Student blogs

Meet Carlos Valverde who studied the Bachelor’s Programme in Biomedicine at KI, and is now growing into an entrepreneur as he pursues his Master’s in Immunology at Oxford University. In this blog you’ll learn about his experience at KI, how it’s led him to where he is now, the growth of his start-up, and his plans for the future!

What program did you study at KI and what are you doing now after you’ve graduated?

Concluding the International Baccalaureate at the United World College in Mostar, I decided to pursue the Bachelor’s Programme in Biomedicine at KI. There, I was a student between 2021 and 2024, where I got greatly inspired by the countless research opportunities taking place at the university and had a truly fulfilling time.

After exploring the fields of tropical diseases, neuroscience, oncology, or immunology through multiple lab experiences, I then decided to specialize in immunology because of its interdisciplinary position within biomedical sciences and its enormous potential for medical translation. In this manner, I continued my education at the University of Oxford, where I will soon graduate from its MSc in Integrated Immunology, and where I began a bioentrepreneurship project on AI-powered personalized vaccines on the name of SMRTmeds.

Tell me about your start-up: How did you come up with it, what is it?

SMRTmeds was born after the curious thought on the current vaccination model: can we make vaccines better? And if so, how?

Acknowledging vaccines as the most effective and affordable public health intervention, the current vaccination model relies on the one-size-fits-all principle. You receive a vaccine today and a booster in 6 months to a year, and somehow you are protected. But still, not everyone responds the same.

At SMRTmeds, we are building an immune prediction platform to tell you how well you responded to a vaccine and when you’ll need a booster – if you actually need it, of course. Thus, by integrating systems immunology with causal machine learning and novel biomarkers we will be able to recognize who is in danger of being under protected, and make sure that those who need it the most, like the elderly or immunocompromised individuals, will be always protected. And not only this, but eventually our start-up could accelerate vaccine development, optimize immunization schedules, and support more effective, personalized vaccination strategies.

How much has the knowledge/experience you’ve gained in your bachelor’s at KI helped? Or maybe the connections?

The experiences I gained at KI not only made me grow in the academic or entrepreneurial settings, but also at a personal level. Studying at Karolinska has been invaluable for me as I developed key practical and soft skills such as critical thinking or leadership that are normally underrepresented at other universities. This was done through plenty of labs, problem-based learning activities, and leadership roles at the university. For example, I became part of the board of IDRU (Sports Committee) in my first year, and then student representative for NeurotechEU, and the Swedish National Union of Students (SFS), and the National Swedish Biomedical Organization (BRO) as I grew in my second and third years. Moreover, I always looked for contributing to the integration of new students and the organization of leisure activities enriching the student life, particularly of international students, and I joined the KOLLO team of my generation to put together the introduction activities for the first-year Biomed students.

But of course, nothing could have been done alone. I made plenty of friends along the way with who I learned and co-organised things together, building strong relationships that I know will last and help me further in the future.

What awards have you won for this start-up?

At the moment, SMRTmeds is at a very early (and promising) stage. We have gained a lot of traction already as we have been part of the Oxford incubator OX1, pitched to business experts and the entrepreneurship community at exciting events organized by the Oxford Innovation Ecosystem, and have won two prizes at the All Innovate start-up competition and #StartedinOxford Showcase where we received endorsement from the university to continue with our venture. My co-founder Nicholas Raptakis and I believe in this idea and thus we are investing this year post-graduation to seriously transition from a pitching start-up to a start-up with a product. This has led us to now be part of multiple other competitions and incubators around the UK and Europe, soon looking to release our first minimum viable product, raise funds, and scale-up! 

Is this what you expected you’d be doing with your degree or have you taken an unexpected route?

To be honest, I was not expecting to become an entrepreneur so fast after graduation. It was an idea I had in the back of my mind, and I knew I wanted to explore further in the future, maybe after a potential PhD, but the environment and the people in Oxford inspired me to explore this path already.

First, I needed to learn on scientific translation, biotech and entrepreneurship. I read books like the Lean Startup and joined courses offered at the university for all the students and got so motivated and empowered that I wanted to start something already. In these last few months, I grew a lot from experiencing entrepreneurship from my own hands and now I believe that this is the way to do it— diving into the unknown and learning from our mistakes. Hence, with curiosity and thrive for personal challenge, I will continue in this field, willing to make a positive impact in the world of healthcare.

What are your plans for the future, where do you think the KI degree take you in the end?

Leaving KI with a Bachelor’s degree definitely helped me grow both as a scientist and as a person. I feel I was very well-prepared for the master’s I joined and following this path, I feel ready for a future PhD. The knowledge and experience acquired in the last years not only brought me closer to entrepreneurship but inspired me to continue forming myself in the academic world.

I want to undertake a PhD, keeping translation and innovation close to it, and in the future sit in between the science and the applications. When it comes to SMRTmeds, we will continue working on it, fully focusing on the project during this year and scaling up our venture. We already have exciting goals ahead and I’m sure you’ll hear more about them soon!