Listen to your gut: A step towards a personalized nutrition

Interview with Dr Debojyoti Dhar, Co-founder of Leucine Rich Bio Pvt Ltd

About

Dr Debojyoti Dhar, PhD is the co-founder and Director of South Asia’s first microbiome company, Leucine Rich Bio Pvt Ltd. He received his PhD in molecular biology from Indian Institute of Science and has post-doctoral research experience from UMass Medical School, USA. He has worked extensively on translational control of gene regulation during his PhD and post-doctoral research. He has over 15 years of experience in academic and industry ‘research and development’ (R&D) activities especially in metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and gut health along with strong multi domain knowledge in pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. He has held leadership positions in various companies with roles in R&D, Business Development, Corporate Communications and Consultancy and has thorough knowledge on new cutting-edge technologies in the bio-science space. An avid reader with keen interest in quantum physics and holistic medicine, Dr Dhar writes a blog on disease, research and its impact on society and life science industry in general (www.debiisc.blogspot.in). Dr Dhar has to his credit various publications in top-tiered peer reviewed scientific journals and is an active reviewer of scientific papers in many journals. Dr Dhar has been invited as guest/keynote speaker at many conferences and Institutes. He has also featured in many science-based talk shows on various media channels. His interviews have been featured in many media outlets such as The Economic Times’ ET Prime, Indian Express, The Hindu Business Line, Chronicle PharmaBiz etc. Dr Dhar has led Leucine Rich Bio win many national and international awards including the prestigious National Startup award 2021, constituted by the Government of India.

Interview

Tell us about yourself.

I am a PhD from Indian Institute of Science (IISc). After having completed my PhD I had the opportunity to go to UMass Medical School, Worcester, MA for my post-doctoral research. I came back to India and joined a drug discovery company (2009) and thereafter have been in the industry donning various roles in various organizations (pharma consultancy to genomics).

How did you come up with this start up idea?

Initially, we wanted to plug certain lacunae in the genomics space especially helping the biologists understand the finer aspects of genomics but in the course of that journey, we realized that we had a strong cross-domain expertise (systems biology, computational science, molecular biology, bioinformatics etc.) that can be utilized in developing novel solutions in the still nascent “microbiome” domain. That led us to develop and commercialize South Asia’s first microbiome test called BugSpeaks and South Asia’s first gut microbiota based nutraceutical product Rychbiome Indus.

“Failure is part of your journey – accept it and learn from it”

What was it about a career in healthcare/pharma/biotech that appealed to you?

I had seen the best of the academic world both in India and abroad. I wanted to explore how industry functions and that exploration took me to various aspects of the industry. Pharma/biotech or life science industry has multiple options when it comes to career, however, it requires a completely different mindset as compared to being in academia!

At what point did you realize you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurship was very new especially in the life science/biotech domain when we ventured into it. Back then, there were not many opportunities or support systems as we have now. Anyways, I wanted to do something different and it so happened that I got the opportunity to do that at the opportune time although it had a lot of risks associated with it!

What would be your alternative career choice if you weren’t as a CEO/Founder?

May be a research scientist or would be in a techno-commercial role.

Who were your inspirations and mentors, both professionally and personally?

Well, to be honest – no one! But I do appreciate the vision of people like Elon Musk. Personally, my parents have been the pillars of support without whom I would not have been able to take this step and continue with it. As you know entrepreneurship has a lot of risks and uncertainties, so one needs constant support to be on track and I thank my parents for the same!

Do you have any fond or interesting memories from your professional life you would like to share?

Well, there are many. In my career, I had donned various roles from a research scientist to a pharma analyst to corporate communications manager and to business development head. Although, each role enriched my knowledge and experience yet every time with each new role I had to start afresh and that led to a lot of interesting learnings.

What were the most important, funny, or weird things you have learned over the course of your career?

Patience is very important
Be open to opportunities
Failure is part of your journey – accept it and learn from it
Perseverance is the key

What’s something unique you keep on or around your workspace?

Nothing unique – I try to keep things as simple as possible. I believe clarity is very important. I try to maintain that both with my colleagues and clients.

What advice personal/professional have you received that has stayed with you?

Enjoy what you do.

What were your greatest professional challenges along the way and how did you get past them?

Well, the greatest challenge was to introduce a nascent concept in the market (microbiome) and show its effectiveness. With a very limited budget and human resource constraint, this was quite a daunting task. We used novel methods like starting a web talk series called the “Microbiome Gazers” where we discussed various aspects of the microbiome with experts from across the world to create awareness. We also utilized social media to propagate important facts about the domain. Finally, we are trying to conduct many clinical trials and we spent and still spend considerable time to improve the BugSpeaks report.

Tell of some situations in which you have had to adjust quickly to changes over which you had no control. What was the impact of the change on you?

Like many, Covid19 impacted us too. But during the lockdown, I spent time writing research papers and also filed a few patents!

Looking back, are there any career moves or decisions you’ve made for which you’d like a second chance, so to speak?

None as I learned from every move.

Do you think networking helped you in finding the right career opportunity? If yes, can you explain how you approached it?

Networking is the most important aspect that we should give more emphasis to. In this digital world, professional media sites like LinkedIn should be utilized to the maximum effect.

What advice would you give to others looking to get into the industry/entrepreneurship or move up the ranks?

Getting into industry and entrepreneurship are two different things. If you want to transition to industry then:-

First ask yourself why you want to transition?
Be prepared for a different work culture
Industry is very strict with timelines so prepare yourself for that.

For getting into entrepreneurship:-

Again, ask why?
Do you have the wherewithal to sustain for a few years without much financial inflow?
Understand the market
Ask if your product or solution is viable?
Read and understand about how companies are run or finding is acquired
Be patient.

What do you think are the challenges associated with this career?

Opportunities are comparatively less, however, things are changing. If one is open to exploration then one can get better opportunities too.

How do you cope with the challenges and keep your passion afloat?

Belief in what I am doing and patience are the two things that have kept me afloat.

Edited by: Anjali Mahilkar

Meet the communication managers

Oindrila Bhattacharjee

Oindrila Bhattacharjee has done her Masters in Biotechnology and is working as a Project Associate II in Dr.Srikala Raghavan’s Lab at inStem Bangalore following the submission of her Ph.D. thesis. Her Ph.D. was in the field of immunology and cell biology. She takes interest in reading, writing, and communicating science to a large audience. In her free time, she prefers to engage in dancing, writing, sketching and clicking photos.

Kavita Rani Malik

Kavita Rani Malik is an enthusiastic person with determination and consistency in her work. She has done a Ph.D. in Animal Biochemistry from ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute Karnal Haryana. Currently, she is waiting for her Ph.D. final defense and searching for jobs in the R & D sector in private or govt. organizations.