A would-be dental student, a one-time veterinarian, a former laboratory worker and others share with University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center students how they diverged from science to business, bringing technology and research from the lab to the bedside.As an undergraduate in biomedical science at the University of Oklahoma, Justin Briggs aspired to be a heart surgeon. But his senior year — after interning with OU's Center for Creation of Economic Wealth — he caught “the entrepreneurial bug,” he said.
Awe-struck when the former president of Oklahoma City startup Altheus Therapeutics Inc. spoke to his internship class, Briggs hounded him the next six weeks for an internship.
“He told me he couldn't hire me; he didn't have any funding,” Briggs said. “But I asked him to let me show him what I could do, and that he didn't have to pay me.”
The entrepreneur asked Briggs to conduct market research on a prospective diagnostic tool of a separate startup for a disease of which he'd never heard and report back in a month. Within a week, he delivered a 30-page analysis covering competitors, market ideas and more.
Impressed, the president brought on Briggs as a paid intern at that company, transferred him to Altheus after the firm received first-round funding, and hired him full time upon his fall 2007 graduation. The firm develops therapies to treat inflammatory bowel disease based on OU Health Sciences Center research.
“I've done more in drug development over the past five years than I thought I'd do in 15 years,” said Briggs, who has earned a master of business administration. “I've been able to do everything from writing protocol to managing clinical studies to building a lab and turning it into a manufacturing facility.
“It was long time in coming, but now I sit in on investor meetings and am not just viewed as one of the grunts.”
Briggs comments came Thursday during a roundtable for OU Health Sciences Center students on opportunities in the bioscience sector. A would-be dental student, a one-time veterinarian, a former laboratory worker and others joined him in sharing how they diverged from science to business, bringing technology and research from the lab to the bedside.
“Versus publishing your research in a medical journal that may sit on a shelf, you can make something to save a kid,” said Paul DeAngelis, an OU professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, who moderated the event.
Along with teaching at OU, DeAngelis serves as chief scientist for four biotech companies including Heparinex, which produces synthetic bacteria-based heparin, after animal-based heparin caused nearly 100 deaths in China.
“If you think broadly, you can make your own path,” DeAngelis said. “But you need to be able to communicate, written and orally. You have to dig in and track down; it's not going to be handed to you.”
As director of the Health Science Center's technology development office, Gina McMillen manages the process of commercializing intellectual property from the university. “I get to learn about cool, great innovative ideas coming out of the university and get them as much exposure as I can,” she said.
A veterinarian, McMillen previously spent nine years working for Oklahoma startup companies, including developing a rapid breath test to assess bovine respiratory health.
A professional with Dunlap Codding in Oklahoma City, Kathryn Hester used her doctorate in chemistry and biology to become a patent attorney. She didn't need a law degree; only a passing score on the patent agents exam.
“To correctly write patent applications, you need to understand the invention to be able to critique and analyze it,” said Hester, who among other things meets inventors, writes applications and reviews disclosures. “The biggest hiccup is arguing why the invention is novel over what's been previously patented.”
In general, professionals in the biotech sector are paid much better than university researchers, said Jeffrey Su, a former project chemist and vice president of Cytovance Biologics, which for other research firms purifies proteins and antibodies from mammal cells. “The life span of a project is three to four months, versus years and years. So you're not bored; it's always changing.”
After interning years ago in the OU office of technological development, Mike Moradi of Century Venture Partners turned down dental school to launch startups. In his first venture, he lost $75,000 in 12 months, he said. But after one technology was acquired by DuPont, he by age 24 was making more money than he'd seen his entire life, he said.
A founder and former chief executive of Norman-based SouthWest NanoTechnologies Inc., which manufactures specialty multi-wall carbon nanotubes used for commercial scale applications, Moradi now focuses on therapies for diabetes.
“My father spent his entire career with Conoco Phillips,” Moradi said. “But I'm on my eighth startup.
“There's never a dull moment. ... And you can impact millions of lives.”
Awe-struck when the former president of Oklahoma City startup Altheus Therapeutics Inc. spoke to his internship class, Briggs hounded him the next six weeks for an internship.
“He told me he couldn't hire me; he didn't have any funding,” Briggs said. “But I asked him to let me show him what I could do, and that he didn't have to pay me.”
The entrepreneur asked Briggs to conduct market research on a prospective diagnostic tool of a separate startup for a disease of which he'd never heard and report back in a month. Within a week, he delivered a 30-page analysis covering competitors, market ideas and more.
Impressed, the president brought on Briggs as a paid intern at that company, transferred him to Altheus after the firm received first-round funding, and hired him full time upon his fall 2007 graduation. The firm develops therapies to treat inflammatory bowel disease based on OU Health Sciences Center research.
“I've done more in drug development over the past five years than I thought I'd do in 15 years,” said Briggs, who has earned a master of business administration. “I've been able to do everything from writing protocol to managing clinical studies to building a lab and turning it into a manufacturing facility.
“It was long time in coming, but now I sit in on investor meetings and am not just viewed as one of the grunts.”
Briggs comments came Thursday during a roundtable for OU Health Sciences Center students on opportunities in the bioscience sector. A would-be dental student, a one-time veterinarian, a former laboratory worker and others joined him in sharing how they diverged from science to business, bringing technology and research from the lab to the bedside.
“Versus publishing your research in a medical journal that may sit on a shelf, you can make something to save a kid,” said Paul DeAngelis, an OU professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, who moderated the event.
Along with teaching at OU, DeAngelis serves as chief scientist for four biotech companies including Heparinex, which produces synthetic bacteria-based heparin, after animal-based heparin caused nearly 100 deaths in China.
“If you think broadly, you can make your own path,” DeAngelis said. “But you need to be able to communicate, written and orally. You have to dig in and track down; it's not going to be handed to you.”
As director of the Health Science Center's technology development office, Gina McMillen manages the process of commercializing intellectual property from the university. “I get to learn about cool, great innovative ideas coming out of the university and get them as much exposure as I can,” she said.
A veterinarian, McMillen previously spent nine years working for Oklahoma startup companies, including developing a rapid breath test to assess bovine respiratory health.
A professional with Dunlap Codding in Oklahoma City, Kathryn Hester used her doctorate in chemistry and biology to become a patent attorney. She didn't need a law degree; only a passing score on the patent agents exam.
“To correctly write patent applications, you need to understand the invention to be able to critique and analyze it,” said Hester, who among other things meets inventors, writes applications and reviews disclosures. “The biggest hiccup is arguing why the invention is novel over what's been previously patented.”
In general, professionals in the biotech sector are paid much better than university researchers, said Jeffrey Su, a former project chemist and vice president of Cytovance Biologics, which for other research firms purifies proteins and antibodies from mammal cells. “The life span of a project is three to four months, versus years and years. So you're not bored; it's always changing.”
After interning years ago in the OU office of technological development, Mike Moradi of Century Venture Partners turned down dental school to launch startups. In his first venture, he lost $75,000 in 12 months, he said. But after one technology was acquired by DuPont, he by age 24 was making more money than he'd seen his entire life, he said.
A founder and former chief executive of Norman-based SouthWest NanoTechnologies Inc., which manufactures specialty multi-wall carbon nanotubes used for commercial scale applications, Moradi now focuses on therapies for diabetes.
“My father spent his entire career with Conoco Phillips,” Moradi said. “But I'm on my eighth startup.
“There's never a dull moment. ... And you can impact millions of lives.”
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