Bio Innovation Conference | Post-Doc Track
Presented by Maryland Life Sciences, a division of the Maryland Tech Council, the Bio Innovation Conference is driving the future of life sciences in Maryland. This conference provides a forum for professionals from industry, academia and government to discuss trends and insight into Maryland’s burgeoning life sciences industry and topics related to funding, structuring, commercialization and government relations.
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Post-Doc Track

Postdoctoral Researcher Session – Mid-Atlantic Career Opportunities

 

Moderator:

  • Steven M. Ferguson, CLP, NIH Office of Tech Transfer

Speakers:

  • Stephen Auvil, Executive Vice President, Programs, Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO)
  • David Ihrie, Chief Technology Officer, Center for Innovative Technology (CIT)
  • Omar Mencin, DBA, Senior Director of Investments, Investment Group, Ben Franklin Technology Partners
  • Randy Ribaudo, Ph.D., Co-Founder of SciPhD; and ex-NIH and ex-Celera

 

Whether it’s an industry or government job, or whatever it is you want next, there’s a lot of things you can do as a graduate student. The first is making sure that you know what the career options are available to you. And there’s a lot of resources out there to really figure out career options.

Once you understand the career options that are out there, it’s gaining the credentials that you need in order to be a competitive candidate. So sometimes that means getting some leadership experience, so joining the committee for your postdoc or grad student organization or volunteering to lead the journal club for your department or doing some kind of above and beyond your science, doing some kinds of things like that to make sure that you’re gaining team skills and leadership skills that that complement the research skills that you’re getting in your labs.

Networking is very important, and it doesn’t have to be this scary horrible thing that you have to do. It’s really just having good conversations with people and asking good questions. So for example, in an informational interview. ask what’s on their to-do list both long-term and short-term projects, because that gives you a really good view of what those that job does on a day to day basis.

And then the last one that I really wanted to point out is something that many of us are struggling with is that to realize that everyone’s struggling during the pandemic. To think about next steps, struggling with worrying about whether they’re getting enough work done. You can’t get into the research labs as much as you would like to and so is that going to hurt your long term career outcomes. And I want to assure you that everyone’s in the same boat. And everyone’s getting jobs. So, it’s okay if your research is slower than you want it to be. Take care of yourself. Take care of your resilience. Take care of your wellness and make sure that you’re ready for the next step. So it’s gaining career knowledge, gaining good credentials, and leadership skills. Build your networks and take care of yourself.  

 

QUESTION: So many scientists that currently work in academic and federal laboratories will need to be thinking about careers in industry. So what are some of the key skill sets that biotech and pharma companies look for when they bring in new scientists into their companies?  

The first thing that they look for is, do you know the science? So you’re going to have to make sure that you convince them that you understand the nuances of the science, the pathways that are involved in the kinds of work that they’re doing. I know many hiring managers who run oncology divisions of major pharmaceutical companies, and what they’ll tell you is, I don’t have time to train a scientist on the science they need to know. That’s 10 years of your life or you’ve learned that and they can’t train somebody for that. They do have experts who can train you on a particular assay, a particular technical skill that you don’t have, they don’t worry about that so much, but that is only the first step in your candidacy for a job. First, establish that you know what they’re doing.

The next thing they tell you in the same breath is, once I know that they know the science, there is no way that I’m going to welcome them into my group, my high functioning team, unless they also have the business and social skills that are necessary to integrate well into that environment and this is where a lot of people fail. The notion that your science is enough to get you the job is just not true, it is in some ways the most important for technical jobs because it’s your ticket to be considered. But these people who run divisions in biotech and pharmaceutical companies and related kinds of organizations, spend an inordinate amount of time building what they call a high-performing team, a team that can meet deadlines. You have a tremendous amount of pressure from upper management to deliver projects and products on time to satisfy investors, to satisfy corporate objectives. So they have to know that you can work in this cross-functional environment, that you’re a good listener, you’re not a dominant person, that you can work with other people, you can be deferential, you can take constructive criticism, you can give constructive criticism in a way that is empathetic.

