What’s the Buzz?! ISPE + MAST
In last week’s What’s the Buzz?! series, Chris Frew, CEO of BioBuzz Networks, spoke with Lynne Cooper, Principal, El Sea, and Special Projects Manager, Critical Systems, Inc., to discuss her new position as President of International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE), 2024 Mid-Atlantic Science & Technology (MAST) In-Person Showcase and women in welding.
| BioBuzz has been connecting the life science workforce since 2009. We’ve built an expansive community in the Mid-Atlantic with a national readership that spans from Massachusettes to Florida, and New York to California. For our next chapter, we’re building a proprietary talent logistics model to help employers source and hire life science talent. Learn more. |
Last week, we had the pleasure of speaking with Lynne Cooper, Principal at El Sea and Special Projects Manager at Critical Systems, Inc. Lynne shared insights into her new role as President of the ISPE Chesapeake Bay Area Chapter and offered a glimpse into what attendees can expect at the highly anticipated 2024 Mid-Atlantic Science & Technology (MAST) In-Person Showcase.
As Lynne steps into her role as President of the ISPE Chesapeake Bay Area Chapter, she brings with her a wealth of experience and a passion for driving positive change within the industry. We’re excited to join Lynne and Chris Frew, CEO of BioBuzz Networks, as they discuss the impact of her new position and the exciting initiatives she has planned for the chapter.
One of the highlights of our conversation was learning about the upcoming MAST 2024 event, set to be the biggest event of the year for the biohealth community. With a focus on innovation, collaboration, and networking, MAST promises to deliver an unparalleled experience for attendees. From cutting-edge technologies to insightful panel discussions, MAST is shaping up to be a must-attend event for anyone in the biohealth sector.
But that’s not all – BioBuzz is proud to support MAST’s Career Center with a full day of programming designed to empower professionals in the industry. From headshot sessions to resume workshops and mentor circles, BioBuzz is committed to providing valuable resources and opportunities for career advancement.
Learn more about this exciting conversation here! Register for MAST [for free]: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/324mcwk
Chris Frew [00:00:00]:
And good morning, everybody. This is Chris Frew with Biobuzz with a Friday edition of what’s the buzz today? I’m coming to you with Lynne Cooper, who’s in the mobile command center, as many business owners often have to be in Charleston, North Carolina. Is that where you are? I should know my geography. So we’re doing these live events every week to bring good conversations from leaders in the community together. And so again, it’s an honor to bring this conversation to you today with someone who I consider a friend, who I’ve known for many years. We’re going to talk about ISP. We’re going to talk about the industry. We’re going to talk about workforce.
Chris Frew [00:00:44]:
I’m sure we’re going to talk about a bunch of other stuff. But without further ado, let me introduce Lynne real quickly. So Lynne is the principal of LC, which is basically an owner advocate consulting firm. And you can tell us a little bit more about that. Co founder of well chain, director of critical systems, and the current president of ISPE, Chesapeake Bay chapter. And you wear more hats than I do. Lynne, welcome.
Lynne Cooper [00:01:11]:
No way. That’s not possible. Chris, I’m thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me.
Chris Frew [00:01:18]:
My pleasure. My pleasure. Well, this event is timely, isn’t it? Because ISP and Bybuzz had a little announcement yesterday. Do you want to start off maybe talking about that a little bit?
Lynne Cooper [00:01:30]:
I actually want to go 14 years back to the recent video of you, my friend, that I remember. So 14 years. And the video I’m talking about, for those that might not be aware, BioBuzz is in the crowdfunding stages. And Chris did a throwback in a recent email that went out, and it was his face when he and Andy started BioBuzz, and I was there for it. And I couldn’t be more thrilled to be an investor also in BioBuzz, as LC, as the company to invest in that community as well. So thank you for that.
Chris Frew [00:02:12]:
Yeah, thank you for that, Lynne. Thank you for bringing that up. That video just doesn’t want to go away for some reason. Once it’s online, it’s online forever. Right. But we’re. Yeah, we’re so proud to have you as an investor. And 14 years is a long time, you know, and it’s a lot of time.
Chris Frew [00:02:33]:
You and I both have been, you know, really at this and working and supporting the community for many, many years. And, you know, I like that video, too, because it just, sometimes it’s good to remember where your roots are. But, you know, a lot of people go in and out of different industries, but something about this industry that keeps people tied to it. You know, there’s a really deep community, and that’s something that I know is really important to us at Biobuzz, and we’ve been rooted in the workforce since the beginning. And I know that’s something that’s very important to you.
Lynne Cooper [00:03:07]:
It is. You know, there’s a lot of people that really want a lot of letters and acronyms and things behind their name. A majority of my life and my career has been on the job training. And so to be able to figure out a way to memorialize that and to put that back into the community through support, mentoring, just good community, good, organized, just quality people caring about other humans. And so that’s really what I’ve built my entire career on, and it’s been a great ride. I’m excited and happy to still be here. Everybody said you couldn’t build a lifetime career in bio, and here I am 25 years later. So go ahead, tell me what I can’t do.
Lynne Cooper [00:03:52]:
I’ll try. I’ll show you. It’ll be fun, right?
Chris Frew [00:03:56]:
I love that. I love the I can’t, you can’t do this or, you know, that’ll never work type of people. But, you know, you definitely show that. You definitely proved that wrong. And it’s not just a career, but a career of impact. You know, you’ve been doing things, working for and just in your career in general, you build things and you help people build things. So just by definition, you’re making an impact and you’re literally building this industry.
