Connect: Health Tech is Cambridge University's Enterprise Zone and the gateway into the University's Life Sciences and Health Tech Community.
The podcast series we made with them explores and discusses a diverse range of themes and topics of interest, including developing interdisciplinary collaborations, finding the right partner, and impactful business support for entrepreneurs.
Hosted By
Paula Rogers-Brown
Paula Rogers-Brown
Connect Health Tech: Joining the Dots
Insights into innovative programmes that support translation – Yupar Myint
In this episode we explore the Maxwell Centre’s Impulse programme for tech innovators that supports research translation from the perspective of Head of Entrepreneurship, Yupar Myint.
Yupar shares her career journey, from undertaking an MBA and delivering entrepreneurship programmes in Europe to leading on the development of the successful Impulse programme. Yupar gives insights into the programme format, what skills and learning participants gain and the benefits of post-programme support through networking opportunities and mentoring.
Yupar has more than 16 years of experience in building up entrepreneurship programmes and international collaborations. She has been involved in developing the IECT Hermann Hauser Summer School in Austria and has served as a programme director and mentor since 2015. Yupar worked previously at CfEL, Judge Business School where she led Ignite for over 11 years and during her leadership Ignite has generated over 250 business ventures. More than £200 million in funding was raised and approximately 4,300 jobs were created by the alumni ventures.
From 2008 to 2013, she served as a programme director at EFER in the Netherlands that trains European professors to teach entrepreneurship. Yupar completed her MBA at Cambridge Judge Business School in 2002 and her research interests include understanding the social capital effect in entrepreneurial development and training.
Yupar is passionate about developing entrepreneurial thinking and the value of mentorship throughout your career.
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Insights into innovative programmes that support translation – Dr Rebecca Myers
In this episode we explore Cambridge Judge Business School’s EnterpriseTECH and EnterpriseTECH STAR programmes as innovative programmes that support research translation from the perspective of Head of Entrepreneurial Learning Programmes Dr Rebecca Myers.
Rebecca shares her journey from being a mature student to becoming an organic chemist working in the University’s Chemistry Department for nearly 20 years to leading on the development of two successful entrepreneurship programmes that serve the research community: EnterpriseTECH and EnterpriseTECH STAR.
Rebecca gives insights into the inner workings of the programmes from their early days and how the learning and skills participants gain act as a catalyst in furthering entrepreneurial journeys.
Rebecca joined the Entrepreneurship Centre in 2018 intending to build educational programmes on entrepreneurship that serve the research community. The first was EnterpriseTECH in 2018, which has had close to 450 students attend. Then came EnterpriseTECH STAR in 2019 to help researchers begin the journey towards forming their own new ventures.
For close to 20 years, Rebecca’s home was the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. She is an organic chemist by training having done her PhD with Professor Chris Abell FRS. Rebecca then worked with Professor Steven Ley CBE FRS in the Department of Chemistry. She was also the Associate Director of the Cambridge-CRUK PhD Training Programme in Medicinal Chemistry led by Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian FRS for ten years. Her research and publications cover many areas of medicinal chemistry, particularly around cancer research.
Rebecca values collaborative efforts and is passionate about cultivating meaningful research impact and creating opportunities for researchers to thrive beyond academia.
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Insights into innovative programmes that support translation, with Broderick House
In this episode we explore innovative programmes that support research translation.
Broderick House, a previous participant of the Cambridge Judge Business School’s EnterpriseTECH and EnterpriseTECH STAR programmes, gives us insights into his experience of taking part and into the programme content. Broderick also discusses his new spin-out venture and navigating the Cambridge innovation ecosystem.
Broderick is a Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholar in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. Based in the Aquatic Ecology Group, Broderick’s research interests include aquaculture, bivalves, public health and food security.
His research work will leverage emerging technologies in bivalve aquaculture production to develop closed systems allowing urban settings, including currently untapped land-locked areas, to produce safe, fast-growing, sustainable bivalve products.
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Targeting hard-to-treat cancers, with EPSRC's Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration
In this episode of Joining the Dots we explore the Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration group and their approach to developing new technologies for hard-to-treat cancers.
The EPSRC Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC) in Targeted Delivery for Hard-to-Treat Cancers aims to develop new technologies to effectively deliver drugs for the treatment of three hard-to-treat cancers: in the pancreas, brain, and chest.
The guests for this podcast are two of the IRC investigators: Professor Colin Watts, Chair and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Brain Cancer Programme at the University of Birmingham, and Dr Ronan Daly, Associate Professor in the Science and Technology of Manufacturing at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing.
Listen on to hear Colin and Ronan talk about how manufacturing research is helping to overcome the challenges of delivering effective cancer treatments and the opportunities to use the same technologies for other diseases or conditions.
