Business
marketplaces to bring in new projects and broaden their collaboration network.
Networking by online services and networking sites have their value, but should not fully replace classical scientific networking methods such as conferences, seminars, scientific society exhibi- tions, advertising in publications and trade jour- nals, writing publications and the like. For self-sus- tainability to become a reality for AHTSCFs, we need to be open to not just internal funding and projects, but also other universities, disease foun- dations, biotechs, industries and pharma; any rele- vant science group that is either looking to out- source or needing probes. Over the past several years, KU HTSL has had healthy, productive col- laborations with each of these extramural clients, and has been pleasantly surprised by the large interest of disease foundations for HTS and probe discovery. Networking, seeking collaborators and projects, and seeking funding all shares a common thread – to keep enough good projects in the pipeline, swing a wide net. Appealing to not just federal grants, but also private foundations and business entrepreneurs, and provides unexpected collaborations and projects. Targeted campaigns to disease foundations and academic departments that lack HTS or medicinal chemistry support is a good way to bring in new projects. It is highly ben- eficial when the university’s upper management gets actively involved in high profile negotiations. A full-time business development person is needed
to identify prospective clients. The university should have a competent technology transfer office to mediate MTAs/CDAs.
Project management
Self-sustainability of an academic HTS lab is also positively influenced by presence of a project man- agement function which ensures momentum in the flow of project direction and funding. KU-HTSL has adopted an industry-based model of project management to maintain a continuous flow of information between the principal investigator and HTS facility. The faculty and staff in academia gen- erally make all the key decisions in project direc- tion either alone or sometimes with a collaborator. Due to the diverse interests and commitments of the university faculty, organising a co-ordinated effort in academia is extremely challenging and requires fostering of a commitment from all per- sonnel involved in team-based projects. The KU- HTSL is part of a much larger drug-discovery insti- tute which brings all elements essential to maintain project momentum, budgets, time-lines and transi- tions from early to late phase drug discovery. The KU drug discovery has hired industry-trained, highly-experienced project managers who help maintain communication, funds and data flow for all projects starting from high throughput screen- ing laboratory.
In KU drug discovery management, each drug discovery project team comprises team members
Table 6: Return on investment: the PI’s predicament
Drug Discovery World Winter 2011/12
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