Bridget Kohlnhofer
Bridget Kohlnhofer, PhD, is a Scientist II at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. She is a first-generation college student and received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse, a small state school that provided her with many research opportunities. Bridget then earned her PhD from the Medical College of Wisconsin, where she studied gastrointestinal (GI) development using both mouse and iPSC model systems. Before becoming a scientist in industry, she did an academic post-doc as well as an industry post-doc, which helped secure her current job.
Can you describe your academic and professional background? What path led you to pursue this field?
After graduate school, I joined Larry Goldstein’s laboratory at UCSD to model Alzheimer’s Disease in iPSCs and to pursue a career in academia. However, two years into that position a former colleague approached me with an industry postdoc opportunity. I had to really consider what I wanted my life to look like at that point. It came down to me wanting to have a better work/life balance, to stay in San Diego, and to be one step closer to the patient by working on more translational projects. I decided to accept the postdoc position at Janssen, a Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Company, and was there for two years. When I started looking for a Scientist position, I knew that I wanted to utilize iPSCs and pair my neuroscience and GI backgrounds. This last spring, I found that exact opportunity at Takeda where I am now developing iPSC cell therapies for enteric neuropathies.
How did you find this particular position, and what was the hiring process like? Is there a typical structure for this in your field?
I shared the type of position I was looking for with my manager and close network, so when this position was posted, my manager and a former colleague sent me the job listing. After applying to the position, I reached out to my network to ask if they knew any scientists at Takeda that I could talk to about the culture, the position, and the group. This resulted in three Takeda employees forwarding my resume on to the hiring manager, which definitely helped me land an interview.
Can you tell us about your current responsibilities? What is a typical day or week like in your role?
Currently, I am a Scientist II at Takeda in the Cell Therapy group working within the GI therapeutic area. In this role, my time is split between planning and performing experiments in the lab, attending project and group meetings, and managing academic and CRO collaborations.
What do you enjoy about your current job and work environment?
All-around, I enjoy every aspect of my current job and work environment, even with the current COVID virtual working environment. Foremost, I enjoy the innovative iPSC-derived cell therapy projects that I am working on and the balance of lab work and project management. Additionally, I have a great, understanding manager who is helping me grow and develop in my career as well as intelligent, hard working coworkers who have made me feel welcome while starting this position virtually.
What are some of the challenging aspects of your job? Is there anything you wish you had known about your job or industry before joining?
One current challenge or new learning experience for me is thinking about my project from a clinical standpoint. For example, I am developing a cell therapy product which requires me to optimize protocols using only GMP human-grade reagents, to identify matrices to culture the cells onto that will not be contaminant in our future cell therapy product, and to keep in mind the cost of reagents to grow the cells.
Do you have any professional plans for the future? What are some future career paths that could open up for someone in your position, 5-10 years down the road?
My professional plans for the next five years are to become a project lead and to begin to grow a team. Further down the road, my goal is to become a director of a department.
What’s changing in your industry? Are there any future trends we should be aware of?
Only in the last few years have large pharmaceutical companies began to build iPSCs teams for cell therapy programs, disease modeling, and drug screening. It is a great time to join these companies while the groups are small and the potential is large for future growth and leadership opportunities.
What activities, internships, or organizations would you recommend someone get involved with to help them break into this field?
I recommend getting involved in an organization and taking on a leadership role. Having a leadership role on your CV shows hiring managers that you are ambitious and are able to lead. I have been a member of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) for 5 years and was co-chair of the outreach group. Through AWIS I have made many valuable connections and was able to showcase my leadership skills on my CV.
Can you think of any advantages or disadvantages someone with a PhD might experience while pursuing or working in your field?
An advantage, in my opinion, to having a PhD in a biotech or pharmaceutical company is the opportunity to gradually move away from the bench to more critical thinking project management and leadership roles that wouldn’t be as readily accessible for someone that does not have a PhD.
Do you have any final words of advice for those navigating these career questions? Is there anything you would have done differently given what you know now?
I didn’t always have confidence in myself as a scientist. Recently, however, I have realized that each time I set a career goal, I have been able to attain it because I came up with a plan and surrounded myself with a strong network. My advice would be to make genuine connections with faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates in your labs. It is great to have connections with scientists at many different levels, especially those with more experience for career advice and future career opportunities, but also those with less experience for when you start to hire for your own team. Know that you can attain your career goals by coming up with a plan and surrounding yourself with a strong network.
