Dr. Lincoln Kim: Jack Of All Trades

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By Shawn Lawrence

Ask those involved in academia, industry and government what the issues facing the Canadian biotechnology and life science sector are and responses will vary.

This stems from a failure on each party’s part to properly communicate ideas in a way all three sides can understand. That’s not to say that there aren’t those unique instances when the three sides manage to overcome the translation barrier and accomplish something extraordinary, but usually, in moments like these, there’s an individual or individuals working in the background, doing the leg work, mediating between sides, acting as a translator. In this role, Dr. Lincoln Kim is a difference maker.

Kim is largely responsible for the genesis of the international collaboration that has Toronto researchers joining forces with world-renowned stem cell researcher Dr. Shinya Yamanaka. It was his initial handling of the situation that also spurred forth the creation of Canada’s first Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell bank, called the Ontario iPS cell facility.

The formation of the iPS centre also addressed another need. It propelled Ontario onto the world stage of leading stem cell research, leveraging Ontario’s research expertise and government funding as a basis for global partnership.
It was a deal that wouldn’t have happened without the cooperation of all three sides, academia, industry and government. Kim was the middle man in the deal and is also largely responsible for getting all three sides to come out of their individual silos.

“In November, 2007, when Yamanaka and his Kyoto University colleagues first announced they had managed to successfully reprogram human adult cells to function like pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells commonly abbreviated as iPS cells or iPSCs., he changed the world,” stated Kim adding that and in doing so Yamanaka also opened the door for Ontario to take its place on the world stage of stem cell research.

“iPS cells brought the focus back to embryonic stem cells, an area where much of our stem cell work is concentrated. All of a sudden, what Ontario was doing in this area mattered and we became a prime cluster that people around the world started to notice,” said Kim.

It wasn’t long after the Yamanaka announcement was made, that Kim got an idea in his head to get Yamanaka and researchers here in Ontario to collaborate, to combine their strengths and work together rather than compete. Kim also knew the window of opportunity would only be open for so long before other countries would be jumping in to work with Yamanaka. Time was of the essence. Kim went to the Ontario government and Ontario researchers in the field with a simple message- the window of opportunity is now.

“I told them before Yamanaka signs an international collaboration with anyone else, let’s have him join us first,” he said.

Within three weeks, the idea snowballed, first with Ontario stem cell scientists coming together in agreement, then with the province through the Ministry of Research and Innovation committing funds towards the collaboration and then ultimately with Yamanaka signing on.

“It was fortunate that things happened the way they did and just as fortunate that Yamanaka identified the fact that Toronto not only had a strong legacy, history and expertise, but also a reputation for strong collaboration. He could’ve chosen any group or nation to work with but he chose Ontario and Canada. And if we had waited too long to close the Yamanaka deal, we would still be in the lineup waiting. Fortunately we have a proactive government body (MRI) that’s willing to identify and support the commercialization process but also being in the right position, it truly was a convergence,” said Kim.

Kim’s role in the deal didn’t stop with generating the idea. His role continued on through the negotiation period, and in figuring out how the collaboration would best work.

"When I first came up with the idea for the iPS stem cell bank, I wasn’t sure what my involvement would be and because I was not government and I’m not science, I didn’t think my role would be necessary. So basically I created the idea, and said now you guys talk. I set up the meeting between government and the scientists and a funny thing happened in their meeting. Essentially they both didn’t understand each other. That’s when I realized that a translator was required with the ability to understand the science, and the ability to effectively communicate these ideas to the other stakeholders."

Kim’s involvement in the landmark pact stemmed from his ability to understand the point of view of all three levels (industry, academia and government) involved.

If one were to assess Kim’s accomplishments, the Yamanaka deal is definitely the biggest notch on his belt.

Kim has high expectations for the international partnership between UCSF (California), Kyoto University in Japan and the University of Toronto, he believes the collaboration will vault Ontario on the world stage. But he also accomplished a lot of other things while at MaRS as a manager at the MaRS Venture Group, a technology commercialization firm offering management consulting, early stage financing and business development services for over 300 companies in life science, IT and manufacturing.

Among the accomplishments, Kim helped to develop international funding opportunities for the local industry, working with government, industry and venture capital groups, while at the same time building upon Ontario’s ultimate competitive advantage-its research strength and its culture of collaboration.

He also authored the 2008 MaRS Industry Briefing on Regenerative Medicine. The document was sent to scientists, stakeholders, and people in the industry.

It got to the point where it became a reputable briefing quoted in the Conference Board of Canada and used for corporate strategy discussions by multinationals. It was this report that helped to create a proposal and assist in the Yamanaka deal and in securing $1M in seed financing for the creation of the iPS Ontario core facility.

Again it comes down to his ability in breaking through silos, and seeing the big picture.

“Having graduated from the University of Toronto with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, I had first hand experience working at the bench and in an academic setting. As a co-founder of a private biotechnology company spun out of my work at the University of Toronto, I crossed into a different silo, experiencing the pitfalls small Canadian biotechnology company’s face. And at MaRS, I was able to apply what I’d learned from my previous experience as well as start to see the industry from the point of view of government, venture capitalists and pharma.”

“It was a combination where they utilized my skill set, writing the reports, learning about the market, the business, working with companies, meeting VC’s and trying to mediate financing. At MaRS my job was very much associated with convergence. On a daily basis I would work with scientists who would tell me money’s not important, that they are doing it for the greater good of society, I would work with venture capitalists who would say they may not fully understand the science, but see opportunities to capitalize on the discovery and then I would also work with university tech transfer offices who understand the challenges of commercialization. I got to meet and work with various groups, and not only build a network between them, but also to begin to see opportunities. I started to see how they’re all separated into their own silos, and you begin to understand all three points of view.”

“One of the hardest parts of progress is getting new technology out of the ivory tower and onto the street. I know what early innovators and scientists are going through, I’ve been in the trenches,” said Kim. “Before what would happen was scientists would work in their silos, create these inventions or discoveries, publish their papers and assume the business people would understand them. I think it’s really important these days scientists combine or fuse their idealism, come out of their ivory towers and learn how to drive it to market. I think more and more people are realizing this. There is a need for more translators and drivers, and now we’re starting to see a new trend where people are becoming jack of all trades, with a multidisciplinary approach to finding and creating opportunities. The world is getting smaller and we need to work quicker. We need to combine our experiences, to have one foot in science, one foot in business and one foot in government, and then combine all three.”

Now no longer with MaRS, Kim is preparing to take on a new role with the Ministry of Research and Innovation. It is a role that he hopes will further help him understand government, the process and legislation behind it all, but he hopes it is a reciprocal partnership in that he can also help government understand what scientists are driving towards, to understand the industry perspective, and align them with one another.

“There’s a global race out there, and there are countries like Japan, Korea and China whose governments are getting it and implementing large stimulus packages or offering large injections of cash to get their knowledge based economy to compete.

These Asian markets represent excellent opportunities for Ontario to establish new partnerships with these established and emerging economies. I think the government of Ontario is really beginning to see and understand the opportunities here. Ontario is an evolving, emerging environment, with strong R&D capacity as academia, industry and government collaborate further. It’s just a matter of creating that entire commercialization pipeline and to utilize our advantage. And to be part of that process is fantastic.”