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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:06] SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm Cynthia Lockery from Canada's Podcast,
[00:09] SPEAKER_01: where we talk to entrepreneurs for making it happen right here in BC.
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: Today, I'm joined by Dr. Stephanie Willer,
[00:18] SPEAKER_01: a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Victoria,
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: as well as an international leader in the field of bio materials
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: and tissue engineering.
[00:30] SPEAKER_01: She found it the award-winning biotechnology spin-off company,
[00:36] SPEAKER_01: Accelotel Bio Sciences.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: The company sells bio-inx for printing human tissues.
[00:43] SPEAKER_01: Welcome, Stephanie.
[00:45] SPEAKER_01: I probably did not do an awesome job of explaining that,
[00:48] SPEAKER_01: because bioengineering is above my level of understanding.
[00:54] SPEAKER_01: So why don't you tell us what it is that you do?
[00:58] SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
[00:58] SPEAKER_02: And, for some, I'm really excited to be here chatting with you today.
[01:03] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I think a lot of people are familiar with traditional 3D printing,
[01:06] SPEAKER_02: where you have a 3D printer that heats up plastic filament,
[01:10] SPEAKER_02: and then you extrude it into different shapes.
[01:12] SPEAKER_02: I know that I have an ender that's actually in my husband's office right now,
[01:15] SPEAKER_02: and that we use.
[01:16] SPEAKER_02: So by printing similar to that, but instead of using a plastic filament
[01:20] SPEAKER_02: and heating it up because cells like that sound in your body
[01:23] SPEAKER_02: don't like to be exposed to extreme heat.
[01:26] SPEAKER_02: You need specially formulated bioinx.
[01:28] SPEAKER_02: And our bioink is really similar to Jello that support the cells.
[01:32] SPEAKER_02: So when you actually extrude them out into those structures that mimic tissues,
[01:35] SPEAKER_02: the cells stay alive and function.
[01:38] SPEAKER_02: And as you mentioned, I am a professor at the University of Victoria.
[01:41] SPEAKER_02: We've been working on this technology in my lab,
[01:43] SPEAKER_02: and then we spun out an Accelotel Bio Sciences,
[01:45] SPEAKER_02: actually the week of the pandemic in March 2020.
[01:49] SPEAKER_02: And for those of you who don't know,
[01:52] SPEAKER_02: Accelotels are Mexican cell manders,
[01:54] SPEAKER_02: and this is a stuff one,
[01:56] SPEAKER_02: and they have a highly regenerative nervous system.
[01:58] SPEAKER_02: And we had initially developed our bioink to print neural tissue.
[02:00] SPEAKER_02: So similar to that found in the brain and spinal cord.
[02:03] SPEAKER_02: And my co-founder, Dr. Laura De La Vega, is from Mexico.
[02:06] SPEAKER_02: So this was already an animal that we had loved and talked about.
[02:09] SPEAKER_02: And so we're really excited when it passed legal for it to be our company name.
[02:13] SPEAKER_01: Okay, that is absolutely fascinating.
[02:16] SPEAKER_01: The work you do, but also that you launched a company just when COVID started.
[02:23] SPEAKER_01: So what made you launch this company and decide to venture out?
[02:30] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so as an academic,
[02:33] SPEAKER_02: so bio printing really started taking off probably in the middle of the 2010s.
[02:38] SPEAKER_02: And so probably some of the people listening are familiar with aspect biosystems
[02:41] SPEAKER_02: that makes bio printers based out of Vancouver that was spun out of EBC.
[02:46] SPEAKER_02: So we actually got their second ever bio printer they made.
[02:49] SPEAKER_02: And we had trouble shot and developed our product with their technology.
[02:53] SPEAKER_02: And so for people who aren't in the field,
[02:56] SPEAKER_02: for example, when I was a grad student,
[02:58] SPEAKER_02: we would make our neural tissues as I would pipe that so like manually with your hands,
[03:03] SPEAKER_02: sort of put droplets of these different materials themselves into wells of the plate,
[03:07] SPEAKER_02: which is you can imagine takes a lot of time and effort.
