Team in the spotlight

Meet Aleksandar, Alrik, Anton, Deniz, Nancy, Philip, Simon, and Yentil. Together they form Biotalys’ Strain Engineering team. Their passion for molecular biology and a green vision for the future brought them together in Biotalys’ labs. The team’s work contributed significantly to increasing the Company’s capabilities for a sustainable production of biocontrols.

“At Strain Engineering, we design and optimize microorganisms to program them as cell factories for the production of our AGROBODY bioactives at large-scale. We identify the “winners”: the hosts with the highest yield, purity, and functional activity”, team lead Nancy explains. “This will allow us to bring our products to the market, in a short time frame, and at the lowest possible cost.”

Contributing to a sustainable future in a scientifically challenging environment

Each of the team members had their own reasons for joining Biotalys. “I always wanted to work in a start-up or early-stage company”, says Yentil, who started as an intern before joining the team permanently. “The unique technology platform that

Biotalys uses really a racted me”, explains Aleksandar. “I have always been fascinated by the possibilities of nanobodies and wanted to learn more about this topic”, adds Philip.

But some things apply to everyone. For instance, they all share a passion for molecular biology. “During my studies in industrial engineering and my thesis, I became really interested in molecular biology. My job here makes it possible to develop my interest further”, says Simon. “For me, Biotalys is a perfect match, partly because the work challenges me scientifically and partly because of the Company’s sustainable mission,” Nancy explains. All team members believe one hundred percent in Biotalys’ sustainable mission. “I wanted to contribute to the revolutionizing platform of the Company for the generation of an environmentally friendly product to protect crops”, agrees Philip.

Diversity as an asset

One of Biotalys’ strengths is undoubtedly its diverse and international team of scientists. With team members from Belgium, Mexico, Turkey, and the Netherlands, the Strain Engineering team is the best proof of this. And that has its advantages above all. “Being in a diverse team gives you the opportunity to come in contact with different cultures and different ways of thinking”, says Aleksandar.

“Our diversity is our strength. We complete each other with our di erent perspectives and talents. This allows us to have fruitful scientific discussions and makes us great at problem-solving”, Deniz adds.

The team is also quite diverse in terms of gender and age. “Next to a mix between men and women, we also have a combination of young research associates with more experienced team leaders. I’m probably twice the age of the youngest team member”, jokes Alrik, Biotalys’ Head of Strain Development. “I like the enthusiasm and high motivation of the young team that exactly knows what it wants to do. It is a high-speed train that we guide to the right destination.” Nancy agrees: “Our researchers have a lot of energy, they want to learn and improve things. Their motivation really helps us to reach our goals.”

Breakthrough in protein expression as the result of good teamwork

When we ask the team about their main achievement in recent years, they are unanimous. “When we showed we could increase the production levels beyond what we thought possible, by using our own engineering toolbox”, says Anton, who has now been working in the team for three years. Alrik praises the good cooperation of the team to reach this milestone. “We made a very large step in production titers, providing trust that we will reach the required levels for a commercially relevant process. This achievement was the result of the combined e ort of a multidisciplinary team”, he proudly looks back.

The shares in 2022

The shares of Biotalys NV are traded since 2 July 2021 on the regulated Euronext Brussels under the symbol ‘BTLS’.

At 31 December 2022, the share capital of the Company was brought to €44,547,917.34 represented by 30,949,454 ordinary shares.

Major shareholders

Biotalys’ shareholding consists of institutional and retail investors, both international and local. At the date of this annual report and based on the received transparency declarations, the shareholder structure was as follows:

Analyst coverage

There are three analysts actively covering Biotalys:

• KBC Securities – Guy Sips

• Berenberg – Sebastian Bray

• Kepler Cheuvreux – Christian Faitz

Notes:

• AIF: Agri Investment Fund CVBA

• AvH: Ackermans & van Haaren NV

• Gimv: Gimv NV, Adviesbeheer Gimv Venture Capital 2010 NV and Biotech Fonds Vlaanderen NV

• Madeli: Madeli Participaties BV

• PMV: ParticipatieMaatschappij Vlaanderen NV (PMV NV). PMV holds 100% of the shares in Biotech Fonds Vlaanderen NV which on its turn holds 8,31% of the shares in Biotalys. This participation however is managed by Gimv NV.

• Sofinnova: Sofinnova Partners S.A.S.