Dr Scott Prosser describes the approach and workings of a highly successful enterprise-orientated science postgraduate programme designed to meet the needs of both industry and talented students

Could you provide an insight into the background of the University of Toronto’s Master of Biotechnology programme?

The Master of Biotechnology (MBiotech) programme was the brainchild of several members of science and management faculty and a consortium of pharmaceutical companies in the greater Toronto area. The pharma people wanted students with a firm science background, who were less ‘green’ about how companies operate. And our faculty wanted to do more than imbue the students with an idea of how to start their own business or write a resume.

How is the programme structured?

We begin in the late spring with a crash course in team dynamics and organisational skills. It’s a bit of a shock for many of the students, especially when most expect to assume a leadership role and find that that there is an art to making a team perform. From there, they graduate to two science courses taken over the summer.

The first focuses on molecular biology. Student teams are tasked with sequencing and expression of a mystery protein while using lab dollars to run their operation over a month.

The second science course examines the role of protein and materials chemistry in all areas of biotechnology through intense lectures and team presentations. At the same time, they are challenged in the lab with week-long projects dealing with algal biofuels, nanomaterials, protein modifications and bioinformatics. Evenings are spent examining the implementation of science in biotech companies through a hybrid science-business course, ‘Biotech and Corporations’.

The fall marks a rigorous season of business courses taught by our management colleagues and the beginning of the internship search, which lasts several months for most. Teams are reshuffled and a science hybrid course, ‘Biotechnology and Medicine’, and seminar course are introduced to provide an opportunity to address current challenges in the medical biotech arena and present solutions in a formal seminar environment. These presentations often wind up with company representatives in attendance.

By January or February, the students begin their internships, though evening seminar courses and biotech electives continue throughout. Towards the end of their degree they are given the chance to reflect on their experiences and take on additional business courses that are best appreciated after the work experience.

What is the typical profile of a student on the MBiotech programme?

Most students apply in their final year of undergraduate studies in the life sciences, but many also have some work experience. We also admit students who have started or completed more traditional Masters’ programmes. In the most recent admissions cycle, we received 125 completed, paid applications for 42 spots.

The majority of our students come to us with an ‘A’ average in their final two years of undergraduate studies and the typical entering average is 85 per cent. Students also have strong personal profiles, assessed through a letter of intent, curriculum vitae and three academic references. We also receive applications from mature students with some work experience. In this case, marks matter less and we often discover the applicant’s talents through the interview process.

Personal interviews are key. Every student admitted into the programme undergoes a thorough science interview in which the focus is a scenario where a problem is solved through the application of technology. A second business interview selects students whom we feel will interface well with industry and have done the necessary research into their chosen career path.

Could you outline the MBiotech internship component, and reveal the secret behind the programme’s 100 per cent placement rate?

All students must complete paid internships to graduate. We do not assign students to placements, but rather, facilitate a competitive job search process between our students and our employer partners.

Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Area boast a very healthy cluster of biotechnology companies. We have a fantastic relationship with a great number of industry partners in both the pharma and biodevice arenas, many of which go back a decade. They have come to expect a high calibre student with a solid foundation in science and a decent recognition of business practices and management principles. We also believe a good part of our success with internships is the careful screening we do to select the highest calibre candidates for the programme.

How do you see MBiotech evolving in the future?

There are areas that are sure to gain importance in the biotechnology arena – for example bioremediation, bio-pharming, biotech and agriculture, materials and biofuels. Likely through partnerships with other institutions, we hope to expand in these directions.

Mastering the business of biotechnology

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MBIO

TECH

Empowering aspiring scientistsWith a combined focus on biotechnology, medicine and business skills, the mission of the MBiotech programme at the University of Toronto Mississauga is to train today’s scientists to become tomorrow’s business leaders

A core aspect of the MBiotech is

the hybrid courses which integrate

conventional academic science and

modern technology-orientated

business, so positioning scientific

endeavour within the framework of

management techniques

MBIOTECH

48 INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION

THE BIOTECHNOLOGY AND pharmaceutical sector in Ontario is particularly strong, with more than 100 companies and about 15,000 employees. Many of the organisations are world leaders, such as Sanofi Pasteur, Roche and GlaxoSmithKline, but there are also numerous start-up companies who are excelling. As a result, Ontario’s life sciences industry is the third largest in North America and exports more than CAD $5 billion in goods a year, with a reputation for high quality products and services backed up by innovative thinking.