[03:09] SPEAKER_02: But then with the bio printer, one of the advantages is it can make a bunch of tissues,
[03:14] SPEAKER_02: sort of automatically based on the program specifications.
[03:17] SPEAKER_02: So we were really excited to be able to make a lot more of our tissues with a lot less labor.
[03:23] SPEAKER_02: And so that's kind of how we got into it.
[03:25] SPEAKER_02: And then our ink was really the first of its kind,
[03:28] SPEAKER_02: it really supported the bio printing of stem cells.
[03:31] SPEAKER_02: So prior to our work,
[03:32] SPEAKER_02: if you tried to print stem cells,
[03:34] SPEAKER_02: which are pretty expensive to grow in culture.
[03:38] SPEAKER_02: And about half of them would live and they weren't really functioning like they went in the body.
[03:43] SPEAKER_02: So you could print a neural tissue and the cells might look for like seven days,
[03:46] SPEAKER_02: but you weren't seeing the electric signals that you would find in the brain or spinal cord.
[03:50] SPEAKER_02: And with our ink that changed around 90% of the cells survived.
[03:53] SPEAKER_02: We got really nice expression of the different proteins you would see in neural tissue.
[03:58] SPEAKER_02: And then we also do see electrical activity.
[04:00] SPEAKER_02: So that kind of was a game changer.
[04:02] SPEAKER_02: So that's one of the reasons we decided to spin out our company is because,
[04:06] SPEAKER_02: prior to COVID,
[04:07] SPEAKER_02: at a conference,
[04:08] SPEAKER_02: a bunch of academics were like,
[04:09] SPEAKER_02: why aren't you selling your ink?
[04:11] SPEAKER_02: And I was like,
[04:12] SPEAKER_02: oh, it makes a lot of sense to sell our ink.
[04:14] SPEAKER_02: That's how we decided to get started.
[04:15] SPEAKER_02: And also Laura, my co-founder,
[04:17] SPEAKER_02: she had minored an entrepreneurship.
[04:18] SPEAKER_02: So she actually had like a secret plan
[04:20] SPEAKER_02: we're going to start a business.
[04:21] SPEAKER_02: And I was waiting for you to come around on it.
[04:23] SPEAKER_02: I love that.
[04:24] SPEAKER_02: So who are,
[04:26] SPEAKER_02: who do you sell the ink to?
[04:28] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we currently sell to different academics in Canada and the United States.
[04:33] SPEAKER_02: And we have sold some to an incubator in Quebec that had a bio printer.
[04:38] SPEAKER_02: And so they wanted to get more customers for using it.
[04:41] SPEAKER_02: And then we're also in talks with some companies overseas
[04:43] SPEAKER_02: to do distribution in different countries as well.
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[04:56] SPEAKER_01: So what are you more passionate about when it comes to the work you do?
[05:02] SPEAKER_02: I'm a nerd.
[05:03] SPEAKER_02: So I actually think the science is really cool.
[05:06] SPEAKER_02: And I think with the company,
[05:08] SPEAKER_02: something that's been really exciting is seeing what other people use our ink for.
[05:12] SPEAKER_02: I do have a big focus on a neural in my work and my research group.
[05:17] SPEAKER_02: And so it's been really cool to see people print things like cardiac tissue.
[05:20] SPEAKER_02: We've recently been collaborating with a new professor at the University of Victoria,
[05:23] SPEAKER_02: Steven Tufts on skin and looking at like the bacteria,
[05:26] SPEAKER_02: present and skin and wound healing.
[05:28] SPEAKER_02: We also have a really fun collaboration with Ryan Flanagan's group.
[05:31] SPEAKER_02: At the Vancouver prostate center where we've been printing a testicular tubules from patient
[05:36] SPEAKER_02: derived stem cells, which is really cool because in this case,
[05:39] SPEAKER_02: and the patient, the male patients are infertile because they lack the appropriate structure to make sperm.
