"Working towards Progress"

Olga Potapova, CEO of Cureline Group, always had an evident vision of what she wanted to achieve. Once she finished her preliminary education, it was only a matter of translating that vision into action. “Being aware of your potential and capabilities is incredibly important because they will set the foundation for all your future endeavors,” she says. “My awareness brought me here to make a difference.” California-based Cureline focuses on people and technologies. Over the past two decades, they have successfully grown their BioPathology services, translational histopathology laboratory capabilities, and cellular and molecular biology services and established a presence in the EU. Expanding in this fast-growing market aligns with their objective of making Cureline an outstanding Global Translational CRO.

Global Biobank and Human Biospecimen CRO | Cureline, Inc

A global translational and precision medicine CRO providing HBS biobanking and laboratory services for accelerated drug R&D and Dx development since 2003

The fields of autoimmune and inherited diseases are proliferating with the surge of new technologies like CRISPR gene editing. Cureline has been building its capacity as a CRO to provide more services for advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP) clinical trials and good manufacturing practices to address this need. Olga and her team are very excited about the prospect of providing more services to develop novel drugs and diagnostic tests for patients.

Perhaps the most significant achievement for Cureline and Olga has been spearheading the company as a woman in 2003 with just 3 individual shareholders, then expanding it within 5 years to include a Translational Histopathology Laboratory, quickly followed by a strategic alliance with BioCrypton Inc. In 2021 their EU projects developed significant research collaborations to create unique metastatic tumor animal models and work on advanced therapy medicinal products, including cell and gene therapy. Cureline’s most recent achievement was receiving a national grant to spearhead an EU-co-funded study on a novel in vivo screening tools using cellular barcoding technology, all thanks to Olga!

However, Olga believes that as a woman in this challenging and very competitive field, one needs to have personal advocacies that can guide their choices in work and research, just like her. “Included among these are finding like-minded young women with a lot of potentials, just looking for the right opportunity,” says Olga. “I feel that it is my job as a mentor to see this potential and harness it, to be an enabler and provide the guidance they need to both be an asset to the company as well as to flourish on their own. Our ability to share learnings and affirmation is essential, and as a mentor, I benefit mutually from these experiences.”

The steadfast leader has been guiding and inspiring her team, and as with any team, relationships must be built on trust. It is important to Olga that each team member feels they are in an environment that is receptive to new ideas and critical feedback to develop genuine camaraderie. “I aim to provide a positive environment for people to progress and have room to grow on their own,” she elucidates. “We all learn from past failures and difficult circumstances, which we’ve found ways to overcome. I define success as overcoming adversity and using the experiences gained therein to become a better version of myself.” With this brilliant attitude, Olga has been leading Cureline to new heights.

Cureline’s business operations became virtual during the pandemic, another growing trend for many CROs: providing a more comprehensive array of services and reaching a larger target market online. This has resulted in accelerated company growth for the Cureline group: in 2021, they were able to expand their clinical network members abroad and conduct more projects, increasing their operations in Ukraine and Serbia, operational efficiency in Argentina, standardized operations in India, and projects with their Chinese colleagues. “I think one major area of future focus is using artificial intelligence (AI). Unlike other fields of science, biomedical research has yet to capitalize on its potential fully,” explains Olga. “I am quite proud to share however, that in the past year we have completed over twenty large projects for companies seeking to deploy AI capabilities in our field.” Another strength of Cureline is its Molecular Services division. Cureline Molecular Services (CMS) was created to provide clients with limited access to the capacity to utilize custom cell and molecular-based assays.

“For the future, I remain committed to building a company that focuses on helping clinicians and scientists develop tests, treatments and methods to predict therapeutic outcomes, monitor response to treatment, and the effects of medications,” says Olga. “As such the Cureline Group aspires to work with clients who develop such products, with the ultimate goal of providing customized solutions that will help create a better quality of life for patients.” WL