Lynne Cooper [00:04:24]:
That’s nice to hear. It’s really nice to hear.
Chris Frew [00:04:29]:
And probably one of the hardest workers I know in this industry. Your, your flew, took a red eye last night, and you’re already on this call this morning with me. So, so. But that’s what it takes when you’re, you know, when, when you’re running a business and you’re, and you’ve got goals and you’re, you want to make an impact.
Lynne Cooper [00:04:47]:
So I believe it’s not about being smarter. It’s about working harder.
Chris Frew [00:04:51]:
Yeah.
Lynne Cooper [00:04:51]:
There are plenty of people that are much smarter than I, but I challenge anybody to outwork me.
Chris Frew [00:04:57]:
I’m not going to take that challenge. I’m not taking that well. Let’s talk about work. I mean, from the moment that I got introduced to ISPE, I have associated ISPE with Lynne Cooper. I mean, you have been around for the longest time, and I’m super excited to be part of IsPE with you at the helm as the president. So for those that might be tuning in that aren’t familiar with ISP, can you give us a little introduction and tell us about a little bit about your journey there and kind of what you have in store as President?
Lynne Cooper [00:05:38]:
Sure. So when I needed to figure out a way to get integrated into the community and still feel like I could be the shy person that I am, let me have my own. I think I’m shy. So I started going to ISPE and handing people out their name tags so I can learn their names. And that’s really how I got injected into the community and welcoming everyone. And so that’s the major tenet, is we are a community. We welcome anyone and everyone. All are welcome always.
Lynne Cooper [00:06:16]:
There’s. That should always be how you feel when you come to the CBA chapter events. And if you don’t feel that way, reach out to one of the board members, because we’re doing something wrong and we want to fix it. So it’s really about creating an environment so people feel supported. People know who to come to and where to come if they have issues. And not necessarily that those people will have the answers to the issues, but we have a community and a knit.
Chris Frew [00:06:54]:
I think Lynne froze here for a second. We’ll let her catch up on the mobile command center. I’ll take this time, actually, to also talk a little bit about community. And community is supported by sponsors. So I want to take a quick moment to thank some of our sponsors who make our community possible. First is Hefron. Heffron is a highly specialized commercial, mechanical and plumbing contractor that’s been serving the life science industry for 100 years. Also, CRB, one of our long term sponsors, a full service design engineering firm.
Chris Frew [00:07:29]:
And Protex, which is a full service design build, construction management company, also runs five innovation centers in Philadelphia. So thank you to our sponsorship community. And Lynne is back.
Lynne Cooper [00:07:42]:
Yes. Sorry. The joystick.
Chris Frew [00:07:45]:
You gave me an opportunity to introduce our sponsorship community. It worked out.
Lynne Cooper [00:07:51]:
So I apologize for the. For the technology issue on my part. But I hope the essence of what you got was that we are here to support the community and be that resource so that everyone feels supported and welcome.
Chris Frew [00:08:03]:
Absolutely. I think that definitely comes through, or has always come through since I’ve been there. And ISPE is an international society for pharmaceutical engineering. So the members of ISP are, you know, basically anybody involved in cGMP, drug development, medical device development, everything from vendors and construction to end users who are in the. In the facilities building the facilities, designing the facilities. So did I capture that correctly? Is it did. I don’t want to leave anyone else.
Lynne Cooper [00:08:40]:
So the ISPE writes the best practice guidelines for all of it.
Chris Frew [00:08:46]:
Yeah.
Lynne Cooper [00:08:46]:
So to say that the ISP is foundational is absolutely accurate, because the way that what we reference and the good practices that we follow are written by ISPE. And so as members of ISPE, we actually get to read these guidance documents ahead of time as they are going out to the market. And so it’s an even more cutting edge way for us to be involved even sooner in that regulatory information and staying on top of the everything that’s changing by the minute in our industry, it’s changing fast.
Chris Frew [00:09:18]:
So. So, and it’s a membership organization. So I get this question sometimes. So it’s individual membership organization as opposed to some organizations where like, you know, like Bio is a, you know, companies enter bio, but, but ISP, again, supports individual members. So, you know, anybody that’s working in the space, it’s a great organization to come to so you can make sure you are up on regulations because that is critical to your career and your job and tremendous amount of learning resources. And then again, the community itself is, you know, and we can talk a little bit about everything that you do to support the community as well.
Lynne Cooper [00:09:59]:
Yeah.
Chris Frew [00:10:00]:
So go ahead.
Lynne Cooper [00:10:03]:
I was just going to say we have a emerging leaders committee, a women in pharma committee, and we’ll talk about the mast event a little bit later. But those two committees have partnered to create an amazing career development center with Biobuzz and workforce genetics for the mast event. And it’s going to have multiple end user companies. It’s going to have resume reviews. It’ll have soft skills training. All of the things, we have great engineers coming out of our engineering schools. We might not have engineers that have soft skills, so we’re trying to make sure that we can provide the total package to our employers locally with the soft skills and the education engineering, so that we really are dialed in to our clients and customers globally.
Chris Frew [00:10:50]:
Yeah, that’s great. And I hear about this. So not only from engineers coming out of school, but I’ve meet a lot of people that are coming from some of these end user companies who are part of ISPE because they want to work on their professional development. So they get involved to get involved with committees and groups and to be part of the events and to work on making sure they’re plugged in and they understand what’s going on outside of their department or outside of their role so I think just complimenting that. I love seeing students out and emerging, you know, talent come out to ISP. But, but it is, it’s, it’s industry professionals who are, who are, again, it’s the professional development element of, you know, getting involved and how that can help your career. So let’s talk about mast. That’s coming up.
