The Larsen Group

Circles of Change:  Conversations with Dr. Zara Larsen

 on Change Leadership and Career Fulfillment

August 20, 2008

“Collaboration:  It’s in the Genes”

Guest:  Dr. Vicki Chandler, Director, BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona

Anchoring Points:

1. I was not from an educated family, nor had I any awareness of science until scuba diving – opened my eyes to another world.  Through a basic biology class and learning about genes I was hooked.

2. The cornerstone for BIO5 and its mission to translate research to real world application is the University of Arizona itself, a unique interdisciplinary environment with low barriers for collaboration amidst the colleges of science, agriculture, engineering, medicine and pharmacy.

3. It is our mandate to enable spin-offs and technology transfers for startups, despite tendency for university faculty to focus only on early stage innovation, and current risk adverse environment due to the economy.

4. Our model to get innovation out:
• Make it easy for those faculty with an interest, via help from business development and teaming with business and law school
• Early stage seed funding from the Technology Research Initiative Fund (% Arizona Sales Tax awarded; checks-balance process)
• Tap post doctorate students and graduate students with interest in commercialization (vs. traditional academic career)
• Insert skilled “bridgers”, people who can speak the multiple languages of the various academic disciplines and have experience to straddle the phases of a product business realization process
• Tap the wealth of retired, experienced business people/practitioners in greater Tucson

5. We are proactive in getting public awareness about science and technology issues and education K-12, breaking down the stereotypes. We must attract more of the best and brightest to sustain our US advantage.  Less than 5% of the students at a typical university are pursuing careers in science and technology, compared to 30-40% in other countries.

6. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg of the effect of biotechnology, which over the next ten years will have a larger effect on our lives than microelectronics.
• Global climate change, physiology of plants
• We do now have the tools to study deeper and faster than ever before; ability to manage huge volumes of data
• Healthcare and personalized medicine will evolve through tapping biological diagnostics and genomics

7. Science has always been a global field, where mixing of disciplines, cultures, ages, and nationalities is typical through collaboration, sharing and trading – we are more alike than we are different.