Harold P. de Vladar presented with 2024 ISTA Alumni Award
The ISTA Alumni Award honors the outstanding achievements of those who have spent their PhD or Postdoc at ISTA and have moved on to careers elsewhere in academia or business. This year’s Alumni Award goes to Harold P. de Vladar, who was with the Institute from 2009 to 2013, as one of the first postdocs. “Harold is a perfect example of a scientist who turned a need he observed in the lab into a business opportunity and then acted upon it in a very impressive way,” says Markus Wanko, Managing Director of xista, the tech transfer ecosystem of ISTA, where Vladar’s entrepreneurial career took off. This is also underlined by ISTA professor Nick Barton, with whom Vladar cooperated also after his PostDoc: “Harold gives an outstanding example of how fundamental research can translate into practical application.”
The Hungaro-Venezuelan Vladar is the founder and until recently CEO of Ribbon Biolabs. The company, that has attracted funding from several investors, is developing methods for the automated synthesis of long strands of DNA consisting of over 5,000 base pairs. These DNA molecules are needed in a wide range of applications across research, drug discovery, and synthetic biology. “Establishing Ribbon Biolabs is, of course, one of my biggest achievements,” Vladar states. “Currently, I am starting my second company. I see myself doing this again and again, taking on scientific challenges that can be developed into technologies that bring benefits to industry or society.” This drive for growth is something that connects him with ISTA: “I worked with such amazing people at the Institute. I like to think of ISTA as a metaphor for development and growth: My first office was a in the facility management on the top floor together with another couple of Postdocs, and now I see a growing campus that is immensely beautiful. This inspires me,” he says. “I want to give the message to the current graduates to think big and to act big in whatever you want to achieve in life”.
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The ISTA Alumni Award was presented at the 2024 Graduation Ceremony.
