Lab Talent: Top 10 Researchers

Ten innovative scientists whose ideas could be the basis for next-generation companies.

October 24, 2005 Issue

University labs are the primordial ooze from which innovative and successful companies spring. Think Google, Akamai, Lycos, and Genentech. Somewhere right now, in a computer science hall or a biology lab, unsung researchers are forming and testing the ideas that will turn into the next generation of technology-driven companies, or the cure for fatal diseases like cancer.

- ADVERTISEMENT These researchers will contribute a great deal to the global economy. Between 1980 and 1999, university spin-offs in the United States alone generated more than $33.5 billion in economic value, according to surveys by the Association of University Technology Managers. More than 8 percent of university spin-offs have gone public, according to recent data compiled by the Kauffman Foundation, which works with venture partners to advance entrepreneurship in America.

Red Herring tapped its sources in North America, Europe, and Asia to find 10 talented researchers that are leading the new generation of technological talent. All are accomplished in their fields, filled with insight and energy, and have the mettle to overcome tough challenges and drive innovation. A few—like Julia Kubanek, a marine biologist at Georgia Tech—are content in their lab attire and don’t want to exchange it for the business dress of the corporate world. Several, including Michael Lefenfeld of SiGNa Chemistry, have close ties to industry and hope to—or already have—started a company based on their research.

Of course, Red Herring isn’t alone in searching for bright young talent on the campuses of the California Institute of Technology, Cambridge University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, Tsinghua University, and others. Most veteran investors agree that talent is king when it comes to navigating the potholes that derail 90 percent of startups, and VCs have prowled the halls of universities for decades, looking for the innovations that will yield a 10-times return down the road.

But no campus is perfect when it comes to nurturing technology spawned in its labs and turning it into a commercial opportunity. And many in the academic community still question whether this nurturing should even be a core part of a university’s mission. No one argues, however, that the financial rewards can be huge—if the innovation and talent is combined with the right market conditions.

“You need to start with a world-class technology, but it needs to be matched up with market needs and customer requirements,” says Patrick Ennis, managing director at ARCH Venture Partners, which specializes in providing seed- and early-stage money to university spin-offs. “You need different skill sets, so the next step is to find business entrepreneurs.”

Universities with strong entrepreneurial cultures that are flush with angel capital—think Stanford and MIT—tend to do better than others when it comes to finding buyers for inventions and tech. Others have to work harder to forge ties with the business community. “The biggest challenge for us in the next five years is establishing better connections to the local business community,” says Jim Severson, director of the University of Washington’s Office of Technology Licensing and the Office of Software and Copyright Ventures. “We don’t have the favored environment of money and entrepreneurial talent.”

Great ideas have a way of springing up in the most unexpected places. An upstart competitor to Google may be looking for funding at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand or the University of Rio de Janeiro; big pharma’s next blockbuster treatment could be sitting in a test tube at the 800-year-old University of Salamanca in Spain or at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. We will continue to widen our net and seek the well-hidden gems.

In the pages that follow, Red Herring shines a light into the labs of 10 scientists who have the potential to contribute innovative ideas and spur significant advances in their fields. This may be the first time you hear their names; we’re betting it won’t be the last.

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Lab Talent: Saba Valadkhan

Molecular Archaeologist

October 24, 2005 Issue

UNIVERSITY Case Western Reserve University RESEARCH/INNOVATION Splicing RNA - ADVERTISEMENT AWARDS Young Scientist Award, supported by GE Healthcare and Science

Eight years ago, Saba Valadkhan went where 50 scientists had gone before—all without success. But the 32-year-old wasn’t bothered by past failures, and she continued with molecular biology experiments probing RNA splicing mechanisms as a graduate student at Columbia University.

Although DNA is commonly known as life’s genetic blueprint and the repository for genetic information, scientists believe that RNA—similar to DNA in structure but with different functions, including transferring information from DNA—could be the source of many genetic diseases. It took plenty of time For Dr. Valadkhan to get past the molecular riddle that has baffled researchers for 20 years, including the 50 scientists before her: Where and how does the catalytic activity of RNA take place?

Dr. Valadkhan was able to make headway in the mystery of pre-messenger RNA, the primary genetic transcript for synthesizing proteins, and splicing reactions within RNA that affect critical biological functions of cell growth, differentiation, and disease.

The Iranian-born scientist started her career as a doctor in 1996, but decided she wasn’t cut out to practice medicine. Instead, she was lured into research because of the intellectual challenges involved in probing fundamental mechanisms underlying disease in medical research.

Her work has helped open a door into promising research for developing splicing therapies that could someday repair various disorders and genetic diseases, from Alzheimer’s to aging to AIDS. Her work was also recognized with the prestigious Young Scientist Award last March at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Her hard work has also been helped along by a little luck. Dr. Valadkhan recalls one of her serendipitous research moments, when she left an ultraviolet light shining on her cells and found the next day that those UV rays had induced cross-linking of RNA, which are chemical linkages between different RNA molecules (sunburn causes cross-links in RNA). That discovery led to a scientific paper discussing how cross-linking could be used to determine the structure of the RNA.

But what really intrigues Dr. Valadkhan is RNA’s potential as a molecular fossil, providing clues to the primordial world of molecular biology. “The interesting point is these enzymatic molecules are thought to be molecular fossils,” she says. “It is interesting to think that these molecules have evolved over the past 4 billion years.”

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