Ryan Bethencourt

IndieBio, a San Francisco biotech accelerator, has decided to quintuple the amount of funding it offers to startups, from $50,000 per company to $250,000 for its next class. In addition to the equity funding, IndieBio will offer as much as $150,000 in convertible notes. The program will continue to ask for an 8% stake in participating companies, even though funding amounts have risen.

Biotech company Pembient is planning to roll out 3D printed rhino horns in a bid to curb poaching, with the US-based firm planning to release the first one in the summer.

The company develops products that are genetically similar to rhino horns and the founders believe they will offer an alternative to poached horns. A survey by Pembient found 45% of users would accept using rhino horns created in a laboratory.

For a synthetic biologist, taking an innovative and potentially world-changing idea to the next step may be a difficult prospect. You could consider applying to incubators, such as the QB3 Incubator in order to get the space you need to fine-tune your research, expand your operations, and be part of a network of researchers and entrepreneurs. While such incubator spaces provide fantastic networks and spaces, what they lack is support: scientific, as well as business and operations.

Can biology move at “internet speed”? Is there a Moore’s Law for cells? What about the problems that cannot be solved by information technology alone? IndieBio, a new biotech accelerator based in both San Francisco and Cork, Ireland, is proposing to answer these questions and more.

The human body functions, with all of its flora and fauna, in magnificent ways that we are only now starting to understand. Human cells are outnumbered some three to 10 times by bacterial cells in and on our bodies. And it’s estimated that at least 11 percent of the human genome is viral in origin. We are the original genetically modified organisms.

More than a decade ago, Matthew Markus wrote an idea down in his notebok. The Seattle entrepreneur had recently received a degree in genetic epidemiology, and wondered if he could use new bioengineering technologies used to create faux rhino horn.

Ten years later, Markus is living out that vision.

One young Seattle biotech startup is hoping to apply biotechnology to more than just drug development.
Pembient, which was founded at the beginning of this year, aims to bioengineer synthetic rhinoceros horns with the end goal of replacing the illegal wildlife trade.

First-year student Cathy Tie launches genomic sequencing company

One major deterrent to innovation in biotechnology has been the high costs surrounding launching a new start up. However, thanks to a variety of factors, the cost and effort it takes to start a biotech venture have fallen rapidly in the last few years.

DIYBio is the wetware equivalent of the maker movement: amateur biotechnologists tinkering with DNA using low-cost tools and an open source ethos. Synthetic biology, or biocoding as Garvey prefers to call it, is a subset of DIYBio, which views biological systems and organisms as technologies which can be engineered at the cellular and DNA levels. Biocoders don’t just want to use sequencing to determine the order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule but to synthesize entirely new molecules… Show more

DIYBio is the wetware equivalent of the maker movement: amateur biotechnologists tinkering with DNA using low-cost tools and an open source ethos. Synthetic biology, or biocoding as Garvey prefers to call it, is a subset of DIYBio, which views biological systems and organisms as technologies which can be engineered at the cellular and DNA levels. Biocoders don’t just want to use sequencing to determine the order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule but to synthesize entirely new molecules. Biocoding can be used to engineer organisms like bacteria and yeast to make everything from vegan cheese to new cancer therapies. Show less

Is investing in synthetic biology worth the risk? 'Absolutely!' says Ryan Bethencourt of Berkeley Biolabs and Indie.Bio, an SOS Ventures backed biotech accelerator.

Apps and smartphones may captivate consumers and investors at the moment, but the future of technology will be much more dizzyingly weird. Chances are, the most radical innovations in the 21st century won’t be built on silicon but on DNA. Over the past few years, the ease of crafting genes from scratch has gone way up, while the cost has gone way down.

But while the curve of biology’s version of Moore’s law bends upward, major obstacles remain to the kind of startup explosion ignited in… Show more

Apps and smartphones may captivate consumers and investors at the moment, but the future of technology will be much more dizzyingly weird. Chances are, the most radical innovations in the 21st century won’t be built on silicon but on DNA. Over the past few years, the ease of crafting genes from scratch has gone way up, while the cost has gone way down.

But while the curve of biology’s version of Moore’s law bends upward, major obstacles remain to the kind of startup explosion ignited in personal computing by better, cheaper digital technology. And the difference comes down to this: everything in Steve Jobs’ garage was basically dry. Unlike other kinds of engineering, the essential materials of biotech are both wet and alive. And this makes working with them much more complicated than pulling out a laptop or a soldering iron. Show less

Reprogrammer l'ADN des micro-organismes pour leur donner des fonctions nouvelles est à la portée des étudiants en biotechnologies du monde entier. Reportage à l'incroyable concours de "biologie synthétique", l'iGEM !

