PhD in Physics, Rutgers University, NJ, USA
MS in Physics Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia

Starting from high school I faced the dilemma whether to become an engineer or a physicist. I chose the latter because it seemed to me essential to get a good understanding of physical laws for either path. Eventually I understood that my true passion is designing and building things as well as solving engineering challenges. While these inclinations were of some value in my career as experimental condensed matter physicist, I was never able to apply them to a full extent. The difficulty I faced when trying to switch to something more applied, is that the employers were usually seeking for a set specific relevant skills. My assumption — that with a solid background in physics I can do anything — seemed to be disproved.

And then, reading Nature journals, I noticed InnoCentive Challenges. These I can just play with! Ideation (I did not know such word exists) is what I often tend to do. I picked the Challenge “Mechanical Joint with High Ultrasound Conductivity“ because even though I had no direct experience with ultrasonic waves, the wave phenomena are very similar whether they are electromagnetic waves or sound. I was majoring in optics as an undergraduate, and was using radio-frequencies in my PhD work. I also have interest in mechanical engineering: I greatly enjoy working in machine shop or repairing my car or doing CAD. Surely I learnt a great deal about ultrasound while working on the Challenge.

I think that it is not a specific expertise that is crucial for solving problems but a special connection that is created between Solver and the Challenge. I am eagerly anticipating my next Challenge on InnoCentive.

Solver since 2010

Occupation: Assistant instructor at UT Southwestern medical center
Education: Ph.D in biochemistry
Residence: United States
Challenges awarded: 1

Challenge won: New Innovative Prophylaxis Approaches to Protect Against OP Pesticide Poisoning ($15,000 Challenge)

I’m an assistant instructor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, specializing in bioinformatics and molecular biology. I was born in Castellón, Spain, where I grew up very interested in science, since my father is a biologist and my mother a chemistry teacher. I obtained a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Barcelona in 1997. While earning my Ph.D. at the University of Valencia, I was privileged to be mentored by Dr. M.D. Ferrando, as well as my own father, who allowed me to open my own research line at one of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) centers, the Institute of Aquaculture Torre de la Sal, which is located nearby really nice beaches. While working there I realized that innovation was a crucial aspect of science and I began looking for applications of my research into the mechanisms of resistance to oxidative stress and pesticides. That work led to a couple of patents and several papers, one of which was distinguished with the ‘Best Publication Award on Environmental Research’ by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) and AstraZeneca. A few months after defending my PhD in 2003, I received a postdoctoral fellowship to study the effects of oxidative stress on gene regulation with Dr. Bruce Demple at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 2006 I got the chance to lead a project to uncover the molecular events driving kidney cancer and I moved with Dr. James Brugarolas to UT Southwestern, where I received another postdoctoral fellowship from Generalitat Valenciana.

My own family, like many others, has felt directly the devastating effects of cancer: Though I could not help my brother, I have the satisfaction of identifying some genes involved in renal cell carcinoma, as well as a novel transcription factor regulated by the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), which plays a critical role in cell growth and is deregulated in about half of human tumors. These findings may create new therapeutic opportunities and someday benefit patients.

The first time I learned about InnoCentive was in an advertisement on nature.com, which got my attention because I knew a good answer to the question it asked. InnoCentive offers a new way of solving problems for companies by reaching out to a wide audience of different backgrounds, but it also gets non-industry-oriented people closer to the issues that really matter to the companies. At the end, innovation promotes the progress of our society and it’s very rewarding to be part of it.

We recently announced that we would be partnering with Nature Publishing Group (NPG) to offer InnoCentive Challenges to NPG readers and clients.  Today we announced a significant milestone in this partnership, the creation of the nature.com Open Innovation pavilion.  I asked Dan Penny, Head of Business Development for NPG to talk to us about the significance of this relationship.

Hi Dan – thanks for being with us today. We’re very excited about partnering with Nature Publishing Group (NPG).  Can you tell us a bit of the history of NPG?