Lynne Cooper [00:11:44]:
Yeah. May 7. May 7. So every year we have the mid atlantic science and tech showcase. We. We call it mast. Everyone knows the Chesapeake bay for our boats and our water. So that’s the theme.
Lynne Cooper [00:11:56]:
We revolve around that. This year we’re at a brand new location. We’re in Martin’s west in Baltimore. So what we’ve heard over the past is that we’ve been very 270 centric. We heard you. We’re gonna shift to the other side of the Beltway and we’re gonna go over to the Baltimore side. We’re in a larger location at Martin’s west. We will have the ability to have two x the vendors and we almost have two x the vendors already registered.
Lynne Cooper [00:12:22]:
So we’ve got an amazing committee. John Berkmire, design group. Luke Redmond from Whiting Turner. Martha Delaney from Healthcare QA. We have Randall Renfrow from Rogers Consulting. All kinds of. Jason Metzler, Kelsey Metzler. We have just a great group of committee members that are focusing on every single bit of it.
Lynne Cooper [00:12:44]:
So there will be details in every corner that we’re really proud to be presenting. We’ll also have some special guests that might be associated with our local favorite teams, plural. So I want to tease that we have a great. Yeah, I’m really excited about that. We have a great keynote speaker. We’re going to be teasing that soon about the information that they’re going to be sharing for the first time at mast. So there’s. We’re really trying to make sure that we have a bunch of education sessions.
Lynne Cooper [00:13:20]:
We have a lot of, we have. Where Malcolm presenting IPS is presenting HCA, healthcare, Veolia Water systems, Steris is presenting QNup, is presenting Cadillacs, Gilbain. And then we have a panel that includes the NIH, Hensel, Phelps, CGF, and CF, names that, you know are different than what you’ve heard other mast events. And we’re really excited about that, to bring that difference. And then we’ll also have our ongoing momentum so quickly through QR codes, one or two questions answered to tell us how we’re doing and how we can be improving and constantly improving our events. So it’s going to be an action packed day. And we’re really, really excited for it. Party at the end, open bar band, the same one that came last year.
Lynne Cooper [00:14:18]:
It was such a hit. So. And we have. Yeah, I’m really.
Chris Frew [00:14:23]:
That’s exciting. So I’m excited about this keynote and I’m curious who’s coming from the Baltimore teams. So you got it. You got me thinking now I gotta have to text you offline and see if you can divulge a little bit for me. So that’s a, that’s a jam packed day. So on a couple of the key themes I know this year, sustainability. Right. Is one of them.
Chris Frew [00:14:46]:
Technology and innovation. Right. There’s no lack of that happening. And operations. Do you want to unpack any of those a little bit? Is there any important topics that you want people to know about that we’ll be covering?
Lynne Cooper [00:15:01]:
So there’s a large variety of topics that we are covering. And as opposed to it being very tailored and very niche this year, we’ve gone very broad and hoping to hear back from the community how we’re doing, you know, what you want, which they want more of. Really excited about the NIH panel. We haven’t been able to have folks from NIH to present to date. So we’re really excited to have those NIH folks on site. And then really these regulatory tools, we are the ones that help with these regulatory items. And so, for instance, the USP had regulatory changes around compounding that impacted small, compounding farmers perspective. And so that allows us an awareness to help our clients and the community move with awareness of what? The more you know, the more you can help people.
Lynne Cooper [00:16:11]:
And ISPE does, making sure drug shortages are not happening, those are, that’s one of our key incentives. We know, you know, incentive type programs. We’re really trying to make sure we can stop the drug shortage, drug shortages. When they do a recipe, focus it on with member companies.
Chris Frew [00:16:36]:
Yeah, that’s great. I like that approach of staying broad and because there’s so much happening in the market right now, like, it’s like, how do you pick one or two things that you’re going to focus on? And I feel like everybody is. There’s just so many different currents that are coming through the industry. I think that’s a really wise, wise option or right wise decision on the programming. And I think that, you know, just to tie a couple. Oh, go ahead.
Lynne Cooper [00:17:01]:
We’re even talking about digital identity security from a healthcare perspective because that in their medical records is and could impact our electronic batch records. Our EBR systems. So these breaches that we are talking about being cognizant of as individuals, we also need to be cognizant of that for our projects, our clients, our products. So there’s something to think about there. We don’t necessarily have answers, but we have a lot of questions. And having a bunch of people in one spot where we have questions means that we start asking those collision questions. Right. To start, start resolving some of those problems just organically because that’s what we do as humans, as we try to solve problems.
Lynne Cooper [00:17:44]:
Right?
Chris Frew [00:17:46]:
Amen to that. And I think you just touched on something that I think it’s really important for our audience to know and to think about is that you’re going to have vendors from across the industry all together in one place. So while you’re back in your facility or in your lab and you’re working on a lot of these different challenges again, and there’s more on our plates than ever before, if there’s ever a spot to come to, to get a lot of your answers, at least discussion around those answers happening in one place, it’s the ISP mass showcase. So you’re going to get, you’re going to have a large room convention center filled with experts who all read the ISP guidelines and apply them and know them as it relates to their specific industry, whether it’s, again, badging or mechanical engineering or your water systems or everything in between. So again, if there’s ever a place that you want to get some answers or find out what other people are doing across the industry, mast is in one day, you’re going to leave there probably with a lot more questions, but a lot of your first questions answered. Well, awesome. Well, I’m excited about it. I’m more excited about that now.