The overarching aim of the IRC is to develop and validate high-capacity vehicles, injectable gels, and implantable devices to better target hard-to-treat cancers, enhancing treatment efficacy by increasing the rate and extent of drug activity at the tumour site. The programme has been designed to facilitate effective translation from the laboratory to the clinic by incorporating cross-cutting validation and manufacturing themes across all the technologies.
ABOUT THE GUESTS
Professor Colin Watts
Professor of Neurosurgery, Chair Birmingham Brain Cancer Programme, University of Birmingham
Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon, University Hospitals Birmingham
Colin leads the newly established Brain Cancer Programme at the University of Birmingham. His research aims to improve the treatment and survival of patients with glioma by understanding the molecular genetic heterogeneity of individual tumours and using that data to develop novel molecular and functional stratification suitable for application in clinical trials. His clinical practice specializes in neurosurgical oncology with a particular interest in intrinsic gliomas and cerebral metastases.
Dr Ronan Daly
Associate Professor, Science and Technology of Manufacturing, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge
Ronan is a Course Director for the Manufacturing Engineering course, where students learn about manufacturing technologies and manufacturing management. He previously worked in Unilever R&D before completing a PhD in Chemistry from the School of Chemistry and Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices at Trinity College Dublin. He leads the Fluids in Advanced Manufacturing research group at the IfM, which tackles fluid flow and functional material challenges to enable scale-up of advanced manufacturing technologies.
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Insights into innovative programmes that support translation – Coco Newton
In this episode we explore innovative programmes that support research translation.
Coco Newton, a previous participant in Cambridge Judge Business School’s Enterprise Tech and Enterprise TechStar programmes, gives us an insight into how they work and her experience of taking part. Coco also discusses her new spin-out venture and navigating the Cambridge innovation ecosystem.
Coco is a neuroscientist focused on creating new cognitive markers that can help detect Alzheimer's disease years before dementia onset. Coco is currently working as a post-doctoral research fellow in the global EDoN (Early Detection of Neurodegeneration) initiative, spearheaded by Alzheimer's Research UK and Gates Ventures.
Coco completed a PhD in Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge as a Cambridge Trust Scholar. Her research work investigates novel cognitive outcome measures for preclinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease using immersive virtual reality tests of navigation. As part of the Cambridge Judge Business School Accelerate programme she is co-founding a spin-out to continue clinical development of these navigation assessments.
Outside of her work, Coco is undertaking the RYA Yachtmaster skipper qualification and holds a Cambridge Blue in lightweight rowing.
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How to commercialise research – NHS perspective
In this episode we explore research commercialisation from an NHS perspective. Navigating the NHS healthcare system can be a daunting prospect for an innovator. Dr Louise Jopling, Commercial Director at the Eastern Academic Health Science Network, explains the routes available for those to looking to have their technology adopted into the NHS.
Louise leads the commercial team at EAHSN to develop partnerships and support innovators to refine their business models and value propositions to ensure commercial sustainability.
Louise holds a PhD in immunology from Imperial College London and drawing on both her background in science and years of experience in drug discovery, development and commercialisation within academia, biotech and pharmaceutical organisations, she leads the commercial team to develop partnerships and support innovators to refine their business models and value propositions to ensure commercial sustainability.
Louise joined Eastern AHSN from Johnson and Johnson Innovation, where she led partnership activities across Europe, Middle East and Africa to identify and incubate external assets and capabilities to advance the portfolio of the Immunology Therapy Area for Janssen.
Louise is an advisory board member for MedTech Integrates conference, a mentor on a number of accelerator programmes including Accelerate Cambridge (Judge Business School) and Start Codon. She is also a long-standing member of the British Society for Immunology.
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Joining the dots... Bitesize on translating research
In this bitesize podcast, Anita Marguerie de Rotrou, Head of the Office for Translational Research, shares advice and guidance on routes for translating research, including
- the support OTR can provide
- the benefits of engaging specialist support for research translation
- a successful project supported by OTR that uses AI to detect heart valve disease (acoustics.eng.cam.ac.uk/2022/05/25/in…-on-bbc-news/).
Do you have any tips and guidance for translating research? Perhaps you’ve just started your translation journey or have experience you would like to share! Let us know in the comments below.
Dr Anita Marguerie de Rotrou is Head of Cambridge University’s Office for Translational Research, strategically setting the vision of the OTR with stakeholders, managing the team, and overseeing the overall project portfolio. With a PhD in developmental biology (UCL), a postdoc at Cancer Research UK, and 10 years’ experience in SMEs at operational, management, and scientific levels, her expertise notably includes setting up start-ups from scratch, product development, fundraising from investors, government, EU, public, and private sectors. She joined the OTR in 2015 and was appointed as Head two years later.
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So what IS Connect: Health Tech?!
In this special anniversary edition of our Joining the Dots podcast, we ask C:HTs Business Community Manager Paula Rogers-Brown some questions!
Listen to find out: -
- What is Connect: Health Tech and why do we need it?
- Who is the woman behind the podcasts?!
