Carlsbad CA— The City of Carlsbad and Bio, Tech and Beyond (www.biotechnbeyond.com) hosted their first Life Sciences Startup Showcase on Friday, October 23, 2015. Nine life sciences startup companies updated the community and possible investors on the growth of their companies and demonstrated their ideas which included possible new drugs and technologies to help treat cancer, ease pain, diagnose diseases, manipulate DNA and develop new sources of biomass based feedstock.
“Two years ago, the City of Carlsbad launched the incubator with the goal of supporting our city’s life science industry, a core industry cluster and important driver of economic growth,” said Christina Vincent, economic development manager, City of Carlsbad. “Today we saw nine startup biotech companies that have passed through the incubator and are contributing to our vibrant life sciences sector, as well as to society with important research and solutions. The City of Carlsbad is proud of our partnership and continued success of Bio, Tech and Beyond.”
In 2013, the City of Carlsbad rented a vacant, 6,000 square foot building to Bio, Tech and Beyond, which was co-founded by Joseph Jackson and Kevin Lustig. The life sciences incubator pays its own operating expenses and allows anyone with an idea to utilize the space and equipment to research and test that idea for a monthly fee. Besides space and shared lab equipment, Bio, Tech and Beyond offers its members an opportunity to network with scientists and receive advice from business experts on how to take their idea and turn it in to a viable business.
“Since our launch,” explains Jackson, “we’ve received inquiries and visits of on average 6-7 companies per month interested in utilizing the lab to launch their business. We currently host 18 companies based out of the facility and in just two years of operation, 80 researchers have benefited from the lab. Bio, Tech and Beyond offers an unprecedented combination of flexible, affordable, access to equipment and infrastructure to conduct your research. In fact, we are a truly unique option in nearly a one hundred mile radius. Some of our entrepreneurs commute one hour in one direction to access the facility, and in addition to our Carlsbad residents, we have groups originating from areas ranging from Murrieta, La Jolla, Orange County, Poway, Irvine, and downtown San Diego. ”
The companies highlighted during the startup showcase event were:
Aomics is developing an antibody mediated drug targeted to enhance efficacy of current anti-cancer drugs on the market.
Biomarker Profiles is developing a measurement to quantify the biological components of pain instead of having to rely on a patient’s subjective pain scale responses.
Cascade Biosystems is working to provide the world with an easy-to-use, fast, portable and affordable alternative technology for DNA detection.
GPB Scientific is working to bring to market a precision liquid biopsy solution that will recover functionally responsive circulating tumor cells.
Ecofeedstock is using cutting-edge technology to explore the boundaries of waste refining processes to develop new sources of biomass based feedstock for the emerging biofuels and bioproducts industry.
Exeligen Scientific is working tocreate the highest quality genomic engineering products and services. Genomic engineering involves the manipulation of cellular DNA in order to repair or delete a gene’s function.
Koliber Biosciences specializes in statistically guided design of experiments, modeling and advanced data analytics.
Tinoro is engaged in the design and manufacturing of breakthrough devices for the medical and research industries. The current focus is developing a low-cost, handheld, non-thermal PCR technology (licensed from UC San Diego) that will significantly reduce the time required for DNA amplification.
Vanadis Labs is a technology company whose primary focus is in the area of protein chemistry and immunology with an emphasis on surveying products for latex antigenic proteins.
Jackson describes a diverse demographic, with ages ranging from mid 20’s to mid 60’s, and teams with vastly different levels of experience. He says, “For some of our teams, this is their first company, funded on a personal credit card and shoe string budget. Others have already built and exited two or more previous companies and have decades of experience in industry. What all have in common is the need to build their current venture in the most capital efficient manner possible. Typically, companies at Bio, Tech and Beyond are in early proof of concept stage, a critical period that can range between 3-12 months as they seek to validate key technology.”
“One of our companies has an initial contract with the FDA to detect latex allergens in consumer products,” he continues. “Another has a phase I SBIR grant with the NSF. These early stage funding mechanisms of $100-150K allow the companies to validate their initial research and position themselves to raise additional capital. Biotechnology encompasses a very broad range of areas and applications and our companies reflect this: research happening at the Carlsbad lab includes products in agriculture, infectious disease diagnostics, cancer therapeutics, medical devices, biomarkers, industrial metabolic engineering (beer/yeast strain engineering for microbrewing) and environmental waste remediation.”
“The City of Carlsbad is excited to be a part of today’s Life Sciences Startup Showcase,” added Vincent. “We are extremely pleased to be able to provide the space where scientists can test their ideas and give birth to new companies that will help cure diseases and improve the world.”
About the City of Carlsbad Economic Development
Located in North San Diego County and accessible to both the Los Angeles and San Diego markets, Carlsbad is a Pacific coastal community home to one of the largest life science clusters in the nation. The brand Life in Action™, captures the superb quality of life that exists in Carlsbad, both personally and professionally where you can live an active lifestyle year round. The city’s population is approximately 112,000 and covers 39 square miles, nearly 40 percent of which is dedicated to open space, including three lagoons, 46 miles of hiking trails and seven miles of coastline. It is a canvas of scenic beauty and activity upon which rests some of the world’s greatest companies in life sciences, information and communication technology, clean tech and action sports. Carlsbad is a leading example of how one’s environment positively affects career life and vice versa. It is quite simply, a Life in Action™.
More info at www.carlsbadlifeinaction.com
About Bio, Tech and Beyond
Located in Carlsbad, California, Bio, Tech and Beyond is a non-profit incubator serving early stage life science startups. By making available many of the tools of modern life science research to anyone who wants to use them, Bio, Tech and Beyond has taken the scientific research process out of the hands of a few massive corporations and large universities and placed it squarely in the hands of anyone with an idea. Whether you’re an academic researcher pursuing a hunch, a cancer patient who wants to cure your own disease, a biotech scientist with a skunkworks project, a retired pharma scientist with an idea you’ve always wanted to test, or a high school student who wants to change the world – Bio, Tech and Beyond can help turn your dream into a reality.
Visit www.biotechnbeyond.com to make an appointment.