About Us
The IOCB Tech is a technology transfer office and subsidiary company of IOCB (the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry CAS). The company helps to translate the results of basic research done at the IOCB by scientists in the fields of medicinal chemistry, material sciences, biology, and other fields related to chemistry. The main goal is to make those results available to human use.
The IOCB Tech team supports management and decision-making processes in multiple projects targeted at novel drugs and novel scientific tools. We provide service to IOCB scientists in the areas of due diligence analyses, market potential studies, and project feasibility evaluation. The company is responsible for networking and industry partner search.
To advise us in strategic decisions we are very happy to have an International Business Advisory Board. Members combine deep knowledge in both international and local business, IP issues, and medical applications of our efforts.

Martin Fusek
Martin has studied Organic Chemistry and finished his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1988. After spending 6 years as a postdoctoral fellow in laboratories in the USA and Germany he started to work in the industry sector, specifically for Sigma-Aldrich and Merck. Since 2007 he focused on the development of the technology transfer office at the IOCB in Prague and is the CEO of IOCB Tech since 2009.

Jana Kenney
Jana started her undergraduate research career at the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In 2012, she received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, followed by a post-doc in a CNRS-affiliated laboratory in Lyon, France. She then gained experience in pharmaceutical industry (regulatory affairs) as a scientific consultant and medical writer. She joined the team in September 2017.

Jan Šotola
Jan graduated in Physical Chemistry from the University of Chemical Technology in Prague and decided for a research stay at the “Joint Laboratory of Silicates” before he started his Ph.D. studies at The Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry” of the Academy of Sciences in Prague. He stayed as a postdoc at the Fritz-Haber Institute (Max Planck Society) in Berlin, Germany, and at the Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Prague.
Jan has a long experience with Industry. He started working as a Development Manager for PAL in Prague before he became a TQM manager, API Business director, and finally R&D director at Zentiva. After a short period of consulting activity, he spent 2 years developing oral insulin tablets. Jan has joint the IOCB Tech team in 2014.

Julie Proft
After graduating in Biochemistry from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University in Greifswald, Germany Julie joined the group of Martin Groschup at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute in Germany to earn a Ph.D. on the topic of Mad Cow Disease. After her Ph.D. she stayed in Calgary, Canada as a postdoc before returning to Europe for another postdoc at the IOCB in Prague, she joined the IOCB Tech team in January 2016.

Sofiia Svirska
In 2007, Sofiia graduated with a degree in Pharmacy from the Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University, Ukraine. In 2019, she received her PhD in Pharmacy. She gained experience as a researcher and university teacher at the Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University. Sofiia joined the IOCB Tech team in 2022.

Kateřina Habelová
After graduating with a degree in biochemistry from Charles University in 2003, Katerina worked in the clinical laboratory Aeskulab. In 2005, she sought a new opportunity with Sigma-Aldrich as a Life Science Specialist in the sales department and joined the technology transfer team at IOCB (as the Assistant of the CEO) in 2012.

Ladislava Součková
Ladislava graduated in Biochemistry from Charles University in Prague. She worked for 9 years as a research assistant at the Institute of Pharmacology in Prague. Concurrently she prepared her Ph.D. thesis and she obtained this degree from Charles University, Prague in 1993. After that, she spent a one-year fellowship in France, at the Institute of Chemistry of Natural Compounds, Gif-sur-Yvette. Then, she proceeded with her education to become a patent attorney and passed a patent attorney exam in 1997. Since then she has worked in the field of IP protection in chemistry in a specialized patent office, in a commercial company and finally for an academic Institute.

Barbara Eignerová
Barbara graduated with an MSc degree in Organic Chemistry from Charles University in Prague and obtained her Ph.D. in 2010 from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB) on the topic of Perfluoroalkylation via Cross-metathesis. During her Ph.D. studies, she received the Sigma Aldrich Award (2008) and Prix de Chimie (2009). Barbara proceeded with her education at the Industrial Property Office and she decided to pursue a new career in law. After graduating with the MSc in Law from Charles University in Prague, she worked as a lawyer at the State Institute for Drug Control. She joined the IOCBTech team at the beginning of 2019.

Adrian Bradley
Adrian Bradley is a Partner and Chartered Patent Attorney at Cleveland IP, the London-based intellectual property firm.
He trained as a patent attorney in the pharmaceutical industry and has worked extensively on Supplementary Protection Certificates and advises on regulatory data exclusivity.
Adrian particularly enjoys working with universities to assist them in commercializing their technology. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Reading and has developed a business game to help academics understand the commercial potential of their research.
Adrian is a regular speaker on patent-related matters and delivered a TEDx Talk at the National Technical Library, Prague, in February 2016, the video can be found here.