There is a whole wide variety of business and social behaviors that you have to be able to demonstrate. During the interview process and even on your cover letter and targeted resume that show that you can be a good contributing team member, because the worst thing that can happen is that you poison that team dynamic, because that can really slow down a team.

 

QUESTION: How can postdocs and other scientists connect up with TEDCO funding companies, and what are some of the other TEDCO programs and resources that might be relevant for early stage.

TEDCO was created by the state of Maryland, and it’s funded by the state of Maryland. Its goal is to support entrepreneurs and to support the innovation ecosystem. We do that through a variety of ways including supporting technology transfer, supporting entrepreneurs by providing resources, and then also providing funding to help companies grow, primarily in the state of Maryland. So as a postdoc, you can start a company, or we can try to connect you with one. It’s about networking. We currently don’t have sort of a formal matching program where we can match scientists with other scientists or scientists with business folks to try to build tools around that for companies.

Another thing I would recommend is talk to your colleagues if you’re interested in starting a company or you’re interested in getting engaged with another company. Let folks know. If you keep it to yourself then nothing’s going to happen.

So if you’re a postdoc in one of the major research universities in Maryland or in a federal lab, we have funding programs available. We also have entrepreneurial support programs. We have things like networking advisors so a lot of entrepreneurs, they get out and they think the first thing I need is money but they also need advice. We’ve got a startup orientation where you can get online and ask questions and learn about what does it take to become an entrepreneur. And, we also have a lot of online resources for folks as well.

 

QUESTION: What does the Center for Innovative Technology offer in terms of career opportunities for early stage scientists?

In many ways, CIT is the equivalent in Virginia to what TEDCO is in Maryland. We’re an extension of the state government and operate as not-for-profit. We run grant programs for university researchers and so forth. We connect with the entrepreneurial community and make equity investments in early stage companies.

I think a good way to get involved in various programs in Virginia…there are a number of different clusters so if we’re looking at Northern Virginia, certainly the Inova healthcare system has very active program, and we make investments there. In Richmond, we work with VCU, and there’s a cluster of innovation and funding sources, going around there. Similarly, in Charlottesville, the University of Virginia is very active and many of our companies come out of that area,

Don’t be afraid to explore sort of adjacent industries. Everybody likes to focus on their specific verticals or specific areas of scientific expertise, and in a lot of ways those skills translate into different areas that you might not think of.

 

QUESTION: The Philadelphia/New Jersey area has always been an active one for both pharma and tech. What opportunities do you see with Ben Franklin funded companies in the region for new scientists and what kind of advice or suggestions might you give.  

We are a Pennsylvania-wide organization, Ben Franklin Technology Partners. We’re economic development in our mission but we operate like a venture capital fund investor. We’re very active. We do anywhere from 25 to 40 deals a year. We have a portfolio that is similar to what TEDCO has, around 200. That’s about 50% in the healthcare and digital health what we call sort of healthcare IT types of companies and then the rest of it is kind of between…different types of technology companies. region. We partner very closely with local universities here. We’re very close to University of Pennsylvania and Drexel. We work with the Drexel Culture Center. We have a wide range of investments between $25K and $50,000, up to a million. Most of ours come in around $200,000. On the early stage, I would say we’re probably one of the most active here in this region. We make a lot of connections to angel investment groups and venture capital companies.

 

QUESTION: What is the value of having grad students and postdocs exposed to entrepreneurship and commercialization training, and having these folks have it early in their career rather than waiting?

At NIH’s graduate school, we have programs and a couple classes. One is business development for scientists.

We have a program at CIT where students pretend they’re a startup company that is licensing the technology and they have to put together a business plan and do a pitch meeting to ask for funding. We’ve had students work with CIT and end up working with other granting agencies or end up actually part of the biotech community. So, being part of the training and exposure gives you some different role models and different career pathways where you proceed as a scientist, rather than just assuming that you’re going to be an academic professor.

I had a class on the business aspects, and we talked about the time value of money, the net present value and that sort of thing. These things were very basic to business folks, but as somebody who never had any business classes I always thought this is really relevant stuff. Getting exposure to entrepreneurship training is really the nuts and bolts of business. It’s not the full MBA but it’s the basics of business. I’d venture to say that if you’re not going into academia, you’re going to want to understand a little about the business the industry.

