Science and savvy

摘要

As an immunologist, Hans Wigzell speaks the language of antibody synthesis and transplantation immunity. So what's he doing in his professorially cluttered Stockholm office talking about precommercial interfaces and chain capital? Like more than a fewSwedish scientists, he's speaking the money-spinning language of biotechnology research and development From 1995 to 2003 Wigzell was president of the esteemed Karolinska Institute, whose faculty has chosen Nobel Prize winners in medicine since 1901. Today he is deputy chairman of the university's Karolinska Investment Fund Hence the new lingo. "There's absolutely no reason for an academic institution to ignore the D in R&D," he says. "Indeed, it would be unethical for us not to assist in getting products to the market" Little wonder that on its Web site the Earolinska Institute's motto is not of the "Lux et veritas" variety It reads: WE SPIN OFF A NEW COMPANY NEARLY EVERYMONTH.