[05:45] SPEAKER_02: But there are sperm stem cells that can make sperm.
[05:49] SPEAKER_02: And so we've been able to use their own stem cells to make immature sperm.
[05:52] SPEAKER_02: But if we were able to further develop this process to make mature sperm.
[05:56] SPEAKER_02: And I didn't have to ask him about this when the paper came out.
[05:58] SPEAKER_02: And we could actually, those patients thing could use the sperm we make in a dish or IVF and vitro fertilization,
[06:07] SPEAKER_02: which is super cool.
[06:08] SPEAKER_02: And so you said of the personalized medicine with the 3D printing.
[06:12] SPEAKER_01: I love that. So you're transforming healthcare and ultimately people's lives.
[06:17] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah. That one was just as really fun because it was the first time anyone had,
[06:21] SPEAKER_02: and it's interesting as I said, I work in neural, which compared to the testes,
[06:26] SPEAKER_02: is like there's very well established protocols.
[06:29] SPEAKER_02: We know what cells are in the brain.
[06:30] SPEAKER_02: We know where they're located.
[06:32] SPEAKER_02: And there's been a lot of work using stem cells to make those cell types.
[06:35] SPEAKER_02: Whereas in what they call the testicular niche, it's not as well defined.
[06:39] SPEAKER_02: So his group is doing some really interesting, very basic biology,
[06:43] SPEAKER_02: just figuring out how to make the different cell types present.
[06:48] SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, and as I said, some of them, the work with the patients, I think is,
[06:51] SPEAKER_02: and we also have similar projects with them, our collaborator, Dr. Hacken-Nigard,
[06:55] SPEAKER_02: where we can actually take stem cells from patients with Alzheimer's and print tissues from them,
[07:00] SPEAKER_02: and then try and see if there are drugs that would be able to reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer's.
[07:03] SPEAKER_02: And so I think those are some of the most exciting things is when we're collaborating
[07:07] SPEAKER_02: with actual practicing doctors.
[07:09] SPEAKER_02: And so you can really see the connection between our lab and then the clinic and the patients.
[07:14] SPEAKER_01: I love that. I have a father with all time or so near to me.
[07:17] SPEAKER_01: So one of the things you said that I'm really curious about is you launched this in March 2020,
[07:24] SPEAKER_01: which was not the best time to launch anything.
[07:27] SPEAKER_01: Of course you didn't know this.
[07:29] SPEAKER_01: What were some of the challenges you had launching a business at the beginning of a pandemic?
[07:36] SPEAKER_02: It was really hard to get a bank account because you had to only go in person.
[07:40] SPEAKER_02: It was very interesting because a lot of people started big companies in the pandemics.
[07:44] SPEAKER_02: So starting a real one, there was a lot more red tape.
[07:49] SPEAKER_02: As I just remember, like having to go and remember it was COVID.
[07:52] SPEAKER_02: So like you could get an appointment, like what appointment a week to go to the bank and like through all the paperwork.
[07:58] SPEAKER_02: And the team was initially all remote.
[08:01] SPEAKER_02: So that was kind of interesting.
[08:02] SPEAKER_02: So we always have started with like all of our meetings were on Zoom and sort of remote work culture.
[08:07] SPEAKER_02: And then we were able to get back into the lab and working on the ink a few months later.
[08:13] SPEAKER_02: But it did help us, I think, in terms of business development as well.
[08:18] SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about business development.
[08:20] SPEAKER_01: Where do you see yourself in five years, your company?
[08:25] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, we're working with Vancouver.
[08:27] SPEAKER_02: I live in my sciences to get a biomanufacturing facility here.
[08:31] SPEAKER_02: So hopefully we'll be off campus and producing.
[08:33] SPEAKER_02: We are homegrown tech, spun out of UVIC, located in UVIC in Victoria.