 

QUESTION: In terms of development, what are things that people shouldn’t do or what are some career pitfalls?

Number one, not doing career development. Like waiting for the last six months and then hoping you’re just going to land a job. So start preparing. You don’t have to do a lot your first year as a postdoc but start building your network, like one or two people that year. Think about a visit with a career counselor or something like that.

Another thing we’ve seen that is detrimental is that folks stay in labs that don’t support them. So if you’re in a lab that’s just not working for you, find some support to move labs, so that you’re not feeling trapped. Also, publishing at least something during your postdoc years is very important. And then the last one. There are so many, so many resources out there on how to build a resume…use them.

Identify jobs that you’re really excited about and develop a targeted resume that really speaks to that job. Identify the skills that you’re good at and gain accomplishments for those skills. Identify the skills that you’re not particularly good at and work with an outside the lab to try and find those abilities to gain those experiences and accomplishments.

Postdoctoral Researcher Session – Mid-Atlantic STEM, Innovation & Entrepreneurship 

 

Moderator:

  • Jack Pevenstein, Ph.D., P.E., NIST Tech Transfer Advisor, Senior General Engineer, Federal Laboratory Consortium, Mid-Atlantic [FLC-MA] Regional Coordinator

Speakers:

  • John P. Holden, Director of Economic Development and Tourism, Stafford County Va.
  • Rebecca A. Styn, PhD, Erie Management Group, Director of Community Investment, Erie, Pa.
  • Robel Worku, Economic Development Specialist, Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation

 

The Mid-Atlantic region is loaded with opportunities for scientists, engineers researchers, and bench researchers who have an interest in careers beyond the bench. And it is an interesting mix that the Mid-Atlantic region is the most densely populated in terms of federal laboratories and technical facilities, and it’s also loaded with state and local governments that are deeply concerned about promoting economic and professional opportunities for scientists and engineers and related fields.

Once you get finished with your fellowships, with your postdoc, opportunities with your short-term research activities, you’re going to be looking for more permanent career situations. Some of you will stay with the bench. Some of you may want to stay with the federal government. Others of you may want to explore opportunities in innovation and Technological Entrepreneurship. An important point is, learn to network. Networking isn’t done by sending out CVs and resumes, networking is done person-to-person. 

The second major point we want to stress is that the Mid Atlantic states, and their various municipalities, are actively encouraging economic and career opportunities that are driven by technological innovation, and the opportunities are growing rapidly in this area. The Mid-Atlantic region desperately wants to attract a highly skilled workforce, a young dynamic workforce, a workforce that’s plugged into 21st century technology of all kinds. And finally, this area has world class academic institutions that you can rely on for further training, where you can rely on for collaboration.  

Opportunities in Pennsylvania

I thought I’d give like a highbrow overview of Pennsylvania overall and talk a little bit about Erie as we move forward in this session. Today, there are over 250 institutions of higher education throughout the state of Pennsylvania that are currently working on research talent development. And we have a network of incubators and accelerators within this area that also provide support. We have a strong incubator program through both Gannon University and what’s known as Ben Franklin Technology Partners, which is a statewide initiative supporting and collaborating with many entities. It has four chapters across the state.

Though this year, we have gone virtual given obviously the pandemic situation so statewide, our Department of Community and Economic Development also launched a KIZ program (Keystone Innovation Zone), and as a means to drive innovation and support and entrepreneurship in and around Pennsylvania, through their colleges and universities. Qualified companies are eligible to receive up to $100,000 per year in tax credits, which can be used to support growth and expansion in our Commonwealth. So there’s currently 29 zones throughout the state of Pennsylvania, And Pennsylvania is in the top 10 states for technology growth potential. We are home to two of the top six NIH funded research institutions, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pennsylvania. And last year, we received the fourth largest amount of NIH funding in the United States. Obviously we have other great institutions like Carnegie Mellon, and they also boast a nascent company called Carnegie Foundry which supports innovation and robotics. We have major healthcare systems including UPMC and Allegheny and there’s just a wealth of opportunity here. 

