It Takes a Village to Raise a Biotech with Krisha Panchalingam, Director of Lab and Scientific Operations at Portal Innovations

Today I got to sit down with Krisha Panchalingam and it was such a fascinating conversation because I love going behind the scenes of what it takes to build a biotech. We have these great ideas and what actually happens between the time it is ideated and it becomes a drug. A lot of stuff and a lot of business stuff and a lot of operations stuff. Krisha is the director of lab and scientific operations at Portal Innovations, which just opened a Boston site last year. And she basically helps baby companies get everything they need to be set up to do the research they need to do to get to the next stage. So Portal has a really interesting incubator system and she and her team get the lab set up there, get them hooked up with vendors, handle shipping, handle all the logistics. They're basically turnkey so that science gets done and it gets done efficiently. And that is a key when you are a baby company. And it will give you an inside look behind the strategy that goes into lab operations and getting things done. Enjoy.

Welcome to Building Biotechs by Recredomics Consulting. We've helped over 90 biotech, life sciences and venture capital firms strategize and hire thousands of employees to scale companies that impact human health. We speak with those at the forefront of growing biotechs to learn their tactics on building these companies from the ground up. I'm Karina Klingman, founder and principal at recredomics Consulting. Enjoy the show.

I have been really excited to speak with you because like myself, I feel like most people don't grow up wanting to be the job that we are. So I'm a recruiter. Most people don't think I want to be a recruiter when I grow up. And I'm sure that managing all the lab operations at a huge VC was not on your list. When you were seven, what did you want to do when you were seven? What do you do now and how'd you get there?

Of course, when I was seven, I didn't think that I would end up in this path because at the time I didn't know this existed. But that being said, when I was seven years old, when I think back, I was this curious and adventurous child running around behind my grandma and our two dogs when I was growing up and I was a bit of a handful for my mom. I was also following my dad because he was into civil servant public service. So I followed him around because I was very much so interested in it. So my childhood is when, when you think about it, is slightly different because I grew up in a War zone. But what was drilled into us when we were growing up is education is very important regardless of what you do at that age. I didn't have a clear vision, but when I look back, I have gotten out of the war zone alive. And I went on to do my studies in science field because it's something that came to me naturally at that time, but it was not something in a lab operations. I didn't know it existed. And of course like anyone else I was like, okay, let me go onto the bench side to see where I want to go. And so originally when I started, I of course started as a research tech where I was exposed to okay, how do you take care of the lab side of it? And also I was very much into troubleshooting, fixing things. If something was not working, I would just take the initiative to have things looked into or call tech services. I was started at MIT and I moved on to nonprofit and moved on to biotech. And along the way of course like any anyone else who may have been in my field or even the scientist got laid off. And then you start to think at some point in time, okay, I have been in bedside, I have gone through schooling, what else would I like to do? And that's where me thinking about I don't want to go back to school. And I pivoted into lab operations in the sense because I was like, okay, I from the bench side of it, I know what the scientist may look for. And in a problem solving, troubleshooting, organizing that something comes to me naturally. And I pivoted in the sense I had to convince the first person who gave me that opportunity to 100% fully transition into lab operation. It's because when called to ask my references, everybody, everyone had given saying chief scientist ad hoc. But I was grateful for that opportunity and I haven't looked back. Now here I'm at Pearl Innovations as director of lab and scientific operations and I'm actually having a blast. Because we support early stage companies. I'm hoping in some way possible that I can offer my help and support to all of our member companies.

I don't know a lot about Portal Ventures, but I imagine it's has sort of an ecosystem that supports baby companies. So tell me a little bit about that.

Yes, Portal Innovations headquarters is in Chicago. It's about three years old in Chicago. They have two sites and the Boston site opened up last year, Polynovision. So VC firm and the whole concept born from the idea want to support the entrepreneurs and what we strongly believe is giving the ecosystem that they need. So early stages, they don't have to worry about the space or the lab equipment or the technologies, how to procure something. We do like vendor relations. So we provide that on the lab side as well as, you know, there's a whole lot of support that goes into the office side as well. In addition to that, we also help startup companies on the venture side to make connections. My role in the lab operation side of it, we take care of when a member company comes in. We usually interact with them very early stages before they come in, talk to them to see, okay, what's your workflow looks like, what technologies you're bringing in, what type of lab support do you need, what type of lab equipment that you need so we can make sure when they come in everything is ready to go. And also if they need anything special, we know we have relations with vendors, we make connections with the vendors. So those type of support that we provide on the lab side.

