Biotech startups require special infrastructure, which requires a lot of investment. Since this keeps biotech startups at bay, UC Riverside has come up with a facility that will encourage the development of these startups.
Dubbed the Wet Lab Incubator, this research, and development facility will allow 15 biotech startups to materialize their ideas. Many biotech startup firms in the Inland Empire region have expressed interest, and one of them has signed a lease agreement. The Wet Lab Incubator is the first of UC Riverside’s initiatives to allow startups to grow and expand in the IE region. The incubator is funded by the US Economic Development Administration, the state of California, and internal UC Riverside funds.
Key Takeaways:
- This is the first Wetland incubator that will help the Biotech startup ecosystem in the Inland Empire.
- The startup will not only get a facility where they can develop their ideas, but they will get mentorship and funding opportunities as well.
- They can house 15 startups, so if you want your startups to be considered, have a clear direction of where and how they can help you.
Mentorship and Grant Opportunities
The incubator will not only provide research space for the startups but will also help the employees connect with mentors at UC Riverside. This adds value to the startups and their projects since they could get all the professional help required from pioneers in the biotech field.
The incubator would be “a vibrant entrepreneurial space” in the Inland Empire region. It provides “the whole package, access to capital, specialized mentorship, and a place to grow.”
Rosibel Ochoa, the associate vice chancellor for technology partnerships,
The mentorship and access to capital would be provided by the UC Riverside Entrepreneurial Proof of Concept and Innovation Small Business Development Center. The incubator residents will also access the university’s nanofabrication cleanroom, proteomics, stem cell core, and plant transformation via a service agreement. They would be able to attend seminars and workshops and access research patents.
Residents will also have the opportunity to learn the process of applying for grants from the Federal government since they will get access to the university’s SBIR/STTR Resource Center.
Video Tour
Location
Update January 7, 2021: The first tenants
UC Riverside Life Sciences Incubator goes live. Drug delivery and genomic sequencing startups are the first tenants.
We are glad to welcome Karamedica and Murrieta Genomics as the first tenants of the Life Science Incubator at UC Riverside
Rosibel Ochoa, associate vice chancellor for technology partnerships at UC Riversided
Update May 11, 2021: Two New Tennants
As the campus ramps up research and provides lab and office space for life science entrepreneurs, it has added two new tenants to its life sciences incubator.
NeyroblastGX and GattaCo Inc. are the third and fourth tenants to join the state-of-the-art research facility housed in the Multidisciplinary Research Building.
Imran Ghori, UC Riverside
Wet Lab Incubator Startups Data
| No | Startup | Founder | What do they do? | Funding |
| 1. | Karamedica | Wolff Kirsch | Developing a chitosan-based nanoparticle drug delivery technology for transporting synthetic DNA from the nose to the brain to treat cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a condition that afflicts more than 85% of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and leads to the breakdown of the arteries in the brain and cognitive decline. | Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) |
| 2. | Murrieta Genomics | Brandon Young | Dedicated to advancing the use of genomic sequencing in precision medicine, agriculture, forensics, veterinary and direct-to-consumer applications. | Microsoft ScaleUp |
| 3. | NeyroblastGX | Aynun Begum | Focused on developing oral supplements using biodegradable nanoparticles and a high throughput human organoid system to monitor and prevent neurodegenerative disorders and infectious diseases like COVID-19. | U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the National Science Foundation. |
| 4. | GattaCo Inc. | Pankaj Singhal. | Developing microfluidic blood sample collection and processing technology that will allow for rapid and decentralized diagnostic testing. | Plug and Play Japan |
Applying to a Wet lab incubator?
If you have an idea for a biotech startup, this Wet lab incubator is a good opportunity. What should you consider before applying to a Wet lab incubator? Think of it as applying for a lease and a job interview simultaneously. These are not just chunks of real estate; they are actively managed communities. So, understanding your goals and how they align with the incubator will help. Read more about the dos and don’ts of applying to the web lab incubator here.
What is a wet lab incubator?
A wet lab incubator is a facility used to incubate biological samples. They are commonly used in research to grow bacteria and other organisms for experimental purposes. A wet lab incubator allows researchers to grow bacteria, viruses, cells, and other living organisms in the lab under controlled conditions. These experiments are often used to determine the conditions best for an organism or to test how a substance affects an organism.
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