Eric van der Helm

ric van der Helm, PhD, is a biotechnology R&D leader and currently serves as Head of Business Development for Bioinformatics and Lab Automation at SNIPR. With international experience across synthetic biology, drug discovery, microbiome research, and bioinformatics, he trained in biomedical engineering in the Netherlands and later worked in the David Baker lab at the University of Washington, focusing on computational protein–protein interaction design for cancer immunotherapy. He earned his PhD at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability (DTU) in Denmark in the Sommer lab, where he developed a drug discovery platform leveraging genetically engineered bacteria and CRISPR-based systems. At SNIPR, Eric connects scientific strategy, bioinformatics and data analytics, and lab automation with business development – building strategic partnerships, structuring partnerships and transactions, and supporting funding efforts to advance CRISPR-enabled precision medicine.