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NAI CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS 575

afraid to change and do something new and Lesson he started a biotech company, Idun Pharmaceuticals,
2: Have fun. Studying at MIT and interning at IBM to create compounds to stop programmed cell death
prepared him for what he expected would be a career where it was too great, such as liver disease, and to
in computers with IBM; however, a chance remark accelerate the process where it was too little, such as
by a college roommate in his senior year found Hor- cancer. In the former case, they hit on the liver as a
vitz signing up for an introductory biology class. Six target because ingested compounds in mammals usu-
weeks later, Horvitz, a math and economics major, ally go to the liver. Given that physiological fact, they
found himself asking his biology professor about the decided to take advantage of that opportunity and
possibility of pursuing a graduate degree in biology. create Emricasan. Lesson 6: Pros help and Lesson 7:
Encouraged by his professor, Horvitz did just that. It’s all about the people. Along this entrepreneurial
As a biologist, he found that he loved designing and journey, Horvitz learned that the right team is essen-
executing experiments and coming up with new tech- tial to success. Good people with the right training
niques. Lesson 3: Learn from rather than regret can take any concept and figure out how to make it
past errors. Beginning his career at MIT, he happily work. Lesson 8: Entrepreneurs must be resilient.
threw himself into his studies on the nervous sys- As opposed to academia, the start-up world is an
tem of a microscopic worm. Later, as a result of his uncertain one, with brusque changes in direction
work, he was invited to join the boards of two biotech and personnel, as he learned when Idun’s co-founder
companies. He considered turning them down, but Larry Fritz was abruptly let go by a new CEO. Lesson
a colleague asked him if he really didn’t want to do 9: Listen to and learn from others. Subsequently to
something useful, so he joined the local board. As a Idun, he has joined many other commercial involve-
result of taking that chance, Horvitz got hooked on ments, such as MPM Capital. On the other side of the
how to apply biology research to real-life problems table as part of a venture capital team, he learned a
in medicine, and he has never looked back. Lesson lot from the smart people in the other areas around
4: Basic research is the driver. Backtracking, Horvitz him. Lesson 10: Pioneers innovate. Recently, he has
went on to explain why biotech companies were so become involved with Puretech, a company with a
interested in him in the first place. The answer was very different model from most companies. Essen-
both simple and complex: the C. elegans. In short, his tially, they get people together who have never met
studies of the cell lineage of this microscopic worm and get them to “blue sky” concepts and test ideas
led to discoveries in the areas of cell signaling and cell to see if they are worth pursuing, such as Gelesis,
death that reaped a Nobel Prize and abundant biotech a polymer that you swallow that swells and curbs
start-up interest. In short, Horvitz discovered that for appetite for use in obesity treatment. Lesson 11: One
cells to develop properly, they have to talk to each size doesn’t fit all. Because all of his companies have
other (signaling), as happens in the development of had very different business models and very different
the vulva of the worm, which is induced by a signal funding schemes, he has learned the importance of
from the gonad. Along with studies of mammalian fit. Lesson 12: Pay attention—details can matter.
cells and fly eyes, this study laid the groundwork Finally, from that very first experience as a biotech
for understanding the development of human can- consultant to now, he has learned that consulting
cer, specifically how Ras proteins get activated. This with industry is complex, and academics need advice
discovery has led to the development of therapies to because myriad things can go wrong. To that end, he
inhibit the activation of Ras and control cancer. Hor- has authored an article and a book that goes into the
vitz had no idea that the basic research he did would complexities of this process.
have this impact or translation aspect. Lesson 5: Be
opportunistic. Knowing the norm for the C. elegans SESSION E: MENTORING THE NEXT
in terms of programmed cell death, they looked for GENERATION OF INNOVATORS
mutated worms that had a higher rate or a lower rate The final session of the conference on April 7, 2017,
of cell death. In this way, they identified four genes featured the first-ever Student Innovation Show-
involved in the killing process. Based on this research, case. This event, along with recent publications on