NIST Opportunities

At NIST, we have a program that we call the Entrepreneurs in Residence Program. We have three people there who have had extensive experience in all manner of technology transfer activities, entrepreneurship activities related to the legal aspects of developing a startup company. It’s for people who want to explore the entrepreneurial space, the startup space, talk to people about what it’s like to start their own company, on a one-on-one basis. We’re very big on the idea of paying it forward, giving of our knowledge and giving up our resources in terms of networking to help you.

 

QUESTION: What talent or skill sets are most needed?

Data analytics is huge, and that spans multiple industries and fields. A lot of the new software or hardware they create has a lot to do with analyzing a massive quantity of data using artificial intelligence or machine learning technology. So they’re always looking for folks who can process a large amount of data and make sense of it. I think one of the most interesting titles I’ve seen out there is with product managers. And a lot of what the product managers have been doing is trying to figure out how to use a lot of the data that they’re synthesizing and trying to operationalize and make the product better so I’ve seen a lot of that happening here

There’s a lot of opportunity in research and development in PA and also in data analytics. PA is home to cyber especially up in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania. Gannon just launched what’s called the AI Hack, which is part of their university so I know that’s growing. And then manufacturing is key here. There’s a ton of opportunities that they’re looking to expand and grow.

I’m going to give you my take on technology transfer, and why I think it’s important, and how it moves into other fields related to technology entrepreneurship. People with technical backgrounds, no matter what level they are generally, have the knowledge and the ability to undertake technology transfer. And when we talk about technology transfer, we’re not only talking about simply the transfer of knowledge from one party to another. We’re talking about the marketing of the knowledge, we’re talking about the ability to take technical knowledge and make people aware of how that can solve problems to better their lives. Every federal laboratory, and there are some 330 of them throughout the country, is required to have a technology transfer office, and the federal technology transfer mission is mandated by a number of federal laws.

The Foundation for Advanced Education and Sciences at NIH offers graduate level tech transfer classes.

Postdoctoral Researcher Session – The Mid-Atlantic Ecosystem

 

  • Moderator
    • Christy Blake, Special Projects Manager, Montgomery County [MD] Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC)
  • Speakers
    • Ernesto Chanona, Senior Manager, Office of BioHealth and Life Sciences, Maryland Department of Commerce
    • Jennifer Leinbach, Executive Director, Pa. DCED Office of Technology & Innovation
    • Thomas Weithman, Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), Managing Director and Vice President

 

QUESTION: What’s happening up in Pennsylvania?

We have an alphabet soup for programs to support commercialization, but the most well-known is Ben Franklin Technology Partners that has been around for about 39 years now. They receive an annual allocation of state funds, so we have four regional network partners. They are all independent organizations, they have their own boards, they make their own investment decisions, but there, they all have four commonalities and that is that they provide seed capital, they provide business assistance, technical assistance to startups. And they also help our established manufacturers adopt emerging technology.

 

QUESTION: How about Maryland?

We have a robust network of investors. I meet with investors and it’s almost like we’re developing a pitch book on steroids and it’s in collaboration with the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation and so that we understand what the investment appetite is of our local investors really so that we can send pitch books and executive summaries to investors that really makes sense, based on the asset the round and the ask of the company and leave it up to the investor to reach out to the company.

We have a very robust and in-depth understanding of our industry, not only the companies that are developing intellectual property but also the service companies that are helping every step of the commercialization process. So, it’s in my vested interest to help companies source locally and build local supply chains. I am the connector between those companies and CDMO consultants, Whatever the case may have been to help those companies that are needed those services, find those services within the state before you branch outside of the state. When a company is ready to get an investor lined up, we try to make it so that they’re eligible through the biotechnology investment incentive tax credit. It helps attract investors because the state will refund an investor 50% of that investment into a qualified Maryland biotechnology company. The investor can be based in Maryland, it can be a foreign investor, it doesn’t matter where the investment is as that’s a reimbursable program and so that has helped attract a lot of capital into our companies here.