- C:HT's achievements over the past year
- C:HT's roadmap for the next year and beyond
Paula is the Business Community Manager at Connect: Health Tech, leading strategic development and working with stakeholders from across the University and cluster to build and integrate a thriving business and enterprise community around med tech, digital health and therapeutics.
Previously, Paula has worked for the Knowledge Transfer Network/Innovate UK and the Institution of Engineering & Technology, and has run her own successful businesses. Paula has a long standing record of stakeholder engagement and programme management on an international scale in the not-for-profit and commercial sectors.
www.connect.cam.ac.uk
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How to Commercialise Research
In this episode, we examine how to commercialise research, look at the different routes to translation and key factors to consider when looking to translate research. Professor Claire Thompson, CEO of Agility Life Sciences, shares key tips and insights from over 15 years’ experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Agility Life Sciences is an award-winning CDMO, consulting and communications firm which works with organisations across the healthcare space to advance their products and raise their profile.
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From Research Idea to Proof of Concept (Part 2)
In this special two-guest episode of Joining the Dots, we explore the theme of taking research from idea to proof of concept and beyond. We're joined by Dr Jason Mellad, Co-Founder and CEO of life sciences venture capital fund Start Codon, and Dr Jeroen Verheyen, a venture builder and Co-Founder and CEO of Semarion, a biotech start-up that leverages microfabrication technology to build smart materials and develop novel cell assaying applications.
In Part 2 we take a deep dive into how to get ready for investment as a startup, what skills and talent are needed in biotech, and how to build your network.
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From Research Idea to Proof of Concept (Part 1)
In this special two-guest episode of Joining the Dots, we explore the theme of taking research from idea to proof of concept and beyond. We're joined by Dr Jason Mellad, Co-Founder and CEO of life sciences venture capital fund Start Codon, and Dr Jeroen Verheyen, a venture builder and Co-Founder and CEO of Semarion, a biotech start-up that leverages microfabrication technology to build smart materials and develop novel cell assaying applications.
In Part 1 we discuss their career journeys, future innovations in healthcare and the research to proof-of-concept process.
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Hybrid Events
Joining us today is Aline Charpentier. Aline is the Head of Innovation Support for the life science network One Nucleus, and in this episode Paula-Rogers Brown and Aline discuss hybrid events and the evolution of events through the pandemic.
Joining One Nucleus in 2010, Aline has covered various roles including European projects and strategic partnerships development: now managing the Virtual Innovation centre to support the network’s biotech R&D in their growth activities.
Previous roles have included working on technology transfer programmes for the scientific services of the French Embassy in the USA and technology scouting at a French Government research organisation. Aline holds a MSc in biochemistry from the University of Toulouse and an MBA from Grenoble School of Management.
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An investor perspective on building relationships and effective networking
Joining for this episode of Join the Dots is Michael Salako, Investment Director at Start Codon. Michael has broad scientific and commercial expertise and a strong passion for facilitating entrepreneurship. Prior to joining Start Codon he worked for Cancer Research UK where he focused on identifying, developing, transacting and seed-investing in next-generation oncology spin out opportunities.
Michael has a PhD in Molecular Virology and Molecular Toxicology, an MBA focused on finance and entrepreneurship, postdoctoral experience in immuno-oncology, drug discovery expertise to Principal Scientist level and is a Certified Licensing Professional.
In addition to his busy role, Michael is an active mentor with EnterpriseTECH STAR at Cambridge Judge Business School and Research England’s Med Tech Super Connector and also volunteers as a STEM Ambassador across schools in London.
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Joining the dots…Bitesize on Building industry/academic relationships
Kathryn Chapman, Deputy Director of the Milner Therapeutics Institute, gives CHT Host Paula Rogers-Brown a few insights including
- Key factors for building relationships
- Why having a meaningful connection is critical to success
- Who can help you develop your next industry/academic collaboration
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Joining the dots... Bitesize on networking and creating your own networks
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Networking and Building Relationships
Joining us today is Dr Hannah Roberts. Hannah is a career coach and professional skills trainer, and in this episode she joins Paula Rogers-Brown to discuss networking and building relationships, how to gain confidence, and shares top tips for building your network.
During her extensive academic and industrial career, Hannah took research from concept to start-up becoming a successful entrepreneur who started two businesses including a University spin-out.
Since 2018, Hannah has been a qualified and regulated coach; trained in Talent Dynamics profiling. Specialising in team dynamics, career planning, online networking and social media skills, research planning and funding, commercialisation and management tools.
With client spanning six continents, Hannah has a particular passion for diversity and inclusion and women’s leadership development.
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Developing collaboration across disciplines: The journey to finding the right partner
Connect: Health Tech is Cambridge University's Enterprise Zone and the gateway into the University's Life Sciences and Health Tech Community.
In our podcast series we explore and discuss a diverse range of themes and topics of interest, including developing interdisciplinary collaborations, finding the right partner, and impactful business support for entrepreneurs.
LISTEN ON
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