What happens when you team up 15 undergraduate students with seasoned scientists developing specialized biomarkers at an elite biomedical research facility? The kind of cross-pollination that inspires a boatload of forward momentum.

And that’s just what a novel new course called Life Sciences Innovation set out to do. The brainchild of David Zuzga, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biology at La Salle, the course partners students from the University’s integrated science, business and technology (ISBT) program with scientists from Wistar Institute, located in University City.

The goal is to drive technologies developed at Wistar out of the laboratory and into the marketplace as viable new ventures. The class broke into three teams, one focusing on ovarian cancer biomarkers, the second on ectopic pregnancy biomarkers, and the third on autophagy biomarkers that anticipate melanoma tumor progression and resistance to therapy.

Early on, students met with Wistar scientists to understand the underlying science and technology, and identify problems the science can potentially solve. As the semester progressed, students assessed key commercialization issues including competition, customers, financial models, value proposition, and more using the same “Business Model Canvas”—a strategic management and entrepreneurial planning tool—used by startups globally.

Marsha Timmerman, the course’s instructor, is passionate about providing students an up-close and personal view of just how difficult it is to integrate business with science/technology within a research setting. “This gives our students a handson, real-world life science experience, utilizing actual Wistar technologies, and exposing them to a competitive business environment,” says Zimmerman.

According to Terry Li, a La Salle junior ISBT major, the most important takeaway of the course transcended business and science, “Never be scared to join a new team and work with different people. Some of the most valuable things you can learn are from people completely different than you.”

bi·o·mark·er /ˈbīōˌmärkər/ noun a measurable substance in an organism whose presence is indicative of some phenomenon such as disease, infection, or environmental exposure.

“I learned not only about scientific innovations but just how much goes into bringing new products to market.” — CRISTIAN ARTILES-HUNTER, LA SALLE UNIVERSITY JUNIOR