Careers in Discovery

"One of the things that people don't do enough, especially in Biotech, is try to think of the market problem. Rather than going from your bit of technology and trying to fit that into the market, to get explosive growth we need to flip that on its head and think about the market first."

Nirmesh Patel was one of the original founders of Cambridge Cancer Genomics and has recently transitioned into VC with The Venture Collective, while playing a key role in the Cancer Tech Accelerator.

Nirmesh joined us to talk about his journey so far, crossing over into VC, the importance of activation energy and his learns from startup success.

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"There's a difference between having an invention, and innovation. You might have the best technology in the world, but someone's got to buy it."

David Bunton is one of the founders of Biopta, now known as Reprocell Europe, a leader in stem cell technology for drug discovery.

David talked to us about his career to date, the latest developments in stem cells, the importance of teaching to his research career and why there's no substitute for getting out and speaking to customers.

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"You spend 95% of your time in R&D dealing with things not working or your idea not being correct. It's critical to be prepared and plan ahead for both success and failure."

Pete Joyce is the CEO of Grey Wolf Therapeutics, an immuno-oncology company taking a novel, tumour-targeting approach to treating cancer.

Pete joined us on Careers in Discovery to talk about his career, the virtual Biotech model, the importance of values and culture and how a stint in Regulatory Affairs influenced his perspective on his research.

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"The biggest problem everybody has when starting a company is imposter syndrome, especially for PhD students...there isn't much entrepreneurship in that culture, particularly in the UK, and it's hard to break that mould."

With Biorelate, Dan Jamieson is on a mission to curate truths in drug discovery using AI.

We talked to Dan about his journey with the company, the state of play in AI in drug discovery and the novel scientific insights hiding in plain sight.

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"My own personal bugbear is that we still refer to digital health. I don't call it digital banking, I didn't watch a digital movie last night - it would be absurd to say that. By having the word 'digital' in front of 'health', we cause a problem for ourselves because we automatically make it something new and different. We should just be talking about healthcare."

As CEO of Closed Loop Medicine, Hakim Yadi is combining software, hardware, drugs and diagnostics to create holistic healthcare pathways.

He told us about his work, as well as how the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the acceptance of digitalisation in healthcare, his experience of moving from research into management consulting and the power of saying "yes".

"If you're going to do something, you have to actually do it. I'm very much a believer in putting 100% into whatever you're trying to do - if you've made a decision, stick to it and if it turns out not to be right, it's an interesting learning experience."

Suzy Dilly is the CEO of ValiRx, a company helping academics to build commercial enterprises around their research.

Having been on that journey herself, Suzy shared her experiences with us, along with her thoughts on bridging the industry - academia gap, the benefits of remote working and the value of staying with your research.

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"Think about what you want to do, what you're driven by and what your passion is, because whatever you're going to do for a job, you'll be doing it for eight hours a day at least - it might as well be something that you really care about. It's amazing how many people don't think about this early in their career."

Gergely Toth is a scientist, computational drug designer, CEO and founder, who currently runs Cantabio Pharmaceuticals, a company trying to solve the complex problems of neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes.

Gergely spoke with us on Careers in Discovery about his journey through the international Biotech sector, the excitement of the "golden age" of startups in Silicon Valley, the importance of mentorship in building your career and a brand new model of funding for drug research.

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"What's the question you're trying to answer? Keep a focus on that....make it the first point on every slide. If you lose sight of it, then one experiment leads to another and before you know it, you've lost contact with what it was you were trying to establish, develop or improve."

Neil Weir has led a distinguished career in drug discovery, and now, as CEO of Sitryx, is leading the charge into the world of immunometabolism - an area of huge therapeutic potential.

Neil joined us on Careers in Discovery to talk about developing as a leader, changing your lens as your career progresses and creating a strong culture of innovation.

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"Don't become a scientist for status, don't do it impress people, don't do it to get rich. Only do it if the work itself is something that you find irresistible, because you'll have to work long hours for little money and no security. You have to have a real passion for it."

Baroness Susan Greenfield is, among other things, a scientist, author, broadcaster, member of the House of Lords and the CEO of Neuro-Bio, a company treading a truly novel path on a mission to cure Alzheimer's.

Susan was our guest on Careers in Discovery as we explored her journey from classicist to scientist to CEO, the unique challenges still faced by female scientists in academia and Biotech, and why resilience & determination are key qualities to develop.

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"Normally when a company develops a vaccine, they're keeping it secret. They want to protect their IP, and when they launch it they want to generate revenues, make a profit and pay back their R&D expenses. This time around, everybody collaborated....there were no secrets. The sum of all those parts is far greater than any of them individually, and that's why we were able to produce a vaccine so quickly."

Simon Saxby is the CEO of Leaf Expression Systems, a company harnessing the power of plants as single-use bioreactors.

Simon's international career has seen him cover a huge amount of ground, from antibody research to biologics manufacturing, and he joined us on Careers in Discovery to discuss his journey so far.

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