Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • February 6, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS BIOSCIENCE CT's bioscience push lands top worldwide talent By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com T he Hartford region's roster of bioscience talent continues to expand with recruitment of top clini- cians and researchers, and the hiring spigot shows no signs of shutting off as word spreads about the area's facilities, talent and gov- ernment support. Recent hires involving UConn Health, Connecticut Children's Medical Center and The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medi- cine (JAX) have included what the organiza- tions said are a world-renowned pediatric endocrinologist, the world's top researcher of rare genetic liver disease, a leading pediatric cancer researcher and a genomics pioneer. The growing amount of bioscience research in the region, particularly in Farm- ington and Hartford, presents an attractive collaborative environment for top doctors and scientists, industry experts say. "I was just so taken by the place in many ways: the clinical excellence, the dedication of the physicians, the collaboration that Con- necticut Children's was having with UConn Health and JAX, the huge amount of resources that the state was putting in, which was really phenomenal," said Dr. Emily L. Germain-Lee, who was among recent top hires. UConn Health and Connecticut Chil- dren's announced in July that they landed pediatric endocrinologist Germain-Lee from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. She joined Connecticut Children's in Octo- ber as chief of the division of pediatric endo- crinology and UConn Health as a professor in the department of pediatrics. Her clini- cal care is at Connecticut Children's and her research laboratory at UConn Health. The announcement on her hire said Germain-Lee redefined the field of pediat- ric-endocrinology, attracting patients and families from all over the world seeking her services. She cares for people with rare bone dis- orders and has done extensive research on genetic and metabolic bone disease with a goal of developing new therapies for people with the disorders. Germain-Lee, who has family connections to New England and owned a second home in Hartford, wasn't looking to relocate when a colleague informed her of the Connecticut Children's position, but after visiting, she said she was immediately impressed by the people and facilities. It's an emerging area that can compete with any bioscience region in the country, she said. "What it comes down to is having a group of people who are highly motivated, who want to improve the lives of others, excited about research, who all come together and have the resources to do it," she said. "I have no doubt that this place is top-notch quality." It's the combination of facilities and their collaboration that's helping attract talent, with JAX the latest catalyst in the package, said Bruce Liang, dean of the UConn School of Medicine and a clinical cardiologist and researcher at UConn Health. That package helped draw another recent hire, Dr. Ching C. Lau, a leading pediatric hematology oncologist from Texas Chil- dren's Hospital in Houston, Liang said. Lau is medical director of hematology-oncology at Connecticut Children's, a JAX professor spe- cializing in pediatric brain and bone tumor research, and head of the division of pediat- ric hematology-oncology in the department of pediatrics at UConn School of Medicine. Dr. David A. Weinstein, the researcher of rare genetic liver disease, is a co-collabora- tion of Connecticut Children's and UConn Health. Weinstein has been at the University of Florida and director of its world-renowned Glycogen Storage Disease (GSD) program, which he's moving to the UConn School of Medicine and Connecticut Children's Medical Center. His move here was helped by finan- cial support of patients and their families and his GSD program is the largest clinical and research program of its kind in the world. Pediatric and adult patients living with the rare, genetic liver disease travel from across the globe for his team's care. Q&A Bioscience exec aims to boost UConn's startup backlog Q&A talks with Dr. Mostafa Analoui, a life sciences entrepreneur and investment banker, who recently became executive director of venture development at UConn. Q: You recently joined UConn to help lead efforts to increase venture development activ- ity at the university. What is involved in your new role? A: The primary goal is to help faculty and student entre- preneurs launch and grow new technology ventures based on the innovative research they conduct at UConn and UConn Health. This includes work- ing with academic and research lead- ers across all UConn campuses to develop mentoring/education- al tools and recruit- ing outside industry experts, investors and business leaders to participate in new and existing UConn ventures. This entails collaborating with various entrepreneurship initia- tives at the university, leading the UConn Technology Incubation Program (TIP), and collaborating closely with our technology com- mercialization team. Q: What is the Technology Incubation Program? A: UConn's Technology Incu- bation Program, also known as TIP, is the only university-based technology incubator in the state. The program provides high-value technology startups with a suite of business services, state-of-the-art labs, fully-equipped office space, and UConn's research infrastruc- ture to grow their businesses. A unique and highly valued aspect of TIP is the access it affords our companies to the extensive R&D capacity at UConn, such as core research facilities and faculty expertise, that is often unattain- able for a fledgling startup. Q: How many compa- nies have come through the TIP program? A: Since it was established in 2003, TIP has accelerated the growth of over 85 technology startups led by UConn faculty, stu- dents, and external entrepreneurs who collaborate with the expert researchers at UConn and UConn Health. These companies have raised more than $50 million in grant funding, $80 million in debt and equity, more than $45 million in revenue, and have created over 100 full- and part-time jobs in the last year alone. Q: How do you determine which technologies have com- mercial potential? How do you turn a technology into a successful product or company? A: The key ingredi- ents for the success of any innovation-based venture are: accurately identifying the market demand; establishing a clear and realistic business plan that cov- ers technology devel- opment, finances, strategic partnerships, etc.; and recruiting an experienced team to execute the plan. As a standard of practice, we rigorously evaluate each innova- tive concept developed by our fac- ulty to identify potential opportuni- ties, and more importantly, to assist and support them throughout the commercialization process, either through new company formation or licensing. To do this, we depend on internal experts like our licens- ing directors and industry liaisons, and we also reach out to external contacts from the investment com- munity, other technology-based startups, and successful entrepre- neurs and business leaders. Q: What are the biggest chal- lenges in your new position? A: What makes venture devel- opment at a university unique may also be its greatest challenge. By definition, research institutions are places where discovery and innovation happen daily. There is a constant flux of fresh ideas from great minds. This provides a unique environment where some of the greatest challenges facing our society are being tackled. The mandate for faculty is to educate, explore new ideas, and to further knowledge. They are not expected to know how to start a company or market a technology. Also, academic research requires a different type of capi- tal to adequately support venture development from university tech- nologies. Ideally, investors want to work with ventures that are close in proximity. This can be challeng- ing for Connecticut-based startups, since there is a limited presence of DR. MOSTAFA ANALOUI Executive director, venture development, UConn Continued Continued Yu-Hui Rogers, site director, The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine Dr. Bruce Liang, dean, UConn School of Medicine P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D Pediatric-endocrinologist and physician-scientist Dr. Emily L. Germain-Lee came to Connecticut from the John Hopkins School of Medicine as a result of the state's bioscience focus. Dr. Ching C. Lau, cancer researcher, UConn School of Medicine

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