Alumni Highlights

A Scientific Mind. A Born Leader. : Dr. William S. Marshall

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 20:57:51 +0000

A Scientific Mind. A Born Leader. : Dr. William S. Marshall Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/31/2023 - 14:57

Dr. William S. Marshall, a scientiﬁc mind proven through his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Ph.D. in Chemistry/Biochemistry at the University of Colorado ��«��Ƶ, quickly scaled the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry corporate ladders holding increasingly advanced positions (see timeline for his complete trajectory).

Current State of Affairs

Currently, Dr. Marshall is an in-demand biotech and pharmaceutical industry consultant following several successful industry positions, most notably as CEO of a publicly traded company – miRagen – where he served as CEO, Co-Founder and Director for over a dozen years. He also serves on the Boards of several privately held biotechnology and technology companies. In addition, he co-owns ��«��Ƶ-based Twisted Pine Brewing Company since 2003 – alongside a former Amgen colleague, Bob Baile, who purchased Twisted Pine in 1996. Interesting fact - Twisted Pine was founded in 1995 by legendary brewer Gordon Knight, who opened three breweries in Colorado. Tragically, Knight died in a helicopter crash serving as a firefighter and Baile merged his existing brewery (Peak to Peak Brewing) with Twisted Pine only a year after its founding.

Back in the CU Days

Dr. Marshall earned his Ph.D. in chemistry/biochemistry from the University of Colorado under Distinguished Professor Marvin Caruthers. He credits Dr. Caruthers for leading a lab where graduate students could operate with freedom and the encouragement to be self-starters – becoming thinkers who were able to ﬁnd their unique way to new scientiﬁc approaches and discoveries. Dr. Caruthers, while an entrepreneur in his own right, did not deviate from providing a rich academic atmosphere and it wasn’t until Dr. Marshall inquired about an industry path that Caruthers enthusiastically opened up about those opportunities. Dr. Marshall believes that an advisor’s style of instruction and lab management is key to either creating critical thinkers, by allowing a sink or swim environment with regular consultation; or really good laboratory technicians if an advisor micromanages most aspects of their work. He urges graduate students to consider what they really are passionate about and to look for the qualities that will allow for maximal intellectual growth and preparation for independent thinking when selecting an advisor with whom to work.

Dr. Marshall, like many other Caruthers lab alumni, felt the social interactions fostered in Dr. Caruthers’ lab created the environment where you could have fun and do great science – recalling important collaborations between labs such as Cech lab, Uhlenbeck lab and of course, other Caruthers lab members. This was in addition to a wide variety of internationally recognized experts in complementary fields from all over the world. He described the Caruthers lab Christmas party white elephant gift exchanges that were as much roasting opportunities as they were gift-giving, with very fond memories. And he noted the international connections afforded by the make-up of the lab members in the Caruthers lab, and through the collaborations between the various advisors in the department, allowed for the creation of long-term friendships and opportunities for collaboration after graduation.

Biotech Industry Comes Calling

Dr. Marshall always appreciated the interface of chemistry and biology and when considering an academic career vs. industry, felt that a biotech/pharma career would allow him to make the biggest impact on human health – providing the ability to focus on rewarding work that leads to signiﬁcant impacts on mankind.

“A few principals I have learned along the way… 1) Doing great science within your company allows for robust scientiﬁc business endeavors. 2) Blinding samples within all your studies from the person conducting the experiment allows for a much more robust outcome and solves for conﬁrmation bias. 3) Hiring a talented team is what builds a successful company – a company will not survive or thrive if built around a single person. Highly functional teams of smart people will always make better decisions that one individual 4) Practicing a combination of situational and servant leadership and providing the right training to each of your employees builds a stronger culture and company.”

A comprehensive timeline illustrates Dr. Marshall's quick ascendance into leadership roles in a number of biotech companies. His experience at Amgen allowed him to participate in a wide variety of therapeutic development approaches throughout the drug discovery process and led to the development of several clinical candidates. Within the Thermo Fisher Biosciences division, Dr. Marshall was responsible for leading technology assessment and strategic planning. This unit had revenues of approximately $1 billion and manufactured and supplied a wide range of products and services across the general chemistry and life sciences arenas.