Chris Frew [00:19:11]:
What else do you have in store and what are some of the other agenda items? As the president of the Chesapeake Bay chapter this year? You know, everybody brings, I think, you know, continued a continuation of the past with a kind of additional focus on the future. So I would love to hear a little bit about kind of what your vision is.
Lynne Cooper [00:19:31]:
Sure. So we are working on becoming a more self sustaining chapter, and I can explain that, but that’s really my, my big focus over the next couple of years is to create a chapter that sustains and survives on its own, has archived information, so all of our members forever know where that information is, has standard operating procedures, so committee members can come in and run events relatively easily with minimal headache on their part. And so we applied for an ISPE annual Growth Fund award last year, and we were awarded $13,000 to use over the course of this year to really put that framework in place. And what that means is, hopefully next year, when it’s year two of my presidency, I’m stepping back and I’m watching the work processes happen, so it doesn’t need me. And in theory, as we matriculate, folks through the board, and people become. Move up through the ranks, will help the chapter grow and grow and grow and not have fits and starts when we have changes of presidency. So that that’s really the goal, is that two years from now, when I’m not around, this chapter is running just as well. Even better.
Lynne Cooper [00:20:51]:
And the standard operating procedures are in there, so people can just run with it. And it’s not something that’s hamstrung by Len Cooper. So trying to create a better environment going out than what I got came in, coming in.
Chris Frew [00:21:04]:
That’s awesome. I mean, that’s a, that’s a great initiative. I mean, sustainability, I know it’s a big topic in the industry right now, but for any operation, you know, and again, I can tell, I can attest that when you’re part of a volunteer group, that’s something that’s hard. It’s not always thought of, you know?
Lynne Cooper [00:21:22]:
Right. We want to make it to our chapter. Our committee, our committee chairs are really empowered with their own budgets. They ask for the budget, the board awards it. We go through the processes of them using those budget dollars through the year, and the framework is set up. So we’re running just like any other business. We’re not running the nonprofit. That doesn’t necessarily keep in mind that we have to keep our dollars in our pocket.
Lynne Cooper [00:21:45]:
So we’re trying to do as much value for our members while having as low and as low operating costs as possible. We’re trying to run a good business.
Chris Frew [00:21:54]:
I love that. Spoken like a true businesswoman and entrepreneur. So why don’t we take a couple minutes, tell us about your ventures so you can start with whichever one you would like. Maybe LC start there. You know, clearly, clearly you know how to run a business just by what you’re working on for ISP. So tell us what you’re doing and what’s one. You’re in your world these days with LC.
Lynne Cooper [00:22:23]:
So I can take it back to my why. And most people that I work with know my why. United Therapeutics is one of my best clients, one of my favorite clients to work with while I was working on the first of its kind lung transplant facility. We called it lb one. At the time, while I was working on that facility, I not only lost my father, I lost my godfather, both of them to lung diseases. My uncle died of mesothelioma. He had one lung for seven years. He was the longest hospice patient on record in his local jurisdiction.
Lynne Cooper [00:22:58]:
So he. He did a great job. My dad needed a double lung transplant. We took him to Duke. We got him a seat at the table, and Duke called. They call you afterwards. They, you know, they do a panel there with you. You’re basically saying, here.
Lynne Cooper [00:23:13]:
Here I am, here’s my life. Can you give me some lungs? And we got a phone call after that event from Duke that said he was out of his transplant window. And what that means is, he’s too sick. They won’t do anything. And that catalyzed my, and galvanized my desire to make sure that families could have longer and more time together. So, as of just last month, United Therapeutics has saved 300 humans, and 300 families have had more time together as a result of the two buildings that we’ve built. So that’s my why.
Chris Frew [00:23:53]:
That’s incredible.
Lynne Cooper [00:23:53]:
And when I tell people my why after that, I say, if that doesn’t get you up in the morning, then you need to change your career.
Chris Frew [00:24:01]:
Oh, absolutely.
Lynne Cooper [00:24:03]:
So that’s how LC is. We advocate for owners. We advocate for owners making data driven decisions, not decisions that are, oh, this is what everybody else is doing, or this is what we’ve always done. That’s the kiss of death. So we really help to make owners in a position of empowerment in their integrated, collaborative team. So that’s how we work best. In the process of helping with owners representation type services and in doing project management. For process related items like our nGMP spaces, there is a stainless orbital process that has to be followed.
Lynne Cooper [00:24:47]:
It’s very specific, it’s very rote. It is exactly written down what you have to do. But oftentimes people don’t follow it. And if you don’t follow it step by step, you’re not in good practice. And technically, that weld has to be ripped out. So weld chain came around to help the operators of those welding machines not to make those mistakes. So on a project where you can have a quarter million dollars of stainless piping that has to be literally thrown away, you don’t have those mistakes. So, yes, you have a little bit of a slower start, but you don’t have the mistakes because you’re forced to go through the process in the specific way that the regulatory guidelines tell you needs to be done.
Lynne Cooper [00:25:37]:
So that’s.
Chris Frew [00:25:40]:
And is well chain. So a technology.