Letzte Woche fand in Basel die erste Deutschschweizer Ausgabe der in Genf gegründeten Innovationsmesse Lift statt. Unsere Westschweizer Redaktion war vor Ort.
Wenn in Basel eine Innovationsmesse stattfindet, ist die Chance gross, dass sie sich primär auf die Pharmabranche konzentriert. So war es auch bei der ersten Basler Ausgabe der Innovationsmesse Lift der Fall, bei der unsere Westschweizer Redaktion anwesend war. Die Themen der Veranstaltung drehten sich unter anderem um digitale… Show more

Letzte Woche fand in Basel die erste Deutschschweizer Ausgabe der in Genf gegründeten Innovationsmesse Lift statt. Unsere Westschweizer Redaktion war vor Ort.
Wenn in Basel eine Innovationsmesse stattfindet, ist die Chance gross, dass sie sich primär auf die Pharmabranche konzentriert. So war es auch bei der ersten Basler Ausgabe der Innovationsmesse Lift der Fall, bei der unsere Westschweizer Redaktion anwesend war. Die Themen der Veranstaltung drehten sich unter anderem um digitale Technologien im Bezug auf Life Sciences, Big Data, Biohacking und Roboter. Show less

Is investing in synthetic biology worth the risk? 'Absolutely!' says Ryan Bethencourt of Berkeley Biolabs and Indie.Bio, an SOS Ventures backed biotech accelerator. From the 2014 Silicon Valley Techonomy Conference, Bethencourt explains why savvy investors need to pay attention to the latest prototypes coming down the biotech pipeline. From cellulose cotton to biodegradable batteries, the next generation of bioengineered products and processes will drastically alter manufacturing and inevitably… Show more

Is investing in synthetic biology worth the risk? 'Absolutely!' says Ryan Bethencourt of Berkeley Biolabs and Indie.Bio, an SOS Ventures backed biotech accelerator. From the 2014 Silicon Valley Techonomy Conference, Bethencourt explains why savvy investors need to pay attention to the latest prototypes coming down the biotech pipeline. From cellulose cotton to biodegradable batteries, the next generation of bioengineered products and processes will drastically alter manufacturing and inevitably change the international economy for commodities. TheStreet’s Olivia Zaleski sat down with the self-proclaimed, 'BioHacker' at this year’s Techonomy Conference in Silicon Valley to learn exactly what 'types of biotech' mainstream investors need to be keeping a close eye on over the coming months and years. Show less

“So I had an accident.”
That was the call I got from a scientist entrepreneur friend of mine, John Schloendorn, the CEO of Gene and Cell Technologies. He’d been working on potential regenerative medicine therapies and tinkering with bioreactors to grow human cell lines. He left the lab for the weekend, and then something went wrong with one of his bioreactors: something got stuck in it.

A new San Francisco-based incubator to encourage innovation in life sciences is scheduled to open early next year.
Indie Bio will be funded by SOSventures and focus on synthetic biology, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The 15,000-square-foot incubator is being built on Market Street between Fifth and Sixth streets.

Color-changing flowers and cow-free milk may sound straight out of science fiction, but one venture capital firm is betting they’ll be the future of biotechnology before long.
Those are the kinds of quirky, yet potentially useful inventions that the Irish firm SOSventures wants to encourage by mentoring and funding life-science companies in a new San Francisco incubator.
The Bay Area already has a wide network of programs designed to speed up the growth of medical-technology startups. But… Show more

Color-changing flowers and cow-free milk may sound straight out of science fiction, but one venture capital firm is betting they’ll be the future of biotechnology before long.
Those are the kinds of quirky, yet potentially useful inventions that the Irish firm SOSventures wants to encourage by mentoring and funding life-science companies in a new San Francisco incubator.
The Bay Area already has a wide network of programs designed to speed up the growth of medical-technology startups. But Indie Bio, which SOSventures plans to open early next year, has an unusual focus: synthetic biology, a growing area of scientific research that involves engineering living organisms for practical purposes. It is a global market that will reach nearly $39 billion by 2020, according to Allied Market Research. Show less

"It now costs less to build a biotech startup than an app startup," entrepreneur and venture partner Bill Liao tells the audience at Pioneers Festival in Vienna. As the man behind Indie.Bio, a synthetic biology accelerator in Ireland that funds startups using biology as a basis for technology, Liao understands the costs better than most.

International VC firm SOSVentures is capitalizing on the now buzz worthy biotech investment trend with the creation of IndieBio, the first accelerator to focus on just life sciences.

Y Combinator raised a few eyebrows when it accepted five biotech companies out of the 80 startups in its program this last summer. That was a first for the Silicon Valley accelerator. But IndieBio partners tell us they were already thinking along those lines when Y Combinator started making in-roads with… Show more

International VC firm SOSVentures is capitalizing on the now buzz worthy biotech investment trend with the creation of IndieBio, the first accelerator to focus on just life sciences.