What the Future Holds

Dr. Marshall will continue with his biotech/pharma consulting, focusing on serving as an advisor to cool and promising start-ups; providing expert consulting on intellectual property matters; serving as an interim executive team member at start-ups where his expertise is spot-on; and serving on various boards of directors where his experience ﬁts. He certainly wouldn’t rule out potentially taking on another CEO role to advance a powerful new technology if the right opportunity was presented.

Dr. Marshall also wants to support his daughters, both in college, in their careers and general life pursuits, one of whom just defended her master’s thesis in Forestry and the other an undergraduate senior majoring in Biochemistry. Both of whom decided to pursue their undergraduate academic careers at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Dr. Marshall's Advice for Ph.D. Candidates

Regardless of whether you choose to pursue an academic career or wind up enticed to jump into biotechnology or pharma industries, align your skill sets with what is being funded and what is trending in the scientific community and always be prepared for and embrace the unknown. He references online publications like Biospace, Endpoints, and Fierce Biotech as great resources for all seeking new positions. On the industry side of things, Dr. Marshall oﬀers that the biotech industry has always existed in a sign wave based on financing opportunities and the general state of the pharmaceutical field. It has gone through downturns [naming 2000 and 2007-2008 as well as the current environment nationally in the biotech segment] which inevitably are followed by hot streaks. Hold on tight and be ready for what tomorrow brings. Don’t be afraid to ask yourself – “do I love what I am currently doing?” and if not, search for areas where you are good and know areas where you are not and make a change. Take a bigger picture vision of your landscape and even think about ancillary opportunities such as patent law, analyst work, investment banking, and even becoming a medical doctor or practitioner. Finally, in research you must always be ready for failure and be accepting of failure, as that is what makes you build your skillsets and depth. It also builds character that allows one to deal with the ever-changing landscape of life.

"The amount of time you spend in research and virtually any other endeavor doesn’t necessarily correlate to the eventual rewards, careful selection of the right path at the right time is absolutely necessary."

William S Marshall Biography

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Rescuing a Llama Named Sweety: Dr. Fiona Caruthers

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Oct 2023 20:57:25 +0000

Rescuing a Llama Named Sweety: Dr. Fiona Caruthers Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 10/28/2023 - 14:57

CU ��«��Ƶ Chemistry/Biochemistry alumna, Dr. Fiona Caruthers, is an experienced llama owner and backcountry adventurer. This past September, while out of state, she received a text regarding a Facebook plea for help. She, in consultation with friend Leigh DiNatale, knew they had to rescue Sweety, a 7 year-old pregnant llama lost in the Indian Peaks Wilderness on September 13.

Sweety was part of a hunting group from Oregon that included co-owners Matt and Cody. She and Leigh gathered a small search group of family and friends, including their llama caretakers Sebastian and Diego Salas and Andy Petrick, Animal Rescue Volunteer from the Southwest Llama Rescue Group, and began what would ultimately become a nearly 3 1/2 week endeavor at high-altitude (12,000 ft!) and with overnighters. Click here for Dr. Caruthers' full account of this rescue and numerous photos.

Daily Camera: Local Residents Rescue Pregnant Llama

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Biotech Pioneer has ��«��Ƶ Roots: Dr. David Goeddel

Anonymous — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 20:09:04 +0000

Biotech Pioneer has ��«��Ƶ Roots: Dr. David Goeddel Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 01/31/2021 - 13:09

Dr. David Goeddel is former head of Genentech’s microbiology department, CU Biochemistry alum Class of ‘77, and the scientist behind the first commercially viable insulin biosynthesis pipeline in human history. Today, Dr. Goeddel continues to drive innovation as a managing partner of The Column Group, a venture capitalist firm aimed at funding disruptive technology in the biosciences.

