Glyco Diagnostics is developing an innovative liver fibrosis test to help diabetes patients detect liver problems early. Katarina Madunic and her team are committed to enabling doctors and patients to take action in time, before any damage becomes irreversible.
The story of Glyco Diagnostics began at Leiden University Medical Center. There, co-founder Manfred Wuhrer and his team discovered a promising biomarker in the blood of patients with liver fibrosis. They found it in glycan molecules, which are small sugar molecules attached to proteins in our blood, produced by the liver
“Every researcher dreams that their work will one day really mean something to society,” Katarina explains. For her, this dream began to take shape when she decided to return from her postdoc in Copenhagen and take on the challenge of bringing their biomarker to the clinic by founding her own company in Leiden.
But before she made that move, Katarina first participated in the Ready to Start program by PLNT, all the way from Copenhagen, completely online. “That was my first introduction to entrepreneurship and the world of startups. It showed me how exciting and challenging it can be to actually get an idea off the ground.”
Unlock_ proved to be the perfect springboard to grow from an idea into a real company. “I had zero experience with entrepreneurship or finance,” Katarina laughs.
“Everything was new to me, but that made the learning process intense and fast.”
Every Tuesday, together with Manfred and the other unlock_ participants, she learned everything that comes with building a startup: strategy, pitching, investors, regulations. She was not a fan of the latter at first. “I always found rules and documents boring, but now I understand why they exist. In the end, it’s all about patient safety, and that is motivating.”
According to Katarina, the real strength of unlock_ is the people. Mentors like Christian and Sven were always accessible, even outside the lessons. “We didn’t just get theory; we built our company in practice. Even during lunch breaks, people were helping us with our pitch or business plan.” The bi-weekly sessions with Stefan Ellenbroek also provided valuable insight into bringing academic breakthroughs to the clinic.
The biggest challenge? “We really had to start from scratch. No pitch, no deck, not even a clear business model. That was tough, but also an opportunity to learn quickly.” Katarina found she gets the most energy from writing inspiring research proposals and discussing the clinical data with others. Luckily, Manfred complements her with his financial background.
For Katarina, unlock_ felt like a community where everyone helps each other move forward. “We support each other with things like LinkedIn, marketing and financing. Everyone has their own expertise. You realize you are not in this alone.”
In the coming months, they are focusing on major steps: obtaining an IP license from LUMC, officially founding their company, and submitting new grant applications. Their big dream is that in five years every general practitioner will use their test to screen diabetes patients. This way, liver fibrosis can finally be detected and treated early. Katarina is clear:
“We really want to make a difference and prevent people from becoming unnecessarily ill.”
When asked to describe unlock_ in one word, she doesn’t hesitate: ‘community.’ Her advice to other founders: ‘Keep asking questions and make use of the knowledge and experience in the network. Together, you can go much further than alone.