Heiko Lickert

CSO at Viacure GmbH

Speaker

Dr. Heiko Lickert is Full Professor and Chair of β-Cell Biology at the Medical Faculty of the Technical University of Munich (TUM). He is Director of the Institute of Diabetes and Regeneration Research (IDR) and Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Stem Cell Research (ISF) at Helmholtz Munich.

His research focuses on organ development and tissue homeostasis, with particular emphasis on insulin-producing β-cell development, regeneration and replacement. His work has been supported by numerous prestigious grants, such as three European Research Council (ERC) grants, the Emmy Noether Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMFTR) and the European Union.

In addition to his academic career, Prof. Lickert has established a strong translational track record through long-standing collaborations with industry partners, including Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Building on the discovery of the insulin inhibitory receptor and its role in β-cell biology, he co-founded Viacure GmbH, a Helmholtz Munich spin-off developing first-in-class regenerative therapies for people living with diabetes. Under his scientific leadership, the company has secured highly competitive translational funding, including the Bavarian m⁴ Award, an ERC Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Grant and a multimillion EU-STEP grant to advance its lead program through preclinical development. As scientific founder, he has played a key role in technology transfer, intellectual property strategy, fundraising, and company building, with the goal of progressing the program toward IND-enabling studies and first-in-human clinical trials. The overall goal of the Viacure GmbH is to advance a first-in-class β-cell regeneration therapy into the clinic, to stop disease progression and for a better life for people living with diabetes.