Abstract
The California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences offers incubators and other programs that aim to close the gap between discovery and commercialization in biotechnology.
Back in 2009, Omniox, Inc., a biotechnology startup in San Francisco, CA, developing oxygen carrier protein technology, was working in 250 square feet of office space and 50 square feet of communal lab space in a garage.
This was not just any garage, but a QB3 Garage, one of 5 life sciences incubators run by the California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), in which entrepreneurs can rent as little as one desk and one bench to house their early-stage startups.
Founded in 2000 by the state of California, QB3 is a partnership among the state, private industry, and the University of California campuses in San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Davis. The partnership aims to close the gap between discovery and commercialization in biotechnology through its incubators and other programs.
For instance, QB3 coordinates grants to support proof-of-concept research within university labs. Its “Startup in a Box” program helps with incorporation and legal services, and its Accelerator program leverages the buying power of the 61 companies housed in QB3 incubators to get discounts on supplies, business services, and consulting. Its newest effort involves building connections with industry partners such as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.
“People need different services,” says Neena Kadaba, PhD, QB3 director of industry alliances. “We have many programs to help people get across the gap.”
Omniox, for example, began its relationship with QB3 in 2006 when it was still just an idea in the lab of Michael Marletta, PhD, then a University of California, Berkeley, chemist and now president of the Scripps Research Institute. Marletta received $250,000 of QB3-coordinated Bridging the Gap translational funding to advance his oxygen transport research. In 2010, Omniox received $3 million from the National Cancer Institute to study its technology for targeting hypoxia in tumors, and the firm has since expanded into its own office space.
Being in the QB3 Garage at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), “was vital,” says Stephen Cary, PhD, Omniox cofounder and chief executive. “QB3 introduced us to key translational oncology collaborators at UCSF. In the future, we hope QB3 will become a conduit for industry partnerships.”
So far, QB3 startups have raised over $230 million in venture capital and created over 280 jobs. “We'd love to support organizations doing similar activities elsewhere and help other groups create a similar type of ecosystem,” says Kadaba. “We think this could happen in many other research clusters around the country.”