Excedr Newsletter | June, 2023
Hi readers, it's a Friday newsletter.
The Bay Area has been gloomy this June, but things are warming up as we roll into the weekend.
Some of you might get out of town to camp, hike, and generally be outdoors, which is excellent. We all need more outdoor time. Whatever you’re doing, don’t start watching Grey’s Anatomy again. Or do. Your call.
If you haven't had a chance to listen to our podcast's episodes with Steve Visco, CEO and CTO of Polyplus, give them a listen. All parts are available on Youtube and wherever you get your podcasts. I'll add some links and a short description of each part.
In part one, Jon and Steve discuss the importance of being a skillful writer, the origins of tech transfer, and what that meant for researchers in government and academic labs.
In part two, Jon and Steve talk about his experience running a licensing company during rapid industry change. Steve also discusses the importance of intellectual property and how to deal with patent trolls and spurious lawsuits.
In part three, Steve talks about staying true to your north star, applying for government grants, and offers tips on how to consider choosing your grants and guidance about writing the grants themselves.?
I'm keeping this month's newsletter short. The podcast has great information for first-time founders and students to check out. Here are our resources for June. Enjoy!
Protein purification is one essential assay performed in life sciences and biotechnology labs to study and analyze target proteins and enzymes in a lysate based on their specific properties.?Various techniques are developed that assist in conducting the process, such as:
The most powerful of all the techniques mentioned above is affinity chromatography. In this technique, the target molecule is purified by using specific binding interactions between biomolecules. It’s also known as affinity purification.
During the process, a specific purification ligand is immobilized on a solid surface followed by passing a complex mixture through the column that has a high binding affinity for the bound ligand.
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Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA, is a plate-based gold standard immunoassay used in life sciences and molecular biology labs to detect and quantify biomolecules in a complex mixture. The ELISA assay is a type of immunoassay.
In this technique, antigens are immobilized on the surface of 96 or 384 ELISA well plates. Then, the plate is incubated with antigen-specific antibodies, which bind to the target antigen present at the bottom of the microplates.
ELISA plates?reside at the heart of the ELISA assay. They are also known as microtiter plates or microplates and are made from polystyrene or polypropylene
Isoelectric focusing (IEF)?is a molecular technique used in labs to separate different molecules based on the difference in their pI or isoelectric point. The technique is also known as electrofocusing.
Basically, it is a type of zone electrophoresis that uses the pH of the gel to determine the overall charge on the molecule of interest. In the first step, the proteins are separated by their pI value and then SDS-PAGE is used to separate them further based on their molecular weight.
The FDA’s drug approval process is designed to ensure that drugs are safe and effective for their intended use before they are made available to the public, and the journey from demonstrating a molecule’s potential as a therapeutic to producing an approved drug today involves several stages, including pre-clinical testing, intricate clinical trials on humans, and post-trial approval by the FDA.
This process can last from 10 to 15 years and can often cost millions or billions of dollars. While one?study published in the Journal of Health Economics?placed the cost to bring a new medicine to market around $2.8 billion, there has been debate as to the accuracy of this estimate.?
For startup founders and small business owners, leasing equipment can be a compelling option, particularly in capital-intensive industries where the necessary equipment carries a steep price tag. Case in point: the life sciences.
There are similarities between leasing a car and a piece of research equipment, specifically when that vehicle or instrument will be used for your business. Without the item, you’ll have a much more difficult time getting specific tasks completed. It might not even be a case of “more difficult.” It may be outright impossible to get the tasks done.?
Simply put, you need the instrument! But buying it might not make sense. You can afford monthly payments, but you can’t afford to spend $250,000 on a new LC-MS. Even when a budget is available, it doesn’t always make sense to spend a huge chunk on one instrument.
In this way, leasing can be a welcome alternative when you need to add something to the lab in order to reach a new milestone. It also helps you stretch cash runway and preserve working capital. During periods of financial uncertainty, leasing can be especially appealing.
?Happy reading, and cheers,
-Tom