How I Did This – Katja Hanack, Founder and CEO of new/era/mabs GmbH
My professional journey began with studying Biology as a basic science, first in Rostock and later in Berlin. After completing my Diploma, I moved to Potsdam to pursue a Ph.D. in Biotechnology. I was particularly interested in developing tools to support biomedical innovations. My supervising professor specialized in antibodies and gave me the opportunity to learn and establish new technologies in this field.
Antibodies are incredible tools that can detect nearly anything. They can be engineered to bind to pathogens like bacteria or viruses, as well as other types of proteins or toxins. Today, antibodies play a crucial role in biomedicine and are invaluable tools for research, diagnostics, and therapy. During my Ph.D., I focused on developing new workflows to find more efficient ways of creating antibodies of interest. My passion for this field grew, and after a two-year postdoc in mucosal immunology and Crohn’s disease, I returned to Potsdam to establish my own research group.
Over the next five years, I built a team of more than 25 people and secured over 14 million euros in funding to work on various antibody-related projects. The centerpiece of our work was the development of a new selection technology that could identify suitable candidates four times faster than traditional methods. For the following five years, I was promoted to an endowed and industry-financed professorship, which enabled us to develop a reliable prototype of our selection system, which we named “SELMA.”
At this point, I had to decide the future of our “baby.” In 2014, I transferred this invention into my own company—new/era/mabs—to prepare it for commercialization. With the support of my university, I was able to extend the professorship for another five years and build the company within my university laboratories without needing outside investors.
Balancing these two roles, along with raising two small children, I managed to continue both basic science and building my biotech company. Today, new/era/mabs is firmly established in the German biotech landscape, leveraging its lightning-fast and scalable antibody technology to create and develop novel antibody product candidates for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. The technology is protected by multiple international patent families and is continuously being advanced.
Recognizing the best market opportunity for the company, I soon realized that the U.S. market offered the best potential. The significantly higher density of potential customers and investors, combined with a greater willingness to take risks, provided an optimal foundation for growing my company. I successfully applied for a green card for my family, and last year we moved from Germany to the Bay Area to embark on this new chapter. Alongside my scholarship at Stanford University, I am now focused on acquiring U.S. customers and pitching the company to investors.
Katja Hanack is a scientific expert in the field of antibody discovery with more than 40 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. She works as a consultant for the SPARK initiative at Stanford, helping translate basic research findings into patient-related applications. She is passionate about mentoring young scientists in career development and entrepreneurial activities.