This week, three interviews, and five guests. We have conversations with Ulrik Tirsted Zeuthen, CEO, and Katarina Cantell, founder and CSO of Adalyon; Nisit Khandelwal, co-founder and CEO, Cycuria Therapeutics; and Craig Ritchie, founder and CEO of Scottish Brain Sciences and Deborah O’Neil, CEO and CSO of NovaBiotics as well as chair of the Life Sciences board of Opportunity Northeast, which runs ONE BioHub, and BioAberdeen.
Times:
02:38 Adalyon
32:44 Cycuria Therapeutics
53:43 Scottish Brain Sciences/One BioHub
Cycuria Therapeutics
Cycuria Therapeutics is a preclinical oncology company based in Graz, Austria, which is developing first‑in‑class protein therapeutics for hard‑to‑treat blood cancers. Its lead programme, CUR‑101, is designed to target both acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) tumour cells and the tumour stem cells +++thought to drive relapse, while sparing healthy blood formation.
Founded by scientists from the Medical University of Graz, TU Munich and the University of Heidelberg, the company combines cytokine biology with protein engineering to deliver durable efficacy alongside a better safety profile in preclinical models.
Cycuria recently announced significant public grant funding to support the translation of CUR‑101 and follow‑on assets into the clinic.
Scottish Brain Sciences
Scottish Brain Sciences runs brain health research centres that specialise in clinical trials for early detection and treatment of neurodegenerative disease, with a particular focus on Alzheimer’s. The organisation offers a full‑service clinical research model, combining dedicated trial sites with in‑house laboratory and imaging capabilities.
Together with its participants and partners, Scottish Brain Sciences is building one of the world’s largest biobanks of genetic, blood and imaging data in neurodegenerative conditions. In just a short period it has helped more than 100 people with Alzheimer’s enrol into drug trials, and it is leading the IONA longitudinal cohort study to characterise very early disease changes and prevent progression to dementia.
The company recently opened a new office at ONE BioHub in Aberdeen.
One BioHub
ONE BioHub is a £40m life sciences innovation hub on Aberdeen’s Foresterhill Health Campus, created as the flagship location for high‑growth life science ventures in the north‑east of Scotland. The facility brings together start‑ups, spin‑outs and scaling companies with flexible labs, offices and grow‑on space, alongside commercialisation and skills programmes.
Led and co‑funded by Opportunity North East with support from the UK and Scottish governments, Scottish Enterprise and regional partners, ONE BioHub can accommodate up to 400 bio‑entrepreneurs at full occupancy. The aim is to accelerate the translation of research from the University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University and NHS Grampian into market‑ready solutions, diversifying the regional economy and creating high‑value life sciences jobs.
Adalyon
Adalyon develops AI‑driven speech biomarkers to serve as digital endpoints in clinical trials, helping sponsors detect treatment response earlier and manage patient engagement in real time. Its platform analyses natural speech from voice journalling or guided conversations to extract behavioural, emotional and paralinguistic features relevant to psychiatric and neurological conditions.
The company combines AI engineering, clinical research operations and behavioural science to build tools that align with regulatory expectations for digital endpoints. Its technology is designed to automate aspects of psychometric assessment, flag dropout risk and shorten trial timelines by enabling earlier, objective insight into how patients are responding to therapy.
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Jim Cornall is editor of Deeptech Digest and publisher at Ayr Coastal Media. He is an award-winning writer, editor, photographer, broadcaster, designer and author. Contact Jim here.