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Are you aware of the many opportunities for young life scientists in
the Dutch Life Sciences sector?
A PhD in Life Sciences is very valuable to pursue all kinds of career paths. That’s an important message the Postdoc Career Development Initiative (PCDI) is communicating to young researchers. I have a PhD and some years of experience as a postdoc and yes, I believe there are more career options than in academia alone. But figuring out what opportunities are out there and whether they would suit me, is pretty tough. At the BCF Event I learned about a number of biotech companies, but the long queues did not allow for in-depth discussions on their activities and what position I could fulfil as a PhD. At the stand of PCDI I heard about the Life Sciences Talent Café, specifically organised for postdocs and PhD students to get to know the Life Science sector in the Netherlands, so I went to Life Sciences Talent Café in Amsterdam on 1 July 2010, not sure what to expect... The introduction to the Life Sciences sector made me realise that my current knowledge did not go far beyond academic research. Of course I could name a couple of the big pharmaceutical companies, but I already knew that their numbers are decreasing in the Netherlands and their research was often carried out elsewhere. So I was glad to hear Sandra Migchielsen, projectmanager of the Amsterdam Biomed Cluster, saying that biotechnology was actually on the up in our country. Focuses include the development of personalised medicine, generics and bio-similars and the redesign of the drug development process. And there is more, as health, pharma and medical technology all belonged to only one of the clusters of biotech (see: overview). The numbers showed that the Netherlands, with 1.000 red life sciences companies and ranking 4th in worldwide biotech patents, holds an important international position when it comes to biotech. I found out that the world of Life Sciences as I knew was actually only the first part of the value chain: research > development > manufacturing > marketing & sales. There is still a lot to discover for me.  After the overview of the Life Sciences sector, two types of companies were highlighted. Ever considered a career in consultancy? I hardly knew what consultants do and never realised that this could be an career option for life scientists too. InnoTact Consulting is a company that provides advisory products in Life Sciences to universities as well as companies. What they basically do is ‘turning half-cooked ideas into business plans’. Maarten van Dongen, founder and managing partner, explains that with their specialisation they aim to be the #1 Life Science consulting firm in the Netherlands. Holding a PhD himself, what made him decide to not follow an academic career? He was offered an exciting postdoc project in New York but turned it down to become a consultant at CIVI. Maarten: ‘Academics tend to think that scientific reasoning is the only way to understand the world: well it is not!’
It all boils down to personal drive and for Maarten it wasn’t research that made him tick. What skills are required for a consultant? A broad interest in Life Sciences with all its subsectors and over the entire value chain, the ability to think at different levels, strategically, considering both contents and process. Of course one has to have a goal- and team-oriented attitude and the ability to work under time pressure. If you fit this description, with PhD you may enter at (junior) consultant level. Whether you are interesting for consultancy companies heavily depends on your personality. Maarten’s advices: ‘Eagerness is very important, so do not send out hard-core academic CV’s as it will be difficult for them to extract your personality from that. Doing a postdoc for decades may not the optimal route to become a consultant as it rather narrows you down to your specialism than increasing your ability to play in different fields’. Something to keep in mind!
Annuska Glas, director R&D of the Netherlands Cancer Institute spin-off Agendia then spoke about her career at a biotech company. Currently about 25% of all breastcancer patients develop metastases while 75% receives chemotherapy. Agendia developed MammaPrint, that distinguishes high risk from low risk breastcancers, which enables clinicians to provide personalised medicine. Their mission and activities are easy to understand for someone with research experience like me. But then, Annuska explained about the structure of the company and stakeholders, referring to CEO, CFO, CMO, KOL, I was intrigued by the business-slang and was determined to find out what this was all about. Your result directly translated into the clinics, having a say in the direction a small companies is going, no longer worry about writing grants to secure your position and a well-structured and organised working environment with a lot of interaction between the different departments. All good reasons to work in the industry. To my surprise careers for young PhDs at Agendia are not limited to research and development (R&D), think product support, project management, regulatory affairs and quality control. All require a robust scientific background plus abilities like multitasking, easily shift priorities, accurate documentation keeping and being goal-oriented within timelines. What should I do if I find careers at biotech companies interesting? Annuska: ‘If you find a company you believe you could fit in, pick up the phone and call! That will be far more effective than sending out CV’s blindly.’ Good point! All speakers were available for questions at the following networking
drinks. I made use of this opportunity to ask Annuska
about the abbreviations she used and all about possible functions at Agendia in depth. Both Maarten and Annuska brought along
a young scientist who left academia just recently, who explained what
considerations they made prior to this career step and what differences
they experienced. What I learned? That there is still a lot I
don’t know about the Life Sciences sector. There are many career
opportunities I am not (yet) aware of. I feel a bit overwhelmed by the
information but am determined to discuss career more often and with more people. These networking events are very useful to familiarize myself with the world outside academia and I believe that this will help me making an well-informed choice about my career. And when I am ready to take the plunge, I will surely be better prepared for the job! | 
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The Life Sciences Talent Café was co-organised by PCDI and the Amsterdam BioMed Cluster
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