Indiebio Accelerator Experience

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

Hi everyone,

Now that the incubator is de facto over, I want to share the experience. Setting foot in a new country feels weird anyways, plus you don't know what awaits you on the company side of things. But very quickly you get accustomed to the people, all of them are really into biology (why else would you make your own biotech company) and you have a great time talking about numerous topics. Additionally it is so cool to meet people you only knew from the internet, and see them in real life. Nowhere else you find so many people with that passion, words cannot describe. There are some amazing companies coming out of the incubator.

A short overwiev what the projects are:

Ageria: Developing foods beneficial to health and longevity.

Aranex Biotech: Creating a Peanut without allergens

BioCellection: Creating an ocean-friendly fish-farming feed that provide the nutritional requirements of commercially farmed fish without relying on by-catch or trawler-caught fish produce

Efflorus: Producing high-value fragrance compounds from micro-organisms

GlowDX: Creating a diagnostic DNA computer for neglected tropical disease

PiLi: Developing colours for manufactures from natural sources that won’t hurt the planet or customers’ pockets

Prospective Research Inc: Working on a revolutionary way to discover new medicines from Streptomyces

Saphium: Designing bioplastic-producing algae that eat CO2 and release cheaply-purifiable plastic granules, ready for big or small manufacturing including 3D printing

Sothic Bioscience: Aiming to save the Horseshoe Crab by creating artificial Limulus Blood

It definitely has been one of the most amazing and exciting experiences of my life. I would definitely do it again (with some modifications, of course. E.g. expect an old bike in Ireland to cost 120€ and don't waste days looking for cheaper ones. And don't buy them at cash connectors, they always break down, they give you replacement, they break down, repeat).

The time of „DIY biotech gone business“ is now, and with falling costs of DNA synthesis and equipment there's no better opportunity. At University they never mention you can do a biotech start-up, the big pharma companies are what you hear of always.

I can only encourage everybody who has an idea to apply to the Indiebio program. These folks are doing a great job in helping young biology graduates (or older ones) to take the chance of their lives and teach them the basic knowledge on how to run a company. You can always go back to a 9-05 job later, there will always be one.

Here is a link to the demo day livestream (you have to register, but it is free)

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indiebio-eu-summer-party-demo-dinner-tickets-17453533990

where all the CEOs explain what our companies do.

Cheers,

Andreas

[Cathal Garvey]

Andreas, thanks so much for the vote of confidence! This is my first
time doing anything like this, and being able to share the Summer with a
bunch of great people I knew from the DIYbio community, among many
others, was really exciting. :)

Don't say I didn't warn you about the bikes, though! If you'd just
signed up for the community bike scheme it'd have been €10 for the whole
year! #theyneverlisten

To DIYbio-at-large, I'll always have an open door to chat privately
about any biotech notions ye might be entertaining. As always I'm an
open-sourcey advocate, but the privacy of your ideas is guaranteed, and
if you choose to go-closed and patent everything, that's your
prerogative and I'll support that, too. I just want to see more of us
makers, doers and growers succeeding at what we love.

Thanks again Andreas, roll on this Wednesday's Summer Party!

On 08/08/15 11:40, Mega [Andreas Stuermer] wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
>
> Now that the incubator is de facto over, I want to share the experience.
> Setting foot in a new country feels weird anyways, plus you don't know
> what awaits you on the company side of things. But very quickly you get
> accustomed to the people, all of them are really into biology (why else
> would you make your own biotech company) and you have a great time
> talking about numerous topics. Additionally it is so cool to meet people
> you only knew from the internet, and see them in real life. Nowhere else
> you find so many people with that passion, words cannot describe. There
> are some amazing companies coming out of the incubator.
>
>
> A short overwiev what the projects are:
>
>

> *Ageria*: Developing foods beneficial to health and longevity.
>
> *Aranex* *Biotech*: Creating a Peanut without allergens
>
> *BioCellection*: Creating an ocean-friendly fish-farming feed that