One of the greatest technical scientists behind the ascendancy of gene-editing giant Genentech, Dr. Goeddel began his biochemistry career here at CU ��«��Ƶ as a Ph.D. student under Dr. Marvin Caruthers. Dr. Goeddel’s undergraduate period was, as he describes it, “wasted surfing,” though he did manage a semester of research under the renowned physical chemist Bruno Zimm at the University of California San Diego. Luckily, Dr. Goeddel had joined CU Biochemistry in the perfect year: 1973. As a new member of CU Biochemistry’s faculty, Dr. Marvin Caruthers was doing just this sort of research and was accepting his first graduate students. As a “sports-first” undergrad, Dr. Goeddel had originally picked ��«��Ƶ with hopes of competing as a professional rock climber, but he quickly became enamored with the emerging field of DNA synthesis, and later, gene-editing.

Breakthroughs in the Caruthers Lab

Dr. Goeddel joined the Caruthers Lab where he would learn foundational gene-cloning and DNA manipulation techniques that would prove integral to his future achievements. From Dr. Goeddel’s perspective, the timing could not have been more fortuitous; Dr. Caruthers proved to be an excellent resource for the burgeoning biochemist in Dr. Goeddel. Recombinant gene cloning was a recent breakthrough, and the Caruthers Lab quickly positioned themselves with the reagents and synthetic DNA primers needed to translate these techniques into therapeutic innovation. Goeddel set to work learning to synthesize DNA template strands using everything he had learned of physical chemistry as an undergrad.

Dr. Goeddel remembers his time in the Caruthers Lab fondly. He and his lab mates became a close unit, playing intramural basketball and football together, even giving everyone in the lab nicknames:

Everyone in Marv’s lab had a nickname. Marv could never figure out who was who. He was The Duke, but we also had Shortcake, Dishman, and Barnie Rubble who of course looked just like the cartoon character.

Though there were one or two undergraduate student rotations each year, Dr. Caruthers had an otherwise open schedule, a huge boon for his motivated graduate students. Goeddel and his lab mates got plenty of individualized mentorship from their PI, with Dr. Caruthers personally assisting with experiments. According to Dr. Goeddel, Marv allowed his students near total independence, but his expectation of results could be exacting.

Overcoming an Academic Speedbump

Unfortunately, pesky academics reared their head just as Dr. Goeddel had found his passion. He was climbing the Flatirons less and less, while his research pace accelerated. However, in his second year, Dr. Goeddel failed his oral exams. He knew his research, he felt confident discussing it, but one of his more experienced advisors focused their questioning on physical chemistry and enzymology: structures, pathways. After the exams Dr. Caruthers broke the bad news, and Goeddel spent the next two months memorizing every name and every pathway of every enzyme he found even tangentially related to his project:

I was not happy having to remember all of these, but this was the old school way of doing things. I had published six or seven papers by then; I was looking forward to speaking to my expertise.

Dr. Goeddel found success soon after school transforming his research and expertise into a promising career. After graduating from CU, Dr. Goeddel moved to Stanford in 1978 to continue his work as a postdoctoral fellow. However, Genentech, then a start-up, called and offered him a job for much the same work. Ultimately, the allure of entrepreneurship and expanded funding prospects convinced him to join the start-up.

Driving Innovation

Using the techniques he had learned in the Caruthers Lab, Dr. Goeddel led a young Genentech through a litany of drug discoveries through the 1970’s and 80’s, including bacteria-synthesized insulin used today by millions across the globe. Although a fresh doctorate, with next to no postdoctoral experience, Dr. Goeddel quickly stepped into a leading role of a start-up hoping to harness exactly the techniques he had mastered. Once again, the timing was perfect, and the resulting avalanche of new therapies meant Dr. Goeddel quickly became an influential figure in biotechnology. In 1978 Genentech was effectively the first biotechnology or bioengineering company of its kind, especially with respect to plasmid-based cloning, and David Goeddel was one of a handful of biochemists capable of DNA synthesis.

In 1993, Dr. Goeddel decided to step away from the bench and create a resource he wished he had had when underwriting postdoctoral grants at Stanford. He would take the profits of his life’s work in drug discovery and found The Column Group, which today is a venture capital fund focused on new biotech start-ups with what Dr. Goeddel sees as game-changing science: “we’re funding new start-ups—looking for bright young scientists.” After such a successful career behind the bench, Dr. Goeddel is finding fulfillment connecting the next generation of talented scientists with the resources they need. Though the field may be moving fast, one of you readers may be just the scientist needed for the next big thing.

