In this series “Meet the people behind Biotech Booster” we introduce you to the passionate people who are involved in our mission.
A big part of our team consists of Biotech Booster business- and impact developers. They operate on a national level within five distinct Thematic Clusters (TC’s) that each represent specific biotech focus areas. Our business- and impact developers collaborate nationally on a daily base to identify early stage high-potential biotechnology findings. They guide scientists and aspiring entrepreneurs in their journey to transform their ideas into successful biotech businesses so that biotechnology findings have more and a faster positive impact on society.
Name
Lucia Malone
What is your role within Biotech Booster?
I am a Business Developer at Biotech Booster and Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus. Together with the team in TC4, I scout, coach and support projects that are developing novel diagnostics and services. I have a background in molecular microbiology and am very enthusiastic about new techniques and the development of diagnostic tools.
Can you describe your role in a nutshell?
In the Netherlands, there’s an incredible amount of research happening in biotech, but the real challenge lies in translating these discoveries into tangible solutions. Good science is not enough- it needs direction, support, and the right activities to generate impact!
As a business developer, I act as a “translator” between academia and the entrepreneurial world. I help researchers identify the potential of their inventions, guide them through the early stages of business development, and connect them with the right resources and partners that can help them move forward. My day-to-day involves a mix of scouting promising technologies, coaching passionate scientists, and building bridges between stakeholders. Overall, my job is dynamic, collaborative, and deeply rewarding.
What motivated you to join Biotech Booster’s mission?
What attracted me most to Biotech Booster is its role as a community builder. It’s not just about supporting individual projects but about creating a collaborative network that connects scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, and experts across the country.
What do you love most about your role?
The interaction with scientists, especially those “aha!” moments when they realize the potential of their work outside the lab. Being part of that transformation, when a researcher starts to see themselves as an entrepreneur, is incredibly inspiring.
You recently joined the team. What are your ambitions and what do you hope to achieve in the coming years?
My ambition is to create something that has not been created before. I have spent years in the lab focused on fundamental research, and I understand the struggle of trying to make impact with your research without having the appropriate tools to make it happen. My own experience inspires me to help researchers get their ideas out of the lab and into the real world. On a bigger scale, I’m excited to take part in building a national hub for diagnostics and services that brings together the right people and tools to ultimately generate an impact in healthcare.
If you had a few million to invest in biotech, what type of company would you start yourself or in which company would you invest and why?
It might be because of my microbiology background, and because I dedicated almost a decade studying them, but I have a special place in my heart for phages (viruses that infect bacteria). One of the most relevant clinical problems we are currently facing is antimicrobial resistance. Bacteria are evolving faster than our ability to develop new antibiotics, and we haven’t discovered a new class of antibiotics in over 30 years. I would invest in a company focused on phage therapy—developing targeted, effective treatments using these bacterial-eating viruses. It’s a promising, underexplored field with the potential to revolutionize how we treat infections.
If you could have dinner with any scientist, living or dead, who would it be, what would you ask them and why?
I would choose to have dinner with Salvador Mazza, ideally over some “empanadas fritas” if I can pick the menu too! He was a physician and epidemiologist who dedicated his life to studying Chagas disease in rural Argentina. This disease disproportionately affects poor, remote communities often neglected by the healthcare system.
His work was not only scientific but deeply humanitarian—he treated patients, collected data, and fought against the indifference of authorities. I would ask him: “How did you stay motivated and hopeful in the face of so much resistance and adversity?”
In many ways, he was a true entrepreneur—resourceful, mission-driven, and deeply committed to solving a real-world problem. Thanks to his efforts, Chagas disease was finally recognized as a major public health threat, and his work paved the way for prevention and treatment programs that saved countless lives.