And I imagine some of these companies don't even know what they need at some point.

Yes, it is when we are talking to them, if they are very early on you can start to get from an idea, okay, this is where they are starting, this is where they are going. You think about it and say, okay, what can I pull from my old experience to say, all right, this is something they may need. And you start to think about it as far as bringing in that technology or new equipment or partnership, something like that on the lab operation side. And also, yeah, it is true on the operation side they don't think about the facilities or the maintenance that goes into it. So that every time they come in every day the lab is ready to go. Yeah, it very much so true. Eventually it's a partnership that we form with them, with the scientists. Every day in the lab we are in with them and eventually they get to know as we get to know them and from there we help them out as and then we let them fly whatever they want to do with it.

I love that. Yeah, we've spoken with a few people who are those behind the scenes doers that nobody thinks about when they start a biotech. Yeah, you've got a scientist, they have this great idea and they think, okay, I'll turn this into a company. There's a lot that goes into that and those of those of us who have worked in labs know how important just keeping everything running is. The vendor management piece is just huge, huge. So that's a hugely valuable service that you provide. So how long do they get to Stay with you? When do you kick them out of the nest, so to speak?

So our model is we don't put a term limit on it. As long as they need the space, they want to be with us. We offer that. So there isn't a, a time limit or term limit that we put in. At some point, yes, we would like them to grow and expand and we want to see what they have accomplished. But right now there isn't a term limit on that.

That makes sense. Yeah. I imagine the term limit would be kind of space dependent, right. If they grow to a certain size.

Oh, of course, yes. Yeah. If they have grown so fast and they got into 100, I'm just using that as an example, then obviously if they want to stay with us, if there's a possibility we can help them, even being in the same building, we will look into it definitely. But you know, at that point in time they may want to go into their own space and grow into their space. But yeah, yeah, the, the growth will definitely dictate, but we help them out as far as they want us to help them out.

What does your team look like?

Originally it started as team of one. Right now I have a lab associate who has joined me. So we are in the process of a team of two at this point. On the Boston side of it, we also have an operation site in the office. So even though it may look like just two people, we all work together as a team. So when one person has something to do, we pull the weight. But in Chicago, they have a larger team. Right now for Boston, it's only just coming out to be one year old. So team is small at this point in time. But eventually we are hoping to grow.

Yeah. Are you based in Boston or Chicago?

I am in Boston.

You're in Boston. Okay.

Yes.

Yeah. It's an interesting ecosystem out in Chicago. I keep hearing more and more about it. I think that more things are going on there, which is great to see.

Yeah. Because it's when people think about biotech, they immediately comes in, oh, Boston. But no, there is a very nice ecosystem that they have formed. And to my knowledge, I think the last information I got was like over 40 member companies that we have in our Chicago site. Yeah, it's like the silent growth that just has happened within them. But it's, it's very nice to hear. Yes. Because they are about three years old. That's why a lot of activities, you, you get to hear it. And you know, in addition to Boston, we also have Atlanta and Houston coming online.

Wow, okay. I'm hearing a ton about Houston too.

Yeah, that's the whole point, right. It's ideas come in any city, it's just not in one side of the part of the country and just not in east coast. And that's the whole concept of homeless. Wherever you are, you start there and then see how far it takes you.

Yeah, thanks for indulging me. I like to learn about these new little venture ecosystems and I really think these venture funds that are doing this ecosystem style incubator system, I really like that. It feels really natural and it feels like it gives ideas support where they can just focus on the science and then hopefully it grows and then they can focus on the business later.

But yeah, that is ultimately that's the goal of it. Right. You support them and then at some point they fly and go off and do their thing.

Little baby birds.

Yes.

I want to talk about this Boston Globe article. Tell me a little bit about that. And you had an interesting perspective about science backgrounds.

When I think about and or when somebody thinks about biotech, yes, we think about scientists because they are the ones who's driving the pipeline and all of that. But when you overall look at where the company of startup early stages do when they go through the growth phase, there are other departments, there could be different words that could be used for it. There's of course finance department, there's shipping and handling to inventory management, asset management. All of this do come into play so that the partnership with scientists, you let the pipeline move forward but you are giving this support roll into it. And that's where my whole concept is because I have, I have come across people who didn't have science background but they are doing this. And that's my whole concept. If someone is willing to learn, they are ready to roll up their sleeves and want to do things. There's always an opportunity and I'm ever grateful people gave me chances. That's why I'm here today. And for me you really don't need to be the 100% scientist to do other types of roles. And for some of the things that I had to do, I didn't know some things. And I'll go up to the scientist who's working in the lab and say I don't understand, just walk me through and they'll happy to draw on the board and explain why something needs to be done or what they are doing. So what I tell people is if you have that willingness to learn, willing to help, there's always a position that's open within a biotech industry that you can always look to see whether that that it's a suitable. It's a two way street.