Y Combinator raised a few eyebrows when it accepted five biotech companies out of the 80 startups in its program this last summer. That was a first for the Silicon Valley accelerator. But IndieBio partners tell us they were already thinking along those lines when Y Combinator started making in-roads with those life sciences startups. Show less

Y Combinator, which set off a whirlwind of skeptical commentary when it opened its highly ranked tech accelerator program to biotechnology startups last spring, now has some company.

SOS Ventures, the international VC firm that already holds accelerator programs for software and hardware company founders, is launching a separate accelerator called IndieBio in San Francisco and the city of Cork, Ireland, for entrepreneurial teams in fields that include synthetic biology.

Biohacking featuring Berkeley Biolabs on PBS Newshour, coverage begins at 35mins.

The big question about biohacking is, what is it? That’s a question my editors and my friends all asked me as I prepared a story for the PBS NewsHour on this new biology term. And when I answered them, they still didn’t quite get it. So I’ll try again, with some help from the folks I talked to in recent weeks.

You're standing in the dairy section of your local supermarket, ready to cross one of the staple items off of your grocery list. Which milk product do you reach for? If you factor in the treatment of dairy animals and what gets injected into their bodies, you may reach for an organic product. After all, foods produced organically have the lowest environmental impact of available foods, right?

Not so fast.

His vocal chords are silent. His hands lie still, no longer able to dance across a keyboard.

But Eric Valor's message grows stronger as a progressive disease lays waste to his body while he organizes a new way to develop lifesaving drugs. From his bed in Aptos, his eyes locking in on letters on a computer screen, he taps out a declaration:

"I am frustrated by both the pace and method of research," he writes.

As advances in the biological sciences expand, so does their influence on every facet of life. And the people powering that expansion are not just traditionally trained scientists—they’re also regular folks like you and me. Our recent Techonomy Bio conference reaffirmed the importance of citizen scientists, taking a look at how they’ll impact the future of bio. As the life sciences spread to embrace more people, more fields, and a more urgent sense of openness, progress is not only being… Show more

As advances in the biological sciences expand, so does their influence on every facet of life. And the people powering that expansion are not just traditionally trained scientists—they’re also regular folks like you and me. Our recent Techonomy Bio conference reaffirmed the importance of citizen scientists, taking a look at how they’ll impact the future of bio. As the life sciences spread to embrace more people, more fields, and a more urgent sense of openness, progress is not only being democratized, it’s being accelerated. Show less

Decreased government research funding challenges traditional means of innovation, the lifeblood of biotechnology. However, a new generation of biotech champions are pioneering a new way, reinvigorating life science in California and nationwide. These enthusiasts have banded together to find creative solutions to challenges in funding and to rethink what biotechnology entrepreneurship means.

Just as the Internet leveled the playing field for entrepreneurship, politics, and social engagement, recent advances are leveling it for biological progress. Processing power, the cloud, and Internet connectivity open doors for inquisitive individuals and nascent biotech startups. How are ordinary people involving themselves in biology, and what will be their impact? In this video from our June 17 Techonomy Bio conference, David Kirkpatrick moderates a discussion with Eri Gentry of BioCurious… Show more

Just as the Internet leveled the playing field for entrepreneurship, politics, and social engagement, recent advances are leveling it for biological progress. Processing power, the cloud, and Internet connectivity open doors for inquisitive individuals and nascent biotech startups. How are ordinary people involving themselves in biology, and what will be their impact? In this video from our June 17 Techonomy Bio conference, David Kirkpatrick moderates a discussion with Eri Gentry of BioCurious and the Institute for the Future, Ryan Bethencourt of Berkeley BioLabs and the XPRIZE Foundation, and David Haussler of UC Santa Cruz and HHMI. Show less

The average nuclear power plant generates 20 metric tons of nuclear waste every year, while America's entire nuclear fleet produces about 2,000 metric tons. That has added up to over 70,000 metric tons in the past 40 years. It's not a big volume, relatively speaking, but the problem is usually associated with the length of time it remains hazardous. The good news is that General Electric (NYSE: GE ) and nuclear partner Hitachi have been working hard building the Generation IV PRISM reactor and… Show more

The average nuclear power plant generates 20 metric tons of nuclear waste every year, while America's entire nuclear fleet produces about 2,000 metric tons. That has added up to over 70,000 metric tons in the past 40 years. It's not a big volume, relatively speaking, but the problem is usually associated with the length of time it remains hazardous. The good news is that General Electric (NYSE: GE ) and nuclear partner Hitachi have been working hard building the Generation IV PRISM reactor and Advanced Recycling Center , or ARC, which can consume up to 96% of spent nuclear waste and produce carbon-free energy. Show less

"Despite these difficulties, several organisations are now trying to help catalyse commercial projects. For example, Berkeley Biolabs, a community laboratory in the San Francisco Bay area, is offering cheap rates for use of its facilities. There is some evidence that this collaborative approach can drive down the cost of DIYbio equipment and launch it into new markets."