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Sugars Make Better Medicine: Dr. Peter H. Seeberger

Anonymous — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 20:01:14 +0000

Sugars Make Better Medicine: Dr. Peter H. Seeberger Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 01/31/2021 - 13:01

Dr. Peter H. Seeberger is the Director of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Berlin, a position he has held since 2009. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Colorado under Distinguished Professor Marvin Caruthers. Dr. Seeberger has helped to start nine companies that employ his research, while simultaneously working philanthropically to deliver new therapies and resources for fighting neglected diseases such as malaria in underserved countries. Dr. Seeberger has been internationally recognized for his groundbreaking research on the synthesis of designer carbohydrates and glycoproteins and their therapeutic applications.

��«��Ƶ Roots

Glycoproteins, polymers of sugar and peptide, are integral to human metabolism and homeostasis, and they especially stand out as a potential avenue of pharmaceutical advancement. Notably, this area of research has led to the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins as well as vaccines like Prevnar and has also proven useful against antibiotic-resistant infections. The idea to work on the automated synthesis of carbohydrates evolved in 1993 while Dr. Seeberger was working on the 3^rd floor of the Cristol Building in the Caruthers Lab as a graduate student. He had previously worked with Dr. Caruthers on the automated synthesis of oligonucleotides and modified peptides. Since nobody had accomplished the automated synthesis of carbohydrates, Dr. Seeberger thought this would be something exciting to do, and he selected his postdoctoral work accordingly:

I joined Marv’s lab after his work on DNA synthesis, but I did work with him on di-phosphorylated DNA and peptides. As a grad student with the [then Chemistry & Biochemistry Department], I was actually bench-mates with Steve Scaringe, who did most of the work on RNA synthesis and who would, along with our advisor, found the RNA-synthesizing company Dharmacon using this research.

Dr. Seeberger initially joined CU as a Fulbright Scholar and chose Biochem for its integrated approach where many different backgrounds come together on biomolecular synthesis. As a student, Dr. Seeberger was impressed with how approachable and interactive the faculty were. Even as a first-year student rotating through different labs he felt empowered to do real research in the lab and present during group meetings. Dr. Seeberger quickly realized he enjoyed cutting-edge research, and that he might be able to compete at the very top level. This was a quick reversal from his undergraduate career, where he had very little biochemistry experience that left him feeling underprepared for the rigor of graduate school, in addition to speaking English as a second language. The congenial atmosphere among his small cohort of thirteen biochemistry students made it easy to build relationships, grow his understanding of the nuances of graduate life, and identify what he found fulfilling both scientifically and personally.

A Day in the Life

Dr. Seeberger currently works on the chemistry and biology of carbohydrates; by developing automated glycan assembly, Dr. Seeberger’s team provides tools to investigate the role of glycans in all areas of biology including signaling, immunology and even structural biology. Fundamental work in this area has led to therapeutic applications including novel carbohydrate-based vaccines against hospital-acquired infections, antibodies against cancer cells, and novel diagnostics.

Describing the typical workday, Dr. Seeberger foremost describes himself as a researcher, overseeing a department of around 90 people, 25 of whom he works with directly. When he’s not breaking biosynthetic ground, he’s also the managing director of the entire institute of over 500 people and works with a number of companies that he helped start.

In my office I keep a sign I received as a gift from Har Gobind Khorana, the postdoctoral advisor of Marv Caruthers and my colleague on the faculty at MIT: Work, Finish, Publish (a quote of Michael Faraday). It reminds me that without those three it is difficult to make progress in any kind of scientific endeavor.

His favorite days are spent discussing research with his graduate students and postdocs. Along the same logic, Dr. Seeberger believes that if students are doing cutting-edge research, then the biotechnology field will support them and the commercial uses will become apparent. Sometimes this is obvious as in the case of vaccines. Other times, it’s a matter of speaking with medical and industry professionals who know which tools could enhance their work.

