Inside Biotech

In this episode, we follow the inspiring journey of Sarah Ives, Vice President of BioPharma at TripleBar, as she shares her transition from a hands-on scientist to an influential leader in biotech. Sarah shares her journey, starting with her early work in bioassay development and biosensing, and candidly discusses the challenges she faced as she moved beyond the lab bench. Her growing expertise played a pivotal role in driving some of her company’s most important breakthroughs. She reveals the unexpected twists, personal growth, and strategic decisions that helped shape her career. Sarah’s candid reflection on navigating the biotech startup world, embracing uncertainty, and finding her passion for biology provides invaluable insights for anyone aspiring to make their mark in the field. Whether you're new to biotech or aiming for leadership, this episode is packed with practical advice and inspiration, this episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to make their mark in the field.

(0:00) Intro
(0:55) Sarah Ives feature and background
(2:15) Macherey-Nagel Ad
(3:11) Welcome Sarah Ives VP of Triple bar, how her professional journey led to this point
(4:45) How was Sarah’s first transition from a masters to industry and why University of San Francisco
(8:34) What is the difference between an internship and a full-time position?
(11:10) Sarah started early in her career with client management and staying organized with science
(12:11) Was there always a draw to a people facing role?
(15:00) How to transition from pharma to startups? Connections.
(18:20) Anecdote from how different the startup world is?
(21:00) The first biotech company Sarah worked for was bootstrapped
(22:45) Startups need to keep funding to grow! Sarah wore many hats working for first company.
(27:00) Importance to learn and advocate for yourself in science
(31:22) Transition as Distributed Bio startup was sold to Charles River
(34:40) Sarah was tired after her time working at a startup and transition to Charles River
(37:20) Sarah Ives had consulting projects trickle in from how she was highly visible as an expert in antibody engineering
(41:05) Time off caused Sarah to learn a lot about herself and resiliency and persistence
(43:12) How was the work on the universal flu vaccine that led to Sarah being featured on a Netflix documentary?
(46:22) Sarah and others in the Netflix documentary were predicting concern for a respiratory virus right before the pandemic
(49:22) Sarah was so happy with all the nice feedback she got from the pandemic
(51:22) Advice for those looking to get into the startup world?
(54:40) Outro

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In this episode of Inside Biotech, we explore the transition from academia to product management with Dr. Sara Tafoya, Global Product Manager at Sony Biotechnology. Sara’s passion lies in helping STEM graduate students and early career professionals recognize the value of their technical expertise beyond the bench. She shares her journey from PhD to product management, discussing how she bridges technical know-how with customer advocacy and sales to drive innovation in biotech. If you've ever wondered how to apply your niche academic skills to roles outside of research, this episode is packed with actionable insights. Listen in as Sara offers advice on professional development and how to pursue fulfilling, impactful careers that push scientific innovation forward.

(0:00) Intro
(1:01) Episode summary overview with Dr. Sara Tafoya - Product management.
(2:07) Salve Therapeutics Ad.
(2:47) Sara Tafoya wants to share knowledge and help future scientist with career transitions
(4:35) Sara discusses her rationale to be on the podcast.
(5:57) Questions of the episode: What does a day in the life as a product manager look like? How to know that this career might be a good fit for you and then how to get involved in this career?
(6:39) What products does Sara Tafoya manage for Sony Biotechnology?
(7:40) Sony Biotechnology makes technology for flow cytometry
(9:30) What is flow cytometry?
(11:55) Huge development in flow cytometry to use many different fluorophores in one sample
(14:21) New developments in microfluidic chips
(15:57) What characteristics make a good product manager in science apart from great communication?
(16:54) Great people skills are a must for product managers
(18:00) Two different jobs in product management, helping the customer and then helping the company with ideas and improvements
(19:40) When being a product manager focus on customer segments (Academia vs. Industry) focus on affordability vs. capability
(21:20) Product managers need to go out and find needs of company. What consumers care about in improvements
(22:46) Do you travel and how is work life balance as a product manager?
(24:32) Traveling depends on what you are doing but no substitute for being exposed in person.
(25:05) Salve Therapeutics Ad
(25:45) What drove Dr. Tafoya to this career path? 27:10 -27:50
(27:50) How did the skills Sara picked up in her PhD help with product management and what did she need to learn afterwards?
(30:00) You will always need to understand commercial space and biotech ecosystem once you start your career in industry?
(30:40) What surprised Sara about being a product manager?
(33:05) Sara took a course in product management from Warton to help with business side
(35:40) What skills are translatable from scientific expertise to product management?
(38:30) Importance of using scientific reasoning and thinking on the job
(39:48) How to break into the world of product management?
(41:27) You typically need to pay your dues to get a role in product management
(45:30) Try to figure out what career you want so less sacrifices are made later on or you can get lucky.
(47:00) Ad for Macherey-Nagle
(47:52) What is next for Sara in her career?
(50:04) Sara wants to create a great team with effective communication and change the way things are done at work
(51:51) What are Sara’s hobbies?
(55:20) Episode wrap up

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Considering an MBA at UCLA Anderson? Hear from current MBA students.