Lynne Cooper [00:25:47]:
Well chain is an app. It sits on top of is a technology app that sits on top. It uses the blockchain to lock in the data. So we have an immutable source of truth, which is what the FDA always wants, is that immutable source of truth. We’ve had conversations with the FDA, had conversations with blockchain and ISPE. So we’re integrating all of these different technologies to benefit welders in the field. We know we’re 300,000 welders short. To complete the work, we already have booked in semiconductor, stainless, and right now.
Lynne Cooper [00:26:19]:
So unless and until we can improve that process, we can’t get the welders in the. In where they need to be. It takes you’ll welders five years to get through an apprentice program. We’re 300,000 welders short right this second. We don’t have five years. So we’ve got to figure out a way to truncate that with training with technology so that we can improve the processes and. And make that street steep trajectory of additional workforce available. Yeah, so that was well chained.
Lynne Cooper [00:26:53]:
That was on top of stainless. In the meantime, the other founder of Weld chain and I and others have been innovating, and we have developed the first of its kind, copper orbital welding technology. What that means is brazing doesn’t have to be done anymore. You can use orbital welding machine. It’s set up, you set it up, you fit it up, you let it go, and the computer does the work. The computer is calibrated, so you get the same repeatable results each time. So we’re in the process of launching that. There’s never been copper orbital welding machines ever.
Lynne Cooper [00:27:26]:
And so I’m really thrilled in the next part of my career to help bring technologies to the marketplace that haven’t been launched before. So that’s what we’re doing with critical systems in that special project.
Chris Frew [00:27:38]:
Well, that’s pretty exciting. I’m excited about that. I don’t know the welding industry too well, but I know workforce development, and I know 300,000 is a lot of ground to make up, and you can’t make it up with just schooling, you know, so technology has got to play a role. So. Well, chain, just to take a step back. Does it have a workforce development component as well? So is there, is, you know, is there any involvement in the education or workforce development approach?
Lynne Cooper [00:28:10]:
So the. I don’t think in the way you’re thinking of it what well, chain does is it actually will use, it reaches out to the certifying bodies to make sure your certificate is current. So depending on who it’s connected to, your welder logs in for the day says this is who they are when they authenticate the blockchain checks that very morning, that very moment, to make sure their license and their certificate is current.
Chris Frew [00:28:39]:
Gotcha. Gotcha.
Lynne Cooper [00:28:40]:
And so in that way, it does check to make sure you have that education. But, but I don’t think that’s the workforce component that you were thinking about, right?
Chris Frew [00:28:49]:
No, I was thinking more early pipeline, but yeah, but that’s a big area to make up, so we need more advocacy there, it sounds like.
Lynne Cooper [00:29:00]:
And only 3% women welders. Let me just pipe up for the women welders. Only 3%. And that number has not changed in the past ten years, and we should be ashamed of ourselves for that. So I’m hoping that we can get more women in the field. There’s, with computer aided and computer supported, there’s not, doesn’t, there doesn’t need to be heavy lifting. It’s the equalizer. The computer aided programming and the computer aided machines are the equalizer across the genders.
Chris Frew [00:29:29]:
Yeah. If anybody’s interested, come to mast, talk to Lynne about it. There any other ways they can get involved in welding or get involved in, in the industry?
Lynne Cooper [00:29:40]:
AWS is a great resource. United association, the UA is a great resource as well. All of those folks are more than willing to help, and I can connect you with whomever you’d like and find contacts together if we needed to do that. We’ll figure it out.
Chris Frew [00:29:58]:
That’s awesome. You think about, well, I think about life sciences, and I’ve been in it 20 years, so I know everything that goes into it, but I talk to people all the time and I say things like, oh, yeah, well, we really need some mechanical engineers in the industry right now. And they’re like, mechanical engineering? I’m like, yeah, there’s a shortage. Or welders. People don’t associate a lot of these trades with life sciences. They think life sciences. You think like white coats and pipettes and microscopes. But a huge part of our workforce and life sciences is traits.
Chris Frew [00:30:37]:
And I think that’s a message I’m glad that you’re carrying the torch for, because we’re all going to be in a pinch if we can’t build the buildings that we need to get the medicines out that save our family’s lives. And it starts often with the trades.
Lynne Cooper [00:30:55]:
It really does and it does. There’s a two things there. There’s going to have to be a bit of a paradigm shift around life sciences and what that nomenclature means, because what I’ve heard, I was in Phoenix this week working on the, we’re chatting about the Discovery Oasis project on the Mayo campus in Phoenix and some other life science projects in Phoenix, Arizona. And they are booming. They’re really booming. They really are committed to making that sector and that area a strong part of the United States and sustaining that. And one of the things I think that they have really focused on is that workforce development piece. And so they seem to be doing it right.
Lynne Cooper [00:31:47]:
And I was really impressed and I’m excited to be doing several projects there and working in that community there. It’s a community that cares very similar to our community. They’re a little bit younger in their life cycle of an ecosystem with that life science hub. But it’s nice to come from our area and go to that area because you can see if you will allow yourself to look at it from a big picture perspective. You can see the similarities in the cycles. And so everybody is focusing really on making sure that we have, you know, that paradigm shift. Health information, health data, radio medicine, there’s a bunch of different sectors within, quote unquote, life sciences, and some of it’s going to be med device, med tech, and we call those a lot of other different things. If it touches the human body or affects human health, that’s life science.