Forging Ahead

After doing his own consultation with health officials, Dr. Seeberger has been working on developing a malaria drug for underserved countries through a company in Kentucky called ArtemiFlow—"we’re using former tobacco fields to grow sweet wormwood, which contains a compound called artemisinin that’s used in the synthesis of anti-malaria & anti-cancer drugs.” Dr. Seeberger’s work, in his words, plays "just a small part" in enabling others to do better biology and better medicine.

Asked where the field is heading, Dr. Seeberger thinks the glycosciences were dormant for several decades as the tools have simply been missing. Most biochemists have so far focused on DNA, RNA and proteins as we have the tools to manipulate those at will. By providing such tools to the glycosciences, Dr. Seeberger describes a surge of interest where the faculties of top institutions in the US and globally have added glycoscientists to their ranks. According to Dr. Seeberger, this is an area that will hold many opportunities for students in the years to come. But aside from his home turf of glycosynthesis, Dr. Seeberger thinks there are many other areas worth exploring, including utilizing tools like CRISPR-Cas9 to solve fundamental and applied problems.

For aspiring biochemists to best position themselves as attractive graduate candidates, Dr. Seeberger believes students should be good at what they do and enjoy it, “otherwise it is just a pain. One needs to be really good in one area and have very deep expertise.” In addition, he thinks students should be able to understand neighboring fields and communicate effectively with scientists in these areas: “A well-rounded scientist with good social skills that can play well within a team is certainly going to have an easier time getting a position.” Dr. Seeberger thinks becoming an academic is certainly an exciting path, but not for everyone. As an alternative, work in biotech or pharma industries hold many opportunities with wildly different potential. Whatever the path, Dr. Seeberger and all biochemists work in a rapidly expanding field at the forefront of human innovation.

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Former CU ��«��Ƶ postdoc Jennifer Doudna smashes glass ceiling with historic Nobel win

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Former CU ��«��Ƶ postdoc Jennifer Doudna smashes glass ceiling with historic Nobel win Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/07/2020 - 00:00

By Lisa Marshall • Published: Oct. 7 , 2020

Thirty years after beginning her training as a postdoctoral scholar in the CU ��«��Ƶ lab of Nobel laureate Thomas Cech, biochemist Jennifer Doudna on Wednesday won her own Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the co-development of the revolutionary genome editing tool CRISPR-Cas9.

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Engineering our Future: Tina Boville

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 22:37:14 +0000

Engineering our Future: Tina Boville Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/21/2020 - 16:37

Though she sounds every bit the polished Silicon Valley CEO while discussing spin-ups, revenue streams, and funding runways, Dr. Tina Boville first describes herself as “a huge nerd.” via Zoom. A CU Biochem doctoral alum, Tina grew up on Anne McCaffrey’s science-fantasy series Dragonriders of Pern, which heavily incorporates themes of terraforming, genetic modification, and the celestial future of humanity. These stories inspired in Tina the belief that we can and should engineer our own lives for the better. Because of that vision, she is now an MIT Technology Review Top Innovator under 35 (awarded to “exceptionally talented innovators whose work has the greatest potential to transform the world,” the founder of her own company, and already putting her science to work improving lives.

Tina first joined our community as an undergraduate in MCDB. Like many scientists of note, Tina's undergraduate experience was somewhat unmemorable. However, while pursuing her bachelor’s, Tina landed an internship at pharmaceutical giant Amgen here in ��«��Ƶ that would prove quite the boon. After graduating, Tina stayed on with Amgen for a couple of years prompting her decision to return to CU for a PhD in Biochemistry. While she didn’t know what her next step would be, “teaching was something I enjoyed, and thought was important.” So, as a doctoral student, Tina joined CU’s Graduate Teaching Program, which she quickly rose to lead. Though she says she loved her teaching opportunities, it was another experience at CU that would provide a platform for Tina to reach for the stars of her childhood novels.

