Even as a second-year molecular biology graduate student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Jim Reddoch wondered about his prospects of getting a research job. He saw graduating students forced into two or more postdocs, so he decided to look at alternatives. He started an industry roundtable that brought in representatives from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries to talk about careers in and out of the lab.

"I probably got more out of those sessions than anyone else," he recalls. At about the same time, the stock market piqued his interest when a UAB spin-off company, BioCryst, held an initial public offering. Reddoch bought some shares and declares he has been "hooked ever since."

"The net effect of hearing from industry types (through the industry roundtable) was that I got names, learned the language, and could expand from there. I read a lot of trade journals [such as Genetic Engineering News, BioWorld, BioCentury, Nature Biotechnology]. BioCentury has a section on analysts' picks and changes; I got a lot of names from that."

Even better, "[One of the roundtable speakers] gave me a research report on his company - I used that as a template for drafting my own writing samples," says Reddoch. After some interviews during graduate school, he went off to a postdoc at Yale University, unsure whether he wanted to make the jump. Nine months into his postdoc at Yale, he heard about an opening for a research associate at Gerard Klauer Mattison and Company (New York City). His previous efforts helped land him the job, where he worked until joining another large Wall Street firm at the beginning of July.

In that position, he was responsible for "knowing everything there is to know about nine companies. We issue ratings on those companies: buy, hold, or sell. Anytime they release news we interpret it and tell how it affects our ratings."

John M. Rice

After a Ph.D. in virology from Ohio State University, John M. Rice joined Battelle Memorial Institute, a private research contracting firm, and conducted research in viral vaccine development. "Over the course of 13 years I moved from bench science to management, managing projects and small groups, then large divisions," he recalls.

Battelle's commercial orientation gave Rice experience in business and science right away. "Battelle is sort of a hybrid environment, which might have made the transition easier. I had much more day-to-day exposure to business activities, including selling and business development. I was dealing with industry as part of our customer base."

After rising through the ranks in management, Rice got involved with an attempt to spin off one of Battelle's research departments into a separate biotech company with a focus on drug discovery technology and diagnostic medical devices. "We put together a business plan and a strategy . . . [but] when the market crashed in 1987, we had no chance to raise capital and the initiative fell apart."

The next lesson was downsizing: "I was given the responsibility to divest some of our technology and people. . . . I realized that some day I'd be divested. Then a headhunter called about an opportunity here at Senmed Medical Ventures," and he moved on to his current position as director of the medical technology division, investigating new technologies as potential investments for Senmed's clients.

Of his gradual transition, he says: "It's a gravitation. When you're on the business side of science it's a lot more oriented to people skills. . . . You also need the experience of having been involved in making business decisions - employing criteria beyond what you might use in making scientific decisions. Some people go back for formal training and get an MBA, but my [path] was all by the seat of the pants."

Roger Wyse

Roger Wyse seemed settled in a long academic career. He began as a plant pathologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, researching mechanisms that dictate how plants allocate carbon. "We were always presenting our results to the industry, so that's where my early interest (in applied science) came from," he recalls.

He would eventually move into administration, becoming dean of Rutgers University and, later, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin. "As an academic administrator, as you allocate resources, you are investing in good science and in the faculty. And you spend a lot of time raising money to support programs of the college . . . so it was a natural transition to do that in the business environment," says Wyse.

In the mid-nineties, he got interested in improving translation of university research into industry. Most universities have an office that evaluates discoveries to determine if they warrant patent applications, and if they do, they begin the patent process and simultaneously market the discovery to companies.

"What I was suggesting was, before doing the licensing agreement, the university fund more research to get a better understanding of its value. If you put a little money into proof of concept and early stage development, you can show the value of the technology. The more value you can show, the more value you can reap from the licensing agreement."

To test the idea, he brought in Steve Burrill from Burrill & Company (San Francisco, California) to discuss the plan. Although the university rejected the proposal, Wyse soon joined Burrill to help form and become managing director of an agricultural biotechnology branch of the company. Today, he seeks out and evaluates new technologies and companies. He also assists small companies in establishing partnerships with larger companies.

The secret's out - now you know that it is indeed possible to switch from the lab to Wall Street. Next issue - a look at what it's like once you get there.

Jim Kling writes in Washington State about science and the environment. His work has appeared in Science, Nature Biotechnology, The Scientist, Scientific American, and Popular Science magazine's Web site.

Andrzej Krauze is an illustrator, poster maker, cartoonist, and painter who illustrates regularly for HMS Beagle, The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph, Bookseller, and New Statesman.

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Endlinks

Careers in Technology Transfer - a collection of links for those interested in commercially developing technology initially discovered in the public sector.

Recombinant Capital - "the online magazine of biotechnology industry analysis." The site has a variety of articles covering deals and general trends within the industry.

Science's Next Wave - a great resource for young scientists, no matter what career they are considering.

Alternative Careers in Biosciences - includes summaries of a seminar series at Yale University, and links to other career-related sites.

Related HMS Beagle articles:

• Career Changes in Science - Cutting Edge debate of the issues that surround pursuing an alternative career.
• Check Out the Alternatives - In Situ exploring career-change Web resources for bioscientists.
• Technology Transfer Management: How to Make the Process Work? - Opinion.