Chris Frew [00:32:44]:
Absolutely, absolutely. And combination products are really becoming a big part of a lot of people’s, you know, how drugs are being delivered and administrator. It’s funny, you know, Phoenix has come up quite a bit and I’d love to hear your feeling on this, but these secondary markets in life science are really starting to buzz, pun intended. And what I’m, I’m hearing a couple, here’s a couple things I’m hearing. I’d love to hear your, your feedback on one is they’re kind of starting with workforce development in mind versus starting with companies and just being there and then like, oh, we need to help the workforce. They’re starting with workforce development mind and they’re thinking holistically about what you said. Other industries, I hear, oh, semiconductors are really big here, so we really want to make sure we can complement that with bio manufacturing or so like, again, what are you seeing in these secondary markets that are emerging right now? What kind of trends are you finding that they’re focused on?
Lynne Cooper [00:33:53]:
So I think it should be said that there’s been a $40 billion investment from TSMC, the Taiwan semiconductor in Phoenix, and that can do a lot of good. That investment in that local community, those people that are doing that semiconductor work, it’s stainless steel, just like is in our pharmaceutical facilities. And so where we’re seeing big semi plants as those toolings start to be released, which will start happening in the next couple quarters, they’re a couple quarters behind, but they’re, they’re trying to make up some time when those phase out will be when our stuff phases in. And so we, as much as we want to say that’s semicondon, it’s different. We really need to be sharing the workforce, cross training, sharing, and as opposed to pigeonholing folks using technology and things like that to augment, but that way we can get that incremental step forward. Have you all done trainings around techniques like that and custom train, created custom trainings for things like that in response to needs in the market?
Chris Frew [00:35:12]:
No, we haven’t, and we’re following a lot of that. And with Biobuzz, as you know, as an investor, we’re launching the talent lab, and we really see the talent lab as the roads and pipes for the workforce. And so one of the things we are looking is what do we have to track? Probably similar to weld chain like, you know, and what can we show a life science employer that is transferable? So again, transferable skills from semiconductor into life sciences. So, you know, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Houston, there’s these markets that are really starting to emerge. And I think what I’m excited about at Biobuzz is we’ve been a media platform for a community platform for 14 years, and with the talent lab on the other end, it really makes this end to end platform possible, where we’re truly a career long destination for the workforce. And we want to be the roads and pipes to their careers all throughout their career. I often say it’s from the moment that we introduce you to a career in life sciences, whether that’s as a welder or a lab tech, all the way till after you retire, and you just want to kind of escape your partner for 20 hours a week to stay working just so you can, like, keep some sanity and keep tied to your, what you’re passionate about. Like, we want to be a destination where your career kind of lives.
Chris Frew [00:36:40]:
So our platform, which is some people have said it’s kind of like the upwork for life sciences. It connects people to gigs, projects, contract and staff augmentation work. So it’s a better way to connect beyond just a job board. And so we’re really looking at this whole end to end pipeline and how do we more efficiently manage that as a platform? So what we’re getting a lot of interest from these secondary markets is pretty soon as we finish the technology development for the talent lab, you basically have a bio buzz in a box. So we’re going to be able to go to places like Phoenix or Utah and literally drop in a platform that has all the excitement, the media, the community building, all built in to attract companies, attract your workforce to really kind of get things buzzing and then the tools to keep the tools to put them to work as well. So that’s what we’re hearing and that’s what we’re seeing from these secondary markets. And we’re exploring some economic development workforce grants to really bring biobuzz to those markets right now and to give us a soft landing to then, you know, be an agent of impact and change for years to come. So again, that’s like we’re still building our technology, we’re still building out the platform, but once it’s built, those are the conversations we’re having right now about how we can empower secondary markets.
Chris Frew [00:38:21]:
And I’ll say one last thing, because this isn’t about me, this is about you. But when you have a platform like what we’re building, workforce becomes broader. So if you’re a startup company in feedback, Phoenix, you now have access to a fractional workforce, fractional leadership from Boston and San Francisco and wherever else you need. So that’s powerful and that’s the power we want to bring to secondary markets. We want to say no, you know, because of technology. We’re bringing you advisors and, you know, contract staff or consultants that, and you don’t need, you don’t need everybody local right now. And so that’s what I’m also really excited about is the ability to just drive innovation by opening up people’s worlds with AI enabled matchmaking to strategic advisors. And I think those markets are going to see a big pop in the next 510 years because of stuff like what you’re doing and hopefully what Biobuzz is doing as well.
Lynne Cooper [00:39:23]:
And to give more kudos to Arizona. Arizona bio, Az bio. Joan and her team at AZ Bio, they’re on fire. Like really just know and understand the full roundabout, you know, wraparound services. And in addition to having that effort and AZ bio pushing there, we also have the ability really to leverage their desire for incentive. So Wedgwood Pharma is another one of my clients that I’m working with in Arizona, and we were able to get a really nice incentive package put together for them that, like you said, helps with a soft landing there. Yes. They’re going to bring 200 jobs.
Lynne Cooper [00:40:08]:
It’s fantastic, to the Chandler market, but they need some help. Yeah, it’s, it’s that, it’s that awareness, like you said, just that full service awareness that I just, I’ve seen just, just this week, and it’s, it’s, it’s nice to see.
Chris Frew [00:40:26]:
That’s exciting. You are all over the place. You know, I don’t know. I really don’t know how you do it. Like I said, I am not going to take that challenge to out compete and outwork you, Lynne, you continue to impress me. And as we wrap up here, anything else that you’d like to say or anything else you’d like to share with our community about ISPE or about the work you’re doing or about just how to get involved?
