Schools = Summer Space for Small Companies?

Ahhh, summer! Time to put your feet up, barbecue, maybe take a long vacation with the family. But while you're away...who's working in your lab space?

"Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham - www.phdcomics.com

Long-time readers know I work at a fairly small biotech; we've joked before over whether to call ourselves "micro" or "nano" based solely on full-time employees. Due to our infrastructure limitations, we depend on local universities and off-site collaborations to move projects along. Sometimes, small companies like us will band together in an incubator facility (examples: Seattle, Virginia, Mass), with room to work out their science, and (presumably) access to shared instruments like NMR, MS, or HPLC.

Critical lab equipment

A recent visit to our local Uni revealed another potential angle: unused academic lab space. Despite rumors to the contrary regarding crazy hours grad students work, repeat trips have taught me that this particular school doesn't seem too strict about summer schedules. Perfect storm, right? Here's some fully-functional labs waiting for someone to use them in a down cycle. The staff's there, safety's looked after, police and fire standing by, what more could you want?

I'm certain I'm not the first to voice this idea (examples: UT, Iowa State). I'm sure there's boondoggles to work out with IP transfer and inventorship. But I'm surprised I don't see more universities opening their doors to entrepreneurs full-tilt over the summer months.

Found Chemistry - Landmark Gate with Chemical Message

On a recent visit to a major US university, I had occasion to stop outside the towering steel gates leading into the main courtyard of the newly-constructed chemistry building. I glanced up, and saw organic molecules, decked out in bronze, blue, and red.

On either side of the gate are polypeptides, four residues each, that use standard amino acid abbreviations to spell out a four-letter word* on either side. Pictured (at left) is the left-hand gate. 


Here are artistic molecules done right - correct bond angles, color-coded atoms, even double bonds! They're certainly better rendered than most of the recent ChemBark "WWWTP?" posts.


*(Need a hint? Only so many schools have four-letter names!)