FAQs about building the lab

I built my own cell culture facility in order to complete the early-stage R&D necessary to start a biotech company. Here are the questions that land my inbox most weeks ⤵

Wait, you built your own lab? That’s crazy! How did you do that?

➡️ I previously built a lab while working at another early-stage startup. My husband had just finished building our house, so we figured a laboratory couldn’t be too much more challenging.
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How much did it cost?

➡️ We spent ~14k USD (20k AUD) to establish the laboratory. It required some investment, but it was much less expensive than most people expect!

Factors that helped us do a lot with a limited budget:
💵Performing some of the building work ourselves (e.g. dry wall)
💵Purchasing second-hand lab equipment
💵Claiming 43.5% of R&D spending back from the Australian government (very helpful!)
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Why didn’t you just rent lab space?

➡ I live ~2 hours from Sydney. Because this is regional Australia, there are no rental lab facilities nearby. I wanted the lab nearby so R&D could happen seven days a week.
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Weren’t regulations a pain?

➡ Regulations were less complicated than I expected, largely because I'm not working with genetically modified organisms or anything similar. I am sure these vary between countries.
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What are you doing in your lab?

➡ I’m developing a chemically defined, animal-component free substitute for fetal bovine serum. I’ve achieved some exciting results with a variety of nutritionally demanding primary cell types and will be sharing more soon 🎉
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That’s so cool that you built a lab!

➡ Thanks! I'm super excited about it!
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Happy to answer any other questions - or give advice if you're thinking about doing this too!

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👋 I’m building a biotech company and sharing some of the behind-the-scenes online, in the hopes of lowering the barriers to entry for other scientists interested in commercialization.