Silvia Wojczewski: Bespoke molecules for medicine
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- Wojczewski was still a doctoral student when she founded BioSpring GmbH together with five other partners. Source: Sylvia Wojczewski
28.06.2014 -
Sylvia Wojczewski is an original Frankfurter. She went near to school not far from the city, studied and received her PhD there, and still lives in the metropolis on the ¬¬Main. While still a doctoral student, the now 43-year-old chemist founded BioSpring GmbH together with five other partners. The company specialises in the production of small DNA or RNA molecules. In the meantime, the board comprises only two of the original founders – Sylvia Wojczewski and Huseyin Aygün. Since starting with the construction of GMP production capacity ten years ago, the company has built up a reputation as an all-round service-provider, and offers support to customers from initial research all the way to market launch.
Sylvia Wojczewski has to think for a moment. The question was: What opinion do you think Joachim Engels is likely to have of BioSpring? “A positive opinion, yes – definitely positive!” Engels is a professor at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main. Without his contribution, BioSpring GmbH may well never have been established back in 1997. “There was a creative atmosphere in Engel’s group,” recalls BioSpring company head Sylvia Wojczewski. “His work focused on the area of oligonucleotides. He also gave lectures at the university on starting a business, and invited successful company founders to give talks.” “During the course, I also had the occasional idea for a company. Professor Engel was something of a catalyst,” Wojczewski summarises. The professor appears to have inspired three more of his students – four of the six founders of BioSpring originated from his research group.
All about oligonucleotides
At the time, biotech was a booming industry, and there were no delays in finding an area in which they could be active. Anyone who has worked in molecular biology needs a primer for sequencing and cloning. The six founders pooled their money, purchased a 30,000-euro DNA synthesis system, and began to manufacture oligonucleotides for customers. Over time – proving that every beginning requires single-mindedness – the number of members fell from six to just two. “That also had a lot to do with the personal life situation,” says the 43-year-old today. “We were all euphoric at the beginning, but the reality of the company did not chime with everybody’s walk of life.” Alongside Wojczewski, chemist Huseyin Aygün, two years older than her partner, is also in for the long haul. The third employee only came on board in 2000, shortly before the move away from the university premises to Frankfurt-Fechenheim. In the meantime, the team has grown to 40 people, and everything still revolves around oligonucleotides. However, it was not long into the company history before the classic primer was elbowed out by other ambitions. “We noticed early on that there is a need for modified and complex oligos,” says Wojczewski. Quality over quantity – so goes the motto. Her companion Aygün refers to the business as “like pastry shop that manufactures fine baked goods.” Over the years, the production capacity has expanded, and today, customers can order oligonucleotides on a kilogram scale. Small quantities suffice for diagnostics; larger quantities are needed for the development of DNA- and RNA therapeutics, which are themselves aimed at animal testing, toxicological tests and clinical studies. Although large pharmaceutical companies count among the customers, BioSpring is no high-throughput company. According to the boss, the pure manufacturing work still dominates proceedings. And throughout, there’s always a major role for analytics. And while BioSpring used to make only their own preparations, today they are concentrated on custom orders.
Independence is key
Success takes work. As a company head, the weekends are not always a time for leisure – when she can Wojczewski, loves to read books about the early history of human kind – because there is always something or other that needs to be done. “If what you do is fun, that’s no problem,” she says. Nevertheless, she would like to have more time. For friends. For seeing her wider family. And does she regret starting a company and taking on such a workload? “Without wanting to moan, the company really has taken up a lot of time.” But abstinence is part of independence, she adds. Lots of work, low pay – the first years were a drag. But of course, there’s another reason for all this: “We built up the company from nothing, and wanted to remain as independent as possible.” Other financing models are therefore not being considered in the medium term while necessary extensions to production can be undertaken under the company’s own steam. “Our independence is a great advantage because we can respond quickly to market trends,” comments Wojczewski. And for the time being, she is determined to continue as before. And we at biotechnologie.de are sure that her former professor would strongly approve.
Author: Martin Laqua
