Burlington Bio is a startup that uses biotechnology to turn agricultural byproducts into food ingredients – such as material for lab grown meat or protein powder.
When Rachael Floreani, a faculty member at the University of Vermont for 13 years, started the company last year, she had to buy her own equipment and find a space to rent — a process that took her more than a year.
So she applauds the university’s new partnership with BioInnovation Labs, also known as BioLabs, that will open a 7,000 square foot incubator center in Colchester with lab equipment and office workspaces for aspiring life sciences entrepreneurs to hit the ground running.
“I think it is a remarkable opportunity,” said Floreani, a tenured professor in the mechanical engineering department who has a background in biomedical engineering and material science.
“I know that there are many professors on campus that have brilliant ideas but we aren’t very good at business, in general,” she added.
The BioLabs Innovation Center will recruit about 20 scientists and entrepreneurs from the university and the greater Burlington region to test and grow their startups, according to a UVM press release last week. Applications and tours are being planned for the coming months, and the center is expected to open in 2025.
BioLabs, a Cambridge, Massachusetts company, has entered into similar ventures with universities, pharma companies and other entities worldwide, according to the release. UVM, which is the first rural university to partner with the company, will run the incubator center and BioLabs will provide operations support and access to industry partners and events, the release stated.
“Admission to the BioLabs Innovation Center at UVM will be a highly competitive process,” said Kirk Dombrowski, vice president for research and economic development at UVM, in the release. “With access to the full research enterprise at UVM, these startups will join the more than 500 companies BioLabs has supported since its launch, ultimately creating jobs and furthering our regional economic development.”
James Stafford co-founded Nzumbe Inc., a biotech company in Portland, Oregon in 2012. A UVM faculty member who runs a research lab focusing on brain diseases, he is excited about the potential of the center to boost the local economy by creating high-paying jobs while fostering innovation.
“It is a really exciting opportunity, not just for UVM, but I think also for the region,” said Stafford, who envisions it could boost Vermont’s agricultural economy by providing new opportunities that lead to strong, high paying jobs.
It could also provide great education and internship options for students and help them grow and stay in Vermont while expanding biotech here, he added.
Floreani, who is focused on research that she hopes will do good in the world, said she expects the new lab space will help others to do the same in Vermont.
“Taking something from a university campus, where it’s all research, and trying to turn that into something to help humanity – that’s a huge barrier,” she said. Referring to the incubator center, she said, “I think it would be great to have something like that here.”