The gap between academic learning and working in business is typically bridged by employers when taking on new graduates from universities. In the life sciences arena, however, and particularly in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector, increasing costs and concerns about the future direction of healthcare make it essential that newly-recruited graduates align with employers’ strategic goals and add value from the beginning. They are usually required to not only hit the ground running, but be industry aware and have had exposure to the kinds of issues that are involved in the typical product development lifecycle. To do this, they must excel in business acumen and in its practical application, while offering in-depth scientific knowledge.

For more than 10 years the University of Toronto Mississauga has offered a Master’s programme designed to simultaneously provide interdisciplinary education and nurture business entrepreneurship. As a result of this synergy the programme has established an impressive track record of producing graduates able to work effectively in the biotech sector. A major theme of the programme is teamwork,

which is incorporated into every aspect, in the courses, presentations, projects and laboratory investigations. “The idea was to build a programme where every course – science, business and hybrid – was fashioned with a business mindset,” explains Dr Scott Prosser, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Toronto and Director of the MBiotech programme at the Mississauga campus of the University of Toronto.

MBiotech is a Master’s level interdisciplinary programme that is now based in the university’s new Institute for Management and Innovation (IMI). IMI is home to a number of programmes, including MBiotech, the Master of Management & Professional Accounting, the Master of Management of Innovation, Master of Science in Biomedical Communications, Diploma in Investigative & Forensic Accounting, and Master of Science in Sustainability Management. Perhaps what differentiates IMI is that each of its programmes represents a specialisation with a targeted industry- or profession-specific thrust, tied to experiential learning. Beyond this, IMI plans to take a leadership role in serving as a ‘think-tank’ of sorts – incorporating advanced management principles to solve complex problems in sustainability, healthcare and innovation as it relates to industries and practices in Ontario and Canada, and fostering interactions between industries and the host community of Mississauga and beyond. “Graduates will be leaders with keen business acumen, scientific depth and an ability to translate creative ideas into viable commercial initiatives,” notes Professor Deep Saini, Vice-President of the University of Toronto and Principal of the University of Toronto Mississauga.

MBiotech is cited by its alumni almost universally as having been key to their ability to enter into collaboration with others either as a leader or as part of a team, as well as helping them to build a valuable network in the industry niche they subsequently entered. In its first year, the programme attracted 14 students; now it hosts three times as many.

BUSINESS-FOCUSED SCIENCE

Over the course of the MBiotech, students are tasked in both required courses and electives to work in groups to solve complex problems within the medical and biopharmaceutical domain – the overall goal is to attract the attention of industry stakeholders. The students are required to translate the creative ideas they develop into commercial propositions and then to present their results in formal seminars, to which the management of selected participating organisations are invited. Each group is constrained to a hypothetical $200,000 development budget and a launch deadline of two years.

Previous projects, led by MBiotech faculty member, Dr Jayson Parker, have included finding a medical solution uniquely suited to iPhone medical imaging applications; meeting a need for efficient tracking of narcotics in long-term healthcare facilities; determining a way to drive sales for an Escherichia coli screening product line in a commodity market; and discovering whether hospitals can collect data on health outcomes associated with specific drugs for industry and government. In the latest round of evaluations, a project which tackled the problem of slow and cumbersome paper-based processing of Code Orange emergencies,

A GROUP OF MBIOTECH STUDENTS

INTELLIGENCE

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MASTER OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

PROGRAM

OBJECTIVES

The Master of Biotechnology Program (MBiotech) at the University of Toronto Mississauga is a 24-month, course-based professional degree, which incorporates both science and business courses, in addition to eight to 12 months of work experience in the biotechnology, medical device and biopharmaceutical sectors.

