Learn what is exciting
Science milestones, grant awards, publications, and press coverage, everything that moves our platform forward.
Latest Milestone
DAOdiscovery awarded Innosuisse Innovation Grant
DAOdiscovery has been selected as a 2026 Innosuisse grantee. The Swiss federal innovation agency award validates the commercial potential of the Diazo Ylide spiropentane platform and supports the company's path from academic discovery to pharma-grade compound delivery.
Read the announcementThe Newsroom
Milestones & Publications
Max Hansmann receives the A. V. Rama Rao Award 2026
DAOdiscovery co-founder and CSO Prof. Max Hansmann receives the A. V. Rama Rao Award 2026 from the President of the Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI), a highly prestigious recognition. As part of the accompanying lecture tour, Max visits IISER Kolkata, Dibrugarh University, IISc Bangalore, and IIT Bombay.
Read moreOmescon partnership agreement finalized
DAOdiscovery finalized a strategic partnership with Omescon GmbH, bringing deep expertise in pharmaceutical process systems and manufacturing to support the scale-up of our platform toward first revenue.
Read moreDiazo Transfer from Nitrous Oxide Employing Phosphorus Ylides
A hydrazine-free, N₂O-based diazo transfer method using phosphorus ylides provides access to a broad range of dinitrogen-containing building blocks under mild conditions. This green-chemistry-compatible route directly improves the precursor synthesis feeding into the Diazo Ylide platform.
Read morePaul Varava speaks at NTU Singapore on intuition and discovery
DAOdiscovery CEO Paul Varava gives an invited chemistry seminar at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore, "How Following Your Intuition Will Lead to Discoveries", at the School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.
Read moreFounding team complete: Reto Omlin and Janosch Menke join
Reto Omlin joins as COO to build DAOdiscovery's operational and commercial backbone, and Janosch Menke joins as CTO to architect the AI pre-selection engine. With chemistry, operations, and machine learning under one roof, the founding team is complete.
Read morePaul Varava joins the Biotech China Tech Tour 2025
In November 2025, DAOdiscovery CEO Paul Varava represents the company on the biotech-focused China Tech Tour, building relationships with pharma and biotech partners across the region.
Read morePaul Varava joins the China Tech Tour 2025
DAOdiscovery CEO Paul Varava represents the company on the general China Tech Tour in May 2025, connecting with partners and the deep-tech ecosystem across China.
Read moreAmbiphilic Reactivity of Iridium Complexes with N-Heterocyclic Vinylidene Ligands
A fundamental-science highlight from co-founder Paul Varava: cationic iridium complexes with N-heterocyclic vinylidene ligands show striking ambiphilic reactivity and unusual metal–carbon bonding. DAOdiscovery's own chemistry is metal-free and uses no iridium; this work simply showcases the depth of our founders' synthetic expertise. Published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Read moreSpiro-C(sp³)-Atom Transfer: Creating Rigid Three-Dimensional Structures with Ph₂SCN₂
Published in Science, this paper describes the direct scientific basis for DAOdiscovery's Diazo Ylide spiropentane synthesis, the core of our patented technology. The diazosulfur ylide Ph₂SCN₂ enables metal-free spiro-C(sp³)-atom transfer to generate rigid (oxa)spiro[2.2]pentane frameworks.
Read moreDAOdiscovery founded to commercialise the Diazo Ylide spiropentane platform
Dr. Paul Varava (CEO, EPFL) and Prof. Dr. Max Hansmann (CSO, TU Dortmund) co-found DAOdiscovery to bring their patented Diazo Ylide carbon-atom transfer chemistry out of the academic lab and into the hands of pharma partners. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland with a research hub in Dortmund, Germany.
Read moreMax Hansmann receives the Klung-Wilhelmy Science Prize
DAOdiscovery co-founder and CSO Prof. Max Hansmann receives the Klung-Wilhelmy Science Prize in Berlin, one of the most highly endowed German awards for young scientists. A great honour and success for the group whose chemistry underpins the DAOdiscovery platform.
Read morePh₃PCN₂: A Stable Reagent for Carbon-Atom Transfer
Published in Science, this paper demonstrates for the first time that a diazophosphorus ylide can transfer a single carbon atom to create strained spiropentane-containing ring systems, the foundational transformation that DAOdiscovery has now patented and scaled.
Read moreIsolation and Characterization of Diazoolefins (Nature Chemistry)
The landmark paper co-authored by Paul Varava that established N-heterocyclic diazoolefins as isolable entities for the first time. This publication, alongside Hansmann's concurrent Nature Chemistry paper, is the direct scientific origin of DAOdiscovery's Diazo Ylide reaction platform.
Read moreIsolation and Reactivity of an Elusive Diazoalkene (Nature Chemistry)
Prof. Dr. Max Hansmann's landmark paper establishing stable diazoalkenes, the founding intellectual basis for DAOdiscovery's Diazo Ylide platform. Published concurrently with Varava's diazoolefin work, these two Nature Chemistry papers define the scientific origin of the company.
Read morePress & Media
Press enquiries and media contacts
Journalists, analysts, and podcast hosts are welcome to reach out directly. We can arrange interviews with our founders, provide background on the Diazo Ylide platform, and supply high-resolution assets on request.