Dr. John Normanton
John is a neuropharmacologist by training, having pursued an academic career in the Department of Physiology at the University of Oxford before pursuing a varied career in clinical research with Sandoz (now Novartis), venture capital (with a 3i subsidiary) and technology transfer (Imperial Innovations, Imperial College London).
He co-founded an oncology company (Sterix Limited) in 1998 as a joint spin-out from Imperial College and the University of Bath raising £8M in syndicated VC funding, negotiating multi-£million partnerships and out-licenses and completing a Phase I clinical trial for the company’s lead product. The company gave rise to numerous successful lead optimization programmes in oncology, women’s health, and diabesity and was subsequently acquired by The Ipsen Group with several of Sterix’s drug candidates ultimately entering clinical development (19 clinical trials to date with two compounds currently in Phase II).
Dr. Normanton worked with Ipsen, including as Director of Commercial Project Planning, and has broad experience in clinical development, venture funding, technology transfer, strategic IP management, business development and early stage university spin-out management. Since then, he has provided consultancy advice to academia, start-ups, and pharma via his consultancy companies, Oxandia Limited and ArgantriX Limited.
He is now ‘launch’ CEO for a number of collaborative university spin-outs (from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Swansea & Bath, and the Karolinska Institutet) operating across multiple clinical areas including oncology, antimicrobials, and neurodegeneration.

Vít Perlík MD, PhD
Vit is currently acting as a Director of Regulatory Science and Clinical Development in Pharminvent.
He is profoundly skilled in the area of Clinical Development strategies/study design/data mining, which he gained in multinational pharmaceutical companies e.g. Sanofi, Zentiva Inhalationprodukte and Zentiva. His background includes over 15 years of research experience covering areas of clinical pharmacology and phase I as well as phase II and III studies particularly in inhalation drug development, generic development and pain and obesity management.
Educated at the 3rd faculty of medicine in Charles University and resident at the Bulovka hospital department of infectious disease, Vit also served a three years tenure as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Health Science Center, the University of Tennessee in the US.
As a professional, Vit had facilitated the design, strategic development and data mining of bioequivalence, pharmacodynamics and clinical studies. As a member of the PharmInvent team, he is responsible for driving the processes for clinical development strategy including but not limited to scientific support, protocol development, scientific evaluation, and data interpretation.

Ing. Jiří Michal
Jiri Michal is a highly experienced professional in the pharmaceutical industry. He has been with Zentiva for 36 years and served as its CEO from 1993-2010.

Ursula Vogel, PhD, MBA
Ursula Vogel, a biopharmaceutical industry veteran, started her career at Merck & Co (MSD) in West Point, PA, USA, where her research led to significant discoveries in the field of oncology. After another R&D position at Rhone-Poulenc (Sanofi), she was recruited to launch the European operation of the pioneering US biotech Genetics Institute (Pfizer) where she was responsible for managing key product development and business development activities for several programs, including InductOs(R), BeneFIX(R)and DiscoverEaseTM. She then joined ZS Associates where she co-managed the newly established European headquarters.
In 1999 she started her own independent consulting practice, specializing in providing C-level business development support to companies in all stages of the deal-making process. In this capacity, she has led in /out licensing and other partnering efforts for large pharmaceutical companies, publicly traded biotech companies, and VC backed companies (USA, Europe, and China), resulting in an extensive list of transactions. She has also served as an Advisor to top tier venture capital and private equity firms, not-for-profit entities, foundations, and universities and has a broad experience across various therapeutic areas and modalities.
Ursula holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Cambridge University, a B.Sc. from Imperial College and an MBA from INSEAD.

Martin Opatrný
Is an expert in strategic and crisis communication. He has over twenty years of experience in media and PR, both from the private sector and public administration.
In particular, he worked in crisis communication at the international company Emoney Group, where he was responsible for PR groups in the CEE region. He was a spokesman for the Opencard project. He also worked as a specialist in communication, Public Relations, and Public Affairs in the international advisory and lobbying network Interel. Before that, he was the press secretary and spokesman for the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic. He gained considerable practice at the Ministry of Regional Development or practical knowledge of journalistic work as an editor of Czech Television. Martin is a lecturer in media and crisis communication.
He completed his Ph.D. studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague, in a culturology subject, where he specialized in mass communication and psychology. Formerly, he studied management and marketing.
The International Business Advisory Board
Vít Perlík MD, PhD
Vit is currently acting as a Director of Regulatory Science and Clinical Development in Pharminvent.
He is profoundly skilled in the area of Clinical Development strategies/study design/data mining, which he gained in multinational pharmaceutical companies e.g. Sanofi, Zentiva Inhalationprodukte and Zentiva. His background includes over 15 years of research experience covering areas of clinical pharmacology and phase I as well as phase II and III studies particularly in inhalation drug development, generic development and pain and obesity management.
Educated at the 3rd faculty of medicine in Charles University and resident at the Bulovka hospital department of infectious disease, Vit also served a three years tenure as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Health Science Center, the University of Tennessee in the US.
As a professional, Vit had facilitated the design, strategic development and data mining of bioequivalence, pharmacodynamics and clinical studies. As a member of the PharmInvent team, he is responsible for driving the processes for clinical development strategy including but not limited to scientific support, protocol development, scientific evaluation, and data interpretation.