Alumni Spotlight: A path to pharmaceutical leadership with Meztli Arguello

Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI) alumna Meztli Arguello first discovered her passion for pharmaceutical research as an undergraduate intern at Merck Frosst. That early glimpse set the stage for a dynamic and rewarding career that would take her through cutting-edge academic labs and eventually into a leadership role in industry.

Motivated by this experience, she went on to earn her Ph.D. under the co-supervision of Dr. John Hiscott and Dr. Rongtuan Lin at the Lady Davis Institute, staying on to work as a Research Associate in the Hiscott lab afterwards. Her academic path then led her to the Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI), where she worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Nahum Sonenberg from 2012 to 2014. There, Meztli studied the relationship between the immune response and mRNA translation, funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.

She was drawn to the GCI by its outstanding contributions to the translation field and Dr. Sonenberg’s world-renowned research program. “I was fortunate enough to work side by side with brilliant graduate and post-graduate fellows in the Sonenberg lab. I learned a lot from them, but in particular, I was struck by their incredible drive to succeed,” she recalls. In this environment, Meztli was pushed to hone her ability to independently move a project forward and to network and collaborate with other researchers—skills that would prove critical as her career progressed.

As spring of 2014 approached, Meztli faced an uncertain future: “Although the lab and the team were great, academic life was not in the cards for me for a number of reasons, plus my funding had run out. I was desperate!” she shares with refreshing honesty. Just then, Dr. Sonenberg received a serendipitous call—Paraza Pharma was looking for a biologist with expertise in translation research, and he recommended her for the job.

Taking a leap of faith, Meztli applied—and landed the job. As the first member of Paraza’s Biology department, she played a foundational role in starting up the lab and making strides on their first integrated project. In her words, she found the work to be “an incredible thrill and challenge”.

More than ten years later, that leap has more than paid off. Now an Associate Director at Paraza, Meztli leads a team of nine scientists working on multiple projects in pre-clinical drug discovery, primarily focused on oncology. Collaborating with many other biotech and pharmaceutical companies, she strives to develop novel therapeutic approaches for cancer patients. At the moment, she is particularly excited about the emerging potential of PROTACs and molecular glues, which act by triggering the degradation of target proteins. “This is a new paradigm for drug discovery and it is a field that is expanding at a rapid pace,” she says. “How far will it go? Will it be able to decommission previously undruggable targets? I’m looking forward to seeing the evolution of this new class of drugs.”

When asked about the motivations that have shaped her career choices as a scientist outside academia, Meztli says simply, “I like a challenge, I hate routine, and I love science”. Even today, as her role evolves and her responsibilities shift more toward management, she thrives on the new intellectual challenge that comes with that change. She also values the job stability and work-life balance she experiences in her industry career.

For trainees interested in following in her footsteps, Meztli offers some advice: “Diversify your knowledge base and technical experience and be forward-looking in your choices for graduate studies. If you want to go to industry, perhaps orient your project towards applying techniques and procedures that are standard in pharmaceutical research: this will allow you to build a CV that stands out.”

Meztli acknowledges that she didn’t always have a clear vision for how she could keep pursuing the exciting scientific research she loved, especially outside of traditional academic pathways. This was particularly the case when many pharmaceutical research centers in Montreal closed in the early 2000s. However, with a persistent focus on building diverse skillsets, a keen drive to succeed, and a bit of good fortune, life may just present you with the opportunity of your dreams—it did for Meztli.

Connect with Meztli on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meztli-arguello-6830736