Commercial awareness of bioscience
industry
Dr. Daria Olijnyk
Sistemic Ltd.
Sistemic Ltd. - Corporate overview
 Venture capital-funded (2009)
 Product development and service company
 HQ and Labs - Glasgow (UK); North American Sales Office –
Boston (US)
 broad IP portfolio of miRNA-based products
robust microRNA profiling
customised multilayered statistical and contextual analysis
Designed to identify the key miRNAs (kmiRs™) – biomarkers of phenotype,
together with their underlying biological interpretation to study changes
in biological systems
About miRNAs




Non-coding RNAs
Short (17-24nt), endogenous
Single stranded
Regulate gene expression by transcriptional
silencing and/or mRNA degradation
 1898 human miRNAs (miRBase v.18)
 Target ~60% of human genes
 miRNA signature is:
- Reproducible
- Highly conserved between species
- Tissue/cell type/biological process specific
- Discriminative of healthy and diseased tissue
- Analytically robust
- Potent in delivery of reliable biomarkers
Joshi S. R., et al. MicroRNAs-control of essential genes : implications for
pulmonary vascular disease. Pulmonary Circulation. 1 (3) 357-364 2011
About Sistemic Ltd. Methodology
SistemQC™
SistemRNA™
 Stem Cell Research
 Cell Therapy
 Bio processing
 Drug Development
The utility of Sistemic Methodology
Novel, Potent and Broadly Applicable
SistemQC™
Cell Characterisation/Cell QC
SistemRNA™
Drug Discovery
 Identity markers
 Positioning/Repurposing
 Potency assays
 Predictive and Investigative Toxicology
 Purity assessment
 Discover robust companion biomarkers
 Differentiation staging
optimisation/monitoring
 Benchmarking cell models
 QC of batch-to-batch consistency
The utility of Sistemic Methodology
Novel, Potent and Broadly Applicable
SistemQC™
Cell Characterisation/Cell QC
SistemRNA™
Drug Discovery
 Identity markers
 Positioning/Repurposing
 Potency assays
 Predictive and Investigative Toxicology
 Purity assessment
 Discover robust companion biomarkers
 Differentiation staging
optimisation/monitoring
 Benchmarking cell models
 QC of batch-to-batch consistency
About SistemQC™
Cell identity and cell model evaluation
Private and confidential
The utility of Sistemic Methodology
Novel, Potent and Broadly Applicable
SistemQC™
Cell Characterisation/Cell QC
SistemRNA™
Drug Discovery
 Identity markers
 Positioning/Repurposing
 Potency assays
 Predictive and Investigative Toxicology
 Purity assessment
 Discover robust companion biomarkers
 Differentiation staging
optimisation/monitoring
 Benchmarking cell models
 QC of batch-to-batch consistency
About SistemQC™
Adult mesenchymal stem cell discrimination
Private and confidential
Rapid growth at Sistemic continues
Commercial Sector
Sales continue to grow
Customer base expanded
over 3 continents
Customer base
Customer Base
Private and confidential
Rapid growth at Sistemic continues
Research and Development
Industrial collaborations
Academic collaborations
Internal R&D
Commercial Sector
Sales continue to grow
Customer base expanded
over 3 continents
Industrial Collaborations
Rapid growth at Sistemic continues
Research and Development
Industrial collaborations
Academic collaborations
Internal R&D
Company profile
Plan to increase the number
of staff
Plan to move to new
premises
Commercial Sector
Sales continue to grow
Customer base expanded
over 3 continents
Teaching
Joined PhD studentship
BSc student placements
Career progression
FROM ACADEMIA TO INDUSTRY
 Becoming aware and able to identify transferable skills that you gain
throughout your academic career and life experiences
You will be surprised...
COMMUNICATION, MANAGMENT AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS
BSc in
Biotechnology
Erasmus-Socrates
placement
 proactive
 determination
Postgraduate
Teaching Assistant
and Tutor
Charity work
Bar supervisor at
Blanket night club
PhD in Pubertal
Mouse Mammary
Gland Development
Mentoring
 broad set of project/time
management skills
 broad set of written and oral
communication skills
 organisation skills
 leadership skills
 team working skills and ability to work
unsupervised
MRes in Biomedical
and Life Sciences
Research Technician
for MD Biosciences
Inflammation Discovery
Sciences
 time management skills
 familiar with immunological techniques
used in drug development
 ability to work under stress
 ability to meet deadlines
 team working skills
 communication skills
 good customer care
 reliability and punctuality
Career progression
FROM ACADEMIA TO INDUSTRY
 Becoming aware and able to identify transferable skills that you gain
throughout your academic career and life experiences
 Be enthusiastic, flexible and prepared to spend time learning
and polishing a new set of skills needed to adapt a different way of
working/carrying out research
I still learn every day...
 The way you talk about your research and results
 Higher level of documentation
- lab book – evidence for patenting (very accurate, signed off by another person
every day, be aware not to put any personal observations that may prove
incorrect but may jeopardise patent application)
- client sample/analysis – standardised way of recording information
 Experiments are carried out according to accepted/standard protocols proprietary
to the company (SSOP)
 Another layer of communication skills – speaking to customers, company
representatives, company marketing
 Small-medium company allows interactions with multidisciplinary team - often
you will be involved in a variety of different tasks
Career progression
FROM ACADEMIA TO INDUSTRY
 Becoming aware and able to identify transferable skills that you gain
throughout your academic career and life experiences
 Be enthusiastic, flexible and prepared to spend time learning
and polishing a new set of skills needed to adapt a different way of
working/carrying out research
 Be open minded and versatile and not afraid to step out of your comfort
zone
“ To progress your carrier in industry you have to think about science
from a broader, more managerial, business-like perspective”
Jim Reid Chairman/CEO at Sistemic
There is hope!
 Life Sciences has been identified by Government and Scottish
Enterprise as a key sector for Scottish economy
 A lot of financial support for Life Sciences sector in Scotland
o
 Scotland - one of the largest Life Sciences clusters in Europe (560 companies)
 The number of jobs in Life Sciences sector are sill growing
Good luck!
daria.olijnyk@sistemic.co.uk