Synthetic Biology is revolutionizing and becoming an integral part of every major industry, including medicine, energy, agriculture, manufacturing, even consumer devices. The effect Synthetic Biology will have on Biotech is comparable to the effect the microcontroller had on the computing industry. Before the microcontroller, computers were seen as large, expensive things that only governments and a few large corporations could afford. Now, only 50 years later it’d be hard to imagine a world where computers weren’t a pervasive part of everything.

In early 2014, Benthic Labs Ltd. was founded with the goal to make consumer-focused products in order to help do the same for synthetic biology and biotechnology. BioFibres sourced from fish (SeaDNA) and a simple molecular diagnostic system that accurately detects pathogenic genetic material (SeeDNA).

• Benthic Labs Ltd. - Logo design and Branding
• Website construction
• Part of the 2014 SynBio Axlr8r demo day at the Science Gallery in Dublin; this was investors - first introduction to the company.
• Participation in the 2014 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition will help to raise our public profile.
• Market Research - Will contact consulting firms in order to refine our market assessment.
• Intend to attend and participate in textile industry trade shows such as the Advanced Textiles EXPO. Will use the opportunity to promote the company and to meet potential customers and business partners

During the course of our project we received a lot of media coverage. As the first Irish team to enter iGEM there was a lot of interest in our team and our projects.

Initially, University College Cork published a press release detailing our team, our intention of participating in iGEM and our success in securing venture capital funding. This was circulated around the college and aided in our attempts to get advice and guidance from staff in various schools and departments of the University during the early stages of our project.

As a result of our start-up company Benthic Labs Ltd. being accepted into the SynBioAxlr8r programme run by venture capital firm SOS Ventures we featured in the business section of the Irish examiner where our team mate, Gavin, looked very fetching in the accompanying photograph. We were delighted to have gotten some national exposure as this helped to raise the profile of our team and the profile of synthetic biology in Ireland. We extend a big thank you to Eoin Gubbins who wrote and submitted the article (below) to the Irish Examiner.

A similar version of the article had been circulated earlier through the University website and elevated the profile of our participation in iGEM and the SynBioAxlr8r on campus with both students and staff alike.

A variation of the same article later appeared in the Irish Times which is one of Ireland’s most popular daily newspapers. We were delighted to see synthetic biology reaching such a large readership in Ireland.

We received international exposure in September following the publication of a paper by Dr. Douglas Fudge of University of Guelph in Nature Communications. Dr Fudge is an expert in the mechanism of slime production by hagfish. Our start-up company, Benthic Labs Ltd. was featured in a summary article on phys.org. Launched in 2004, Phys.org's readership has grown steadily to include 1.75 million scientists, researchers, and engineers every month. Phys.org publishes approximately 100 quality articles every day, offering some of the most comprehensive coverage of sci-tech developments world-wide.

Although the future of SynBio and biotech looks bright, the environment today for biotech entrepreneurs just starting out is still difficult. In fact, there is such a lack of support for nascent biotechs that the span from idea to viable proof of concept has earned the nickname the “Valley of Death of Biotech”. Still at an early stage in development, Benthic Labs Ltd. will require significant initial investment. Launching a business in biotechnology takes a lot of time.

For the early investment there is a concern that new investors will evaluate the company's worth as much lower than the worth perceived by the founders. As a consequence founders are wary of giving away too large a share of their company in exchange for the cash investment. In order to avoid this scenario, we are researching a number of options that will allow us to maintain:

• Crowdsourcing campaign (ie. Indiegogo, Kickstarter)
• Licensing our technology in exchange for a cash payment.

Benthic Labs Ltd. took part in SynBio Axlr8r 2014, the world’s first startup accelerator specifically geared towards ‘synthetic biology’ companies.

Through this accelerator, the company received $30,000 in cash investment, access to laboratory space at University College Cork, and valuable guidance from a team of established entrepreneurs.

Among them:

Bill Liao, entrepreneur, philanthropist, diplomat and author, is a co-founder of the social network service XING and CEO of Finaxis AG, a privately held company in the financial services industry.
Bill is a special diplomatic envoy for St Kitts and Nevis, with a special interest in sustainable development and the environment.
Bill is dedicated to the vision that business and enterprise, conducted fairly and with respect for the environment, can and will create a better environment for work, life and the world that we all share.
Bill Liao is also a European Venture Partner at SOSventures, and a co-founder of Coder Dojo. Bill is a TED and TEDx fellow.

Jacob Shiach is the founder/CEO of Brightwork CoResearch, a collaborative research space in Houston, TX that is making scientific research and entrepreneurship accessible to all. He also performs his own research in synthetic biology (SynBio), focusing on the development and creation of genetic circuits.
Jacob is also Program Director of SynBio Axlr8r.

Cathal Garvey, a County Cork local, epitomizes the new phenomenon known as DIYbio, or Biohacking. This movement aims to help make biology a worthwhile pursuit for citizen scientists, amateur biologists, and do-it-yourself biological engineers who value openness and safety.
Cathal dropped out of a Ph.D. program at a big cancer lab a few years ago in favor of doing it on his own, spending €4,000 to equip a laboratory in his family’s house. He provides affordable, open-source DNA development platforms, kits and strains for beginners to easily learn the engineering of bacteria. He has been commended for inventing the DremelFuge, a small centrifuge that can be fabricated by a 3D printer at a far lower cost than industrial models.