Regeneron's Influence and Why We Need Science Coaches

I enjoyed reading the Forbes article by the CSO and CEO of Regeneron and agree wholeheartedly with the call to action and sense of urgency to continue discovering high impact therapies for unmet medical needs and inspiring future generations of scientists. It is noteworthy that my decision to leave my postdoc position in academia to join the biomedical research community in industry more than 20 years ago was inspired, in part, by the work of George Yancopoulos and his team at Regeneron. 

In the mid-1990’s I had been attempting to deorphanize a receptor tyrosine kinase, Nsk2, which was known to be involved in muscular dystrophy, during my BBSRC fellowship at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UCL in London. The publication of a beautiful paper in Cell describing Agrin as a ligand for the MuSK (Muscle-specific kinase a.k.a Nsk2) receptor complex, which is required for the formation of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), opened my eyes to the careful, comprehensive work that was being generated and published by scientists at pharmaceutical companies. It was then, much to the surprise of my mother and father, academics at universities in the UK, that I decided to explore a career in industry. 

Twenty-two years later after multiple discovery programs, launched products and a variety of clinical, discovery and business development roles at Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Merck & Co Inc., I continue to be energized by the translation of basic research into therapeutics discovery and development. I still burn the midnight oil mapping research progress and reading papers. In my most recent drug discovery role I am enjoying working with computational and medicinal chemists, structural biologists, physicists and deep learning experts at New York-based Schrodinger. 

During the last twenty-five years, another facet of my passion for science has traversed the Atlantic with me during my drug discovery journey from Europe to the US - teaching and mentoring children. I was motivated to work with children when I met a twelve-year-old student while mentoring with the Princes Trust in the UK. The bright young girl appeared to be experiencing cognitive dissonance when I described myself as a scientist with a doctorate who worked in a lab trying to understand diseases all day. She seemed surprised by my youthful appearance and the fact that I enjoyed spending my days and some weekends doing experiments wearing a white lab coat. I realized during my conversation with this student and many other students since then, that she had very little exposure to modern day scientists and science in action relative to the time spent learning about, albeit, important but historical science icons and inventors described in textbooks and classes at school. 

I became convinced then that we need to reach out to as many children in primary and elementary schools as possible before they lose interest in or enthusiasm for science. This outreach, in my opinion, should be broad and not just focussed on young science enthusiasts, who enter science competitions and usually don’t need convincing about the enjoyment and impact one can experience as a scientist. Some thought- and heart-provoking ideas about authentic talent development in children are shared by Sir Ken Robinson in his series of TED talks. In the documentary, The Lottery, by Madeleine Sackler, one of the most powerful moments is when a parent laments his own limited access to mentors as a child, saying “No one ever told me I could be an astronaut" 

There is ample evidence that early exposure to topics like music, science, and art can lead to a lifelong interest, greater appreciation, and awareness of the possibilities. This excerpt from the book “The Passion-Driven Classroom: A Framework for Teaching and Learning” by Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold sums up the need to captivate and engage students when they are at their most receptive. “Watch young children at play. The learning attributes you see confirm the absolute truth. Nearly every four-year-old has the talents, qualities, and genius-level characteristics of curiosity, adaptability, and passion…..]. The fearless young learners roam the earth freely for years with no limits or boundaries to learning. They are joyful, excited and in awesome wonder every day for all that the world has to offer. Then something happens – they go to school. Unbridled enthusiasm, engagement, and passion gradually fade. By the time they reach secondary school, these have nearly disappeared.”

The reality is that if you are good at soccer, baseball, tennis, or other sports, there are typically numerous coaches, training centers, and afterschool activities for you to choose from locally. However, when it comes to inventing and science, there are very few places where you can spend time honing the skill of designing experiments and testing hypotheses with trained coaches and science practitioners. Exposure to science activities is often via visits to distant museums a few times a year - if you are lucky. Many kids have an hour of science tuition a week, mostly from a textbook, at a uniform pace, regardless of their ability or interest in learning more. Access to deeper more substantive science and technology experiences are available through a small number of exclusive gifted and talented programs.

Over the past year, I have had the pleasure of taking mentoring to a new level at My Tech Learning where K-7 students can run experiments and explore science-based topics at their own pace. The faculty of working scientists have a new found respect and gratitude for the work that teachers do every day to inspire the next generation with only limited time and lab space. After teaching scores of children at My Tech Learning (MTL), it is apparent that an elementary or middle school student can readily learn about a range of technology topics from the binary code, the double-helix, DNA code, immunity and precision medicine - topics they might not learn until high school or college.  

In years gone by, you often had to choose between biomedical and physical science disciplines or computer science during your education. Thankfully, that is no longer the case with degree courses that combine majors. The curriculum philosophy at MTL is based on the importance of learning early on how these important disciplines interact to bring us new solutions to hard problems. For example, how did the introduction of computers revolutionize genomics and expand our understanding of diseases at an individual level? 

What struck me when I read the inspiring Forbes article by the leaders of Regeneron was the reference to a hypothetical “16-year old whiz kid that has the power in their brain to cure Alzheimer’s disease”. The authors also expressed concern that “If we’re not careful, that kid might choose to come up with the next great gaming app or become a hedge fund manager.”  Do the two have to be mutually exclusive? Many kids have had iPads in their hands since they could first sit upright and can reach skill levels in gaming and other apps orders of magnitude faster than most adults. I am rather keen to see what these elementary and middle school “fearless young learners” are capable of solving and creating with this unique combination of skills - especially when they have early and frequent access to lab space and science coaches.