The curiosity is so key in this industry and yeah if there's anything scientists like to do it's to talk about science.

Yep. It's very much so true.

You can definitely get them to open up.

Yeah, that's what I tell my junior staff. Hey Kim. Oh, I'm feeling shy. I can't talk to the scientist. I'll be like you'll be surprised.

We'll link that Boston Globe article into the show notes. It's a really interesting article. I am really curious. What is the most surprising thing that you have educated your biotech we'll call them clients on that they didn't know went into lab operations or the running of a lab.

I think one time I, I forget who asked me they said how do you measure your success? I said in a given any day if no one comes up to my desk that is the success for an operations person it's because everything is going okay. I know it's not about someone saying to say hi and all of that and for us that's how we look at when we start seeing people by your desk and you get email pinged, you get messages and you're like nothing is up in the lab. When people, when that is something was a surprise when I tell people but people who have done this for a long time they all relate to it. So it's like an inside joke that we can have. When you don't, when you don't see anyone come to look for you, that's a good day. You get to go home because emergencies can come in any day. Some things can need to be looked at immediately so we can pivot and help out. But those are the good days.

Yeah, no news is good news a hundred percent. So what are some of the key functions that you will bring in for a new biotech? You talked about vendor management and things like that. But walk me through. I am a baby biotech. I have just been accepted into the community. What are the things you get set up? What do you take off of my.

Plate when a member company comes in any startup we customize it. It's not like a form or like a cookie cutter. This is all we do. We have this one on one conversation and we say okay, when are you going to start the lab book how many scientists you have, technologies, equipment that we need, that you need and what we provide we will ask and also in that way it allows us to understand what their usage is going to be so we can help them out. They're looking for one or a couple of the unit. In addition, what sometimes get forgotten is all of these needs to be maintained. You buy it's like a car, you buy it, but you have to maintain it because things can fall apart. The maintenance part of it, we take them off their plate. We call vendors services, calibrations, PMs, anything that needs to be done even before that step. The crucial part of it, based on the workflow they would have regardless of the company, the environment and health and safety is very important because here in Massachusetts we have to follow by the certain guidelines and compliance. And based on their workflow, we'll work with our EHS consultant to see is there anything outside of what we can we offer that we need to look into for this member company and then we put them through the training. And also as far as anything like shipping and handling part of it, are they shipping samples out? Are they expecting samples? Do they have CROs internationally or locally? Help them out with anything that they need and make the connections with them. And the other one is of course supplies vendors because in order to do experiments you need supplies. And we make the connection with the vendors to say okay, this member company, they are either biological heavy or chemistry heavy and make those connections introductions with our vendors.

So I have a few threads to pull there. The first is compliance. Is that very different state to state and how do you handle that?

I won't say state to state. I can only speak for the cities that I have been in. So for us, for example, if it is just a startup company that do buy safety level 102, it's pretty standard. Our EHS consultant will walk through their safety manuals training and we go through inspections and permits that we need to have. It could vary slightly city by city, but that's where working with the EHS consultant really helpful because they'll take this off of our plate and also they will help us with the member company's needs and where they are starting and where they are going and you can start to plan that well in advance.

Hey there, just a quick break. I wanted to let you know that if you're listening to this podcast because you are exploring careers in biotech, which it turns out quite a few of our listeners actually are, you might be interested in the Biotech Career Coach podcast. It is brought to you by our sister company, the Collaboratory Career Hub, which is our career development community. If you would like actionable Tips on job seeking and career development. That is the place for you. It is a companion podcast to our Career Coach column that we write monthly in biospace. But we go a little more in depth and sometimes we have special workshops and all of that good stuff. So if that sounds interesting, click the link in the show notes or search for the Biotech Career Coach on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts back to the show. So another thread I wanted to pull on what you said earlier was the shipping piece. I remember a baby biotech that we worked with years ago was absolutely shocked by the logistics, the difficulty in working with samples that were coming to and from China. So tell me a little bit about that. That's something that I think blindsides some entrepreneurs.

