Bio-pharmaceutical industry is now in its infancy. We are in urgent need of a great number of researchers with professional knowledge and technical skills in diseases to join the industry and engage in new drug development.
Recently, a new anti-cholesterol medication is allowed to go public, adding a new member to the long list of biological drugs. These super biological drugs not only create amazing profits to pharmaceutical companies, but also create a lot of jobs and opportunities to young researchers who are interested in drug development. However, if these young talents want to get into this industry, the first thing they should do is to temper themselves so as to acquire knowledge and skills necessary for the biopharmaceutical industry. Biopharmaceuticals is a very complex medicine. It is usually produced with organism or extracted from organism, such as fungal cells like E. coli or yeast, proteins expressed by macromolecules or in living cells and other products.
A report submitted by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in 2013 showed that there are 907 kinds of biological drugs in research stage (Medicines in Development: Biologics PhRMA; 2013) in the United States only. Pharmaceutical companies around the world are also working hard to develop their own biopharmaceutical business.
Enter Biopharmaceutical Industry
In order to enter the biopharmaceutical industry, young scientists have to acquire relevant knowledge, such as neurobiology, cardiovascular disease and immunology. Meanwhile, they also need to have a basic understanding of antibody engineering, bioinformatics, next-generation sequencing, genetic manipulation and many other related subjects. Monica Müller, chief scientific officer of Creative Biolabs, said that these young people should also need to have the ability of problems solving, creativity, leadership and teamwork skills.
Although there are many opportunities, competition is fierce in this field. “We recently released a batch of job posting, and received more than 50 resumes for each position in the first week”, said professor Monica. According to Charles, CD Genomics received 100 and 150 resumes for the position of primary and secondary researcher.
So how can these young researchers stand out from a number of candidates? As there is great competitiveness in the field of new drug research and development, how can these young researchers stand out of the great number of candidates?
In addition to master the most basic biological knowledge and laboratory skills, they also need to learn about the important information of biopharmaceutical industry, such as monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins and clinical development of drugs and the experience of large-scale production experience. Young people who are interested in entering well-known companies need to understand what information their targeted companies are concerned, Creative Biolabs, for instance. We are now planning to cooperate with CD Genomics on updating our antibody sequencing service, so as to meet more specific requirements from clients. Therefore, we need talents with professional skills in sequencing.
Soft power—not just laboratory skills
When applying a position in biopharmaceutical industry, soft power is crucial. Communicating skill, however, is the most important part in soft power. The same as other scientific disciplines, researchers engaged in biological research and drug development also have to write papers and give presentations. Meanwhile, they also need to communicate with their superior and colleagues so that they can efficiently convey their research ideas to the targeted audiences. “Most of the time, we are just like a used car salesman. We have to persuade our customers who always have dissident views against you”, explained professor Monica, scientific officer of Creative Biolabs.
Monica proved the importance of good communicating skills with her own experience. The research experience in PhD taught her how to carry out research work (which is the most attractive point for pharmaceutical companies), and how to conduct his work from the perspective of a pharmaceutical company at the same time. Years of experience in giving slide presentation enables her the ability to express her views in a better way, so that she can deliver the exact information to the audience. While working in a pharmaceutical company, Monica believes that what people should focus on are issues like how to save time and improve productivity while saving cost, but not details associated with academic problems, unless these problems are ready to break the bottom line.
Monica thought that it would be better if we could look at the issue from another perspective of view. She asked, “Can you make an ordinary idea an excellent one by creative thinking?” She suggests candidates to add unconventional items they have carried out or nontraditional solutions they have used, so as to show their curiosity and creativity. This is the exact resume that they are looking for.
Be self-motivated, enthusiastic, responsive and kind to others are all highly valued by pharmaceutical companies. You are going to spend a lot of time with your team, and also you will undertake a lot of challenging work. If you can get along well with everyone and all the colleagues are fond of you, you will be able to create a more harmonious working environment.
