BDC SOCIETY SHOWCASE: PROGRAM, STUDENT, AND COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

By Angelica Giansante and Alyshia Laidlaw

First off, we would like to congratulate both the third-year BDC students and the Master of BDC students for a tremendous event! In addition, we would like to thank the faculty members and professors who continually offered support during these difficult times, despite also having to adapt to this new environment.

Patricia Hrynyk, the morning’s keynote speaker, is currently the Director of Brand Marketing at Moderna Canada. It was great to hear from one of the members from Moderna, who is helping to aid in the fight against COVID-19 with their novel mRNA vaccine candidate. Patricia, an alumna from McMaster’s Biology and Pharmacology program, shared her personal experiences that led her to Moderna, including the pursuit of an MBA after obtaining her BHSc. She has had a plethora of industry experiences and has worked in multiple roles from sales to business development, as well as marketing at Innomar Strategies, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline. Thank you Patricia, for highlighting your journey thus far and showing us the many opportunities possible after graduation!

The third-year BDC students then gave excellent pitch presentations on both treatments and diagnostics for a wide range of diseases including onchocerciasis, Parkinson’s disease, leber hereditary optic neuropathy, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer and many more! With the transition to online learning this academic year, it was outstanding to see what the students and mentors were able to accomplish despite facing ongoing obstacles.

Many of the students thoroughly strategized drug delivery methods and access to treatments in both developed and developing countries. Team D2 discussed DUET, a non-invasive diagnostic tool for ovarian cancer. DUET uses two aptamer-based assays in a device (similar to a pregnancy test) to detect biomarkers overexpressed in ovarian cancer. Another team, F1, presented Cutavax, a vaccine for ascariasis, delivered by a clickhaler commonly used for asthma and COPD treatment.

The winning poster pitch came from Team B2. Team members Denise Catacutan, Sanjum Hunjan, Andy Phan, and Nisarg Shah, who pitched Pancrimir, a microRNA diagnostic tool for pancreatic cancer. This team discussed many points relating to the commercialization of the tool including biomarker candidates, patient access, partnerships, licensing, and even a market analysis! It was clear that Team B2 used all the information and guest speaker expertise from their Drug Discovery and Development course to integrate this knowledge into their presentation. Overall, all the presentations were extremely well thought out and the posters were both creative and engaging.

In the afternoon, students in the MBDC program gave brief presentations on their internship experiences thus far. Group one included: Nikhil Sharma, Yonathan Agung, Yasamin Allahverdi, Dawood Al-Wattar, Shilpa Bhardwaj, Maaha Chaudhry, Christopher Juman, Katrina Cordovado, Aaron Park and Taneya Janakan. Yasamin talked about her time as a Business Development Intern at the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization, where she has assisted leading clients to the commercialization of their radiopharmaceutical products. We also heard from Shilpa, who discussed the impact of her work on the Femtech space as a Health Economics and Market Access Associate at Cosm Medical. The standout presentation and winner for the first session was Taneya, whose well-designed slides illustrated the story of her time as an Associate Product Manager at Horizon Therapeutics. Taneya currently works in the rare disease space and would like to continue in this area after graduating from the MBDC program.

The second session included speakers: Rachael Gregoris, Emily Xu, Bichoy Labib, Vraj Shah, Ainsley Lin, Jonathan Moroniti, Harry Sandhu, Reeta Nan, Ahsan Khan and Madison Kim. Ainsley described her experience in Regulatory Affairs at Roche, where she had the opportunity to lead an information session with over 100 participants! Madison presented a dazzling set of slides to illustrate her time as a Marketing Specialist Intern at Neurescence, an optical imaging company. Rachael took the best presentation prize for session two after describing her time as a Business Development Analyst at the McMaster Industry Liaison Office (MILO). Rachael has been able to gain lots of experience in the patent space at MILO and will leverage this when she starts her JD at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law this September.

In the final session were presenters: Parisa Agahi, Dennis Weber, Victoria Kirkness, Anson Lee, Dana Tyrie, Tameem Quader, Viktoriya Rybenchuk, Sohaib Syed, Thaaniya Nanthakumar, Grace Feng and Richard Wang. Parisa started off this session by giving an excellent talk about her time as a Clinical Data Management Intern at AstraZeneca. Victoria discussed her journey in helping guide commercialization from the bench during her time as a Market Research Intern in the Hirota Lab. The winner for this session was Sohaib, who gave an incredibly engaging presentation on his role as a Sales and Marketing Diabetes Intern at AstraZeneca. Sohaib made sure to get the audience involved by asking questions of us instead of the other way around!

