Mentoring and making connections: Business Development Team spotlight

By nurturing entrepreneurship, guiding undertaking groups, and forging enterprise relationships, the Wyss Business Development Team ensures the Institute fulfills its mission of advancing applied sciences out of the lab to allow them to have a constructive affect on this planet

By Jessica Leff

Imagine you’re a researcher who has answered urgent scientific questions and overcome challenges to develop an progressive solution to detect pathogens. In addition to technical feasibility, there are different important elements to think about when translating your work successfully from a benchtop diagnostic to a bedside point-of-care check. What utility must you prioritize? How would it not match into present therapy paradigms? What differentiates your expertise from others available in the market? How are you able to construct an efficient staff round your expertise?

If these questions go unanswered, even essentially the most cutting-edge analysis can get caught within the valley of loss of life or later, by no means to be absolutely optimized or commercialized.

Paramount to making sure Wyss initiatives keep away from this destiny is our in-house enterprise improvement staff. They make vital trade connections, present strategic steerage, and empower researchers to refine their applied sciences to the purpose the place they’re prepared to go away the lab and are finest poised for constructive societal affect.

Progressing initiatives by way of the pipeline

One key step on the journey from concept to affect on the Wyss is the Validation Project process. Each yr, groups apply for devoted funding and assets to advance their applied sciences in the direction of translation. As a part of their proposal, researchers seek the advice of with the Business Development (BD) Team and embrace a transparent utility.

Senior Scientist Megan Sperry, Ph.D., explains, “Early in a project, BD Team members help focus the scientific work by acting as a sounding board and asking the tough questions – what is the potential product? What’s the path to commercialization?”

Angelika Fretzen, Ph.D., M.B.A., Wyss COO and Technology Translation Director, provides, “Often it is important to understand what should be optimized towards, not out of scientific interest, but based on patient and market needs.”

Once proposals are submitted, the BD Team determines which initiatives have the fitting technical and enterprise deserves. Next, they solicit exterior opinions from members of the Wyss Mentor Hive and colleagues at Harvard Office of Technology Development (OTD), and typically use these discussions to make direct connections with these reviewers and the groups.  After three rounds of overview, between 12 and 17 applied sciences are chosen for the following class of initiatives. But for the BD Team, the job is much from over.

For initiatives which can be funded, and, the place they’ll for people who aren’t, the BD Team helps researchers obtain their milestones, regulate plans based mostly on their outcomes, and safe further funding if mandatory. Ally Chang, Ph.D., M.B.A., Senior Business Development Director – AI and Alliances, explains, “I see us as internal consultants. We’re doing everything from market research to thinking strategically about how to make the biggest impact with our innovations, either spinning out a startup or licensing to an industrial collaborator.”

Li Li, Ph.D., a Postdoctoral Fellow, who’s main the second-year Validation Project GeneSkin, explains, “By helping refine our value proposition, identify key differentiation points, and strategize partner outreach, the BD Team enabled us to make real progress towards clinical and commercial impact. Their insights allowed me to stay focused on the scientific and experimental work while ensuring the project moves forward on the translational front.”

Because the Wyss has its personal BD staff, its members could be way more hands-on with scientists than at different tutorial establishments, the place there is perhaps one expertise switch skilled managing an enormous portfolio. Tiffany Lin, Ph.D., a Scientist, works carefully with Gretchen Fougere, Ph.D., Senior Director of Business Development, Commercialization, on the COPDx Validation Project. Lin says, “Gretchen’s mentorship and ability to distill complexities into actionable items were invaluable.”

Angelika Fretzen explains, “Ultimately, technologies will only realize their potential in the form of societal impact when somebody is willing to pay for their commercialization and advocates for their adoption. To make this happen, our BD Team helps explore the business opportunity, create pitch decks, and make important connections with potential strategic partners, industry operators, and investors.”

The Wyss BD Team actually serves as an indispensable bridge between scientific innovation and real-world affect. They be sure that promising applied sciences usually are not simply profitable experiments, however are thoughtfully developed and positioned to thrive amid the complexities of {the marketplace} and the scrutiny of regulatory requirements.

Meet the Team

When Fretzen joined the Wyss in February 2019, she was tasked with enhancing the Institute’s present enterprise improvement efforts. She explains, “My vision was to integrate entrepreneur training, operational experience, and business strategy into a team that could bring different perspectives and experiences to the table.”

Fougere joined the Wyss three years in the past and focuses on diagnostics, girls’s well being, and 3D Organ Engineering. After getting her Ph.D. in materials science and nanotechnology, she transitioned to trade, working in product improvement and superior R&D. She’s additionally held management tutorial roles in constructing packages, fundraising, and enterprise improvement at three completely different universities. In her free time, she performs aggressive tennis.

Chang joined the Institute six years in the past to usher in further entrepreneurial assets, just like the Business Blueprint occasion sequence, the startup playbook, and the Wyss Mentor Hive. She additionally maintains relationships with startups after they spin out by way of our Lumineers program and helps the newly launched Translational AI Catalyst. With a Ph.D. in biomedical science and an M.B.A., she labored in enterprise operations and technique at a Fortune 500 life sciences firm and a boutique consulting agency. At dwelling, she has two energetic boys, and the household likes to discover nature and journey collectively.

