Luba Metlitskaia

Luba Metlitskaia had years of experience in drug development both in Moscow and in Canada, but she felt like she wanted more. Exposed to different aspects of commercialization while working with a biotech company in Vancouver, Metlitskaia found herself becoming passionate about watching how basic science made its way into the marketplace.

So in 2006 she applied to the WestLink Technology Commercialization Internship Program against 210 other competitors and successfully filled one of the 14 spots. Her first placement was with the Technology Development Office at the British Columbia Cancer Agency, which she describes as a "very warm, democratic atmosphere." There, Metlitskaia became involved in the negotiations of a spin-off company, which gave her behind-the-scenes insight to how a new business is formed. "Most challenging was communicating with the researchers," she says. "Everybody has different personalities so you have to learn how to read people and how best to negotiate. It was a great experience."

Her second placement was with StemCell Technologies, a biotech company that provides products for stem cell research, cancer research, immunology, developmental biology and other areas of life science research. At that post, she negotiated contracts and was involved in evaluating different licensing opportunities. "I quickly learned how to prioritize when you have 10 agreements going at the same time," she says. "You might need to present a summary to management or evaluate a potential product. You had to do it all."

But the combination of mixing science, drug development and commercialization was enough to lure Metlitskaia back to StemCell Technologies. Now the Manager of Licensing and Business Development for the company, Metlitskaia is heavily involved in the negotiation of complex agreements for in-licensing new technologies.

Before returning to StemCell Technologies, she finished her final placement with the Centre for Drug Research and Development. At the time it was an exciting new organization with the major goal of bridging the gap between innovation and commercialization. "Sometimes an invention is just an idea and to get to the market, it needs value to be added," says Metlitskaia. "Our job was to add value to the idea and mature the technology to the point where it was ready for commercialization."

Metlitskaia's specific role during her posting was working on a $1-million fund from the drug giant, Pfizer, to help select technologies for the fund. "It was like being part of a grant competition," she says. "You had to present each technology to a specific committee and they decided whether they wanted to take it on. It was very exciting because I felt like I was in the centre of the biotech universe, or at least in B.C."

Although Metlitskaia knew she wanted to stay in biotechnology or the field of drug development, the program allowed her to see the inner workings of companies she otherwise would not have been exposed to. "WestLink opened up all doors for me and allowed me to be where I am," she says. "It's up to each person to use the opportunity as best he or she can and that's what I did. It was an amazing opportunity."