> provide the nutritional requirements of commercially farmed fish without
> relying on by-catch or trawler-caught fish produce
>

> *Efflorus*: Producing high-value fragrance compounds from micro-organisms
>
> *GlowDX*: Creating a diagnostic DNA computer for neglected tropical disease
>
> *PiLi*: Developing colours for manufactures from natural sources that

> won’t hurt the planet or customers’ pockets
>

> *Prospective* *Research* *Inc*: Working on a revolutionary way to

> discover new medicines from Streptomyces
>

> *Saphium*: Designing bioplastic-producing algae that eat CO2 and release

> cheaply-purifiable plastic granules, ready for big or small
> manufacturing including 3D printing
>

> *Sothic* *Bioscience*: Aiming to save the Horseshoe Crab by creating

> artificial Limulus Blood
>
>
> It definitely has been one of the most amazing and exciting experiences
> of my life. I would definitely do it again (with some modifications, of
> course. E.g. expect an old bike in Ireland to cost 120€ and don't waste
> days looking for cheaper ones. And don't buy them at cash connectors,
> they always break down, they give you replacement, they break down, repeat).
>
> The time of „DIY biotech gone business“ is now, and with falling costs
> of DNA synthesis and equipment there's no better opportunity. At
> University they never mention you can do a biotech start-up, the big
> pharma companies are what you hear of always.
>
>
> I can only encourage everybody who has an idea to apply to the Indiebio
> program. These folks are doing a great job in helping young biology
> graduates (or older ones) to take the chance of their lives and teach
> them the basic knowledge on how to run a company. You can always go back
> to a 9-05 job later, there will always be one.
>
>
> Here is a link to the demo day livestream (you have to register, but it
> is free)
>
> https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indiebio-eu-summer-party-demo-dinner-tickets-17453533990
>
>
> where all the CEOs explain what our companies do.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Andreas
>

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--
Scientific Director, IndieBio EU Programme
Now running in Cork, Ireland May->July
Learn more at indie.bio and follow along!
Twitter: @onetruecathal
Phone: +353876363185
miniLock: JjmYYngs7akLZUjkvFkuYdsZ3PyPHSZRBKNm6qTYKZfAM
peerio.com: cathalgarvey

[BraveScience]

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for sharing your experience, I've always been curious to know more about how indiebio works.

Yet, besides the good vibes you share, that's not much of how it works and which important lessons you learnt.

Any hints and tips for who will join the next editions?

Best,

Fede

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

Do you have specific questions? Just ask me on or off list, everybody ;)
What is interesting? Housing? Lab?

It is a good idea to order materials (and specifically the DNA construct) when you arrive in Cork or earlier. In some cases it is impossible, e.g. when you need mentoring on how to make it conform European GM laws to not count as GMO. But synthesis companies do take themselves time, and time is of the essence.
We were told at the very beginning of the incubator that 3 months is nothing, and that this incubator would be over before we notice it. Feels like it was just 3 weeks ago.

For us, there have been tons of very helpful mentors at University College Cork (where stuff was done). Don't be shy to ask for help (not telling you to bother them all day), sometimes they will even give you a helpful plasmid or strain.

Housing will be difficult, so start early. Or you live in a overpriced BnB for weeks. In May, students are still in UCC, but then they have vacancies and student accomodations are available more.

[David Weichselbaum]

Andreas is absolutely right. The bottleneck of your whole project will be the manufacturing time of synthetic DNA.

We (Ageria) ordered twice at GenScript. For both we waited about a month, while they promised us 7 working days. Gen9 is even worse. We ordered from them 4 weeks into the project and they will deliver probably a month after it has ended.

Be smart, get the initial 5.000 as fast as possible and have your sequences ready to send as soon as you receive the money. A proof of concept that is not market ready is better than a "manufacturing" flag on sequence order online.