[08:38] SPEAKER_02: And so it's important to sort of keep our technology local.
[08:42] SPEAKER_02: And team is UVIC grads as well.
[08:47] SPEAKER_02: And so hopefully we'll have expanded our product range.
[08:51] SPEAKER_02: We probably are going to be moving more towards some of the clinical translation.
[08:55] SPEAKER_02: You know, getting our inks and tissues into people would be really exciting to do.
[08:59] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, and hopefully you know continue to grow the biotechnology community here on the island.
[09:04] SPEAKER_02: And I will say that the government has been very in British Columbia.
[09:07] SPEAKER_02: And it has been very supportive of biomanufacturing and biotech.
[09:10] SPEAKER_02: And there has been some really, really cool technology here on the island with like axeloddle.
[09:16] SPEAKER_02: And obviously starfish is a big player.
[09:18] SPEAKER_02: And then over in the mainland was some of the work that and like Peter Colossus group has been doing.
[09:22] SPEAKER_02: With the vaccines and obviously stem cell technologies and aspect, of course.
[09:26] SPEAKER_01: I love that Vancouver Island is leading the way.
[09:29] SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about some of the benefits of having your business based here in BC.
[09:36] SPEAKER_01: And also the, or even just on the island specifically because we're a little bit different than Vancouver.
[09:43] SPEAKER_02: We are.
[09:44] SPEAKER_02: I think that one of the things and it also like shout out to starfish that just celebrated their 20th anniversary.
[09:50] SPEAKER_02: It is a community we do all know each other and like, for example, in the pandemic, we were all helping each other out.
[09:56] SPEAKER_02: And I had students at UVIC that were helping to validate the ventilators being made by starfish and things like that.
[10:00] SPEAKER_02: So it really is a good community here on the island.
[10:03] SPEAKER_02: And in some ways, I think not to talk too much about the pandemic, but it was, it was interesting.
[10:08] SPEAKER_02: So I think it was easier to coordinate things here on island because everybody knows everyone.
[10:12] SPEAKER_02: So like we were making face shields.
[10:14] SPEAKER_02: You know, I knew I know who's in charge at Island Palace.
[10:16] SPEAKER_02: You know, we all knew who the contact.
[10:18] SPEAKER_02: And it's always kind of easier to coordinate.
[10:19] SPEAKER_02: Whereas obviously in Vancouver, there's a lot more people and a lot more businesses.
[10:25] SPEAKER_02: Where I think also being on the island, it makes you have to collaborate.
[10:28] SPEAKER_02: And I am very excited that the government has decided to invest in biotech in the region.
[10:32] SPEAKER_02: And I do know the different, even the local governments are really supportive of these companies like Axelogel and our technology.
[10:42] SPEAKER_02: And so I think that that has been really nice.
[10:45] SPEAKER_02: And also I will give a shout out to Campbell River.
[10:47] SPEAKER_02: We did compete a few years ago in their angel investment competition called next stream.
[10:53] SPEAKER_02: And like Campbell River is government.
[10:56] SPEAKER_02: More so for manufacturing than like what we do in biotech, but their city was very, very knowledgeable about entrepreneurship.
[11:04] SPEAKER_02: Like I and like they would attend like the pitches we would do.
[11:07] SPEAKER_02: And city like their staff members just ask really good questions.
[11:11] Speaker UNKNOWN: And so.
[11:12] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I think and then there are like a lot of really interesting companies also and a violent as well.
[11:18] SPEAKER_02: So it's I think it's kind of a different flavor.
[11:20] SPEAKER_02: You do see a lot of companies here in island like focused on like seaweed and then some of our work is with the forest ministry looking at putting nannis list crystals into our biolinks.
[11:31] SPEAKER_02: I've become more familiar with the forest industry here on island.
[11:35] SPEAKER_02: And there's just like a lot of really interesting technology being developed.
[11:39] SPEAKER_01: And I do find the island being an entrepreneur who's based on being who rather than there's a lot of entrepreneurs here.
