With tenure-track academic positions in short supply, companies are increasingly recruiting and retaining doctoral researchers with business experience and an entrepreneurial spirit.  In response to these trends, UCLA has established several opportunities for bioscience graduate students to gain relevant business experience and knowledge to prepare them for careers in business. 

The UCLA Technology Fellows Program is one such opportunity.  UCLA’s Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Sponsored Research (OIP-ISR) designed the program to expose UCLA graduate students to the business of technology transfer and intellectual property management.  Technology fellows receive in-depth, hands on experience in technology evaluation, marketing, and commercialization. 

Kathryn Zavala, a graduating doctoral student in the Cell & Developmental Biology Home Area, is a Technology Fellow.  In the lab, Kathryn the cellular and molecular mechanisms triggered in immune cells by vitamin D to antagonize infection by Mycobacterium leprae, the mycobacterium that causes leprosy.  As a fellow, she assists OIP-ISR by conducting intellectual property market research and draft reports to facilitate marketing of UCLA-developed technologies.  To learn more about Kathryn’s experience, view the UCLA Newsroom article by Rebecca Kendall here. 

The UCLA Business of Science Center also offers opportunities for bioscience students to gain experience in bringing research discoveries to the marketplace, including the Venture Team Program, MedTech Innovation Program, and Inventathon.

Photo: John Vande Wege/UCLA