Successful innovation in the life sciences requires that three entities with fiercely independent cultures and largely non-overlapping goals—government, universities, and the private sector—have meaningful dialogues with each other. That is not happening at the moment. Consider the cycle for creating a therapy, diagnostic or medical device. Academic research is funded largely by the federal government, … Continue reading “Triangulation: How Universities, Government, and Business Can Stir More Innovation”
Author: Regis Kelly
Regis Kelly is the director of the The California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) at the University of California. QB3 is one of four California Institutes for Science and Innovation, created by the California Legislature to strengthen the academic foundation of its technology-based industries. QB3 is the only one of the four devoted exclusively to biology and to the life science industries. It is an innovation center made up of over 200 quantitative biologists at three northern California campuses (UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz & UC San Francisco) working at the interface of the physical and biological sciences and a team of professionals converting its discoveries into practical benefits for society.
From 2000 to 2004, Dr. Kelly served as Executive Vice Chancellor at the University of California in San Francisco, where his major responsibility was the new Mission Bay campus. This campus, whose development over the next 10 years will double UCSF’s research space, is the center of a planned 300 acre public/private biomedical research park in San Francisco.
From 1995 to 2000, Dr. Kelly served as Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF; from 1988 to 1995, he was the Director of UCSF’s Cell Biology Graduate Program; and from 1992 to 2000, he was the Director of the Hormone Research Institute at UCSF. He has published extensively in the areas of cell and neurobiology.
Dr. Kelly received his undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1961 and his Ph.D. in Biophysics from the California Institute of Technology in 1967. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford, Dr. Kelly was an instructor in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard. He has served as Chairman of the Bay Area Scientific Innovation Consortium (BASIC) and on the Boards of the Malaysian Biotechnology Industry Advisory Board, the Scleroderma Foundation, the Immune Tolerance Network, Bridge Pharmaceuticals, and the San Francisco Mayor’s Biotechnology Advisory Group, among others. He is also a General Partner of Mission Bay Capital venture fund.
Research Universities and Big Pharma’s Wicked Problem
A few years ago BP awarded a consortium of universities led by Berkeley the largest grant in University of California history: $500 million over 10 years to develop biofuels. Despite BP’s well-publicized travails, their commitment to the Energy Biosciences Institute remains firmly in place. BP is a huge company with a wealth of resources at … Continue reading “Research Universities and Big Pharma’s Wicked Problem”
The Social Contract of Science
To know what to change to make universities more innovative in the way they manage science, we have to go back to the way our biomedical-industrial complex is constructed. We have come a long way from the days when science was done by a gentleman scientist in a room in his mansion, supported by his … Continue reading “The Social Contract of Science”
It’s Time for Universities to Get More Nimble
“Early to bed, Early to rise, Makes a man healthy, Wealthy and wise.” Attempting to motivate their children to go to bed at a reasonable time, parents have for generations invoked these three time-honored rewards. Probably least compelling was the promise of health. Health is the absence of something–sickness–and is only fully appreciated when we … Continue reading “It’s Time for Universities to Get More Nimble”