Combining research and business in your life science career: Ideas, challenges and rewards
As a life scientist, whether early on after your PhD or after years as a postdoc, many careers are possible. At one point, most scientists find themselves wondering if they want to explore a career outside of academia. A huge variety of options exists but what are some of these and what do they actually entail?
In a recent webinar hosted by the Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club (CUTEC) and the BioData Innovation Centre at the Wellcome Genome Campus, four brilliant speakers who all started their careers in academia talked about their transition into non-academic positions. Motivated by their subjects and by meeting people with similar interests and ideas, by their wish to fill a research gap or by the drive to work more collaboratively, they all ended up in business-related roles.
Starting your own company
Hana Janebdar (Founder of June Bio) for example, discovered during her academic research that very little is known about the vaginal microbiome, leading to the foundation of her start-up. Similarly, Daniel Eliás Martín Herranz (Co-Founder and CSO) turned his scientific interests into a start-up by co-founding Chronomics whilst finishing his PhD, aiming to provide preventative healthcare tests via the analysis of epigenetic markers. And Peter Fish co-founded Pexxi, a start-up focused on improving contraception for women. Getting the technical knowledge in academic settings provides many opportunities to commercialise own ideas later on.
Bringing academia and industry together
Mariya Chhatriwala was a postdoc and a Staff Scientist for over 10 years before becoming a Business Development Associate within the Technology Transfer Office at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, enjoying the daily challenges of bringing academia and industry together through a variety of projects.
Something that Peter Fish is excited about too. He says that over the past years the hard line between academia and industry has faded more and more. In addition to his own company he is also a Business Consultant for the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the cancer database COSMIC, an academically-driven platform.
What skills are required for a successful transition from academia to business?
Transitioning from academia to industry might seem difficult and being compared to entering another world. But which skills are needed for such a transition? Important skills are some that we might actually learn in academia and practice more than we think or appreciate: soft and transferable skills. Good communication, being able to work collaboratively, having a high level of self-motivation and good organisation skills are a great start to find a place in the world of entrepreneurship. Challenges occur all the time in both worlds, especially when founding a start-up. Dealing with questions like how to find funding and how to build a great team and working culture are difficult and crucial in the initial phase. This can require a huge amount of resilience, something we are used to from our daily academic work. However, there can be great rewards of working in a team and having a clear objective to work towards with a very collaborative approach, says Daniel Eliás Martín Herranz.
Getting career advice early on
All four speakers agreed that people in companies and start-ups are much more approachable than you may think initially — don’t be scared to approach someone you don’t know to ask for advice, whether it is for a coffee to chat over an idea, to ask for an internship or to gain insights into the business world in general. This approach may also provide life scientists with opportunities to network, connect with people and get insights into their jobs as well as to find a mentor.
Most mentioned skills that are important when working in entrepreneurial or business-focused roles remind us of our own PhD or postdoc work, where they are equally important: Being resilient, collaborative, talking to other people to see the bigger picture, sharing and discussing ideas and working together towards a common goal.
To find out more about the speakers, current recruitment opportunities at Juno BIO and Chronomics and to hear about the experiences from former life scientists who are now working in business roles, listen to the webinar recording here. The webinar was hosted by CUTEC and the BioData Innovation Centre at the Wellcome Genome Campus.
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This article was written by guest author Antonia Hufnagel in collaboration with CUTEC and the BioData Innovation Centre at the Wellcome Genome Campus.
CUTalks by CUTEC
CUTalks by CUTEC is a leading podcast series for tech founders, aiming to shed light on typical and not so typical journeys in entrepreneurship by talking to a range of inventors, founders, investors and experts. You can find the episodes here: https://www.cutec.io/cutalks.
BIODATAlks by the Wellcome Genome Campus
This series takes the format of 30–45 minute interactive sessions, hosted by the BioData Innovation Centre at the Wellcome Genome Campus. The webinars feature a variety of genomics and biodata experts- from established companies to start-ups and academic spinouts. These online sessions are designed to introduce you to thought-leaders, founders and experts who have created successful teams and enterprises in the biodata and genomics fields. With absolutely no pre-recorded content, speakers expect to have questions thrown at them, so please have one or two comments/questions up your sleeve to make sure you get the most out of these informal discussions. Listen to the latest release of BIODATalks here.
About Antonia
Antonia is a PhD student in the Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge working on obesity and diabetes during pregnancy and the impact on fetal and placental health. She is interested in basic research and its application in the clinic and science education in schools.
