Mentoring and making connections: Business Development Team spotlight

By nurturing entrepreneurship, guiding project teams, and forging business relationships, the Wyss Business Development Team ensures the Institute fulfills its mission of advancing technologies out of the lab so they can have a positive impact in the world

By Jessica Leff

Imagine you’re a researcher who has answered pressing scientific questions and overcome challenges to develop an innovative way to detect pathogens. In addition to technical feasibility, there are other essential factors to consider when translating your work effectively from a benchtop diagnostic to a bedside point-of-care test. What application should you prioritize? How would it fit into current treatment paradigms? What differentiates your technology from others in the market? How can you build an effective team around your technology?

If those questions go unanswered, even the most cutting-edge research can get stuck in the valley of death or later, never to be fully optimized or commercialized.

Paramount to ensuring Wyss projects avoid this fate is our in-house business development team. They make important industry connections, provide strategic guidance, and empower researchers to refine their technologies to the point where they’re ready to leave the lab and are best poised for positive societal impact.

Progressing projects through the pipeline

One key step on the journey from idea to impact at the Wyss is the Validation Project process. Each year, teams apply for dedicated funding and resources to advance their technologies towards translation. As part of their proposal, researchers consult with the Business Development (BD) Team and include a clear application.

Senior Scientist Megan Sperry, Ph.D., explains, “Early in a project, BD Team members help focus the scientific work by acting as a sounding board and asking the tough questions – what is the potential product? What’s the path to commercialization?”

Angelika Fretzen, Ph.D., M.B.A., Wyss COO and Technology Translation Director, adds, “Often it is important to understand what should be optimized towards, not out of scientific interest, but based on patient and market needs.”

Once proposals are submitted, the BD Team determines which projects have the right technical and business merits. Next, they solicit outside opinions from members of the Wyss Mentor Hive and colleagues at Harvard Office of Technology Development (OTD), and often use those discussions to make direct connections with these reviewers and the teams.  After three rounds of review, between 12 and 17 technologies are selected for the next class of projects. But for the BD Team, the job is far from over.

For projects that are funded, and, where they can for those that aren’t, the BD Team helps researchers achieve their milestones, adjust plans based on their results, and secure additional funding if necessary. Ally Chang, Ph.D., M.B.A., Senior Business Development Director – AI and Alliances, explains, “I see us as internal consultants. We’re doing everything from market research to thinking strategically about how to make the biggest impact with our innovations, either spinning out a startup or licensing to an industrial collaborator.”

By helping refine our value proposition, identify key differentiation points, and strategize partner outreach, the BD Team enabled us to make real progress towards clinical and commercial impact. Their insights allowed me to stay focused on the scientific and experimental work while ensuring the project moves forward on the translational front.

Li Li, Ph.D., a Postdoctoral Fellow, who is leading the second-year Validation Project GeneSkin, explains, “By helping refine our value proposition, identify key differentiation points, and strategize partner outreach, the BD Team enabled us to make real progress towards clinical and commercial impact. Their insights allowed me to stay focused on the scientific and experimental work while ensuring the project moves forward on the translational front.”

Because the Wyss has its own BD team, its members can be far more hands-on with scientists than at other academic institutions, where there might be one technology transfer professional managing a huge portfolio. Tiffany Lin, Ph.D., a Scientist, works closely with Gretchen Fougere, Ph.D., Senior Director of Business Development, Commercialization, on the COPDx Validation Project. Lin says, “Gretchen’s mentorship and ability to distill complexities into actionable items were invaluable.”

Angelika Fretzen explains, “Ultimately, technologies will only realize their potential in the form of societal impact when somebody is willing to pay for their commercialization and advocates for their adoption. To make this happen, our BD Team helps explore the business opportunity, create pitch decks, and make important connections with potential strategic partners, industry operators, and investors.”

The Wyss BD Team really serves as an indispensable bridge between scientific innovation and real-world impact. They ensure that promising technologies are not just successful experiments, but are thoughtfully developed and positioned to thrive amid the complexities of the marketplace and the scrutiny of regulatory standards.

Meet the Team

When Fretzen joined the Wyss in February 2019, she was tasked with enhancing the Institute’s existing business development efforts. She explains, “My vision was to integrate entrepreneur training, operational experience, and business strategy into a team that could bring different perspectives and experiences to the table.”

Fougere joined the Wyss three years ago and focuses on diagnostics, women’s health, and 3D Organ Engineering. After getting her Ph.D. in material science and nanotechnology, she transitioned to industry, working in product development and advanced R&D. She’s also held leadership academic roles in building programs, fundraising, and business development at three different universities. In her free time, she plays competitive tennis.

Chang joined the Institute six years ago to usher in additional entrepreneurial resources, like the Business Blueprint event series, the startup playbook, and the Wyss Mentor Hive. She also maintains relationships with startups after they spin out through our Lumineers program and supports the newly launched Translational AI Catalyst. With a Ph.D. in biomedical science and an M.B.A., she worked in business operations and strategy at a Fortune 500 life sciences company and a boutique consulting firm. At home, she has two active boys, and the family loves to explore nature and travel together.

Sam Inverso, Ph.D., the Director of Business Development, Partnerships, first came to the Wyss in 2013 as a Staff Scientist with experience in computer science and neuroscience. He spun out a Wyss company, and transitioned into commercial leadership, which culminated in a $350 million acquisition. Inverso then returned to the Wyss four years ago to manage large partnerships, like the alliances with Northpond Labs and Collaborative Fund, and other industry collaborations. Inverso has been an urban beekeeper for five years, and his beehive produces 40L of honey each year.