Nature has a long and illustrious history – it was launched in 1869, just ten years after Darwin’s Origin of Species was published – and indeed the first Nature article was written by a strong advocate of Darwin’s theories, Thomas Huxley. It’s great to work somewhere that has that historical context, and although the world has changed a lot in 140 years, we try to make sure that Nature still maintains its important role in drawing attention to the research that shows us how the world works.
Nature Publishing Group – we know it as NPG – now publishes over 70 journals and also offers online databases and services to our scientist community, including daily news and features from Nature News and our careers service NatureJobs. We’re very excited that just this year, Scientific American became the heart of NPG’s newly-formed consumer media division, meeting the needs of the general public.

Can you tell us why NPG was interested in a partnership with InnoCentive?

NPG is recognised as a company which believes very strongly in being innovative in its own right. I used to work for a consultancy which frequently made mention of NPG’s innovative character, but you have to work here to really see how much innovation is going on. It goes back a long way though – NPG’s original, 140-year-old mission statement talks about providing scientists with the opportunity of discussing “the various Scientific questions which arise from time to time”, and so we’ve developed several innovative services to help our readers do that – including Nature Network, our online networking platform for scientists and Connotea, a file sharing resource which won an award for publishing innovation. So I guess our interest in InnoCentive starts with its potential to nurture innovation.

What do you think is the benefit of the partnership to both the Nature user community and the InnoCentive Solver base?

The NPG partnership with InnoCentive will give our user community the opportunity to exercise their knowledge and expertise in solving problems which are out there, but which have stayed private until now. All scientists would like to see practical uses for their research – InnoCentive provides a greater opportunity for that to happen. We see provision of Challenge information to our readers in the same way as our jobs board – providing our readers with opportunities to develop themselves and, who knows, maybe their careers. The existing InnoCentive Solver base should benefit too – I think NPG’s increased involvement with open innovation will encourage others to accept it as a valid way to do research. We all know that traditional culture can be deeply embedded at large corporations – but hopefully Nature’s activities here will make some companies take notice.

What types of Challenges would you like to see posted in the Nature pavilion and how will they be different from Challenges currently available to Solvers?

I wouldn’t expect the types of Challenges that are available on the nature.com Pavilion to be very different from what is currently available more widely across InnoCentive. Nature Publishing Group serves scientists right across the spectrum of life, physical and chemical sciences, as well as medical research, so the variety of challenges on InnoCentive should only increase. I’m eager to see what kinds of Challenges start to appear – my guess is that we may start to see more requests for partnerships, as the current economic climate bites and makes partnering a good way to develop business. I’d also like to see plenty of not-for-profit Challenges, because I’d hope that the strength of Nature’s reputation would attract plenty of attention to important causes such as neglected diseases and climate change.

What message would you like to give to current InnoCentive Solvers about working on Challenges in the Nature pavilion?

Solvers who answer Challenges posted in the nature.com Open Innovation Pavilion will form a link to the great researchers published in Nature over the past 140 years. Nature’s tradition of highlighting the best scientific knowledge continues, and we expect our commercial partners to understand that nature.com is a very good way of reaching individuals who hold this knowledge. So we’re all looking forward to seeing a diverse set of challenges over the coming months and the innovative approaches that solve scientific problems.

Thanks Dan – we’re looking forward to seeing lots of new Challenges in the new Pavilion!

Well this week, Nature and InnoCentive formally announced the next phase of our cooperation.  We have launched the nature.com Open Innovation Pavilion to focus on Challenges in life sciences, physical sciences and clinical medicine.  Further, both InnoCentive and Nature Publishing Group are working with commercial and Not-For-Profit (NFP) organizations to identify world changing Challenge opportunities for our Solver community.  As an example, The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) will be one of the first Seekers to post a Challenge on the nature.com Open Innovation Pavilion.

Equally exciting, Nature Publishing Group users from all over the world will be invited to join the InnoCentive community to bring their creativity, inventiveness, and passion to work on important problems.

We are thrilled to be working with Nature and believe that our alliance will result in extraordinary opportunities for Seekers and Solvers alike.  These are exciting times.

Warm regards,

Dwayne Spradlin
CEO InnoCentive