Incubator

About: SI-START @ San Diego

The Scintillon Incubator – SI-START @ San Diego is more than just a physical space located in the heart of the San Diego’s Biotech Ecosystem - it is a hub of innovation and opportunity for life science startups.

Mission: At SI-START, our mission is to empower passionate and entrepreneurial scientists to drive the development of transformational technologies for scientists and treatments for patients around the world. Our incubator provides access to cutting-edge equipment and class A lab space, as well as funding opportunities, third-party services, seminars, educational events, and talent pools from SI academic research groups.

Most importantly, SI-START’s funding industry partners provide business management experience, grant-writing and fund-raising guidance, and idea-testing environment to its residents.

What we offer:

  1. Flexible lease terms for space, from one knee-hole (1/2 bench) and hot desk to multiple benches and office space.

  2. Grantsmanship help for SBIRs, STTRs, as well as potential collaborative partnerships with experienced SI faculty.

  3. Shared capital equipment that allow you to flex your startup funds. For a partial equipment list, click here.

  4. Pitch opportunities to VC funds and other funding resources.

  5. Help in setting up your vendor relationships and startup discounts, lab safety training and HR issues, and county safety compliance.

What we request from startups:

  1. SAFE note-inspired share compensation to SI-START to help our ability to grow our entrepreneurial ecosystem.

  2. Periodic seminars to inform other SI-START companies and SI faculty and related community about your technology.

Alumni Companies: We are proud to have been the launching pad of numerous successful startups and alumni companies, such as Mesa Biotech, NanoCellect Biomedical, Cellarcus Biosciences, Arima Genomics, Abilita Bio, and Allegro 3D.

Mesa Biotech, Inc: Founded by Dr. Hong Cai in 2009, her vision was to commercialize technologies to reduce the complexity and cost of PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)-based molecular diagnostics with the mission of making infectious disease diagnostics and cancer screening far more accurate, accessible and affordable to diverse end-users. Her team of scientists and engineers at Mesa developed a palm-sized, low cost (at a fraction of cost of an iPhone), low complexity, nucleic acid-based molecular diagnostic platform Accula™ for point of care (POC) diagnostic applications. Mesa's first rapid POC FluA,B PCR test was granted with FDA approval of 510k and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waiver in February 2018. This new rapid flu PCR test was marketed under Silaris™ brand in US through the distribution partnership of Sekisui Diagnostics. This company was incubated extensively at SI-START prior to its sale to Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2021 for $550 Million for the detection of COVID-19.

NanoCellect Biomedical: Co-founded in 2009 by Drs. Will Alaynick, Jose Morachis, Sung Hwang Cho, and others, the vision was to create a cutting-edge microfluidics flow sorter that could be used for numerous downstream applications, such as stem cell sorting in a user-friendly, gentle, and multi-color manner. Their flagship product is the WOLF cell sorter, followed by the WOLF G2 and VERLO image-guided sorter. The company received numerous NIH SBIR grants and funding rounds Series A, B, C, and D and is currently growing independently in the UTC area of San Diego. It is currently being led by Mr. Chris Neary.

Cellarcus Biosciences: Founded by Professor John Nolan, a past president of ISAC and world expert in cytometry and vesicle analysis, Cellarcus is a leading provider of products and services for the analysis of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and EV biology. Its commercial operations include sales of vesicle standards and vesicle assays, vesicle-specific antibodies, and custom analysis services. Cellarcus was incubated at SI prior to its move to its own facilities in La Jolla, CA.

Arima Genomics: Description coming soon!

Abilita Therapeutics, Inc: Description coming soon!

Allegro 3D, Inc: Co-founded by Professor Shaochen Chen and Ms. Lucy Wei Wei, MA and run by Dr. Wei Zhu, Allegro 3D was a world leader in light-based, rapid, and high-throughput 3D tissue and related bioprinting. It created the Bionova X printer to ensure easy-to-use 3D printing and pioneered the creation of numerous types of photo-activatable polymers. This company was eventually purchased by Cellink and its subsidiary BICO in 2022 as part of an acquisition strategy by Cellink to be the world leader in tissue printing. Dr. Zhu is currently CTO of Cellink.

Current Companies: We are excited to currently host several exciting young startups that have or are developing revolutionary technologies in the fields of imaging and cell selection, GMP cell culture, mass production of circular DNA, and more.

Defined Bioscience, Inc: Description coming soon!

Narwhal Bio, Inc: Stealth mode

Ting Therapeutics, Inc: Description coming soon!

Acres Biosciences, Inc: Description coming soon!

Bespoke Bioworks, Inc: Description coming soon!

Pomelo Biosciences, Inc: Description coming soon!

Interested in SI-START to incubate and accelerate your company? Contact Professor Yun C. Yung at yyung@scintillon.org and potentially join us to be part of the next cohort of successful life science entrepreneurs!