Staff Profile: Alexandra de Paz, Assistant Director of New Ventures
If you ask Alexandra de Paz, PhD, she’ll tell you that a love for translational thinking seems to be familial. Her own excitement for new technologies grew following her sister’s interdisciplinary learning experiences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Listening to my sister talk about her work was like listening to really evolved science fiction and I was completely hooked,” says de Paz, assistant director of New Ventures at the Innovation and New Ventures (INVO) Office and Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute.
INVO and NUCATS operate the shared Center for Translational Innovation, which serves to catalyze the translation of Northwestern innovations to benefit the public and promote economic growth. INVO is dedicated to working with faculty and students across Northwestern’s Chicago and Evanston campuses, as well as local partners at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, to protect intellectual property and commercialize research by supporting startup creation and partnerships with industry.
One of the things I love most about my work with INVO is how varied the activities are. It’s a challenge to provide a snapshot of what I do in a typical day because my role is so dynamic. ”
De Paz grew up in Florida, where she attended the University of Florida and first discovered her love for emerging disciplines like synthetic biology and bioengineering. At Florida, she created her own interdisciplinary major in Biomolecular Engineering, which she supplemented with lab work on varying topics ranging from the creation of genetic tools to study malaria to the characterization of novel chemical probes to treat schizophrenia.
De Paz chose to attend graduate school at Northwestern University because of the opportunities available through its Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences program. She spent a year rotating between the program’s various synthetic biology labs before beginning work on her thesis project, which focused on developing a molecular recording device for mapping mammalian brains.
After years of hands-on interdisciplinary research, de Paz pursued multiple opportunities to intern at INVO: first through the INVO Practicum and subsequently as a venture associate for the N.XT Fund. She was instantly enamored with the work: “It’s not surprising that I’ve found a home at INVO, where I get exposure to a kaleidoscope of technologies stemming from every possible field,” she says. “And I have the privilege of getting to see new and exciting technologies evolve into impactful startups.”
Now that she’s INVO’s assistant director of New Ventures, de Paz’s days are filled with an extensive menu of activities that include assisting startups, planning educational programs for faculty, researching potential N.XT investments, and networking with venture capitalists.
“One of the things I love most about my work with INVO is how varied the activities are,” de Paz says. “It’s a challenge to provide a snapshot of what I do in a typical day because my role is so dynamic.”
Despite the array of tasks often on her plate, de Paz stays focused on the importance behind her work.
“Taking time to identify technologies that have commercial potential allows us to get innovative ideas from the bench to the market as soon as possible, where they can actually benefit society,” she says “I’m also thrilled to have the opportunity to make an impact on a budding entrepreneur’s startup journey, both through seed funding and a bigger-picture effort to cultivate a ubiquitous mindset of translational thinking among researchers.”
De Paz says she is most excited by the wearable electronic technologies that she’s encountered, as well as the platform technologies emerging from Northwestern’s Center for Synthetic Biology. “It’s amazing to see this space grow and begin to revolutionize everything from biopharma, materials, food and even consumer goods,” she adds.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, de Paz has enjoyed the opportunity to work remotely from her parent’s Florida home. When she isn’t supporting faculty-led startups from the comfort of her laptop, de Paz releases endorphins by biking along her hometown’s nature trails, doing yoga, and even boxing (she credits her heavyweight punching bag for getting her through the stress of the pandemic!). She also enjoys reading, baking, and spending time with her cat Hermione and dog Darwin.
As for her future, de Paz remains focused on learning more about venture capital and entrepreneurship as well as developing INVO’s programming.
“Facilitating translational thinking is just the beginning,” she says. “Looking forward, I want to see more programming that supports women and BIPOC researchers along the innovation-to-invention-to-entrepreneurship lifecycle. Innovation is about more than just new technologies — it’s about new opportunities.”
Written by Morgan Frost