[11:47] SPEAKER_01: That do work around the world from the beauty of Vancouver Island.
[11:53] SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, definitely.
[11:55] SPEAKER_01: So what are some of the challenges you have of being located on the west coast?
[12:01] SPEAKER_02: I think being on the island, one of the things with some of the natural stuff that's occurred is you know when like.
[12:08] SPEAKER_02: Like the mill out was broke you know like shipping. I just remember we couldn't get shim at them for two weeks there when I think that was.
[12:15] SPEAKER_02: When Abbotsford flooded you know like so there's some of those those constraints and we do ship internationally so like having to account for the time to ship our ink to foreign countries has been.
[12:27] SPEAKER_02: Challenging in some cases and don't get me started on customs. There's a reason people don't want to sell anything to Spain because they go through everything in customs and when you have a product like ours, which is.
[12:38] SPEAKER_02: The temperature and and.
[12:41] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, when you work with cells needed to be sterile so like a very clean environment so.
[12:46] SPEAKER_02: If customs opens up your bio ink it's not going to be good to anyone.
[12:48] SPEAKER_02: And so I think those have been some of the challenges and then I think also and here and in Vancouver like the cost of living increases have made it.
[13:01] SPEAKER_02: A little bit more difficult to recruit like definitely when I talk to government, so I'm always like.
[13:06] SPEAKER_02: You know my students, my my graduates, my recent grads, you know need affordable housing because they all would love to stay here.
[13:13] SPEAKER_02: And so I think that that's you know.
[13:16] SPEAKER_02: Pretty pretty common across the sea.
[13:18] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
[13:19] SPEAKER_01: So what are you most proud of in terms of the work that you do?
[13:24] SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
[13:26] SPEAKER_02: I am really proud of like all the best students and employees who've trained and assistant grade to watch them like evolve is engineers and scientists.
[13:34] SPEAKER_02: It's been also really cool to watch our technology evolve and really get adopted and like seeing how bio printing is really taken off.
[13:43] SPEAKER_02: Even with like aspect during their huge deal with never nor disk.
[13:47] SPEAKER_02: With us are neural tissue models like just seeing from you know going from.
[13:51] SPEAKER_02: Okay, we can keep 90% of these cells alive to okay, we can model Alzheimer's.
[13:55] SPEAKER_02: We can model Parkinson's just like really big advances in the technology and it's definitely been great to watch.
[14:03] SPEAKER_02: Like the students and trainees evolve it's also been really fun.
[14:06] SPEAKER_02: We've actually had people from all over the world come to both the lab in axelotl.
[14:10] SPEAKER_02: We hosted a student named Dom from noddingham.
[14:14] SPEAKER_02: I came to do an internship at axelotl.
[14:16] SPEAKER_02: We've had students from Brazil.
[14:17] SPEAKER_02: And so that's been a lot of fun is to have people come in like learn how to use the tech and then take it back with them.
[14:24] SPEAKER_02: That's been something that's really cool.
[14:26] SPEAKER_02: And like I think what the things with bio printing that's really fun and interesting.
[14:30] SPEAKER_02: And as an engineer and and who does by manufacturing.
[14:35] SPEAKER_02: One of the really cool things is so we can send our like CAD files to the specifications for like what the physical dimensions of the tissue are and how it should be printed.
[14:43] SPEAKER_02: So if you have the same bio printers us we can send you the file we can send you our ink and you'll have to grow the cells that like we've had groups, you know.
[14:52] SPEAKER_02: In different places, you know use that and print their brain, you know, they're for the brain tissue.
[14:57] SPEAKER_02: And so that's been really fun in terms of just from manufacturing standpoint and sort of make these tissues on demand and wherever anyone has bio printer.
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[15:14] SPEAKER_01: Now let's talk about successes.
[15:17] SPEAKER_01: You know, how do you what measures success but most importantly, how do you celebrate it?