Going Green

It was here at CU Biochem that Tina set the foundation for her future entrepreneurship at CU Green Labs. First piloted by then Kuchta Lab postdoc Kathryn Ramirez-Aguilar in 2007, CU Green Labs was one of the first programs of its type in the nation, improving sustainability in research through equipment sharing, recycling, and energy-saving incentives. Today, it is recognized as a national leader, host to the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories Conference in 2019. Kathy described Tina as an “amazing person,” and made sure to note “[Tina] recently took the time to share via Zoom her career path with my current CU Green Labs student assistant and give advice for when they leave CU to look for that next step in their career,” while setting up the interview for this piece.

Working with Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar, Tina would become program lead for the [then] recently built Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building, where she worked to improve sustainability in reagent purchasing and waste disposal without compromising the science of JSCBB’s research groups. Tina’s own achievements include the ubiquitous pipette box recycling bins you’ve seen around campus: “The work with CU Green Labs set me up on thinking about Green Chemistry.”

What is Green Chemistry, you might ask? In Tina’s words, Green Chemistry is “a catch-all for what we do, and not that new of an idea.” Tina cites the American Chemistry Society’s 12 Principles of Green Chemistry as a sort of Messianic tablet for her work, which proscribes ways chemistry can be made safer and more efficient. Dicta include designing for energy efficiency, reducing derivatives, and maximal incorporation of material into products during synthesis. The aim of the ACS principles, and Green Chemistry on the whole, is “making processes more efficient.” This all may sound a bit dry, until one considers just how integral chemistry is to our everyday lives.

Take, for example, the Lithium cobalt(III) oxide in your phone battery, the cetirizine you take to manage pollen allergy, the all-trans retinoic acid in your acne cream, or the liquid crystal cholesteryl benzoate forming the words on this screen. For our phones to call, for our trains to run, for our loved ones to get better, these compounds need to be synthesized: “We really need to make those chemicals, they’re critical.” However, producing such compounds in the quantities we need (which are increasingly engineered by us) can be a costly and wasteful process. Often even the precursors need precursors, and only a small fraction of the starting materials end up in the final product. Enter Aralez Bio, co-founded by Tina in 2019, and noncanonical amino acid (ncAA) synthesis.

Scaling Up

After the University of Colorado, Tina won a prestigious Resnick Prize Sustainability Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology where she began working with Nobel Laureate Frances Arnold on directed protein evolution. Working with Professor Arnold, Tina would develop a novel enzymatic pathway capable of synthesizing stable amino acids beyond the 20 that form the building blocks of all life on earth. It would also serve as the foundation for Tina's push into the private sector. These resulting noncanonical amino acids can then be used to form a dizzying array of novel compounds in what Tina aptly calls “chemical LEGO.” Most importantly, and not unlike our own physiology, the enzymes used to make these ncAAs are preserved during synthesis. The result: no more exorbitant waste to product ratio, and a growing set of new blocks to build with: “Just like LEGOs, you need different pieces to be able to build Yoda, or Luke.” Without the pieces, processes like drug synthesis are slow, wasteful, difficult to standardize. For pharmaceutical companies, this means reducing the economic and environmental cost of drug manufacturing while scaling new drugs to market demand more quickly. As Tina puts it, “enzymes hit 10 of the 12 Principles,” so, after her fellowship, Tina used her postdoctoral work to co-found Aralez Bio with postdoctoral lab mate Dr. David Romney, and Prof. Arnold as an academic co-founder.

According to Tina, bringing a professor on in an advisory role is “common for companies spinning out research worked on in that [investigator’s] lab.” Although not necessary for biotech startups, Tina says advisors “typically have good experience on the relevant tech and can provide insight on directions the field will be headed.” With Tina’s vision and Dr. Arnold’s experience, Aralez Bio is making impressive progress on its mission: “We can now make hundreds, and will be able to make thousands of kilograms [of ncAAs] by the end of our program.” This summer, Tina also secured a Shaw Rocket Fund award for Aralez Bio, a clean tech grant program through Caltech for companies working to reduce hazardous waste and greenhouse gas production.

