, the mentors are truly passionate about mentorship and genuinely believe in the mission of these high-potential companies,” said Eiklid.

She sincerely believes in connecting people in order to advance health technology.

“This passion is the essence of NOME,” she said.

A coordinator with experience

Hege Eiklid is a seasoned business development strategist with ample experience both leading and promoting startup companies within the field of health technology. As for the foundation of her expertise, she holds two master’s degrees: one in Economic Development from Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main and another in Business Development and Innovation from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Eiklid has a proven track record in the management of strategic partnerships, and her expertise is cemented in comprehensive, hands-on experience. She has managed an incubator for start-ups within the field of health tech, and she has experience from investing in and working as a mentor for other start-ups.

 

Vaccibody is one of the companies working in Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator's laboratories to develop novel cancer treatments. Photo: Oslo Cancer Cluster

Turning offices into laboratories

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OCC Incubator labs

Something remarkable has happened in Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator: office spaces have transformed into laboratories.

When Janne Nestvold, Chief Operating Officer of Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator, noticed the empty offices and meeting rooms in the beginning of the corona lockdown, she saw an opportunity. Why not turn these spare rooms into much-needed laboratory space?

Walls had to be moved, a separate ventilation system had to be installed, and new water pipes had to be fitted. Expensive instruments were ordered and work benches with hoods were mounted for the cell laboratory. All rooms needed to be dimensioned correctly down to the last millimetre for everything to fit precisely.

Shortage of laboratories

Why did Nestvold go to all this trouble? The answer is simple: there is a lack of laboratory and test capacity in Norway for new health companies.

“Emerging companies in cancer often don’t have the resources to build their own advanced laboratories and buy all the expensive equipment themselves. The companies turn to us instead for our shared public-private laboratory facilities, which have become very important for them to succeed.”
Janne Nestvold

Janne Nestvold

Janne Nestvold, Chief Operating Officer of Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator

An urgent need

The demand for test facilities can be seen all over Norway. One example is Vaccibody, a Norwegian biopharmaceutical company developing novel vaccines and immunotherapies against cancer. As the company has grown recently, they needed to expand beyond the two labs they have in Oslo Science Park.

This spring, the Research Oncology Team at Vaccibody started using the labs at OCC Incubator. They are currently performing pre-clinical vaccination studies at the Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, a Comprehensive Cancer Centre, which is located next to OCC Incubator.

“It is practical for us to have a laboratory located close to the facility where we perform our in vivo studies. Being a member of OCC Incubator is beneficial as we for instance get access to equipment that we may not use often enough to purchase on our own.” Audun Bersaas, PhD and Senior Scientist at Vaccibody.

Audun Bersaas, and his team from Vaccibody, working in the Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator laboratories.

The Research Oncology team at Vaccibody are developing novel vaccines and immunotherapies against cancer. Photo: Oslo Cancer Cluster

Breaking down barriers

The laboratories are shared between academic researchers from the Cell Therapy Unit at Oslo University Hospital and researchers from Norwegian companies, including Vaccibody, ThermoFisher, Zelluna Immunotherapy, Ultimovacs, and more.

“Research environments can be very competitive. In Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator, we are building a collaborative atmosphere, based on mutual respect and sharing principles. This is important to help new companies reach their milestones.” Janne Nestvold

The Research Oncology team at Vaccibody are developing novel immunotherapies and vaccines against cancer.

The laboratories will be shared between different companies and researchers from Oslo University Hospital’s Cell Therapy Unit. Photo: Oslo Cancer Cluster

The vision for a healthy future

Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator supports more collaboration between researchers, industry, hospital staff and innovation ecosystems, so treatments can be developed and reach patients faster.

“To meet increasing pressure on the health services in the future, we need to invest in developing new technologies, diagnostics and treatments here in Norway,” said Ketil Widerberg, CEO, Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator.

“Norway has world-class research environments in medicine, it is time to turn the research into products that help people and companies that create jobs, export opportunities and added value for society.” Ketil Widerberg

Ketil Widerberg, CEO, OCC Incubator

Ketil Widerberg, Chief Executive Officer of Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator

However, developing novel solutions in health come with high requirements. There is a need to test carefully to ensure it is safe and the innovations have a lengthy development time. This means that companies need access to more test facilities to bring innovative solutions to market.

Together with the other Norwegian health clusters, Norway Health Tech and Norwegian Smart Care Cluster, Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator wants to set up more laboratories and test facilities in Norway.

In Oslo, there is already a lot happening. The Radium Hospital is building a completely new clinic and proton building, while Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park will expand in two building stages over the next few years.

  • Hear more about the plans for building the health industry in Norway in this webinar (in Norwegian) from 21 May 2021.