Lynne Cooper [00:40:55]:
You know, the best thing to do is dip your toes in and you never have to be by yourself. If you need a buddy, reach out. We’ll buddy you up with someone. So you don’t have to be intimidated. Doesn’t have to be intimidated. We’re here to make everyone stronger and lift everyone up. And the more people do that, the better for all of us. So it’s a great time to be part of this area and just our circle.
Chris Frew [00:41:24]:
Amen to that. ISP does create a community like a cheers. Cheers. Environment. And I’ve watched over the years, and I’ve watched you, especially starting off just greeting people, but you greet people, and sometimes if you’re introverted, you need that first welcome for the rest of the day to go well. And if you don’t get it, it might not go well. I think the organization definitely embraces that, and especially under your leadership. So thank you for, thank you for that and establishing that culture and everything you do, because.
Chris Frew [00:41:56]:
Sure are doing a lot.
Lynne Cooper [00:41:57]:
Well, you know, I really, we really value our partnership with, when I say we ISP values our partnership with Biobuzz, the ability for us to penetrate a market with your exposure. You have 300,000 people on your platform already.
Chris Frew [00:42:17]:
Yeah. Cat would be the better person to know, but something like that. So many visitors, 400,000 visitors. So it’s not everybody on our platform. I think our platform is around 20,000, but the annual exposure on it, and it’s growing. I mean, we’re organically growing. Right now. We haven’t even turned on the, we haven’t even put on the fuel yet.
Lynne Cooper [00:42:39]:
So, so, well, so I know you were talking about some other markets. Will you share the markets with the group, or is it too soon to tell?
Chris Frew [00:42:46]:
Well, I’m happy to share this because, so our crowdfunding ends on Sunday, so if you would like to get involved, you’ve got two and a half days left, and we’ve got almost 90 investors. Most of them are independent consultants, contractors, people who are like, hey, I want exposure to other clients. I want, you know, you know, I want better gigs and better contracts or hiring managers and companies who are like, this is absolutely something that I’m struggling with. So what I’ve promised our investors and everybody else is the first and foremost thing is we’re going to stay in the capital region, Philadelphia, North Carolina. We’re going to do a really good job at those three markets, and we’re going to really prove out our model. Biobuzz is part of the Baltimore Tech hub consortium, so we’ve got a lot of work to do when that award comes in in the spring. And so Biobuzz will be leading the workforce development programming, connecting employers with a dozen grassroots organizations in Baltimore to really advocate for all kinds of biotech jobs. So, Lynne, I expect to tap on your shoulder for, you know, for some more, some help on that.
Chris Frew [00:44:01]:
And then, but we do, you know, we see a tremendous, and we’re in conversations with some of these secondary markets now. So I can tell you the ones that are on our radar. And, you know, first we want to get more involved in Virginia. I’ll be going down to Richmond in a couple weeks. Phoenix is absolutely our radar. One of our advisory board members is, is very tight in there. We’ve been looking at Houston, Dallas, North Texas. Had conversations in Florida because Florida is also very kind of like Maryland.
Chris Frew [00:44:35]:
There’s separated communities all across the state, so that’s a different challenge. So those are some of the kind of the short term ones. And I picked the warmer climates. Have you noticed that I could be at as a starting point? But again, first and foremost, again, I promised our investors we’re going to do a great job. We’re going to launch the platform later this year commercially, and we’re already making matches now, and we’re in a soft launch beta. We’re making matches. And people are really excited that we’re able to get people fractional jobs that they used to take a lot longer to do. And so every day I just get more excited about the possibility of what we can create and how I want to go back to your why? And it just, it ultimately does come back to, are we helping patients? Are we helping products get to market? Are we helping innovators and medicine makers? Because if we’re not doing that, then again, we should be in a different industry.
Chris Frew [00:45:35]:
And at the end of the day, me and my team, just like you and your team, I know, like, that’s what we wake up thinking about. So we’re not going to do that by spreading ourselves too thin. We’re going to do that by really like, getting it right first.
Lynne Cooper [00:45:50]:
I do have one other question that I’m channeling for some friends. So you said a gig work. How is that launching and how are you, are you getting people offering gigs? Are you finding people that want gigs? How that I’m interested in the gig economy because they’re headed that way. Can you talk a little bit about what you’ve seen from when you.
Chris Frew [00:46:16]:
Absolutely. 26 million Americans worked in what are being quoted as gigs last year. So the freelance economy is booming, and it’s upwards of a third of a third of Americans are working in some sort of freelance or moonlighting or project work. It’s estimated 20% of work at companies happens through projects and consultants, contractors. So I’m using gig very broadly in terms of, not like I need someone to just develop a logo for me. Like that’s on the low end side or on one end. But when you’re any type of outsourced, project work is a gig. So when we think about the general workforce ecosystem, a lot of times most technology focuses on direct hire, permanent work.
Chris Frew [00:47:11]:
Even LinkedIn and all these job boards, they’re not focused on the contractors and the contract work and the 1099 community. The life science industry has tremendous amount of niche consultants out there because so much of what we do is niche, but nobody’s ever pulled them all under one roof before and said, let’s make a big giant community so we can make it easier for people to find the right consultant. So when I say gig, I use it pretty broadly. So I’ll give you a couple use cases. The master’s student at Johns Hopkins who wants a little more experience, whether they’re an MBA student or a regulatory affairs student, can now get a gig with a biotech company who just needs someone to maybe review some documentation or give an MBA look at something or, or if it’s the biotech student that wants to just take care of some cell culture on the weekend, because the startup just needs somebody who can come in nights and weekends and take care of their cells, that’s a gig. So for the retired person or someone who’s looking to retire, that wants to just stay involved and advise or do some work, that’s a gig. We call them contracts or consultants. If you’re launching a clinical trial and you need five research associates to come in for six months, and that’s it.