Though Tina says she sees the impact of COVID on her industry, she and her company show no signs of slowing down. Aralez Bio recently moved from a shared business incubator to a standalone facility to comply with social distancing guidelines—a move not possible for many smaller outfits who’ve been forced to suspend operations in response. Funding streams have also been slowing as the pandemic continues. For her part, Tina has been working to source lab equipment from auctions held by other labs who weren’t so lucky: “Running a business is a totally different set of skills—it doesn’t matter if you’re a really smart scientist.” Fortunately, Tina appears to have exactly the skills she needs, and the scientific world is taking notice.

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Creating life’s building blocks

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Creating life’s building blocks Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/03/2020 - 00:00

By Daniel Paiz • Published: Sept. 3 , 2020

CU ��«��Ƶ Alum is named one of MIT’s Innovators Under 35 for her work with amino acids

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Biopharma Innovator: Celso Espinoza

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 07:25:15 +0000

Biopharma Innovator: Celso Espinoza Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/22/2020 - 01:25

Dr. Celso Espinoza is a senior drug discovery investigator with the biopharmaceutical firm AbbVie. Originally a component of Abbott Laboratories, AbbVie split in 2013 to focus on new drug discovery, and Celso followed. Since then, Celso has been a part of many major therapeutic breakthroughs including the immunosuppressor Humira, and mood stabilizer Depakote. These successes have grown AbbVie into a 47,000+ employee publicly-traded company, and Celso is now a senior investigator managing a team of scientists searching for new cures. We caught up with Celso to learn how he leveraged his CU Biochem Ph.D. into a flourishing career in pharmaceutical research, and to share memories of the department’s early days.

From the Gridiron to the Bench

Celso started his scientific career, as many undergraduates do, interested in medicine. Unlike many, he was also playing inside linebacker for Cal State – Sacramento’s football team. Celso took to interdisciplinary research at Cal State under Drs. Roberts and McCarthy, who encouraged graduate studies at a number of programs, including CU ��«��Ƶ’s Chemistry and Biochemistry Department (we officially split in 2018). “They said you know whatever you do, find someone you can get along with; so, during [CU’s] rush week, I met Jim [Goodrich].” Needless to say, they got along. Dr. Goodrich, coupled with mountain views, hiking and biking trails, and a departmental emphasis on genome-wide investigation, made CU Biochem Celso’s first choice for earning a Ph.D. Despite his undergrad research experience, Celso recalls his first weeks building a foundation of transferrable skills under Jim’s guidance:

After meeting Jim, and working for him, I wanted to be more like Jim, thinking creatively. I really enjoyed being in his lab. You don’t come in with all the tools, so he had to work really hard to teach me everything. He taught me how to think, problem-solve, and be efficient, and I really appreciated his help.

Outside of finding an influential mentor, Celso fondly remembers his time in ��«��Ƶ spending time with faculty and peers outside of the lab. He enjoyed participating in the annual departmental retreats, where graduate students would share their most recent findings with the rest of the department and spend time with faculty and classmates in an informal setting. He also vividly remembers taking long bike trips organized by faculty, particularly a grueling 2-day, 40-mile bike ride through Rocky Mountain National Park with current CU Biochem instructor Dr. Rico Stephen.

Transitioning to the Private Sector

After earning his Ph.D. under the tutelage of our Dr. Goodrich, opportunity struck again, this time with the esteemed epigeneticist Dr. Bing Ren at the University of California San Diego, a pioneer in CHIP-seq technology. Once his postdoctoral fellowship under Dr. Ren concluded, Celso moved into biopharmaceutical research and development, where he has been a key investigator in some major therapies. Day-to-day, this means conducting experiments and analyzing results, not unlike a primary investigator at a private institution, albeit with a bit more vertical hierarchy. Celso manages a team of scientists (focusing on genomic and transcriptomic approaches in his case), sets research agendas, and communicates results to other research groups and AbbVie’s corporate offices:

I go to about one conference a year to stay up to date in the field. In the private sector, you may have to travel to various sites to work with different teams, but you don’t share your results with other organizations as often. In my work, I work with microbiologists, chemists, folks doing clinical trials, and we all come together to answer a research question. There are typically a lot of channels to go through before we are ready to present our findings to the public.

