Dilshan Rajan is not your typical pre-med student. Between preparing for medical school, a Bakken Medical Device Center internship, several years of research in two University of Minnesota labs, and a personal interest in 3D-printing and engineering, Rajan feels he has the science and technical know-how to embark on a career in biomedical engineering.
His next big career move? Applying to the MD/PhD program with a focus in neuro-engineering at the University of Minnesota Medical School. But until then, the University senior is focusing his efforts on getting two original medical devices—an “intraosseous” needle for emergency medical interventions and a smart inhaler—patented and on the market.
After taking the College of Biological Sciences’ newest biotech startup course offering, called “What do you need to start a biotech company?,” Rajan feels he’s been equipped with enough business skills to take his next step to commercialize his inventions.
“We don't really think about the commercialization side too much when my team is working on a device,” says Rajan, who took the biotech startup course to get exposed to business strategy and network with others scoping out the biotechnology industry. “So the course really got us thinking about all the other parts that are critical to actually get this out there.”
Rajan is not alone in his reasons for pursuing education around the business side of biotechnology. His classmates included a wide range of students—undergrads, PhD candidates, postdoctoral associates, and others looking for insight from the business side of the biotech industry.
“Many of the students already have their own ideas,” says Mary MacCarthy, formerly a program manager at the University of Minnesota’s Venture Center and currently a chief operating officer of a medical device startup. “But not all. The students who didn’t have an idea partnered with other students to pitch their business on the last day of class. That experience pitching is so valuable!”
MacCarthy co-taught the course with Perry Hackett, a longtime member of the College's Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development whose own Sleeping Beauty Transposon gene-transfer platform was licensed to pharmaceutical company Ziopharm for around $33 million.
They both believe the class is a good platform for students, providing the skills needed to launch their startups right here in Minnesota. “One of the roles of the University of Minnesota is actually to help the Minnesota economy,” says Hackett. “You know, not only provide workers, but to provide new businesses.” Looping business into the science research sector could bolster that idea.
“The class is designed to teach them enough to know what they’re getting into, like pitching their idea, understanding equity and stock and options, how to divide equity, and all the basics that you need to either launch your own startup or to be really valuable to a startup that’s out there,” says MacCarthy.
The class provides a multitude of resources to help students chart a course. It also provides ample opportunities for in-class connection.
Support for startups
With the help of course material and in-class networking, Rajan’s startup team received a $3,000 Minimum Viable Product (MVP) award from the University of Minnesota to jumpstart funding for a new medical device. The team hopes to use additional funds to create professionally manufactured prototypes and potentially test the product on human cadavers, all in an effort to get the product approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
As the course continues, Hackett and MacCarthy are hopeful it snowballs into a newly reformed biotech startup ecosystem within the science community at the university level.
“There's such a growing portfolio of intellectual property coming out of the research labs in the College of Biological Sciences, so it's sort of the right project at the right time for the right reasons, with the right support,” says MacCarthy. “We’re just excited to see where it goes next.”
This story is adapted from the College of Biological Sciences
- Categories:
- Business and Management
- Education
- Science and Technology