The MBDC students did an excellent job speaking about their internship placements to-date. Their varied experiences demonstrate the vast scope of the world of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, as the students’ diverse roles highlight the many opportunities to be explored within the industry. As future MBDC students, the presentations opened our eyes to the endless internship possibilities the program has to offer!

Congratulations to all the winners, and a special thanks to the presenters for sharing their journey with us. Wishing you the best of luck in your future endeavours!

Feature Image: Third-year Winning Team – B2 – Denise Catacun, Sanjum Hunjan, Andy Phan & Nisarg Shah (pictured above)

Taneya Janakan
MBDC Presentation Session 1 Winner

Rachael Gregoris
MBDC Presentation Session 2 Winner

Sohaib Syed
MBDC Presentation Session 3 Winner

On September 27^th, 2019 students from all three levels of the Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization (BDC) program at McMaster University attended a faculty-organized Industry Preview Event. With over 20 companies, the event exposed students to a wide range of industries in the pharmaceutical space.

BDC Director Dr. Andrew McArthur began the event with opening remarks, welcoming all in attendance and setting the stage for a new initiative – Career Talks from BDC alumni. The three alumni came from diverse industries (large pharma – GlaxoSmithKline; consulting – Cannabis Compliance; and Biotech – Enhanced Medical Nutrition), which gave students a sense of the wide range of opportunities available to them. Their talks touched upon both their current endeavours and how BDC prepared them with the skills they needed to succeed.

Third year student Cole Shulman found these talks especially engaging. “The talks gave me a good understanding of what I can expect to learn from this program going forward. The presenters did a great job highlighting both technical and soft skills that are instrumental in the pharmaceutical space.”

The subsequent networking session gave students the opportunity to talk to the many companies in attendance. Some used this time to focus on specific industries or companies that they found interesting. Others took it as a chance to learn about different roles and opportunities available in pharmaceuticals. Regardless of which route was taken, students found it to be a very valuable experience.

Shift Health was one of many industry partners who attended the Career Fair.

Simultaneously, many of the industry partners took it as a chance to mentor students – something that was greatly appreciated. Between skill development tips and ways to stand out in a competitive job market, there was a lot to learn. Students could be seen taking notes and subsequently sharing tips they had gathered with their peers – an indication of the collaborative culture the program proudly fosters.

For Master of BDC students, the networking session proved to be a great opportunity to talk to potential employers. With their internship term quickly approaching, this showcase has historically been an amazing resource for these students. The event not only brings together a large number of pharmaceutical companies, but also has many BDC alumni present as company representatives. Ultimately, having a BDC graduate on the other side of the table gives the program greater credibility.

“The growing reputation of the BDC program is evident,” said Shadman Khan, president of the BDC Society. “Compared to last year’s showcase, there are many more companies from a much wider range of disciplines. In my mind, it shows how well-equipped BDC students are for the workplace. The attention our graduates are garnering continues to grow.”

All in all, the event was viewed as a great success. Students from all three levels gained insight into the plethora of opportunities available at the intersection of biomedical discovery and business and left with a better understanding of the skills they should seek to develop to succeed in this space.

None of this would have been possible without our industry partners who took the time to attend the event, as well as the meticulous planning of the BDC faculty office.

This year, BDC Engage was held on Friday, April 5, 2019. Students, faculty, staff, and industry members gathered early in the morning to listen to presentations, partake in a networking session, and view posters made by students of the Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization (BDC) and Master of Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization (MBDC) Programs.

The event started off with a keynote from Jim Hall, Vice President and General Manager of Covis Pharma who emphasized the importance of networking, specifically “ABN” (always be networking).   Following the keynote, there were a series of talks from MBDC students and alumni. First, alumnus Tom Wei shed light on his role as a Global Health Economics and Market Access associate at Johnson and Johnson. Then, MBDC candidate Daniel Celeste showcased his role at Bayer as a Medical Operations and Governance Intern. Finally, MBDC candidate Alice Guan talked about her time as a Hematology-Oncology Marketing Intern at Celgene Inc. All presentations focused on the speaker’s personal journey and advice for students in the audience.

Jim Hall, VP and General Manager Covis Pharma, delivers an engaging keynote presentation.

“The presentations were amazing. It’s nice to hear about how BDC students apply what they learn in the classroom to their new positions. We’re happy to see how they continue to advance and build upon their knowledge,” said Dr. Brian Coombes, Chair and Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University.