And then lastly, innovators that are interested in perhaps licensing technology from the NIH doing business with the NIH, The Maryland Innovation and Technology Series is a program for Maryland-based companies that we organize from our office around a specific therapeutic area. It brings together not only the companies in that space but also the NIH researchers and the clinicians in that space who are interested in collaborating with industry, so that our entrepreneurs have access to contract research and development agreements licensing of technologies with the added value that it’s likely that the NIH inventor is a Maryland resident.

 

QUESTION: Do you feel those industries are represented in the Mid-Atlantic region or in your area in our area? And if you have just any conversational industry insights for postdocs early career professionals and others that you think might be of interest.

In Pennsylvania, we’re looking for software solutions, digital health, biopharmaceutical medical devices, diagnostics, biomaterials, physical sciences. A lot of SaaS as well. We’re blessed to have three Pennsylvania life science greenhouses that are funded through a tobacco settlement fund that helps critical early stage funding and sector-specific expertise to anything life science related, any technology that helps improve the health. We have a manufacturing innovation program that pairs university students with a manufacturer for a full academic year to help solve a technical challenge related to new product or process improvement. In addition to that, we created a one-year program to help COVID-19.

 

QUESTION: What is Virginia looking for?

Cybersecurity is an area that had some pretty good success, and had a lot of experienced exposure. There are other areas as well and you can imagine where we’re seeing it geographically. We are more B2B, or B2C people, increasingly we see data intensity to the enterprise applications that we become involved with. I would say, broadly speaking again into the tech stuff and inclusive of aerospace and UAS. We have other initiatives elsewhere in CIT that are addressing an industry.

Personal verification technologies are going to be more and more important. I think that the current circumstance give rise to education which is ripe for disruption. There is a company that has a platform that enables training of teachers. A lot of teachers need to be retrained around how to deliver distance learning. They’ve got some really interesting AI associated with that, to render observations about students engagement in response to an online lecture. So, a lot of great things going on in Virginia.

 

QUESTION: What’s going on in Maryland?

It’s not going to be that different from what Virginia and Pennsylvania are doing, it’s going to be aerospace and defense, advanced manufacturing, agribusiness. The life science industry of course, cybersecurity, terrorism, financial services, and energy. Maryland’s strength, which I see growing quite rapidly is in the blood, vaccine, and biologics piece of the pie. Currently comprises about 20% of our industry and medtech is about another 20% of our industry and that includes all medical devices.

Maryland is traditionally a very research-heavy state. Some of our biotech incubators are actually quite young, they’re three, four years old. It seems to be that, as we extend the amount of commercial laboratory space, it’s affordable for startups.

 

QUESTION: What are good resources for early-stage career professionals or aspiring entrepreneurs to engage in the ecosystem?  

Pennsylvania

You’ve got to go where the organizations and the companies hang out and see what networking opportunities they have. If you’re in Philadelphia, you want to look at the University City Science Center, they are free and open to the public. They have networking events on Thursday nights called Venture Cafe. If you are interested in medicine, go to the Center for Medical Innovation at the Penn State College of Medicine that has an innovations health tech virtual conference. They also have ongoing networking events called the Innovation Cafe. If you’re interested in the Lehigh Valley, go to the Lehigh University campus at our Ben Franklin Technology Partners there and they have a large tech venture that houses a lot of the startup companies.

Virginia

Richmond has Lighthouse Labs and there is an accelerator in the Hampton Roads area. There is the Valley Innovation Council and the Ramp Accelerator in Blacksburg. Northern Virginia might be a little bit more fragmented because there are a higher density of resources but no shortage of networking opportunities.

Maryland

I would start with Startup Grind which is a wonderful organization that helps entrepreneurs connect and that’s beyond biotech. And there’s a Startup Grind in Richmond and chapters in Baltimore, Frederick, Columbia, and Philadelphia. In terms of networking for digital health aficionados, there is the Howard County Technology Council, as a health tech connectors. Anchor Ventures is a collaboration between Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, and they host a series of networking events.