Our episode today features coverage of a past collaborative event held by BCLA and UCLA Anderson “Pursuing Life Sciences Careers: Insights from Anderson MBA Students.” This event included a panel of current Anderson MBA students working in Life Sciences. Panelists included Arthela Osorio (Technical Training Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific), Chris Italiaie ( Engineering Program Manager at Medtronic), Lauren Chan (Sr. Global Program Manager at Amgen), Angel Torres (Assistant CAPEX Program Manager at Genetech), and Purvi Mehram, MD (CEO of Dagnee).

To learn more about BCLA’s events and consulting visit https://www.bc-la.org/
To learn more about UCLA Anderson School of Management visit https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/

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Dr. Ivan Godinez is the Director of Product Management for the Proteintech genomics division. Ivan describes how his work translates the latest developments in proteomics and genomics to accessible biotechnology for consumers. Dr. Godinez relates the importance of his training as a PhD scientist and valuable soft skills developed to be a successful director of product management.

(2:00) What does Ivan do for Proteintech?
(4:10) Importance of single-cell level resolution and getting diverse data to answer scientific questions with different approaches
(6:10) How did Ivan get to where he wanted? 
(8:12) Ivan's entrance into biotech, and subsequently, product management.
(13:30) What makes a great product manager?
(22:07) The science behind Proteintech
(34:57)  Proteomics compared to transcriptomics (RNA-seq) and the unique challenges of proteomics. 
(38:35) Advice to students regarding taking the leap from benchtop science to business in biotechnology companies.

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Join a conversation about different types of roles in biotech, through the experience of Joyee Yao, a next-generation sequencing specialist, at Complete Genomics. After joining a research lab as an undergrad volunteer, Joy decided to join the next-generation sequencing (NGS) space as a technical specialist before pivoting into the sales space.

To learn more about BCLA’s events and consulting visit https://www.bc-la.org/

Complete Genomics: https://www.completegenomics.com/company/about-us/

Joyee Yao’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyee-yao-74901212/

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This month's episode is all about biotech product development outside of healthcare in the consumer market of skincare and beauty with the overall goal of expanding diversity and inclusivity. Gabriella had a chance to sit down with AJ Addae, Founder and Formulation Chemist at SULA LABS, which is a research and development company known for providing product development expertise, clinical testing, and laboratory resources to independent companies in the skincare and beauty market. Their partnerships consist of Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), nonbinary, and women-owned independent businesses, and their clientele have affiliations with Sephora, Unilever, Target, Credo, and Ulta. Listen in to hear all about AJ's inspiring work transforming the approach to product development to foster inclusivity in a consumer market centered around our largest organ - skin!

To learn more about SULA LABS visit https://www.sula-labs.com/

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NeuraSignal:

https://www.neurasignal.com

https://www.linkedin.com/company/neurasignal/

Robert Hamilton: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamiltonrobert/

To learn more about BCLA and our events, check out: 

https://www.bc-la.org

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Angie de la Luz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelita-de-la-luz-phd-a2a937168/

Beeflow: https://www.beeflow.com/

To learn more about BCLA and our events, check out: 

https://www.bc-la.org

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Shawn Singh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnsingh/

Vistagen: https://www.vistagen.com/

To learn more about BCLA and our events, check out: 

https://www.bc-la.org

Follow our Instagram @insidebiotech for updates about episodes and upcoming guests!

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More about our guest: Dr. Gamble-George is an award-winning neuroscientist, inventor, entrepreneur, and artist. She graduated from Xavier University in Louisiana with her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Biology/Pre-Med and then went on to earn her Master of Health Administration from the University of South Florida College of Public Health. Ultimately, she completed her PhD in Neuroscience from Vanderbilt University where she studied the role of the endocannabinoid system in stress-induced maladaptations in the brain. 

In addition to her role as a neuroscience researcher, Dr. Gamble-George has founded SciX, LLC, a biotech startup creating a wearable device and mobile application for monitoring risk factors leading to health conditions or behaviors with the goal of predicting, preventing, and managing life-altering events.

Dr. Gamble-George: https://www.joyonnagamble.com/

SciX, LLC : https://scix.io/

To learn more about BCLA and our events, check out: https://www.bc-la.org

Follow our Instagram @insidebiotech for updates about episodes and upcoming guests!

To learn more about BCLA’s events and consulting visit our website.

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