Two years ago Joseph Jackson and Kevin Lustig blazed new territory when they opened a life sciences incubator where scientists could give birth to new companies in a vacant building owned by the City of Carlsbad. The pair had a community-based, grassroots idea about a life sciences laboratory, and entered into an agreement with the city to lease a 6,000-square-foot building where they would provide space for local scientists to test their ideas.
Today the life sciences incubator, called Bio, Tech and Beyond, is home to 17 companies that pay a monthly fee for bench space and the use of sophisticated equipment needed to run experiments. These companies are testing ideas with the aim of producing new drugs or technologies that can help treat cancer, ease pain, diagnose diseases and identify biomarkers.
As home to a cluster of more than 150 life sciences companies, city officials saw Carlsbad as a logical place to host such a venture. Part of our role is to retain and advance businesses, and the incubator concept appeared to be a perfect way to promote one of Carlsbad's core industries and advance local businesses. The city rents the building, a former auto claims service center at 2351 Faraday Ave., to the incubator for $1 a year, and the lab pays its own operating expenses.
As Bio Tech and Beyond celebrated its second birthday this spring, the incubator is proving to be a huge success.
When they opened the lab, Jackson and Lustig had set a goal of helping establish eight companies in its first two years of operation. With 17 companies in full operation and almost 30 employees, it appears that goal was modest. Five companies have already passed through the incubator, including one startup, Biospyder, which grew from one employee to five in its 14 months there and was so successful it moved into larger quarters in Carlsbad.
This is precisely what the incubator's developers and the city had in mind when the lab opened. It appears that the demand is already outstripping the ability to house everyone who wants and needs the space, Jackson recently told the Carlsbad City Council, as all 20 of the benches will be occupied with the next three or four months. That is a good problem to have, and the incubator is meeting the demand.
Member scientists of the incubator are often experienced and want space to develop their ideas outside of their home, or access to equipment they do not have to underwrite financially. Some of the startups in the incubator are:
• Allostere Inc., founded by Ekaterina Bobkova, Ph.D., which is focused on finding a new line of drugs that can be used to treat cancer. Bobkova worked for pharmaceutical companies, wanted to start her own firm and found affordable lab space in Bio, Tech and Beyond. Allostere's focus is drugs to treat the metastatic growth of tumors, which Bobkova regards as largely unexplored.
• Cascade Biosystems, founded by Kenneth Smith and Mariya Smit, Ph.D., which seeks to provide a fast, portable and affordable means of detecting DNA. This technology, called Restrictase Cascade Exponential Amplification, would serve as an alternative to the current widely used technology, called quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Founded in 2008, Cascade Biosystems moved into Bio, Tech and Beyond in January.
• Koliber Biosciences, founded by Ewa Lis, Ph.D., began in a Lakeside garage and moved to Bio, Tech and Beyond in January, so it very much fits the profile of an incubator startup. Koliber Biosciences is working in synthetic biology, seeking ways to make it easier to manufacture chemicals, produce energy and
cure disease.
• Biomarker Profiles, founded by Leticia Cano, Ph.D., who is developing tools to help treat disease. Biomarkers are biological indicators such as a protein or gene that show the presence of a disease or malady. Biomarker Profiles has obtained a grant to conduct experiments on chronic pain, with the hope of helping the 100 million Americans who suffer from pain daily.
Two years ago when Jackson and Lustig launched the incubator, some people may have said it wouldn't be successful. Today, it clearly is a success and people call them visionaries. The City of Carlsbad is proud to support Bio, Tech and Beyond, and is pleased to provide a space where scientists can plant the seeds of new firms, nurture them and watch them grow.
Today the life sciences incubator, called Bio, Tech and Beyond, is home to 17 companies that pay a monthly fee for bench space and the use of sophisticated equipment needed to run experiments. These companies are testing ideas with the aim of producing new drugs or technologies that can help treat cancer, ease pain, diagnose diseases and identify biomarkers.
As home to a cluster of more than 150 life sciences companies, city officials saw Carlsbad as a logical place to host such a venture. Part of our role is to retain and advance businesses, and the incubator concept appeared to be a perfect way to promote one of Carlsbad's core industries and advance local businesses. The city rents the building, a former auto claims service center at 2351 Faraday Ave., to the incubator for $1 a year, and the lab pays its own operating expenses.
As Bio Tech and Beyond celebrated its second birthday this spring, the incubator is proving to be a huge success.
When they opened the lab, Jackson and Lustig had set a goal of helping establish eight companies in its first two years of operation. With 17 companies in full operation and almost 30 employees, it appears that goal was modest. Five companies have already passed through the incubator, including one startup, Biospyder, which grew from one employee to five in its 14 months there and was so successful it moved into larger quarters in Carlsbad.
This is precisely what the incubator's developers and the city had in mind when the lab opened. It appears that the demand is already outstripping the ability to house everyone who wants and needs the space, Jackson recently told the Carlsbad City Council, as all 20 of the benches will be occupied with the next three or four months. That is a good problem to have, and the incubator is meeting the demand.
Member scientists of the incubator are often experienced and want space to develop their ideas outside of their home, or access to equipment they do not have to underwrite financially. Some of the startups in the incubator are:
• Allostere Inc., founded by Ekaterina Bobkova, Ph.D., which is focused on finding a new line of drugs that can be used to treat cancer. Bobkova worked for pharmaceutical companies, wanted to start her own firm and found affordable lab space in Bio, Tech and Beyond. Allostere's focus is drugs to treat the metastatic growth of tumors, which Bobkova regards as largely unexplored.
• Cascade Biosystems, founded by Kenneth Smith and Mariya Smit, Ph.D., which seeks to provide a fast, portable and affordable means of detecting DNA. This technology, called Restrictase Cascade Exponential Amplification, would serve as an alternative to the current widely used technology, called quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Founded in 2008, Cascade Biosystems moved into Bio, Tech and Beyond in January.
• Koliber Biosciences, founded by Ewa Lis, Ph.D., began in a Lakeside garage and moved to Bio, Tech and Beyond in January, so it very much fits the profile of an incubator startup. Koliber Biosciences is working in synthetic biology, seeking ways to make it easier to manufacture chemicals, produce energy and
cure disease.
• Biomarker Profiles, founded by Leticia Cano, Ph.D., who is developing tools to help treat disease. Biomarkers are biological indicators such as a protein or gene that show the presence of a disease or malady. Biomarker Profiles has obtained a grant to conduct experiments on chronic pain, with the hope of helping the 100 million Americans who suffer from pain daily.
Two years ago when Jackson and Lustig launched the incubator, some people may have said it wouldn't be successful. Today, it clearly is a success and people call them visionaries. The City of Carlsbad is proud to support Bio, Tech and Beyond, and is pleased to provide a space where scientists can plant the seeds of new firms, nurture them and watch them grow.