Yes, it is very much because I tell the companies that I have in when we had international shipments, I tell the scientists, plan ahead, give me time. Because it's an education process that you have to go through in the sense it's not walking up to a FedEx and handing over a package or having FedEx come and pick it up. There's lots of paperwork that goes into it, depending on what you're shipping and also how you're declaring it. And if it's a research material, it has a different level of declaration that you have to do. If it's an international, your customs agent can help all of that. The paperwork takes time. You have to get approval. Let's say, for example, a scientist wants to ship something next Monday. I tell them if it's an international shipment, give it time so that the paperwork, everything goes on time, everything goes smoothly. Because once that leaves the plane and nothing is set, it's not going to land because it'll not get cleared. Educating people about planning the time and you give a very good description about what you have in that package do matter. But yes, it is very much so true in the sense we all went through Covid all of that issues with the shipping and handling in. But right now there are lots of vendors that out there that they do take this off the plate. You work with them and they'll help out all the way through. Starting from the paperwork, they'll say, okay, if it's this country, this is what you have to do. If it is domestic, this is what you have to do. And yeah, you can also loop in your EHS consultant.

The other thing I want to touch on is the use of consultants, especially at this really early stage. So what I'm hearing from you is a lot of things are through portal which is great. But then you have an EHS consultant. I assume that's external. You have shipping consultants. How are companies leveraging all of these external consultants so that they're not trying to hire all this expertise in house?

Yeah, I think it varied from company to company. Like I have been in early stage startups. When I worked for a single biotech company, we either had FTE or there was a mix of it. I would say it's on a need basis. Just speaking on the EHS side, I think mostly I have worked with EHS consultant. Shipping and handling was a big thing because you have consultant on it. But other than for the inside workflow, it varies on the need as far as having consultant. Because sometimes you may need someone for short term, sometime it could be a long term, someone comes in as a consultant, but then there's a need and they get hired. So there's a whole lot of variety.

I feel like you are now sitting in more of a strategic role. Yes, you're doing the executing as well, but you're really the partner that gets to help these companies understand the strategy, what they need, what they don't need. So how is that compared to. I know previously you did work for in house for a company. How's that different?

Yeah, because when you're working in house at one company you have your scientists deal with and also the other departments you are working with. Here at Paul Innovations, when you're doing lab operations, it's more than one company. Whether it's 2, 5, 10, 40. Like everyone has a different need and you want to make sure you take care of them, everyone, so that no one feels they have been left out or you have forgotten feeling we do not want to give them. So we make sure we have a touchpoint meeting with them at whatever the frequency ends up being to do a check in to say how things are going, what do they need, something coming up and also check in with them. When we do the walkthroughs in the lab and we go in the lab, you can actually see them working and if something is needed, they will come in and say, oh, something is not working, something I need, something ran out. So in that sense it's one versus X number of member companies that you're supporting. And also every member company is different in the sense what they are using, the technologies, the equipment. So everything has to, in our space, work efficiently.

The scale and the things that you do must be just on a more massive scale, right?

It is. It's what the workflow will look like is different on a. It's not so much about a day to day, it could vary from month to month or they have moved on from something and you are always ready for them to come in and do their work in the space.

So for people who are maybe mid career journey and thinking this sounds interesting, what were the steps you took to pivot and what did that look like?

Yeah, so for me, when I was contemplating to change from bench side and then to be within the biotech world, what else can I do? I had conversation with my old colleagues and also a couple of my old managers to say, okay, I want to pivot, where can I go not being on the bench side of it? And that's where the whole conversation got started about, okay, someone needs to take care of the entire lab operations part of it. So your managers, your colleagues, scientists are the great source. I would say someone who's contemplating and also knowing that when you are in lab operations, it's a different mindset than being a scientist or anyone else. For example, because I have had a few conversations with people who have been scientists thinking about overall operations, you have to take the leap of faith, I would say, to say I'm going to give it a try and if it doesn't work, there's a fallback mechanism. So it's not for everybody. But at some point you say, okay, these are the skills that I can offer. I can work with the scientists to be a partner within that organization or wherever that may be. But I would say your managers, your coworkers, your friends, just connect with LinkedIn who this or who are still doing it and say, can I have a coffee with you? Can I chat up?

What advice would you give a younger Krisha?

