UCLB’s Senior Business Manager Harriet Story talks tech transfer, gut conditions, and yoga

UCLB Senior Business Manager Biopharm Harriet Story discusses her passion for tech transfer’s role in tackling gut conditions, and her yoga teaching qualification.

Tell us about a spinout you’re particularly excited about?

Intract Pharma is an interesting one. They are developing disruptive oral antibody solutions making treatments more accessible and less burdensome for patients. Intract’s oral biologics delivery platform is designed to protect the molecule as they pass through the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal tract, ensuring they reach their target sites in diseased tissue. Intract has previously been focused on precision delivery to the gut, but more recently reported exciting data showing its platform could enable biologic delivery via a pill, not just to the gut, but to the entire body—something no one has managed to do effectively yet. It could be revolutionary for patients suffering from immuno-inflammatory and other chronic indications currently served only by injectable therapies.

How did you get into tech ?

I did a PhD in organic chemistry at UCL, during which I was lucky enough to work with my supervisors and UCLB to file a patent application around some theragnostic agents I’d developed to simultaneously treat and image tumours. This opened my eyes to intellectual property and the pathways available for academic research to transition out of the lab and enter the marketplace as products or services, where it can have real-world impact on people’s lives. I took an internship at Imperial Innovations and fell in love with the mixture of groundbreaking science with business acumen, and that was it – I had accidentally fallen into a career in technology transfer having never heard of it before halfway through my PhD!

What does the work you do now consist of?

After stints at Imperial Innovations and Cancer Research UK’s commercial arm, I have returned home to UCL(B) where I am currently the Senior Business Manager supporting commercial opportunities arising out of the UCL School of Pharmacy. This UCL department is very translationally minded and produces disease agnostic inventions based on any modality of therapeutic you can imagine, drug delivery innovations, biomarkers and more recently, healthcare-related machine learning and robotics advances. No two days are the same and the researchers there are a pleasure to work with.

Switching topics, you’ve been active in holding yoga classes at UCLB. How did you get involved?

I’ve been practicing yoga for about 10 years, but my interest and practice deepened during the COVID-19 lockdowns when I had more time to lean into it. In the first half of 2023, I completed a 200-hour yoga instructor course around my work schedule. I thoroughly enjoyed working towards the qualification and meeting new friends along the way.   Now I teach a monthly class for UCLB-colleagues who, in exchange, donate to my fundraising page when they attend a class, collectively raising money for Crisis, a charity whose mission is to end homelessness in the UK. There is nothing better than some stretches and breathing exercises to re-centre yourself during a busy workday in my opinion!

What’s an example of impact created by UCL research which UCLB has helped facilitate?

I’ve really enjoyed working alongside the STAMPEDE clinical trial team at the UCL MRC CTU. STAMPEDE is huge, multiarm trial for therapies aiming to address advancing or metastatic prostate cancer. Nearly 12,000 patients have enrolled to date and there have already been practice-changing outcomes that show adding docetaxel or abiraterone improve disease control and life-expectancy. In addition, the Director of the UCL Cancer Institute Prof Gert Attard, has conducted some fascinating research alongside the trial to understand if there are biomarkers capable of predicting the way a patient will respond to a certain therapy, some of which we expect to come to market soon!

I’ve also been incredibly proud to work closely with Lifearc, Imperial College Innovations and Queen Mary Innovations to design a year long fellowship to train the next generation of technology transfer professionals.