The CCRM Australia team L-R: Jack Lambshead, Aditi Singh (CCRM Australia’s first intern), Heather Marriot, Chih Wei Teng and Silvio Tiziani, at AusBiotech Conference 2019 in Melbourne, Australia
By Bhavi Kadakia, Dharvi Patel, Harmanpreet Harmanpreet, Mahmuda Khatun. Edited by Dr. Chih Wei Teng
Mentorship? Check. Challenging and relevant projects? Check. Access to industry events and thought leadership? Check. Is there a spot open for you? Check.
The CCRM Australia Training Program seeks to facilitate training for the future workforce of the Australian regenerative medicine sector and includes an internship program that accepts undergraduate and postgraduate students from Australia’s universities.
The CCRM Australia internship offers an experiential, immersive journey for students who have an interest in the commercialization of regenerative medicines or wish to gain operational experience within the sector. The internship focuses on market analysis and sector development. It does this by providing the interns a desk journey of business development and landscape analysis. Through market analysis, interns gain an understanding of the natural history of a disease (such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases), current forms of treatment and competitor analysis – including unique value propositions. Integral to their research into advanced therapeutic medicinal products, such as cell and gene therapies, is mentoring in the applicability and commercial potential of these novel therapies against current treatment and potential candidates.
Gaurav Bengeri, a former intern with CCRM Australia, reflected on her experience: “As an intern at CCRM Australia, I got to develop a better understanding of how the regenerative medicine industry operates and the challenges and opportunities it faces. My weekly meetings with my supervisor, Dr. Chih Wei Teng, were informative and rewarding. Dr. Teng is highly knowledgeable, and I’m glad I got to ‘pick his brain.’ He also guided me towards thinking more critically.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, CCRM Australia has accepted four students from the Masters of Biotechnology course at Monash University. They have been challenged to develop a sector development plan to put Australia on the path of advancing its regenerative medicine industry. The interns have been researching the state of the art of the science and different translation and commercialization strategies adopted by leading jurisdictions around the world, such as the U.S., the U.K. and Japan. Also, the team has been collating recommendations in building a strong and effective manufacturing presence capable of supporting translation and commercialization efforts, published by leading institutions and thinkers.
Throughout the internship period, CCRM Australia has made opportunities available for the interns to go beyond desktop research. Activities have included participation in events such as the AusBiotech Conferences. These not only provide opportunities for networking with prominent researchers and biotechnology companies, but also showcase positive outcomes of basic research that have undergone clinical translation.
Interns were also invited to participate as observers at the CCRM Australia National Regenerative Medicine SuperPitch. “SuperPitch” saw four curated biotechnology companies and researchers pitching their technologies to eight venture funds from the U.S., Canada and Australia. Interns observed presenters and their unique pitching styles reflecting their clinical, researcher and commercial backgrounds, and their respective stages in the development lifecycle. Attending this event also provided an interesting contrast between what the students have experienced during their mock entrepreneurial projects versus when the stakes are real.
“By attending SuperPitch, I got an opportunity to learn how academic research has been adapted into the commercial phase; how official presentations look; and, which points need to focus on attracting the investors,” reflected Mahmuda Khatun, an intern with CCRM Australia.
Interns also participated in the BioBusiness Insights webinar series, co-hosted by CCRM Australia and the BioMelbourne Network.
Following the first event in the series featuring Dr. Michael May, President and CEO of CCRM (based in Toronto, Canada), Bhavi Kakakia, another CCRM Australia intern, noted the “transition from the supremacy of mesenchymal stem cells to revolutionizing the sector by making use of 3D manufacturing practices and CAR-T cell therapy. In terms of manufacturing, most things were cultured at the academic scale, but now we have robust manufacturing processes.”
CCRM Australia intern Dharvi Patel shared, “we got to learn how effectively CCRM has been a platform for internal idea generation, enhancing stakeholder value, attracting investors, incubating start-ups, catalyzing investments, reinvesting to attain sustainability, and creating opportunities. Furthermore, the seminar allowed me to have a better understanding of the ecosystem based on the stakeholders’ engagement, exploring academic inventions, and creating an example of true entrepreneurship.”
By organizing programs like the Business of Regenerative Medicine Asia Pacific (watch it here), offering support for Australian-based PhD candidates and research fellows to attend international commercialization workshops, being paired with mentors and participating in internships and exchange programs between CCRM’s partners around the world, CCRM Australia is contributing to the nurturing of future bio-entrepreneurs that may one day commercialize novel regenerative medicine therapies into the health care market.
As Training Program coordinator, CCRM Australia’s Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Chih Wei Teng, is pleased with the range of opportunities that are offered to students entering the intern program, noting that “the immersive experience we are able to provide means that the interns can get a good understanding of this sector while also developing their interests for a future role in regenerative medicine.”
CCRM Australia is always on the lookout for students interested in internships to gain insight into the regenerative medicine sector. For further information, please contact Dr. Teng at chihwei.teng@ccrmaustralia.com.au.
CCRM Australia
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