Forbes has named Brianna Vickerman ’21 (PhD) one of North America’s 30 most accomplished scientists under the age of 30 for her promising research into light-activated therapeutics. “The new platform provides an opportunity to control the precise location, timing and dosing of a drug,” the editors write. But what they don’t say is how the research almost dried up when Vickerman, who made her bench-top discovery as a doctoral student at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, graduated nearly four years ago.
“Around the time I graduated, Eshelman Innovation funded me as a post-doc so I could continue the project,” says Vickerman, now an Eshelman Innovation research assistant professor. The grant was the first of many steps Eshelman Innovation has taken to help Vickerman commercialize her light-activated therapeutics technology so that it benefits patients.
Lightbulb moment
Like countless graduate students and faculty members, Vickerman wanted her research to one day improve patient outcomes and save lives.
As a biochemistry doctoral student studying under David Lawrence, the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor in the Eshelman School’s division of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, Vickerman was researching ways to make drugs safer and more effective by activating the drugs using light. But her designs for making a particular peptide light-responsive kept failing. Peptides, molecules containing two or more amino acids, play an essential role in fundamental physiological processes.
“That was a moment when you think to yourself, ‘This has never been done before. Maybe there’s a reason why,’” she says. “I stepped back and looked at the problem in a different way. I looked into the origins of this peptide. It’s naturally synthesized in honeybees.”
By considering not just what the peptide does, but what it was originally made to do, Vickerman overcame the hurdle by devising a different strategy for synthesizing a version that was light-activatable.
But that breakthrough was only the beginning of her entrepreneurship journey.
Like most university researchers, Vickerman knew little about translating her idea into a beneficial technology. But with the same focus and drive that led her to excel in biochemistry, she started learning about entrepreneurship. Vickerman co-founded a local chapter of Nucleate, a national organization that empowers entrepreneurial trainees in biotechnology. “Having this community with a passion for biotech startups and innovative ideas was incredibly powerful at the beginning of my entrepreneurship journey,” Vickerman says.
Through Innovate Carolina, UNC-Chapel Hill’s department for innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development, Vickerman became a Kickstart Venture Catalyst Fellow and took courses in the fundamentals of academic technology transfer and commercialization. The National Science Foundation’s Regional I-Corps program provided training and experiential learning in primary customer discovery.
After funding Vickerman as a post-doc for nearly two years, Eshelman Innovation allocated additional funding to make her a full-time research assistant professor, allowing her to stay focused year after year on advancing her research.
Training beyond the bench
While the financial support has been critical, Vickerman says, the translational support she receives from Eshelman Innovation has accelerated her success. Vickerman is a shining example of the benefits of the Eshelman Innovation Translational Academy, a program that provides entrepreneurial education and support for faculty and post-doc innovators.
The Translational Academy began as a way to keep an innovative drug-discovery platform from failing by spinning out of the University too early, as well as to give young scientists a unique training opportunity. The academy surrounds its members — be they postdocs or junior faculty — with translational expertise and dedicated support.
Vickerman, for instance, was paired with a senior faculty mentor and trained in translational science methods. She recruited an advisory board of drug development and industry experts, who counsel her on technology, commercial considerations and regulatory pathways.
“Eshelman Innovation provides the functional expertise that makes it more likely that an idea or company will be successful,” says Eshelman Innovation Executive Director John Bamforth. “When problems arise, we find ways to solve them. We may not know what the answer is right now, but we’ve always found a way in the past, and we’ll do it again.”
Eshelman Innovation also makes nurturing talent a top priority. “We work with researchers, like Brianna, who have incredible ideas for new technologies, but we also use the Eshelman Innovation process to train them to think differently,” Bamforth says. “We want them to think as much like entrepreneurs as scientists.”
In Vickerman’s case, that nurturing is paying off. For its 30 Under 30 recognition, Forbes wrote: “Brianna Vickerman co-invented a groundbreaking technology that uses light to precisely release therapeutics at targeted diseased sites. The new platform provides an opportunity to control the precise location, timing and dosing of a drug. She and her colleagues have since secured $2 million in funding to develop and commercialize this technology and plan to launch a company in the near future.”
“Being recognized for my scientific and entrepreneurial achievements in this way is incredibly meaningful, and I am truly honored to be included with this group of amazing visionaries,” Vickerman says.
