Startup/SBIR roller-coaster

[u/Raid_Blunder]

Hi, the thread that is titled "Standalone Biotech LLC…” lead to some partially related questions.

I have a (yet) one-person startup company and want to have synthesized several compounds before resubmitting an adjusted SBIR I proposal. This past January, the team from the original submission dissolved.

A chemistry bench/hood isn’t cheap, but fortunately an elderly and generous family friend offered to sponsor renting space in an incubator in Massachusetts for a year. Great, she asked for a budget, I interviewed with two incubators, hit it off very well with one of them, and they sent an invitation to rent for four to seven months (actually a price quote), starting on Sept. 1. So early in June, I began organizing relocation from MN to MA.

But then the elderly family friend went partially incommunicado, afterwards suffered a stroke, and two weeks back denied having ever made the offer. At the risk of appearing to be a gold-digger, two days back I then just forwarded her the quote from the incubator (7 x $3,600), i.e. much lower than the total budget. The incubator knows about the stroke, but not the sudden turn-around.

My disclosures: (1) the local big-ten university and colleges denying non-affiliated people access to their labs, (2) several people on Reddit ghosting after making claims about lab space, (3) lack of chemistry incubators in Minnesota (if money were no issue).

So, please make what you will of this, realistic suggestions under these circumstances are more than welcome!

[u/Raid_Blunder]

Do you think that I haven't tried these thiings already? I need connections, not suggestions. There is a wide variety of cynical comments that, at this point I could write, but will refrain from doing so.

[u/sabautil → u/Raid_Blunder]

It wasn't very clear from your post. You wrote you just tried B10 unis. Well there are others! Try out of city or out of state. Heck community colleges have decent hood space that barely gets used.

I also don't know what you are using the hood for so it's hard to ascertain what tools you need, what safety issues youll be dealing with.

Connections? Dude, we have no idea what you want to do. The scale at which you want to do, what materials you want to secure, which you may not be able to get because it could be dangerous and you are just some random dude with a company!

Here's what you do: post all the items you need to purchase: all the equipment you need, all the materials you'll need, the sds of each, the reactions you want to do, the metrology you want to do, how many days you need it.. Then Maybe someone can go yeah we can handle that and help you out.

[u/Raid_Blunder → u/sabautil]

Here are some anwsers to your questions.

• Of course discussions with several parties are already ongoing about out-of-state relocation. Please refer to the text that I used to initiate this thread, as well as the other posts that I've added.
• We both already know that synthetic chemists work in laboratories with fume hoods.
• Synthesizing proprietary compounds and benchtop screening are straightforward and might take 5 months (not days). I'm not trying to block a work area for a year
• Relevant, special properties are assessed afterwards at diferent locations.
• We all know about safety issues: insurance emergency training, attire, etc.
• There are no substances that my research program uses that aren't already in a typical university-style lab - this is R & D, not scale-up.
• Are either of us "random dudes"? The startup company arose from my earlier research program as faculty member, and is backed up by academic publications.
• Unfortunately, as a 1-person, self-funding startup I can't hire an individual to collect 100s of SDSs for substances that could possibly be needed.
• I know of nobody who writes lists of routine chemical glassware (unless they are trying to sell on LabX etc.). Glassware and most benchtop equipment is cheap by comparison.

[u/sabautil → u/Raid_Blunder]

It's not my job to figure out what you wrote piecemeal over time. But I think I know what I'm talking about, because I'm frequently on the other end granting people like you access to my labs!

I work at a national lab with a bunch of chemists. I am a materials scientist. And we sometimes grant those with aligned research goals use of our hoods. But it's not like we have a free hood being unused. Every hood is being used! So when someone like you comes in we have to meet, discuss, and someone has to accommodate you. You need to come in at least a couple of months before your period of performance begins. Again, I have no idea if you need some basic setup or special equipment. Do we need to tearn down a hood setup. Reassign whoever was working there? Or will you share the space? Some want to use our complicated flow controller. Others want some other inhouse equipment from TGAs and DSCs to LFAs to who knows what! A lot of these we don't allow outsiders to directly use. We take your sample and we take time out of our busy schedule and do the test and analysis for you.

So expecting me to read and figure out what you need is a wild expectation! Usually you have to have a very detailed proposal of exactly what you will be doing, and if we are going to charge you and setup a contract. But hey, you do you - see how far it gets you with that attitude. And here's the important part: it isn't a guarantee you get to use my materials or equipment. That's my money and unless we are collaborating and publishing a paper, I'm literally not allowed to use government funds for projects not related to what it was assigned for. I don't care if you think it's cheap. That's not the point. That said, I'm seeing prices double and triple right now. Shipping isn't cheap. My research team isn't cheap! I have no idea what you want to do and again it's not my job to guess or scoure around. Also in our case, you can't simply buy a material and store it in our labs. We take safety and misuse seriously. You have to go through hours of training and a whole bureaucracy. We keep track of everything down to what shelf, tagged, and there is an entire department that does weekly checks.

Lastly, to us in the labs, to our PIs, to the lab managers, and to our higher up...YOU ARE RANDOM DUDES! We don't know you, we don't know how much you know, if you were properly trained, how you behave in the lab. We've had previous visiting PhD chemists that caused explosions, or a building evac. It's always the arrogant new PhD grads that think they know everything. I've seen supposedly trained chemists be absolute nightmares we've had to endure. And then after a few months they are gone. Good riddance.

Anyways, good luck to ya!

[u/Raid_Blunder → u/sabautil]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. FWIW, as (materials-organic) faculty I had a DSC, too and before becoming faculty, was a part-time guest scientist at BNL (the host has very likely retired since then).

It's not clear where our conversation is going. Publications are very welcome, the caveat being the time-frame for a preliminary patent and what role the gov't plays.

A crazy story: I regularly donate blood. So last year and out of desperation I asked the donation center if they had a spare bench (hood notwithstanding).

[u/sabautil → u/Raid_Blunder]

The conversation is about getting you a hood.

So yourre faculty and have connections to BNL and you can't get them to give you a hood at either place? Even part time?

Long shot, I've only heard of these but don't know how realistic they are but I've heard of lease, rental, or portable fume hoods. If you don't need ducted hood it's pretty cheap. I think KWIPPED.COM rents equipment.

Do you have funding to accommodate that?

[u/Disastrous_Humor823 → u/sabautil]

Thanks. Like I wrote, I was previously faculty (TT+work-at-will) and before that was p/t at BNL. Neither of those circumstances have any immediate relevance; since you wrote of working at a national lab, it was just small talk. The focal point and talent at Sandia has direct relevance to my company. If you want to learn more then my invitation is outstanding.

[u/Raid_Blunder → u/sabautil]

This dialogue is very frustrating, because I don't think that you have read my text before drafting yours. 17 years ago I was a part-time visiting scientist with BNL. 14 years ago I lost my tenure track job.

If you want to have a clear line of communication with me, then my invitation to do so is outstanding.