Venture Fellowship
Portal Innovations
Mentors
Michael Schultz, PhD Associate, Venture Operations
Steve Lehmann Director, Venture Operations
Yuan Zhang, PhD Director, Scientific Operations (BA ‘09, MS ’14, PhD ’16)
Company Overview
Portal Innovations is a premier venture development engine that bridges scientific ideation in life sciences, medtech, and bioinformatics through commercial proof of concept by delivering seed capital, specialized equipment and lab space and management expertise to high-potential early-stage companies. Portal is located in the West Loop.
Fellowship Description
Fellows will work with Portal’s Venture Operations team to conduct due diligence on early-stage biotech companies entering Portal’s orbit. Over the course of the fellowship, fellows will learn Portal’s methodology for conducting early due diligence by completing assessments of several emerging biotechnologies and exploring the scientific, clinical, regulatory, and market context of each. Fellows will present their findings to the rest of the team during weekly pipeline meetings. Fellows will also work on developing a perspective on a topic of interest to Portal related to life sciences innovation (e.g. immune-oncology, undruggable targets).
Qualifications
- Currently graduate student or postdoctoral trainee with a life science background.
- Interest in early-stage biotechnology startups.
- Can quickly and independently come up to speed on complex scientific concepts and then clearly communicate them in writing, with concision and simplicity.
- Some familiarity with the drug development process, FDA regulatory pathways, US healthcare landscape.
- Prior experience within UChicago’s entrepreneurial ecosystem (e.g. UCBA, I-Corps, the Compass, the George Shultz Innovation Fund) is a strong plus.
- Excellent time management skills and ability to prioritize and pivot.
Expectations
- Commit 5-10 hours per week for independent due diligence.
- Attend weekly meetings with the Portal team.
- Investigate emerging biotechnologies using a combination of public and proprietary (e.g. GlobalData, Pitchbook, PubMed) data sources.
- Clearly articulate findings, develop a perspective, and create and defend investment theses.
- One quarter minimum commitment (approximately 15 weeks).
Before submitting an application, please visit the Externships page for instructions regarding our new application platform: myCHOICE-Symplicity.