Navigating a Career in Biotech Through Experimentation and Connection
Denise Krawitz, PhD, will serve as the keynote speaker for the 35th Annual UBRP Conference, to be held on January 20, 2024.
We are excited to welcome UBRP and BRAVO! alumna Dr. Denise Krawitz as our keynote speaker for the 35th Annual UBRP Conference! Denise is a Principal Consultant at CMC Paradigms with over 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. She is a proud UBRP and BRAVO alum from (too) many years ago and is excited to come back to see how the UBRP has thrived and meet current students. After U of A, Denise got her PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley and then moved into the study of Chemistry and Manufacturing Controls (CMC) for protein-based therapeutics in the biotech industry. Denise spent several years working at different biotech companies in CA, including Genetech/Roche, BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, and Ambrx. Her background in studying protein chaperones in the Vierling lab as an undergraduate was foundational for her work in graduate school as well as industry.
As a consultant, Denise spends most of her time working with small and virtual biotechnology companies helping them design and produce proteins to benefit patients with different types of cancers, immunological disorders, neurological disease, genetic deficiencies, and anything else that can be solved by creative academic and industrial scientists. She helps these companies move potential therapeutic proteins from a research laboratory into a larger scale development environment to enable clinical trials in humans. The challenges with protein chemistry, cellular engineering, ensuring patient safety and navigating the regulatory environment, while managing investors, tight timelines, and the knowledge that patients are in need, sometimes desperate need, is immensely motivating and has been challenging, rewarding, and very exciting. While working as a consultant has been a steep learning curve, it is also a great way to do good science, help people, and importantly, have fun.
Denise currently lives with her family and 3 dogs in Marin County in the San Francisco Bay Area.