Tell Me More: Scott Tenenbaum, Professor, College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering, Department of Nanoscale Science & Engineering, The RNA Institute, University at Albany - SUNY

Where did you grow up, and what sparked your interest in entrepreneurship?

I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri (Go Cards!). I got my PhD in microbiology and immunology from Tulane University Medical Center. New Orleans is a great place to be a graduate student. I had a wonderful experience there, got world-class training, and met my wife there, while she was in medical school. 

While at Tulane, I was studying the viral causes of autoimmune diseases, including Sjögren's syndrome, a chronic autoimmune disorder where the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's salivary glands. I was attempting to link patient reactivity to a new virus identified by my advisor from a Sjögren's patient’s lip biopsy, to show it caused the disease. I had the idea of looking at patients with silicone implants who exhibit symptoms similar to autoimmune patients, as an ideal negative control group. That involved visiting strip clubs to collect blood samples, and New Orleans is perfect for that; it resulted in some interesting stories!

We collected samples from several dozen patients intended as our control group. Although all tested negative for the virus, they exhibited an unexpected pattern of reactions to something we had not yet identified. I shifted my approach, and this pivot resulted in the first diagnosis of fibromyalgia. It turned out that many of the implant patients were suffering from fibromyalgia syndrome, a long-lasting condition marked by body pain, fatigue, sleep issues, and cognitive difficulties, which mimics many autoimmune diseases. It was just luck to stumble across this; we developed a diagnostic that led to the lead paper in The Lancet and became a central part of my PhD thesis.

We also had some drama; the editor at the New England Journal of Medicine insisted that implants had limited risks. A dispute unfolded between the editors of the two journals, and even the journal Science covered it. Eventually, we spun a company out to create a commercial diagnostic kit.

That was my first real experience with entrepreneurship. Autoimmune Technologies, Inc. was the first life-science spinout from Tulane and remains in existence. On the day of my PhD defense, we needed to file my first patent application to avoid public disclosure, which I had to learn about. I received royalties from the university and used the funds to purchase an engagement ring for my wife! It was then that I realized I was good at recognizing situations where technology should be commercialized.

How did you come to your current role at the University at Albany?

I conducted my postdoctoral work at Duke University Medical Center, focusing on RNA and RNA-binding proteins. There, I helped develop a new technique called RIP-Chip, which opened up a whole new area of research and led to the launch of another company, Ribonomics, Inc.

The research triangle is a mecca for this type of thing. The tech transfer office there had about 27 people pumping out patents. That was when I understood the role and focus on money. It’s the first thing I teach to scientists—the whole ecosystem is about making money. If you don’t understand that, you aren’t in the game. Science is a means to make money—not the other way around. I share that because it can be motivating. From Duke, I took my first faculty position at the University at Albany - SUNY in 2003.

At Albany, I have continued to focus on RNA research, and teaching why we know what we think we know in science. I teach both undergraduate and graduate courses. For example, we might look at data from a particular experiment; I want the students to understand that we are often wrong, and so to take everything with a grain of salt. Routinely focusing dogmatically on things is a mistake. Innovations come from being out of phase—you don’t want to be in phase with everyone else’s thinking. Otherwise, you are just doing “me too” science—you may be building a better mousetrap, but that’s not thinking outside the box. 

What was your experience taking a company through I-Corps?

Since 2004, much of my research is funded by the NIH, with a little from NSF. In 2007 we came up with a new idea of how to turn RNA into a switch to regulate its activity. We improve RNA by using our switches, which we call sxRNA, to control where and when it’s translated into protein. By doing so, we can make an RNA drug specific to diseased cells by tailoring it to the cells’ unique RNA signature. This innovation led to multiple patents and the spin-out of sxRNA Technologies, Inc. We have gone through four I-Corps training rounds, one for each of our product lines. I-Corps helped us to see that we have a platform technology. I learned that rather than thinking about a final product, you should think about your technology and what the best application of that might be.

I-Corps customer discovery helped us identify who our customers are and understand their pain points. Customers and end-users are not the same thing. Patients and doctors use diagnostics, but our customer is the diagnostic manufacturer. We have to identify their pain points. Through I-Corps, we had potential customers say, if you can do this, that would be great—we really came to understand the need. It’s meant to be a highly iterative process when it’s done well.

In I-Corps, you also learn to listen more than you talk, which is very hard for me, but it’s needed to get a feel for where your customers are struggling and what makes their lives better. This isn’t sales or a confirmation of your foregone conclusions. It’s a skill that’s really hard to teach; I try to do so by having students go through the process using both real and mock IP, then asking them to reverse-engineer technologies to solve real problems for potential customers.