12. The Biohacking DIY Scientist
Ryan Bethencourt, biohacker
Traditionally there two things one requires in order to 'do' science: a white coat - that's non-negotiable - and a string of letters after one's name. But biohacker Ryan Bethencourt, co-founder of Berkeley Biolabs, isn't exactly traditional."

"In a small lab, near a lake at the edge of West Berkeley, sits the prototype of what could revolutionize battery power as we know it. The secret to this power? Algae."

"Apple and Microsoft started out in garages, but a biopharma startup cannot follow suit. Not when there’s equipment like centrifuges, water baths, and, increasingly, sequencers that have to be used, and have to go somewhere."

DIYsect focuses on DIY Biology and the Biology-Art intersection. In Summer 2013, we traveled across the United States and Canada to film biohackers, bioartists, synthetic biologists, writers and curators on this growing phenomenon of tinkering with life. Our goal is to raise questions and discuss the way biotechnology is changing our society: What are its political, social, and even philosophical implications? What happens when manipulating life becomes as simple as writing a line of code? And… Show more

DIYsect focuses on DIY Biology and the Biology-Art intersection. In Summer 2013, we traveled across the United States and Canada to film biohackers, bioartists, synthetic biologists, writers and curators on this growing phenomenon of tinkering with life. Our goal is to raise questions and discuss the way biotechnology is changing our society: What are its political, social, and even philosophical implications? What happens when manipulating life becomes as simple as writing a line of code? And more importantly, what does this mean for average citizens and their future? Show less

"We are not what we think we are."

"But look more closely at the white space between words and the edge of the page, you will find a new group of science explorers and risk takers, known as DIY scientists or biohackers."

Covered the initial launch of Berkeley Biolabs

"Biohacking.

The word seems like something out of a science fiction novel, but it has most likely already broken into the realm of a social arena near you."

Curing or even finding treatments for rare diseases is hard. Not necessarily because these diseases are any more complex than more common ones. It has more to do with the fact that there is very little profit to be made in helping people with these diseases.

That is why a new initiative, the Rare Disease Science Challenge (which was discussed at this weekend’s Open Science Summit at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View) is so exciting. It is trying to collect a critical mass of… Show more

Curing or even finding treatments for rare diseases is hard. Not necessarily because these diseases are any more complex than more common ones. It has more to do with the fact that there is very little profit to be made in helping people with these diseases.

That is why a new initiative, the Rare Disease Science Challenge (which was discussed at this weekend’s Open Science Summit at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View) is so exciting. It is trying to collect a critical mass of nonprofits, scientists, and families dealing with these diseases and to offer them seed money and free services to start to find treatments and/or cures. Show less

"SAN DIEGO & SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Assay Depot Inc. and BioCurious selected two Bay Area-based citizen scientists, Ryan Bethencourt and Derek Jacoby, as winners of their first Open Science Challenge. Bethencourt aims to develop new ALS therapeutics, and Jacoby is seeking to find a probiotic method of improving uric acid clearance to combat gout."

The biotechnology industry is growing rapidly. Every year increasing numbers of life science graduates enter the workforce, more researchers seek to commercialize their research findings, and growing numbers of biotechnology-minded business students and business professionals seek to apply their skills and knowledge to biotechnology. Some of these biotechnology workers enter existing companies, whereas others start their own companies. Regardless of their education, training, or the nature of… Show more

The biotechnology industry is growing rapidly. Every year increasing numbers of life science graduates enter the workforce, more researchers seek to commercialize their research findings, and growing numbers of biotechnology-minded business students and business professionals seek to apply their skills and knowledge to biotechnology. Some of these biotechnology workers enter existing companies, whereas others start their own companies. Regardless of their education, training, or the nature of their work, this growing constituency is challenged to learn how to operate within the biotechnology industry, while continually monitoring and managing the implications of changes in the underpinning fundamentals.

Those operating within the industry - whether in biotechnology companies or in associated supportive roles - are constantly challenged to keep abreast of industry developments and understand their significance. Seeking to meet the need to understand how to practice the business of biotechnology, these best practices provide a framework upon which to understand critical issues in biotechnology business development. Experts from a wide range of disciplines have composed best practices based on their experiences and expertise, creating a vital toolbox covering a broad spectrum of topics. These best practices will enable you develop a better understanding of the key elements in these operations and empower you to better manage their implementation. Show less