Last week, a group of NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars traveled to Boston for a Career Development and Exploration Initiative. Scholars who were curious about entrepreneurship and thinking about careers outside of academia were invited to attend from October 26-28, 2022. The goal was to visit a range of companies, from incubator spaces to Series A and B biotech to an international pharmaceutical company that became a household name during the Covid-19 pandemic.
LabCentral, Kelonia Therapeutics, Korro Bio, Atlas Venture, Pfizer, …what do these places have in common? You may have heard of them before but may not have realized that we have NIH OxCam Program Alumni at each of these locations!
On DAY 1, the Scholars visited Pfizer, which is more than a pharmaceutical company – biotechnology is its foundation and benefiting patients is its goal. Innovation, pharmaceutical development, and the most dedicated team of clinical researchers are how they do it. Former Scholars Program Scientific Director, Dr. Thomas Wynn is now Pfizer’s Vice President, Discovery; Group: Inflammation and Immunology. He shared his perspectives on research at “big pharma” versus academia. Dr. Wynn hosted the group along with Alum Trey Gieseck, Ph.D., the Discovery Group Head, Leukocyte-Tissue Interface (R7) at Pfizer. Elena Spencer gave an overview of research at Pfizer Kendall Square and Dr. Gieseck led a panel discussion with Pfizer colleagues David von Schack, Ph.D., Dave Martin, M.D., Ph.D., Jem Gale, Ph.D., and Katherine Hales, Ph.D. They discussed a range of questions, including discovery to clinical development and Drs. Gieseck and Hales provided a lab tour of Pfizer facilities.
LabCentral is a first-of-its-kind shared laboratory space designed as a launchpad for high-potential life sciences and biotech startups. Alum Stan Wang, M.D., Ph.D. has had not one, but two successful companies launch out of LabCentral. He is currently the Founder and CEO of Thymmune Therapeutics and was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 in 2018. He hosted the Scholars for a lab tour and intro to entrepreneurship. Following the visit to LabCentral and Pfizer, the Scholars had dinner with Boston-based Alumni.
On DAY 2, Alum Steven Robinette, Ph.D., a Venture Partner at Atlas Venture hosted the Scholars with his colleague Aimee Raleigh, Ph.D., and introduced them to venture capital. Atlas Venture builds breakthrough biotech companies with remarkable life science entrepreneurs and has over 3 billion USD in assets under management.
Following Atlas Venture, Alum and Alliance Alumni Director Matt Maciejewski, Ph.D. hosted the Scholars at Korro Bio where he is the Vice President and Head of Data Science. Korro Bio was founded to turn extraordinary scientific insights into life-altering new treatments for patients and hit the high notes, completing $116M Series B financing to expand the frontier of genetic medicine through its pipeline of RNA editing programs.
Alum Molly Perkins, Ph.D. is the VP of Research and Co-Founder of Kelonia Therapeutics which launched with a $50 million Series A financing to usher in a new era of genetic medicines for a wide range of diseases in April. She had a candid chat with the Scholars about starting a company, having a family, life during and after NIH OxCam, and answered all of their pressing questions. Before the Scholars headed back to the NIH, they shared a meal with Boston-based Alumni.