For example, we met with a large insurance provider in the capital region. We told them we were working on a new cancer diagnostic; they said they don’t need a new cancer diagnostic, what they needed was the ability to identify metastatic cancer earlier. A person is in remission until they are not, and often by the time the cancer recurrence can be detected, it has progressed; treatment options are very expensive and sometimes more limited. If they can identify it earlier, there are more treatment options. This saves them money—and they clearly indicated where they need us to focus.

We have done this for mRNA vaccines, organoids, and biomanufacturing—a prospective customer says, “Is there any way you can do X?” And of course, we say yes, and then we try to figure out how.

Tell me about your Tech Scout role. What does that mean in practice?

I think it will bring me to certain groups doing I-Corps, and ideally, I’ll be able to wrangle best-in-class performers and identify more best practices to share.  

Most academic spin-offs are just that, extensions of an academic lab’s research. The work of running a company is a completely different beast with a steep learning curve. As a tech scout, I will probably play a larger role in helping individuals to become familiar with all the stages and steps of that process and how to focus on the business of making money and less on the science. I routinely ask, “Yes, but how are you going to make money?”  

You’ve had significant experience with launching startups that secure dilutive funding as well as from non-dilutive sources. Can you share your perspective on that?

One thing I have learned with dilutive funding: if you are going to get someone to invest in you, they have to like you. They have to believe in you as well as believe that you are going to make them money. If you don’t come across as likable, you have zero chance of getting investment. Pitch competitions do help with that. How well you communicate is critical. You can’t make people feel confused.

There’s an adage that you can take a great scientific idea and pair it with a bad business model, and it will almost always fail, but the opposite is not always the case.  Many examples exist of average or poor scientific ideas that, when combined with a strong business model, still achieve success. That’s how important it is to have a good business model; it is much more important than the technology. The actual technology is really a minor part of the story. You need to explain it clearly enough for everyone to understand, and you need a strong business plan.  It’s always about making money!

Getting PhD scientists to speak clearly about their innovation is really hard. You need to communicate effectively with audiences that have diverse backgrounds. Using analogies and even humor can help to make your story memorable. For example, our sxRNA is frequently called “sexy RNA”—it’s easy to remember. We use a lock-and-key analogy to explain our RNA switches. A prospective investor doesn’t need to know really anything about RNA. You don’t have to get into the weeds. If you are going to get real money, you must quickly sell your complex technology to someone with limited knowledge and many distractions, by convincing them you will make them money. They need to see how they can achieve three to four times their investment in 18-24 months, not understand technical details.  Simple pictures and analogies really help. Less is definitely more.

It’s a heavy lift for most scientists. You have to set the hook early for things to really line up. If you aren’t in a billion-dollar market, you aren’t going to get venture capital investment. Unless it’s going to get really big, the numbers don’t work for them. Real money is what it takes to run a company, and that is hard to get! You need to present from the perspective of the VC investor—put their hat on.

There are similarities with good grant writing—you need to write for your audience.  Non-dilutive funding isn’t very different, as the audience is a mix of folks from science and business backgrounds, and you need to make all the reviewers happy. A grant reviewer is only going to spend about 20 minutes with your grant application. You need to capture their interest quickly; if they are confused by what you’ve submitted, you’ve lost. They will never support your grant or advocate for its funding.  Strong storytelling, analogies, and simplified science have value for both nondilutive and dilutive funding opportunities. Developing your storytelling skills and explaining science in simple terms will make you a better presenter and a better scientist. 

What’s the biggest surprise you’ve experienced through I-Corps?

The biggest surprise I experienced was learning about anecdotal, individual pain points. Every time I discover a whole new area I did not know about or had the wrong preconceptions about, we re-engineer our technology, which completely redefines our product and leads to a more marketable offering.  Discovering actual empirical data from customers holds the biggest surprise.

What advice would you give to I-Corps participants?

You must suspend the belief that you know everything. Assume you know nothing and just learn. Most of my heavy lift with academic-based entrepreneurship is trying to convince PhDs that they don’t know everything, and to just let that go. If you go talk to customers with a preconceived notion, you will fail. That’s sales. However, by asking about their needs and pain points and genuinely listening to their responses, you might gain new insights. This can be challenging for highly educated individuals who often believe they already know everything, and many find it difficult. That’s why I continually emphasize this practice.

What are you reading (or hoping to read soon)?

The most recent book I’ve read is Theo of Golden. It’s a great book, probably the best book I’ve ever read. 

What do you do to relax?

Typically, I play hockey in an adult men's league. However, right now, my wife and I are training for the Ride for the Living, a 60-mile bike ride from Auschwitz to Kraków to celebrate the camp's liberation, inspired by a walk that one of the survivors took after gaining freedom. It is a fundraiser for the 55 Holocaust survivors still living in the area.