Rounding out the team is Alex Li, M.B.A., the Senior Business Development Manager, who studied biotechnology. He began his career at the bench, then moved to philanthropic venture capital and healthcare before joining the Wyss four years ago. Li supports the Sustainable Futures Initiative and the Brain Targeting Program. At home, he has an indoor garden that includes basil, green onions, and a pineapple plant.

Internal consultants

In their roles as internal consultants, members of the Business Development Team work with individuals across the Institute. One group that they work closely with, both as part of the Validation Projects and beyond, is the Advanced Technology Team, or ATTs, who are staff scientists with product development experience. Inverso explains, “The Business Development Team works well because the ATTs are there too. They have industry knowledge and identify commercialization potential of technologies early on.”

In addition to technology advancement, the BD Team helps ATTs with different programs and initiatives. Emily Stoler, Ph.D., Principal Scientist in Sustainable Materials, works closely with Alex Li. He helped to write the Sustainable Futures Initiative strategic plan and assists with organizing and moderating quarterly Bridging the Gap Seminars. “Part of what’s so great about working with Alex is the sheer volume he gets done and his consistency in doing it well and on time.”

Over the last year, Chang has been collaborating with Sperry on developing the Translational AI Catalyst to grow the internal computational biology community and connect with new external parties in new ways, like the AI Data Hub. Sperry explains, “I have learned so much from her development approach, and it’s been gratifying to combine our technical and BD expertise.”

Fougere adds, “None of what we do is alone. We’re working on behalf of the Advanced Technology Team and research community to find resources for them to drive innovation.”

To do this, the BD Team collaborates with the Strategic Engagement and Sponsored Research Teams. For Industry-Sponsored Research Agreements (ISRAs), the BD Team reaches out to potential sponsors and scopes the project, then works with research teams to create a project plan. Once they’ve gathered materials, the agreement moves over to OTD for full contracting. After the agreement is signed, they make sure milestones are met and reports are given to sponsors, while the Sponsored Research Team handles budgeting and compliance. The BD Team also helps with grant applications that require business strategy and commercial planning, which is becoming increasingly common.

Inverso explains, “We stay involved for the life of the contract, so we don’t just hand things off to OTD, we work in partnership with them.”

The connective tissue between the Wyss and the world

In addition to working with internal teams and across the Harvard ecosystem, the BD Team is constantly engaging with external groups. They regularly attend conferences and networking events and have quarterly meetings with industry professionals to stay informed about market trends and share what’s going on at the Wyss.

Once a connection is made, the BD Team helps researchers prepare for a discussion. Li Li explains, “We had a strategic meeting with an industry-leading company, and the BD Team helped refine our pitch. Their feedback on the framing, data visualization, and collaboration model made the presentation stronger and directly contributed to continued interest and support.”

When it comes to ISRAs, the BD Team engages industry professionals, forging and maintaining relationships and serving as a liaison between them and the researchers. For example, Core Faculty member David Walt, Ph.D., works with Fougere on the Diagnostics platform and with Chang on a collaborative agreement with a large technology company to help process his lab’s data. Walt explains, “Sometimes the opportunities have been made directly by a company reaching out to me, but then Gretchen gets involved and makes sure we drive things to the optimal outcome. In other cases, she and Ally bring new opportunities to me and my lab that provide resources that otherwise would not be available. It’s a genuine pleasure working with both of them.”

Fretzen emphasizes the importance of the team’s outreach activities. “The great challenges our society faces are not solved by an individual, or even by one team or expertise. They require large collaborations between government, universities, industry, and private individuals. The Business Development Team is well-versed in building these relationships, which takes great diplomatic and stewardship skills, as well as considerable time.”

The great challenges our society faces…require large collaborations between government, universities, industry, and private individuals. The Business Development Team is well-versed in building these relationships, which takes great diplomatic and stewardship skills, as well as considerable time.

Built to last

In everything they do, from educational initiatives to day-to-day interactions, members of the BD Team are teaching researchers about industry sponsored research and entrepreneurship, mentoring them, and imparting lessons that will last well beyond their time here. Wyss Lumineer and Co-Founder and COO of EnPlusOne Bio, Dan Ahlstedt, M.B.A., reflects, “Our team had some thoughtful and genuine conversations with Sam, who brought a valuable founder perspective given his background. He offered helpful mentorship on a personal level during our spinout process.”

Sukanya Punthambaker, Ph.D., Wyss Lumineer and Co-Founder and CEO of Breaking, says, “[The Wyss BD Team] helped a lot during the initial aspects around company formation and brainstorming. They worked on details around a particular beachhead market area and analysis.”

And it’s not just the future Lumineers, or even just researchers, who benefit from their guidance. Chiara Mancinelli, the Assistant Director of Translational Research Administration, says, “Sam and I work closely on all Northpond projects, and it’s been incredibly helpful to learn from his expertise on the business side.”

Ultimately, the BD Team ensures that it’s not only the technologies leaving the Wyss that have an impact, but the people as well. After working with them, researchers are better equipped to translate technologies into real-world solutions, addressing the Grand Challenges facing society and improving the health of people and our planet.