I believe that the right example for Serbia is to enable people with ideas to work in incubators that are sponsored by the state or industry, as it is done in San Francisco.
Serbia has made great progress in the IT field, and this is now a leading branch of industry that is able to keep pace with the world. As far as I’m aware, due to good earnings and working conditions in this sphere, workers have even started returning to the country. My suggestion is for the same recipe to be used to strengthen other branches related to technology and natural sciences.
The pharmaceutical industry is currently experiencing a boom in America. This relates to huge investments that result in the appearance of treatments for diseases that were untreatable until recently. The huge success of COVID-19 vaccines has further boosted confidence in the biotech industry and new treatment methods.
There are around a dozen incubators in the San Francisco area that help young biotech companies initiate research. Several hundred companies that deal with medicines, devices or diagnostics are currently being “incubated” there. These incubators are often linked to universities, but also larger pharmaceutical companies that are very happy to sponsor the functioning of these institutions. I think this is also the right example for Serbia, i.e., to enable people who have ideas to work in incubators that are sponsored by the state or industry. It would be logical for these incubators to be closely connected to universities.
Nenad Tomašević Ph.D. received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and his Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Belgrade. He completed his postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (NIDDK, Genetics and Biochemistry Branch) in Bethesda, Maryland. During his training, he discovered two previously uncharacterized proteins. He went on to join Cytokinetics, leading a team that identified small molecule inhibitors of key players involved in actin dynamics i.e., cell motility, with that data published in prestigious scientific journals. He led a protein biochemistry group at Nuvelo that implemented numerous preclinical studies on protein and antibody therapeutics. He was director of protein biochemistry at KaloBios and his team has supported preclinical and clinical activities for three clinical-stage antibodies. During this time, he was also team leader for an antibody program in allergy.
He is today the Founder & Vice President of Research at Allakos.