Chris Frew [00:48:30]:
Those are six gigs. Basically, you need. So I’m using the gig economy terminology pretty broadly around flexible workforce. So we’re really addressing, and we’re mostly addressing flexible workforce jobs, and we’re determining whether there’s a spot for us in the full time market. But we absolutely have heard tremendous feedback that there’s a very important spot for us to build a community of this flexible workforce. And that seems to also start to include some of these small businesses, like LC, who, if we have a pool of buyers, who are like, hey, I need this type of project. Sometimes it’s not an individual, sometimes it’s a small business or a company. So hopefully that gives a little bit of a better kind of package around what we mean when we say we’re a flexible workforce or some.
Chris Frew [00:49:32]:
I say gigs, but I don’t say gigs a lot in life science, because people don’t quite pull it together. But if you think about every client you work with, you look around, there’s a lot of people in gigs or consultants, you know, it’s consulting as a.
Lynne Cooper [00:49:49]:
Gig when and oftentimes there are people and will remain nameless. They, they want a part time gig because they know if they go full time, full time means 80 hours, not 40. So they want something that confines their hours, so they stay relevant, just like you said. But they know they can have a work life balance. And so that just really, that kind of piqued my interest, and I have several.
Chris Frew [00:50:13]:
I appreciate you asking. Well, and there’s 10,000 plus layoffs last year in our industry. A lot of R and D programs got cut. So we’re also seeing that a lot of companies laid off 30, 40% of their workforce and then hired 10% back as contractors. So the market dynamics are also supporting a move to more flexible workforce. Investors are now telling startups and they’re and their companies, you need to stick with a core team and outsource. So you’re seeing a lot of this lot of solutions, like what Biobuzz is doing, come to market. One of our other annual sponsors, Kymanox, has this hyper virtual outsourcing solution where it’s playing into the same trends of keeping core teams and outsourcing the rest.
Chris Frew [00:51:02]:
So Kaimonox comes in as, like, that quarterback, and they’re working with a team as small as two people and taking a product to market, and they’re each phase of the way bringing in the vendors and the contractors and navigating the market. So that’s another really interesting, I mean, that’s a whole podcast or conversation itself, but it plays into the same current that in today’s market, a dynamic, flexible workforce is really important for our clients in order to innovate faster, bring products to market cheaper, and, you know, and again, maintain safety and maintain quality as well. So, so, yeah, that’s, that’s kind of the, again, that’s, that’s the trend or the current that we’re floating into, and we’re not really floating. We got the, got the engine on full blast that we’re driving heavily into. And again, we’re not alone. There’s a lot of, a lot of companies that are looking at that from different angles, so. But, yeah, I appreciate you asking. That gig isn’t always associated with life sciences.
Lynne Cooper [00:52:01]:
Yeah, but I like it. I like, I mean, it, that gets to a younger audience. You know.
Chris Frew [00:52:10]:
We’Ve had, you know, we’re having, you know, dozens of people organically sign up for the platform now. A lot of them are younger. We’re seeing people that are, like, in their twenties and saying, I don’t want a full time job. I’m, I’m an automation engineer, and I just want to do contracts.
Lynne Cooper [00:52:24]:
Yeah.
Chris Frew [00:52:26]:
You know, and that’s, that, that’s who are, that’s a big part of our audience can be. So that’s great.
Lynne Cooper [00:52:33]:
You’re doing great things, Chris. I always love watching you and your team, and I can’t, I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Chris Frew [00:52:40]:
Well, likewise, Lynne. I think the two of us, we have to do this again in six months or a year. We should just make this every, maybe every quarter, because I feel like the both of us, with, with what we’re doing, we’re gonna, we’re gonna have updates to share, so can I get that commitment from you in a couple months? We’ll do it again.
Lynne Cooper [00:52:56]:
I’d love that.
Chris Frew [00:52:57]:
Awesome. All right, well, in the meantime, come and meet Lynne at mast, because she will be there greeting everybody, making sure that your, your day is ready to be successful with, you know, I think last year was 800 people or so, or you froze again. Lynne, I don’t know if you can hear me. Hundreds of people are coming to mass, so if you are again looking for that place to be to get your answers and to make sure you’re innovating and moving your company forward. Mast is the place to be.
Lynne Cooper [00:53:37]:
We’ll see.
Chris Frew [00:53:38]:
If Lynne comes back here. We might have lost her. Well, everybody, thank you for turning tuning in for today’s. So sorry, you just wanted to leave everybody in suspense. Lynne. I know.
Lynne Cooper [00:54:02]:
So last year at mast, we had around 500 people, and we’re trying for around 1000. We already have over 150 registered, and we’ve had it open for about two weeks. So trying to hit a thousand.
Chris Frew [00:54:16]:
All right, well, let’s turn up the heat, get it buzzing, and make sure we got a thousand people in the halls of Martin west coming up. Just a month and a half.
Lynne Cooper [00:54:24]:
Sounds great. Thanks, Chris. Always great talking with you.
Chris Frew [00:54:26]:
Likewise. Enjoy the Friday.
Lynne Cooper [00:54:28]:
You too. Bye.
See Lynne Cooper and BioBuzz at 2024 Mid-Atlantic Science & Technology (MAST) In-Person Showcase!
