By Erika Wu, Business Development Manager, Global Tech Hubs, LSN
EW: Please introduce us to Bio Alabama. Such as mission statement and brief overview of the services offered.
BIO Alabama is the leading advocate for Alabama’s bioeconomy. We represent the state on a national and international stage, promoting the intellectual and innovative capital that make our state a premier place to invest, start, and grow in bioscience.
We represent Alabama’s bio related industries, research scientists, clinicians and business professionals who are working together to foster, develop and support the life sciences in Alabama. BIO Alabama is the state affiliate in Alabama of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the preeminent national association for biotechnology companies.
Our mission is to promote biotechnology innovation by creating a favorable scientific, business and legislative environment that will facilitate the growth of emerging and existing companies while attracting new biotechnology opportunities to Alabama and to increase public awareness regarding the potential impact on quality-of-life and the state’s economy.
EW: Please introduce us to the # startups that are presenting at RESI South in Atlanta on March 25th:
1: Gulf Sterilization – Michelle Scott – President and CEO of Gulf Sterilization
Gulf Sterilization, offers an environmentally conscious sterilizationoption to the life sciences and advanced manufacturing industries viacutting edge gaseous chlorine dioxide. This technology, developed byan offshoot of Johnson and Johnson, is provided in a state of the art,5400 square foot facility housing multiple chambers for sustainablesterilization services. In December, Gulf Sterilization wasrecommended for ISO:13485 certification ensuring the highest qualityand regulatory compliance. Recently, they accepted one of only 75invitations extended worldwide to the Global Industry ScientificExchange on Alternative Sterilization held in Munich, Germany. Activein the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation(AAMI), Gulf Sterilization also values the opportunity to foster regionalgrowth in the life science ecosystem through their membership inFMMC and Bio Alabama.
2: ResBiotic – Vivek Lal – CEO
ResBiotic is a Biotech CPG Company based in Birmingham, AL. ResBiotic stands for Restoration Biotics where we make a new class of wellness supplements – ones that are actually science backed. Physician-developed, with your health in mind, our supplements designed to restore your microbiome and foster whole body wellness and resilience. With multiple product lines, ResBiotic® offers supplements for every body. Our hero seeks to improve symptoms, like low energy or breathing challenges and understands the value of investing in supplements to support healing or general well-being. They most value proactive, holistic, and science-backed wellness approaches to gut, lung, and immune health.
3: SynVivo Inc – Gwen Fewell – President and CEO
SynVivo Inc. is a commercial stage Organ-on-Chip company in the Life Sciences Research Tools market. Our patented platform offers 3D Tissue and Organ-on-Chip models for Neuroscience,Oncology, Inflammation, and Toxicology drug development and personalized medicine applications. The company’s vision is to establish a new standard of predictive tools for understanding human responses in drug development, bridging the gap between pre-clinical drug testing and human clinical trials towards transformative advancements in personalizedmedicine. SynVivo’s microfluidic platform allows accurate modeling of both the morphology of human tissues and organs and the physiology of blood flow and shear stress to create more predictive models for preclinical testing of drugs. Complex in vivo microvascular environment including scale, morphology, hemodynamics of blood flow and cellular architecture are re-created invitro. SynVivo’s Organ-on Chip models feature a side-by-side architecture enabling real-time visualization and quantitation using standard analytical instrumentation.
4: Chonex – Michael Lynch – President and CEO
Chonex is at the forefront of regenerative agriculture innovation with StrongSoil, a transformative product designed to rebuild and regenerate topsoil. This allows farmers to achieve higher profitability through reduced chemical use and increased crop yields. Priced to enable cost-effective implementation, StrongSoil enhances soil microbiology, thus promoting profitable farming with less risk from external threats like droughts and diseases. Comprising a comprehensive mix of beneficial microorganisms, micronutrients, and enzymes, StrongSoil is proven to significantly boost soil health and plant resilience. With five years of comprehensive research behind it, StrongSoil’s innovation is packaged in a user-friendly, water-soluble format compatible with almost all agricultural fertilizers and chemicals, marking a significant milestone in the advancement of sustainable farming.
EW: What are your initiatives and strategic goals in 2024 for Bio Alabama?
BIO Alabama has three strategic growth pillars that include economic development, workforce initiatives and connectivity life science efforts across the state. In 2024, BIO Alabama is offering a couple of new services to our members to support our growth pillars. The first is an M&A assessment methodology that Dr. Blanks has used previously during his decade of work in private equity. The goal of this assessment is to identify weaknesses in company plans, strategies, IP, financial plan, capex, etc and correct those weaknesses in order to improve the value of the company’s equity when they go in front of investors. The second is to support SBIR/STTR applications for members through a review process to catch mistakes or missed steps in the application process. The goal of this effort on grant applications is to increase the number of applicants that receive a full review of the scientific value of the application. Both of these services are offered at no direct cost to our members.
For any questions, please reach out to Erika Wu,at e.wu@lifesciencenation.com
Vanessa Williamson, CEO, Gliachem:“A 4-minute pitch is not easy. There is an opportunity to add a bunch more content than you would with just a standard elevator pitch, but you can’t overload. Coming up with a succinct message that focused on the problem, solution, differentiation and market opportunity was key. As tempting as it was to get deep into the science, we focused on the business opportunity. The LSN and RESI resources were also invaluable. We attended the prep session you offered and followed the recommendations with respect to focus.”
Dr. Alberto Ramos Vernieri, Chief Scientific Officer, Untech:“This prize is exactly that because the judges of the contest are people with a lot of experience and well recognized in the field. Each question from this kind of person is always useful to learn more about those things you can’t learn in other ways.”
Dr. Gennady Bratslavsky, Co-Founder & Partner at Avicella Capital:“An opportunity for us to have a good deep look during the presentations. It also gives an opportunity to provide feedback…It is an opportunity to put their best foot forward and an opportunity to have great exposure.”
David Medina, PhD, Co-founder at Novaurum Biosciences:“I had the opportunity to pitch for the first time at RESI in Boston. I was impressed by the quality of the questions I was asked by the investor judges, and it was great to be able to continue the conversation over a drink at the end of the day. We are currently still in conversation with some of them. I also think it helped us get more meetings with investors at RESI. A great experience!” 
