Webpage: http://www.interaxbiotech.com 

General description
InterAx Biotech is a Swiss Biotech company spinoff from the ETH Zürich and Paul Scherrer Institute. We assist drug candidate design and selection with our unique and novel systems biology platform, i.e. the application of mathematical models and simulations to in house-derived experimental data in order to address the complexity of drug-induced cellular signaling mechanisms. Our goal is to close the gap between laboratory experiments and in vivo studies by streamlining the critical processes of drug candidate design and selection, thereby significantly reducing the risks, costs and duration of drug discovery and development of new drugs. Currently, the InterAx technology is applicable to all drug discovery programs on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). InterAx Biotech is collaborating with numerous academic partners and is training young talents with the support of grants from both Swiss (Swiss NanoScience Institute, Innosuisse, Forschungsfonds Aaargau) and European grant agencies. European grants comprise a EUROSTAR for the development of its discovery platform in partnership with the VU Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 2019, InterAx has been awarded a 2.5 Mio EUR Horizon 2020 SME-Instrument Phase 2 grant from the European Union to integrate machine learning into its drug discovery platform.

Key research facilities, infrastructures and equipment
InterAx Biotech AG is a biotech start-up located at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI, Switzerland). InterAx has both cell biology and molecular biology facilities and state-of-the art equipment for state-of-the art cellular assays.

Project members

Dr. Maria Waldhoer – the CSO of InterAx Biotech, will supervise all wet-lab related activities during this project. Maria Waldhoer is a pharmacologist and cell biologist focused on GPCR drug discovery with extensive experience in the supervision of students based on her career both in Academia and Industry. She has a strong background in chemokine pharmacology and drug discovery.

Dr. Aurélien Rizk – CTO of InterAx Biotech, is co-founder and CTO of InterAx Biotech, a systems biology spin-off from ETH Zurich and PSI. Aurélien studied computer science at École Normale Supérieure de Rennes, has a Master in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics from University Paris XI and a Ph.D. in Computer Science applied to Systems Biology from INRIA Paris. Aurelien will supervise all systems biology related activities together with Susanne Roth.

Dr. Susanne Roth – alumni of ETN CAsR is employed as a principal scientist for systems biology at InterAx. Susanne has experience in applying systems biology methods to study GPCR biology and pharmacology by working both in academia and industry (VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands; PSI, Switzerland and Novo Nordisk, Denmark).