[15:25] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think, you know, obviously when we sell our ink, it's really exciting and some of our partnership deals have been really good.
[15:32] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, we have a good team culture. So we'll go celebrate.
[15:35] SPEAKER_02: You know, it, you know, go out or have parties and things like that.
[15:40] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, then we also recognize people in our team meetings who you know are doing a really good job.
[15:45] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, so yeah, it's been it's been a good run.
[15:49] SPEAKER_02: And hopefully to more successes in the future.
[15:52] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's look at the flip side fear and doubt as entrepreneurs and running a business that's part of it.
[15:59] SPEAKER_01: How do you deal with fear and doubt when it creeps in?
[16:02] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think it helps like my business partner. Laura is really great and our team is really great.
[16:08] SPEAKER_02: And so that kind of helps with some of that.
[16:11] SPEAKER_02: I know it was a bit scary last year with like the biotech apocalypse and thanks failing and a lot of companies going out of business.
[16:17] SPEAKER_02: So I'm really happy we survived and are now sort of looking to expand.
[16:24] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I also run and work out so that helps to deal with like I kind of consider fear and doubt part of like the stress that goes with you know, running a company and also.
[16:33] SPEAKER_02: And it's similar to running a company running a lab again when you're supporting lots of people on salary right and like writing grants and doing your fundraising.
[16:42] SPEAKER_02: It kind of goes with with that.
[16:45] SPEAKER_01: So you said that you run is what are the things to get that work life balance because you're you're still a professor.
[16:53] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like so you've got a lot on your plate that you're managing so how do you keep yourself balanced?
[17:02] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I do run I do like to read and hopefully I will get better snow this year so I can go snowboarding and fall and I do try to.
[17:12] SPEAKER_02: To make some time for myself and and I think it helps that my work is really interesting and my team is really great that that makes it.
[17:19] SPEAKER_02: And you know, easier to deal with when you're in these types of situations and you didn't even got a really cool people and go through academia and honestly if you want to put your membership there's just like a really good community to support you.
[17:33] SPEAKER_01: And we do live in a gorgeous place so we have an opportunity to get out.
[17:38] SPEAKER_01: So my last question for you is is there anything that you've read any anything that you heard that you want to share with our listeners that really helps you.
[17:53] SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, and yeah, so I think just in terms of like being a professor in entrepreneur I really found Walter Isaacson's biography of Jennifer Dugna who discovered CRISPR and how she developed her tech that technology in her lab at Berkeley, which was interesting.
[18:08] SPEAKER_02: Because it was also when I was doing my postdoc at Berkeley so it's a very interesting read about you know doing science, commercializing science and dealing with people in the space.
[18:19] SPEAKER_02: And while I'm not like the biggest fan of him as a person, he also did the recent biography of Elon Musk, which I think is a really good approach to readers to read because it is interesting to read how he disrupted things with space acts, but also it talks a lot about his relationships with the different employees there.
[18:35] SPEAKER_02: And I think it's a Tesla and then more recently the neural links saga. And so I think both those books are I think he's a biographer and I think that this books provide a lot of insight into the process and the journeys that go into starting companies and also like developing technologies and how you can commercialize them and about the process of like leadership, you know finding the right fit with your teams and things like that.
[19:01] SPEAKER_01: Well, I think this has been fascinating and I'm really looking forward to following the work that you do. And so finally, if our listeners want to learn more about the work you do, how do they find you?
[19:16] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you can probably Google me and find my lab website and we're also excellent at biosciences.com and also on LinkedIn and Twitter so pretty easy to find.
[19:25] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, and if you're interested in learning more and you can always go to my Google Scholar page and I have written two books on when's the handbook on neural engineering and I also went about wrote when about engineering, neural tissues from stem cells.
[19:40] SPEAKER_02: So lots of stuff out there. Well, thank you.
[19:43] SPEAKER_02: Thank you too. Have a good one.
[19:45] SPEAKER_02: You too.