The MBiotech Program is specifically tailored to meet the evolving needs of students and those of the global health sciences industry. The carefully selected combination of courses, coupled with relevant industry experience and a strong focus on teamwork, provides graduates with a truly interdisciplinary educational experience at a renowned university. Faculty are drawn from the departments of biology, chemistry and management, with frequent guest lectures from industry, government and other University of Toronto faculties.

Students come to the Program with a strong work ethic, and learn to operate effectively in teams and develop their leadership skills. Innovative thinking and entrepreneurship are actively encouraged.

Scott Prosser, Associate Professor of the university’s Chemistry and Biochemistry departments co-directs MBiotech with his colleague, Dr Leigh Revers, who brings a strong understanding of the medical biotechnology industry to his teaching and directorship.

CONTACT

Master of Biotechnology

University of Toronto Mississauga 3359 Mississauga Road Mississauga Ontario L5L 1C6 Canada

T +1 905 569 4737 E mbiotech@utoronto.ca

www.utm.utoronto.ca/mbiotech

which are called when hospital resources are stretched with large numbers of injured people after disasters or multiple accidents, won the programme award for developing a software solution that would speed up processing. The team responsible for that solution is now in negotiations with a major American company to lead the entry of their software product to the Canadian hospital market. “For us, a success is if a chief executive officer or upper management take out time to attend our student presentations and entertain their solutions and proposals. The entrepreneurial spirit of our students often comes through in these exercises,” enthuses Prosser.

LEARNING ABOUT BUSINESS

In addition to science courses based in the laboratory, in their first year students complete courses in ‘Effective Management Practices’, ‘Fundamentals of Managerial Concepts’ and ‘Society, Organisations and Technology’, which cover elements ranging from how to become an effective member of an organisation to basic financial, marketing and strategic management. In their second year, they complete a course in ‘Management of Technological Innovation’, which focuses on the factors that stimulate innovation and how they can kindle new commercial opportunities.

A key aspect of the MBiotech is the hybrid courses which integrate conventional academic science and modern technology-orientated business, so positioning scientific endeavour within the framework of management techniques. ‘Biotechnology and Medicine’ presents leading-edge developments in biotechnology, tracing the history of therapeutics and medical devices from bench discovery to clinical testing for safety on human subjects. The course also highlights the barriers currently being faced by a new generation of therapeutics, biologics. ‘Biotechnology and Corporations’ introduces the role of commercial organisations in developing new drugs and diagnostic tools in the context of a strong regulatory environment. The course covers technology transfer, venture

creation and finance, company analysis and evaluation, corporate structure and governance, and ethics and safety.

Additional elective courses include ‘Patent Law for the Life Sciences’, ‘Change Management’ and ‘Creating Life Science Products’. A future course on advanced medicine and biologics is planned for 2014. MBiotech also frequently organises events at which guest lecturers from government, public and private companies, and members of other faculties at the university, address topics related to biotechnology.

WORKING IN THE REAL WORLD

A central feature of the MBiotech involves a required paid internship with a company in the Ontario biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector, typically of eight to 12 months. For many students, it is their first exposure not only to the challenges of securing a job, but also to working in a corporate environment. Naturally there will be a learning curve, but this unique experience gives students the opportunity to impress the employer by meeting or exceeding expectations. Students have obtained internships in a wide variety of companies, from small and medium enterprises to large multinationals, and have worked in areas including medical affairs, marketing, corporate affairs, market access, project management, regulatory affairs, business development, clinical trials and research and development.

In addition to the many positive employee evaluations that the programme has received on student performance during internship, MBiotech has also received enthusiastic feedback from senior scientists and management at institutions in Ontario’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector, complimenting the programme on their students’ work ethic, professionalism, scientific depth, team working abilities, commitment and adaptability. “I suggest that our programme is an excellent model for preparing technology-focused students in a wealth of disciplines,” reflects Prosser.