Dr Shona Jones

What’s your background? 

I grew up in Dublin, in a town called Swords close to Dublin Airport. I come from a family of non-scientists: my Dad was a TV repair man, my Mum was a bookie and my brothers were in the Guards and Dublin Fire Brigade, so my decision to study Science at University College Dublin (UCD) was in no way following any kind of family tradition. 

Following my first year at UCD I did well enough in my exams in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths, to get a place in the sought-after Pharmacology course, after which I never looked back. I never set out with an ambition to be a leading academic, to work in drug discovery, or even in technology transfer, I just knew I really loved lab-based science and fortuitously I took to lab work like a duck to water. 

Once I had completed my 4th year project placement, as part of my undergraduate, I knew a PhD was the route I wished to pursue. My undergrad supervisor offered me a PhD before I had completed and I jumped at the opportunity. 

On completing my PhD, I didn’t have a burning ambition to go into academia, but I loved lab-based research so it seemed like a natural progression to move onto a postdoc. I held several postdoc positions in a variety of Institutes and Universities over the next 8 years, with work mostly focusing around platelet homeostasis, coagulation and oncology. 

Why did you move beyond academia? 

Having worked as a postdoc on several short-term contracts (varying from 1 year to 3 year contracts), the uncertainty over a steady income and constantly looking for a new position or further funding to support the current postdoc eventually took its toll, which prompted me to speak with my current supervisor about opportunities outside of academia. 

At the time he was in the process of setting up a spin out company from Trinity College Dublin called Solvotrin Therapeutics, based on IP developed in his academic lab which I had worked on. He asked if I would be interested in working for the company. The company was by no means secure, as university spin outs often do not succeed, however, the challenge of working with a small team and setting up a business in drug discovery from scratch really appealed, so I decided to take on the challenge. 

The spin out company was based between Trinity College Dublin (where the labs were) and University College Cork where the Head Office was situated. Working for the spin out I learned about pitching to investors, due diligence, project timelines, engaging with Contract Research Organisations (CROs), and managing students on placement. 

Eventually I made the decision to move on from the spin out to a start-up company based in the UK, this was largely due to the changing economic climate in Ireland at the time and the uncertainty around investment in the company, and also because my partner at the time wanted to move back to the UK! 

Thankfully, my extensive academic experience and my experience in working in the Solvotrin Therapeutics made me a great fit for a start-up in Liverpool called Redx, which was a biotechnology company with a focus on developing small molecules as therapeutics in oncology. 

I continued with Redx for 5 years, enjoying the continuous opportunity to learn and develop, while working with a fantastic multidisciplinary team across multiple projects. 

Do former postdocs often get hired by your employer? 

Yes. Sometimes industry like to hire straight from PhD/Masters or after a short postdoc stint. There can sometimes be a perception in industry that if someone applies for a job after a long postdoc career they can be a bit institutionalised (to doing things a certain way and may find it difficult to adjust to industry), or that they want to be an academic and their application for an industry position is a second choice. 

However, there is much more flow from academia to industry and back to academia these days so my advice would be not to discount a move from academia to industry to academia as many have followed this career route. 

How did you approach the job search?

• Research the jobs you think you might be interested in, try to speak to someone currently in the position, ask about the good the bad and the ugly, look at the job descriptions from several different sources to identify key skills, attributes and identify your transferrable skills. 
• Know what types of jobs/opportunities you are looking for. 
• Search across different websites/jobsites/LinkedIn, use different keywords for your searches. 
• Let former colleagues know you are on the lookout for a position, you might hear about a position before it’s advertised, and former colleagues will know your skill set and will know if it fits with what they are after. 
• Register with recruitment companies and let them know what you are looking for. Also, use them to help with CV and interview preparation, especially for positions you don’t already have experience in interviewing for. 

What were the first few weeks of being in your new role like?

A baptism of fire! 

Unfortunately, the Head of IP was off on long term illness so there was no induction. Thankfully, there was some overlap with the person leaving the role, so I tried to get as much time as possible with her to get handover of all the projects she was managing and get up to speed on the next steps for all of these projects. 

The first few weeks were really spent trying to figure out who was who in the University, introducing myself to people, and getting up to speed on ongoing projects. The next few weeks I concentrated on getting to know my colleagues in the office and learning all of the procedures for how things are done in the University. This was quite daunting as my previous experience was in the Irish system as a postdoc, so the ways things were managed were quite different! 

Now, I feel like I know lots of people in professional services as well as lots of academics with projects in our pipeline and have excellent working relationships with everyone I work with. I’m very familiar with all of the projects and am on top of the office actions (rather than being reactionary). 

I have developed networks and links with many of the larger funders such as Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and have developed a pool of consultants I can call on for advice or bespoke work when projects arise requiring this. I’ve developed excellent working relationships with the patent agents we work with and with other collaborating University Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). 

A key focus now is identifying new exciting IP at the University and developing business plans and marketing material to commercialise. 

Can you describe a typical week in your job? 

There isn’t really a typical week in this job: it’s different almost every day. A typical week might involve some of the following tasks: 

• Reviewing the pipeline and updating MyIP with project progression: identifying the key tasks which are a priority for that day/week. 
• Reviewing emails-answering general IP queries quickly where possible and attending to any immediate office actions for patents etc. which are time sensitive. 
• Arrange and attend meetings with PIs to discuss new disclosures, to develop patent strategy, to discuss commercialisation activities, generate slide decks and flyers for marketing purposes. 
• Evaluate new disclosures to determine if they are novel, inventive and commercial, and make recommendations to IP team and academics on how best to commercialise. 
• Identify and meet with potential consultants regarding specialised work on certain projects. 
• Review, negotiate (and sign) Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDAs), assignments, licence agreements, term sheets etc. with licence partners. 
• Liaise with legal on collaboration agreements regarding IP clauses and any licence or option terms included within. 

That’s an incredibly condensed list, too – IP is incredibly varied. 

What are your favourite parts of the job? 

• Identifying an exciting new technology with commercial potential, and developing a development and commercialisation plan. 
• Getting a signed term sheet for a technology leading to a successful licence (nothing like a good win). 
• Supporting ECRs through programmes such as iCure and Lean LaunchPad, and seeing how their commercial understanding develops and impacts the way in which they carry out their research. 

Is there anything you miss about academia? 

• Being the first person to see and analyse the results and planning where the research will take you next. 
• The flexibility.