2. A European career: the academic part
Vocational training Work A-levels Work in UK
Start of Undergraduate Studies in Biochemistry
PhD in Proteomics
Imperial College, London (Natural Sciences)
>1,200 staff / 3,000 undergraduates /1,200
postgraduate students
natural sciences embedded with medical faculty
and hospitals / translation of research
European Molecular Biology Laboratory,
Heidelberg, Germany
>1,500 staff / >70 nationalities / 4 outstations
EMBL ranks no. 4 world-wide (after CSH, MIT,
Salk) institute in molecular biology & genetics*
>2000 collaborations world-wide
Located in Heidelberg, an
international city in the middle of
*1999-2009, Thomson Essential Science Indicators Europe 2
3. A European career: the industry part
âș Addition of skill sets for drug
2002
Nature
2000
âș Foundationwhile retaining 2000
discovery of Cellzome in 2004
Nat Cell Bio
âș Started as proteomics platform
âș International culture 2006
Nature
and is now a drug discovery
âș High quality
company
2007
Nat Biotech
âș Open, respectful, collaborrative
âș World-leading chemoproteomics 2007
culture
platform
Nat Biotech
2009
âș Financing through early venture Nature
capital and since 2004 through 2011
Nat Biotech
collaborations with big pharma 2011
2011 Nature
3
4. Industry or academia - family or career? â
Take the best of all worlds!
âș Many moves from academia to industry and back:
âș 9 Cellzomers are now professors/groupleaders in
academia
âș Many moves from biotech to pharma:
âș 10 people moved to big pharma
âș Women careers: family or career?
âș Higher availability of day care facilities for small kids
and (even in Germany) more all day schools
âș First men take time off with their kids â perception
is changing
âș Technology allows work from home more effectively
âș Not the case for lab-based positions
âș But: still few women in pharma or biotech
senior management
4