Once she completed a master’s degree in industrial and biomolecular biotechnology from the University of Bologna, Arianna Minzoni moved to Shanghai, China, to broaden her expertise and immerse herself in a different culture. In Shanghai, she worked on purifying lentiviral vectors for hepatitis B vaccine production.

After that experience, Arianna decided to pursue a doctoral degree in chemical engineering to position herself on the industry’s decision-making side while deepening her scientific foundation. With an interest in biomanufacturing and the strong Research Triangle Park location, she joined Stefano Menegatti, Ph.D.’s lab at NC State. 

Research on peptide ligands

Arianna’s Ph.D. research is focused on the discovery and development of novel peptide ligands for affinity chromatography resins used in the downstream purification of Adeno-Associated Viruses (AAVs) for gene therapy applications. 

Current benchmark products in this market rely on affinity ligands that bind AAV full and empty capsids without differentiation. The elution is also carried out under harsh pH conditions, which reduce capsid stability and transduction efficiency. 

Through innovative research, Arianna discovered peptide ligands that synergistically purify and enrich gene-loaded AAV vectors, the therapeutically active particles responsible for delivering the gene of interest to target cells. These peptide ligands simultaneously address limitations in the current market by enabling selective enrichment of full AAVs while eluting the product under mild conditions that preserve capsid integrity and bioactivity. 

Where research and business meet

With experience in the biopharmaceutical field, Arianna recognizes the impact of factors such as supply chain management and research and development in gene therapies, monoclonal antibodies and resin manufacturing — all of which she notes are essential to meet global demand. 

This insight motivated her to pursue MBA courses alongside her Ph.D. in chemical engineering, deepening her understanding of business operations, complementing her strong scientific background with a broader socioeconomic perspective. 

On a broader perspective, Arianna commented, “having a global and multidisciplinary perspective is what allows you to identify variables that truly matter in a complex system, whether you are optimizing a new therapeutic or developing a novel bioprocessing tool.” 

Through her journey, she has also learned that the best innovations come from intellectual humility and openness, which creates a willingness to consider unconventional solutions and think beyond the most obvious approach. She followed up saying, “ultimately, what matters is not how elegant the solution is, but whether it works, and having the vision to understand why it matters.”

Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization

With an interest in better understanding the business principles, NC State Poole College of Management’s Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (TEC) program was an exciting choice for Arianna. 

The TEC program helped Arianna gain a broader understanding of the cost of innovation — not only in terms of materials and consumables, but also time and resources that are invested. “This perspective is especially important to the pharmaceutical sector, where research and development demands substantial investment and a business foundation helps prioritize which innovations deserve focus,” she said. 

Understanding the business behind innovation allowed Arianna to think critically about why a specific drug or technology is developed in the first place. Strengthening her background in business helped her understand the weight of those decisions: target customers, market prioritization, geographic opportunity and strategy. 

“TEC has given me a clear picture of the full pathway from bench to commercialization: what it takes to translate a scientific discovery into a product, and what key challenges and opportunities are along that journey,” said Arianna. 

TEC in industry

After completing MBA 576 and MBA 577, Arianna wanted to put her skills directly into practice. Over the summer of 2025, she completed a joint STEM-MBA internship at TOSOH Bioscience GmbH. In this role, she was an integral part of the Global Product Management team within the Process Solutions Department. She contributed to the strategic marketing and product management initiatives with a focus on the AAV segment. 

Gaining experience with her new skills helped Arianna understand the commercial value of products in the market, how to identify the right markets for a new technology and what it truly takes to bring a discovery to the customer. 

The internship gave her an opportunity to expand her business development knowledge — supply chain management, strategic marketing and commercialization of resins — while leveraging her scientific expertise, creative problem-solving and global perspective skills on customer needs.  

Innovation in the lab

While reflecting on her work both in and out of the lab, Arianna highlighted the importance of innovation in a lab setting, saying, “It is important because innovation drives the overall progress of science, but it is equally important to recognize that most applied innovations are rooted in fundamental discoveries made long before their practical use was ever envisioned.” She noted that lab-based innovation often begins with a necessity that demands a solution — particularly in applied science — where real-world challenges define the research agenda. 

Arianna also noted that meaningful innovations emerge not from necessity, but curiosity and creativity of scientists who dare to explore unconventional solutions. “It is this combination of urgency, curiosity and creativity that makes the lab such a unique environment for innovation.”

On a personal level, Arianna’s Ph.D. taught her that innovation is inseparable from resilience. “The process of failing, iterating and learning builds the scientific intuition needed to recognize more quickly which experimental path is worth pursuing. That accumulated experience is one of the most valuable outcomes of lab-based research.”