Postdoctoral Researcher Session – Welcome & Keynote + Technology-focused Careers Beyond the Lab Bench  

 

Introduction by:

  • Jayan Rammohan, Ph.D., NIST Post-Doc Association

Moderator:

  • John A. Fraser, CLP, RTTP; Assoc. VP, Research (Ret), Florida State University; Past President, AUTM

Speakers

  • Walter Copan, Ph.D., Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director
  • Ernesto Chanona, Senior Manager, Office of BioHealth and Life Sciences, Maryland Department of Commerce
  • Javier Atencia, Ph.D., Entrepreneur, founder of PathOtrak, LLC; former NIST Post-Doc;  Research Professor, UMD
  • John Curry, Ph.D., Entrepreneur, founder, acting CEO, CTO, Parman Tech, LLC; former Senior NIST Scientist

 

NIST is known by many as America’s innovation agency because we focus as part of our core mission on innovation and competitiveness. Some of the industries of the future focus areas of this which include structural biology engineering biology, advanced communications IoT quantum science and engineering and artificial intelligence, all these domain areas have massive career opportunities associated with them, whether in academia, in the federal sector in the private sector, or elsewhere.

A couple of pieces of pieces of advice I can offer you from my journey, everybody’s journey is somewhat different. Number one, find out what the core program is all about. Find out what it’s about and get into it. It might not be a perfect program, but you will learn some business ideas and theories which will be helpful. Maybe just as important, it’ll help you to prepare emotionally for what you’re getting into, and it’s going to help you to meet people that will be able to help you in one way or another down the line.

Number two, if your goal is to have a business that’s any more extensive than a single lemonade stand outside of your house, you’re going to need a team, and this team is going to be made of people who know things that you do not know, and there are plenty of things that you do not know. At the very beginning, that team might be one person who is working part-time, but that team is going to play a strong part in your successes or failures as an entrepreneur.

Number three, funding is very important. If you’re coming out of the NIST venue, then obvious places to look are TEDCO and also the NIST SBR program. One of the most difficult questions you’re going to face is where are you going to conduct the work of your business, especially if it’s a technical work. So for most startups that are right at the very beginning, there’s just not enough money to pay for commercial space that you’re going to need.

Find people who have already started down the path that you are contemplating and get to know those people. Learn as much as possible from them, because they know things or have had experiences that can really educate you.

Be honest with yourself about whether you have the sustainable drive to do this for the next 5 to 10 years. And it’s not just the length of time but inevitably you’re going to go through real challenging points, real difficulties that are going to make you say, this is never going to work. And you just simply have to have a drive and a desire to get you through those rough patches. And when you do get them, it’s amazing how fast they disappear in the rearview mirror, but they will happen to you. So be prepared.

Be prepared for change because our career journeys will almost inevitably lead us to certain junctures where you just feel that it’s time to move on. It’s a new passion that takes on. It’s a reason to leave where you are currently. And, so for a postdoc early career people having this opportunity to learn one on one another, to reach out to mentors, was an absolutely essential part of the journey.  

 

QUESTION: Do you have advice on green cards?

Going through the immigration process can be pretty challenging. One word of advice for anyone out there who has an I-485 in progress, reach out to your Congressperson and let them know what’s happening. But before you do that, you need a really compelling reason why they should be paying attention to you. I was at the Cancer Research Institute on a fellowship, and I needed to be a permanent resident. I needed to be able to receive it to open up my postdoc slot.

Senator Van Hollen was my representative, and I explained my situation and my green card was in the mail. It took nothing at all, but I made it very clear that I had a time issue.

 

QUESTION: How can postdocs moved from a lab to tech transfer?

Apply for a tech transfer fellowship program. There are some inside the NIH and other government agencies. NIH has tech transfer classes that are open to the community.

 

QUESTION: Do you have advice for a person with a lot of experience but doesn’t want to move into an entry position. And they haven’t experienced enough for a senior position in industry.  

It’s all about building relationships based on your background and on your interests. You may need a stepping stone to get to a more senior level role, but as soon as you build those relationships with the kinds of companies that you respect, you will find that new doors start opening up within your network.