Scientist at forefront of cutting-edge medical technology puts theory into practice
Dr Michael Graz and his company are carving new pathways in the global chase to offer state-of-the-art healthcare solutions – and he believes that a work-life balance ethos is key to sustainable success.
Michael is CEO of Disperazol Pharma ApS, which offers an antibiofilm approach that enhances the current arsenal of antibiotics against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative infections, and co-founder and CSO of Wales-based Biophys Ltd, a group of leadership, management and technical experts with experience in finding solutions for Life Science organisations.
At the Biophys helm since 2008, Michael’s team has supported companies in developing medical devices, including diagnostics – such as lateral flow tests - and antimicrobial products. They also develop their own diagnostics and medicine dispensing products.
An adventurous childhood
Now based in Scotland, he was born in Germany before moving to South Africa with his missionary parents and siblings in the 1970s. Here, he excelled academically, matriculating as Dux Scholar and deputy head boy of academics from Sir Pierre Van Ryneveld High School.
“My fondest memory of school is meeting my now wife Heather on the athletics track, and our combined journey through life since then.”
The couple have lived in the United Kingdom for 16 years, happily settled with their cat, Bubbles.
Work has been a driving force all his life, but sport shares podium position, given that it underpins both his personal character and corporate attitude.
“One of the most profound influences on my early life was our athletics coach, the late Andrew West. He taught me that there’s no substitute for hard work and dedication when you want to achieve a specific outcome – but never to the detriment of one’s personal relationships and life in general.”
Michael started running in the early 80s, when (South Africa running champion) Bruce Fordyce was the king of the Comrades Marathon, and completed his first marathon 20 years ago.
Since then, he and Heather have clocked up over 100 marathons on six continents. “My favourite was the Sunrise-to-Sunset 100km – and the hardest thing we’ve ever done? Becoming a non-finisher in the Barkley Marathons: The race that eats its young, in 2008!”
Academic excellence
Michael holds a formidable bouquet of qualifications: a BSc Hons in microbiology (Wits), a master’s in law (University of Bristol) and two PhDs – one in anatomy and human biology from Wits and the other in pharmaceutical chemistry from then University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela University).
What led him to tackle a PhD at Mandela Uni?
“I was lecturing in Microbiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, led by the late Prof Willem Oelofsen, who was very instrumental in my taking up another field of study in the School of Pharmacy, where I was supervised by Prof Pieter Milne. “
A scientist with a law degree seems a rare twin achievement – but it’s one which has brought tangible career benefits, says Michael.
“My career in the sciences has had me involved in contract, human resource, business and IP law on a daily basis. When I discovered that I could solidify my knowledge with a qualifying law degree (one that allows me to become a lawyer, but condensed into a two-year master’s degree), I used the COVID-19 pandemic period to complete it.”
His time at Mandela Uni was fruitful beyond academics, with significant influencers in Prof Milne, with whom he founded the Cyclic Peptide Research Unit, Prof Oelofsen – who had brought him there initially – and the sports leaders, Madibaz Sports deputy director Petrus Boukes and athletics coach Maryke Doubell, the latter two supporting Heather in becoming South Africa’s first-ever woman mountain runner to compete at the 1999 World Championships.
Another valuable peer, Olympian Heidi Seyerling, a member of then UPE Athletics, was Michael’s training partner. “She never took me seriously, but more importantly, she gave me insight into the psyche of a world beater – an attitude that I still live by today.”
Profit with purpose
Biophys Ltd is doing pioneering work, and no two days are the same.
“We have our own microbiology, cell biology and molecular biology laboratory, which we use for the product development that we do.
“We can work in different roles as interim managers, project managers or consultants, depending on what is necessary. Our combined experience spans projects in the USA, the UK, Canada, Spanish-speaking South America, Southern Africa and China.”
Biophys is a majority female-owned, family-owned business that started from scratch in the United Kingdom after Michael left a senior role at I&J in 2008.
“What has stood us in good stead is our ability to deliver on our projects – South Africans are renowned for getting their heads down and delivering.”
Biophys boasts the first team to achieve Orphan Drug Designation by the USFDA for a Quorum Sensing Inhibitor – a bacterial signalling molecule – against lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis, and is also part of the development team for a breath test for COVID-19 that received European CE marking.
The company is proudly able to invest in the infrastructure to build its own laboratory, and latest projects include developing a diagnostic for viral infections using eye-gaze technology, working with a Cape Town-based partner to develop a child proof dispenser for liquid medication and as development partners for Disperazol, developing a new antimicrobial that dismantles biofilms of Pseudomonas, a type of bacteria.
“As a small team, we are dependent on each other to ensure that we deliver, because the ‘buck stops with everyone’, and if one of us doesn’t perform, it has significant impacts on a project. For this reason, we are a completely flat structure; everyone, including our lab scientists, has an equal voice.”
All employees are shareholders, with successes and failures shared equally, and pride in delivering for their company, he says.
Michael’s day always ends with a run or cycle, although not as much of the latter in winter, “with minus degrees, black ice and the odd scattering of snow!”
South Africa has much to offer
South Africa is well known in pharma and medical technology, says Michael, from the pharma companies in Gqeberha, which deliver products to the European Union, to the polyethylene glycol made in Sasolburg and used in protein extractions globally for pharma and diagnostics, and the horseradish peroxidase grown near the Gariep Dam and extracted for blood glucose testing in Cape Town.
“Not to mention the Africa mRNA vaccine hub being developed in Cape Town – and which employs ex-students from Mandela University.“
Unfortunately, the world-leading innovations from South Africa are not showcased to the world at all major exhibitions for biotech and medical technology.
The only significant difference for him between Europe and South Africa is proximity to major pharmaceutical markets, technology research clusters and major employers in the field.
“This proximity creates opportunities that are difficult, but not impossible, to replicate from the tip of Africa.”
Having grown up in the country during a difficult time in its chequered history, Michael was privileged to experience the release of former President Nelson Mandela, whose views on tolerance and understanding different viewpoints have stood him in good stead across the globe.
“I met my wife in South Africa, developed my love for endurance sports there, received an excellent education that I still build on today, at school and at two universities there, and have seen the ashes of my parents and my best friend scattered in that beautiful land.
“South Africa and my experiences there have shaped me into who I am today and I would do it all again tomorrow."