I would say you go through things for a reason, be patient and then value all the mentors and everyone who has given you their advice and have supported you along the way.

That's beautiful advice. So mentorship is a theme I've heard you talk about a few times here. Do you want to tell us a little bit about mentorship and the role that played in your career?

Yeah. So when you are. When I was a scientist, I should speak for myself. When you're a scientist, you have the support in the sense you have your managers because it's defined. When I moved into lab operations, I found myself that there wasn't a support network, there wasn't a support structure because to be very much so transparent, you are doing your job, you're growing. But there was this part of it. People didn't know how to nurture your growth, how you can contribute in other ways. So in that sense it is one of those things that I had to carve my own path and say, oh, this looks interesting. Let me try this. It's a trial and error at some times and having an a frank open conversation with if you have an HR and also connecting with them to say they're a mentor. And that's how I ended up having two mentors that I'm ever so grateful. Even though they were really not lab operation. But they let me talk it out sometimes and they know someone who has done this. So it could be like any form it comes in. There isn't a clear cut. It could be someone who just looking to change a position and saying, okay, is this a good for me? So the mentors for the lab operation side, it comes in different, different shapes and forms. It is not straightforward. But I would say reach out to anyone, start somewhere. That's where you'll be surprised where it leads you.

What do you want to achieve in the next 10 or so years?

I love what I do now and I'm hoping I am still continuing down this path and helping, you know, biotech companies develop the therapies or the treatments or medical devices or whatever. So far I am loving it and I'm hoping I am in this path and I'm part of Coral Innovations. I am really hoping.

What's the process like to become a member company? Is it pitching? Just like most VCs, there's two components to it.

Yes. Once one arm of it is ventured, the other arm of it, the incubator side of it. So the lab operations falls under the incubator arm side of it. On the venture side, yes, we have a whole process. If we connect people with the bd, like depending on our network events, people come in. If someone just happened to talk to me, I'll connect them with our BD person and then from there the connection will be made to the venture team and the pitch happens. And that's where the conversation about the seed funding in the funding start. And if they're just looking for lab space, you know, they will, of course they'll start with the BD and then they'll come to lab operations side of it. Then, then we would have the conversation like what space that you need. So it's not, you know, it's all or nothing. There's all kinds of mix of varieties that we do offer. You know, they can have just space but no funding. They can have funding in Space within Portal one of the ecosystems.

Okay, that's really interesting. I'd like to link the. I'd like to link that in our show notes in case small companies are looking for either funding, more space or both. Yeah. Where are you located in the Boston space area particularly?

Yeah. The easiest location landmark I get tell people is the old Boston Globe building. So we are in South Boston, I believe to very well define it. We are in the Dorchester area. So in Fronto Boston College and Ayuma. Yeah, perfect. The building has gone through a lot of renovation. It's really nice.

That's great. There's not as much in South Boston and there's actually a need for that. So that's great.

Yeah, that's a thought process. When Portal Innovation was looking for the site, that's the story that I heard was like thinking where else can it be as opposed to just clustered in the one area. So it was nice.

Yeah, yeah, I think that's really wise. I'd like to see the T system be a little bit more robust too.

Oh yes, tell me about it.

Yeah, that's my one gripe about like, I have clients in the seaport. I love the seaport. So hard to get to the seaport. I'm like, ah, we love to get reading recommendations, book recommendations from our guests because we talk to really smart people. So what book recommendation do you have for people today?

The last one that I remember was I. I read Walk in the woods because it's one of those light readings in a. In a roundabout way. It's one of those things. It's like where I started and where I am now. I have taken different paths and roundabout ways and struggles and ups and downs. It's somewhat of a relationship that I can form with that book, even though it made me laugh so much that I would recommend that to anyone who's looking for some light reading.

I love that. Thank you. We'll put that on the list. And for people who want to learn more about you and connect with you, can they reach out on LinkedIn? Does that work?

Yeah, they can reach out in me and LinkedIn and also we have on monthly basis we do have Portal post events. So we have events, it gets advertised on LinkedIn. People can look up and they can of course come and see our space, meet our team, connect with any one of us and site.

That sounds really fun. So LinkedIn with you but also follow Portal on LinkedIn. Yeah, that way they can get news of those events and go if they want to.

Yeah. There's really nice events coming up. There's a Series eight pitch event, I think coming up, so the Portal Pose events are very useful for startups looking for it.

Amazing. Thank you for that tip. That's wonderful. This was really informative. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

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