The Future of Biopharma

Celso believes biopharma may be the next industry to see seismic changes, not unlike the personal computing industry in the Eighties:

Look at Steve Jobs; he figured out how to put everyone together with the iPhone. If someone could do that with genomics, they’d be a billionaire. If you look at companies who are doing whole-genome sequencing, like 23 and Me, they’re just beginning to use the data we get from someone’s genome. Genetic counseling, pharmaceutical research, it's bigger than all of us. We’re starting to learn how the genome works across each layer—epigenetics, RNA, DNA. Ιt would be nice to have a clear answer, but we still don’t know just how far the frontiers like RNA go.

In Celso’s field, this means understanding the function and interactions of a growing proportion of the human exome and proteome it encodes, at a clarity that allows identification of nucleotide-level changes responsible for pathology. For example, Celso’s group has most recently focused on how the body metabolizes drugs and variance in reaction to therapies. Recent breakthroughs in bioinformatic software, big data cloud computing, and our collective understanding of the genetic code of life mean Celso’s predictions may not be so far away. Perhaps one of our own Biochem Buff readers will be the pioneer Celso envisions.

Building Bridges

When asked how aspiring biochemists might replicate Celso’s professional successes, he recommends engagement and passion. Celso’s time at CU Biochem included participation in Biophysics Club and RNA Club, where he forged friendships and fostered a growing professional network:

These are skills I still use today. It’s very important to be able to communicate and provide positive feedback. You also have to find a passion. If you’re not passionate about your work, it’s going to be a long, long journey. In my field, a lot of people on the outside forget that for [pharmaceutical researchers], the patients come first. Helping people get better, that’s our main motivation.

As part of the Goodrich Lab, Celso focused on mechanisms of transcription, a novel approach at the time.

Most of the things I worked on in grad school were mechanisms. [Jim’s] lab was a transcription lab, but there weren’t any people studying the function of RNA, so I took over a project finding the secondary structure and figuring out which part of RNA binds to proteins, which led to more research into epigenetic mechanisms.

The work would prove integral to Celso’s transition into pharmaceutical research. Today, Celso develops 3-D assays to understand the function of various sequences within the human genome, with the end goal of identifying genes responsible for phenotypic variance associated with disease, and then using that understanding to develop therapies that target these pathways.

Goorich/Kugel Lab - BCHM CU ��«��Ƶ Jobs AbbVie CU ��«��Ƶ Biophysics Program

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Key coronavirus testing technology has CU ��«��Ƶ tie

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Key coronavirus testing technology has CU ��«��Ƶ tie Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/06/2020 - 00:00

Published: April 6 , 2020 • By Kenna Bruner

Alumnus worked in lab of Distinguished Professor Marvin Caruthers assisting in the development of pioneering technology

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Alumni Highlights

A Scientific Mind. A Born Leader. : Dr. William S. Marshall

Current State of Affairs

Back in the CU Days

Biotech Industry Comes Calling

What the Future Holds

Dr. Marshall's Advice for Ph.D. Candidates

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Rescuing a Llama Named Sweety: Dr. Fiona Caruthers

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Biotech Pioneer has ��«����Ƶ Roots: Dr. David Goeddel

Breakthroughs in the Caruthers Lab

Overcoming an Academic Speedbump

Driving Innovation

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Sugars Make Better Medicine: Dr. Peter H. Seeberger

��«����Ƶ Roots

A Day in the Life

Forging Ahead

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Former CU ��«����Ƶ postdoc Jennifer Doudna smashes glass ceiling with historic Nobel win

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Engineering our Future: Tina Boville

Scaling Up

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Creating life’s building blocks

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Biopharma Innovator: Celso Espinoza

From the Gridiron to the Bench

Transitioning to the Private Sector

The Future of Biopharma

Building Bridges

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Key coronavirus testing technology has CU ��«����Ƶ tie

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Biotech Pioneer has ��«��Ƶ Roots: Dr. David Goeddel

��«��Ƶ Roots

Former CU ��«��Ƶ postdoc Jennifer Doudna smashes glass ceiling with historic Nobel win

Key coronavirus testing technology has CU ��«��Ƶ tie