An Experience of International and Intersectoral Career Mobility

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An Experience of International and Intersectoral
Career Mobility

• Mary Murphy, PhD

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Traditional Academic Scientist Career Format

• Independent isolated laboratory
• Leadership centers around individual PI
• Small university departments devoted to a single
  discipline
• Substantial teaching commitments
• Individual investigator grant support for
  research
• Early tenure
• Expects to remain for life
• Main reporting structure includes grant
  applications and peer-reviewed publications

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Industry Scientist Career Format

• Teambased approach
• Role of individual scientist less important than
  the team
• Crosses multiple disciplines
• Heavy emphasis on strategic planning and project
  planning
• Short reporting cycle (1 month)
• Constant appraisal and reassessment
• Frequent changes in direction
• Subject to remote commercial pressures

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The Academic Laboratory

• Under full control of PI
• Informal
• Written laboratory notebooks
• Frequent public disclosure at conferences, in
  theses and abstracts
• Poor appreciation of the value of IP
• Little attention to Standard Operating Protocols
• Little attention to monthly reports
• Hands-off approach by senior management
• No application of Good Laboratory Practice
• Often poor safety standards

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The Industrial Laboratory

• Matrix management, multiple reporting structures
• Highly organised
• Document control systems
• Strong emphasis on protection of IP
• Public disclosure only after patent filing
• All procedures defined by Standard Operating
  Protocols
• Multiple written reports (at least monthly)
• Full compliance with GLP necessary
• Strong emphasis on safety

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University-Industry Partnership

• Many scientists now move between industry and
  academia
• University research must have industry relevance
  (SFI, IDA)
• Traditional university department structure less
  relevant
• Centre-like behaviour
• Economic development depends on research having
  some industrial relevance
• New metrics include patents filed,
  commercialization activities based on spin-off
  enterprise and technology licensing
• Technology Transfer Office more relevant

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International and Intersectoral
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Academic Research Experience

• Ireland
• Small research groups
• Little exposure to other research strands or
  collaborative research
• Few post-doctoral researchers
• Specific projects with limited development of
  skills
• Few opportunities to develop presentation or
  report writing skills
• Little input by clinicians

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Academic Research Experience

• US
• Clustered research
• Groups with broad range of skills
• High proportion of postdoctoral researchers
• Greater emphasis on presentations
• Strong involvement of clinicians

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Industrial Research Experience

• Stem cell company start-up
• Multi-tasking
• Project-oriented with multidisciplinary group
• Research
• Quality assay development
• Pre-clinical development
• Regulatory submissions
• Strong emphasis on IP but also publications and
  conference presentations
• Grant-writing enabled and encouraged

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Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI)

• Located at NUI, Galway and UCHG
• Funded under SFI campus-industry partnership
  Centres for Science Engineering and Technology
  (CSET) programme
• Vision
• To develop a new and realisable paradigm for
  medicine in the future utilising minimally
  invasive therapeutic approaches to promote organ
  and tissue repair and regeneration rather than
  replacement
• Stem cell and gene therapy

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Bone Marrow Stem Cells
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Stem Cell
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REMEDI Programmes in Stem Cell Biology

• Adult stem cells
• Bone marrow
• Adult peripheral blood
• Cardiac stem cells
• Umbilical cord blood
• Adipose Tissue
• Stem Cell Proteomics and Phage Display
• Stem Cell Genomics
• Transcription factors
• Regulation of Differentiation
• Stem cells in disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Type 1 diabetes

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Target Research Areas in Stem Cell and Gene
Therapy

• Cardiovascular diseases
• Orthopaedic diseases
• Pulmonary diseases
• Neurological diseases
• Basic stem cell biology
• Gene vector development

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REMEDI Partners

• Medtronic
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Charles River BioLabs
• Animal models of human disease

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Regenerative Medicine Institute
Gene Therapy
Adult Stem Cell Therapy
Genomics
Basic Research
Immunology
Proteomics
Toxicology/Preclinical Testing
GMP Manufacturing
Clinical Development
Commercialization
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Industry Partnerships and Knowledge Transfer at
REMEDI

• Full partner involvement in drawing up research
  programme plans
• Clear reporting structures
• Involvement of the industry partners in REMEDI
  management activities
• Quarterly detailed progress reports
• Regular visits of REMEDI Directors to partner
  headquarters and vice versa
• Partner membership of the REMEDI IP Advisory
  Committee and full access to information on
  invention disclosures and patent filings
• Review of all manuscripts, abstracts, posters
  etc. prior to submission
• A close and bilateral working relationship
  between REMEDI project scientists and partner
  scientists

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RESEARCHER Skills for Industry

• Skills that industry needs from researchers
  coming out of university
• Broad skills base
• Flexibility
• Knowledge of GLP, GMP, Quality Issues
• Understanding of Intellectual Property Issues
• Knowledge of clinical trial design and regulatory
  issues
• Good presentation skills to diverse audiences
• Understanding of project-oriented management
• Team-based
• Deadline-oriented

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Can Universities/Institutes meet this challenge?

• More practical courses
• Increase industrial placements
• Team-based projects
• Business modules in science degrees
• IP
• Project management techniques
• Legal/regulatory affairs
• Modules on clinical research strategies
• Modules taught by industry leaders
• Post-graduate entrepreneurial courses
• Business writing courses

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Universities/Institutes - Industry

• Greater interaction/trust
• Courses created after consultation
• University/Industry/Clinicians
• Constant feedback