Sam Inverso, Ph.D., the Director of Business Development, Partnerships, first got here to the Wyss in 2013 as a Staff Scientist with expertise in pc science and neuroscience. He spun out a Wyss firm, and transitioned into industrial management, which culminated in a $350 million acquisition. Inverso then returned to the Wyss 4 years in the past to handle giant partnerships, just like the alliances with Northpond Labs and Collaborative Fund, and different trade collaborations. Inverso has been an city beekeeper for 5 years, and his beehive produces 40L of honey every year.

Rounding out the staff is Alex Li, M.B.A., the Senior Business Development Manager, who studied biotechnology. He started his profession on the bench, then moved to philanthropic enterprise capital and healthcare earlier than becoming a member of the Wyss 4 years in the past. Li helps the Sustainable Futures Initiative and the Brain Targeting Program. At dwelling, he has an indoor backyard that features basil, inexperienced onions, and a pineapple plant.

Internal consultants

In their roles as inside consultants, members of the Business Development Team work with people throughout the Institute. One group that they work carefully with, each as a part of the Validation Projects and past, is the Advanced Technology Team, or ATTs, who’re workers scientists with product improvement expertise. Inverso explains, “The Business Development Team works well because the ATTs are there too. They have industry knowledge and identify commercialization potential of technologies early on.”

In addition to expertise development, the BD Team helps ATTs with completely different packages and initiatives. Emily Stoler, Ph.D., Principal Scientist in Sustainable Materials, works carefully with Alex Li. He helped to put in writing the Sustainable Futures Initiative strategic plan and assists with organizing and moderating quarterly Bridging the Gap Seminars. “Part of what’s so great about working with Alex is the sheer volume he gets done and his consistency in doing it well and on time.”

Over the final yr, Chang has been collaborating with Sperry on creating the Translational AI Catalyst to develop the inner computational biology group and join with new exterior events in new methods, just like the AI Data Hub. Sperry explains, “I have learned so much from her development approach, and it’s been gratifying to combine our technical and BD expertise.”

Fougere provides, “None of what we do is alone. We’re working on behalf of the Advanced Technology Team and research community to find resources for them to drive innovation.”

To do that, the BD Team collaborates with the Strategic Engagement and Sponsored Research Teams. For Industry-Sponsored Research Agreements (ISRAs), the BD Team reaches out to potential sponsors and scopes the undertaking, then works with analysis groups to create a undertaking plan. Once they’ve gathered supplies, the settlement strikes over to OTD for full contracting. After the settlement is signed, they be sure milestones are met and studies are given to sponsors, whereas the Sponsored Research Team handles budgeting and compliance. The BD Team additionally helps with grant purposes that require enterprise technique and industrial planning, which is turning into more and more frequent.

Inverso explains, “We stay involved for the life of the contract, so we don’t just hand things off to OTD, we work in partnership with them.”

The connective tissue between the Wyss and the world

In addition to working with inside groups and throughout the Harvard ecosystem, the BD Team is consistently partaking with exterior teams. They commonly attend conferences and networking occasions and have quarterly conferences with trade professionals to remain knowledgeable about market traits and share what’s occurring on the Wyss.

Once a connection is made, the BD Team helps researchers put together for a dialogue. Li Li explains, “We had a strategic meeting with an industry-leading company, and the BD Team helped refine our pitch. Their feedback on the framing, data visualization, and collaboration model made the presentation stronger and directly contributed to continued interest and support.”

When it involves ISRAs, the BD Team engages trade professionals, forging and sustaining relationships and serving as a liaison between them and the researchers. For instance, Core Faculty member David Walt, Ph.D., works with Fougere on the Diagnostics platform and with Chang on a collaborative settlement with a big expertise firm to assist course of his lab’s knowledge. Walt explains, “Sometimes the opportunities have been made directly by a company reaching out to me, but then Gretchen gets involved and makes sure we drive things to the optimal outcome. In other cases, she and Ally bring new opportunities to me and my lab that provide resources that otherwise would not be available. It’s a genuine pleasure working with both of them.”

Fretzen emphasizes the significance of the staff’s outreach actions. “The great challenges our society faces are not solved by an individual, or even by one team or expertise. They require large collaborations between government, universities, industry, and private individuals. The Business Development Team is well-versed in building these relationships, which takes great diplomatic and stewardship skills, as well as considerable time.”

Built to final

In all the things they do, from academic initiatives to day-to-day interactions, members of the BD Team are instructing researchers about trade sponsored analysis and entrepreneurship, mentoring them, and imparting classes that can final properly past their time right here. Wyss Lumineer and Co-Founder and COO of EnPlusOne Bio, Dan Ahlstedt, M.B.A., displays, “Our team had some thoughtful and genuine conversations with Sam, who brought a valuable founder perspective given his background. He offered helpful mentorship on a personal level during our spinout process.”

Sukanya Punthambaker, Ph.D., Wyss Lumineer and Co-Founder and CEO of Breaking, says, “[The Wyss BD Team] helped a lot during the initial aspects around company formation and brainstorming. They worked on details around a particular beachhead market area and analysis.”

And it’s not simply the long run Lumineers, and even simply researchers, who profit from their steerage. Chiara Mancinelli, the Assistant Director of Translational Research Administration, says, “Sam and I work closely on all Northpond projects, and it’s been incredibly helpful to learn from his expertise on the business side.”

Ultimately, the BD Team ensures that it’s not solely the applied sciences leaving the Wyss that have an effect, however the folks as properly. After working with them, researchers are higher outfitted to translate applied sciences into real-world options, addressing the Grand Challenges going through society and enhancing the well being of individuals and our planet.