Ellie Voutsinas, Digital Marketing Specialist at Haltech Regional Innovation Centre, said, “The students had strong presentations and it was evident that the BDC program prepared them well to be strong, articulate speakers. I noticed that the presenters followed similar structures and delivery styles. Overall, the students were very well-spoken, and professional.”

After the presentations, third-year BDC students and Master’s students displayed their commercialization project and internship posters during a networking session. During this time, many students reflected on their BDC experiences. Alice Guan, MBDC student, emphasized how BDC differs from other undergraduate programs. “The BDC program teaches hard skills in biochemistry and business, but the most valuable of all was the soft skills I learned. These soft skills, such as collaboration or self-directed learning, are invaluable traits to have while working in the biopharmaceutical, biotechnological, or medical devices industry.”

Konrad Noronha, Director of Marketing and Head of Market Research at Celgene, backs up Guan’s claims. “We’ve had two BDC students so far, and they have come in academically prepared. However, what is more impressive is their open-mindedness, positivity, and willingness to learn. BDC students like Alice are strong in independent learning. For example, she is constantly doing research to best prepare for meetings and to inform her work. This, coupled with her personal drive to succeed, has enabled Alice to exceed our expectations.”

BDC students learn about various industries and roles during the MBDC poster presentations.

Kirill Pankov, a BDC and MBDC alumnus, followed the program’s development throughout the years. “BDC has made good connections with industry members. When the program first came to these big companies, I imagine they were kind of confused. But now, they have a better idea of BDC’s performance and reputation. The program prepared me for my experience at Enhanced Medical Nutrition. Not only did I obtain science and business knowledge, I have also learned to work without strict guidelines. The program has taught me how to be self-guided, open-minded, adaptable, and 100% okay with standing out from the crowd. If I were to sum it up, BDC makes you comfortable with the uncomfortable!”

Henry Hu, MBDC alumnus, who also works at Enhanced Medical Nutrition, provided some insight about his own experience. “I came through biomedical engineering and did two years of healthcare investment. I came back to school for the MBDC program. I found MBDC to be the perfect mix between business and biotechnology. Although I already had a master’s degree going into the program, I benefited from the connections I developed throughout the year. Other master’s programs do not have the same quality of networking opportunities compared to MBDC.”

After the networking sessions, two fourth-year BDC students presented their thesis research. Jason Tran from the Hyne’s lab investigated how natural competence enables bacteria to upgrade its CRISPR-Cas spacer memory to gain immunity against bacteriophages, and Sarah Hordienko from the Coombes’ lab explored the role of the type IV secretion system in the pathogenesis of Crohn’s Disease-associated Escherichia coli. To conclude the event, three third-year BDC groups out of a total of twelve were selected to present their commercialization projects. The selected groups pitched their ideas to the audience, treating them like a group of potential investors.

Dr. Yingfu Li announces the BDC third-year group presenters.

Overall, students felt that they benefited from the event. “I am thankful for BDC,” says Lucy Zhou, a fourth-year BDC student. “Students usually don’t have the opportunity to network with staff, students, and industry members. These opportunities help me prepare for the next steps after graduation. They have helped me understand different roles within companies, and this gives me more direction and insight when applying for a full-time position.”

Dr. Andrew McArthur, Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and Cisco Research Chair in Bioinformatics, said, “I enjoyed this year’s BDC Engage. The poster sessions went well. I can tell that students are getting stronger every year, and faculty is getting better at tweaking the program for future students.” He leaves us with a suggestion. “In the future, it would be nice if we could hear a company’s perspective on the MBDC internship. This way, we can see the whole picture: how interns benefit from companies and how companies benefit from the interns.”

Congratulations to Kyle Jackson and the rest of the Interdisciplinary Satellite Team for being selected by the Canadian Space Agency to participate in the Canadian CubeSat Project where they will help design and build a satellite to launch into deep space.

See full article here: https://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/articles/neudose-satellite-project-passes-csa-milestone/

Congratulations to our MBDC students on completing their career development and employability milestone. It was a very busy two months of career-related workshops, but our MBDC students are now well prepared for the internship and post-grad recruitment cycle! We wish them nothing but success as they embark on this new chapter in their careers! A very special thanks goes out to all of our recruitment partners for the 2018/2019 year.  Your engagement and support of the Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization program has been incredible, and we look forward to working with you over the next year.