The Accelerator Fellowship Program: Alternate Career Paths for Graduate Students and Postdocs Joshua K. McBee

1. The Accelerator Fellowship Program: Alternate Career Paths for Graduate Students and Postdocs Joshua K. McBee The Institute for Systems Biology&Accelerator Corporation, Seattle WA. What is Accelerator? Companies Created by Accelerator • Accelerator is a biotechnology investment and development company that specializes in the creation early-stage biotechnology start-ups. Accelerator takes a unique approach to the creation of companies that minimizes risk in the often volatile world of biotech start-ups. By providing all resources necessary, risk and overhead costs are reduced and dramatically increases the chances of success for the start-up. Accelerator provides several advantages to a start-up: • Scientific Expertise from Accelerator and ISB • Venture capital funding • Management • Infrastructure Is using viral virulence factors to identify novel cellular targets for immune modulation. Therapies directed against these targets will treat a number of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. Develops tumor and pathogen specific therapeutic antibodies by isolation of monoclonal antibodies from human tissue samples from prior exposed patients Incorporates unnatural amino acids into biological therapeutics to Improve efficacy, tolerability, and pharmacology Seredigm – Developing novel therapeutics to protect against tissue damage in a number of acute or chronic medical conditions such as ischemic reperfusion injury. ReCodagen – Developing therapies against a novel target, MIG-7, believed to play an important role in metastasis and invasion in cancer. Mirina – Using minor groove binding technology to develop antagonists against micro RNA’s (miRNA) for treatment of cancer, infectious diseases or metabolic disorders. What is the Accelerator Fellowship? The ISB/Accelerator fellowship is a yearlong training program for postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, or research scientists at the ISB who are interested in learning more about entrepreneurial biotechnology and want to become leaders in bringing next-generation biotechnologies to market. The fellowship allows you to spend 10% of your time at Accelerator participating in the decisions regarding scientific, business, intellectual property, and management aspects of potential start-up companies. The fellow has the opportunity to work and interact with the Accelerator team as well as experienced scientists and investors from the Seattle biotech community and beyond. Many of the connections the fellow makes will become invaluable in their future career decisions. Accelerator’s Investors Accelerator has raised a total of $40.6 million for investment in early-stage biotechnology. In all more than $140 million has been invested in companies created by Accelerator.