Modeling human skin in 4D with REVIVO BioSystems’ Dr. Massimo Alberti
Modeling human skin in 4D with REVIVO BioSystems’ Dr. Massimo Alberti
Episode show notes and transcript
About The Guest
Dr. Massimo Alberti is the CEO and co-founder of REVIVO BioSystems, a startup spinoff from A*STAR in Singapore. He is an Italian engineer with a background in biomedical engineering and a PhD in micro-nanotechnology. Dr. Alberti and his team at REVIVO BioSystems are revolutionizing preclinical testing with products like REVex™ and ReleGO™, offering a viable alternative to traditional animal testing methods and driving advancements in skincare research.
📄 Summary
Dr. Massimo Alberti is the CEO and co-founder of REVIVO BioSystems. In this episode, Dr. Alberti shares valuable insights into the process of spinning off a technology from an academic setting. He discusses the genesis of REVIVO BioSystems, the development of their innovative 4D human tissue models, and the pivotal role of perseverance, interdisciplinary collaboration, and client feedback in shaping REVIVO BioSystems' trajectory. Aspiring biomedical entrepreneurs and young scientists will find inspiration in Dr. Alberti's entrepreneurial journey, along with actionable advice for navigating the transition from academia to startup.
🥡 Key Takeaways
REVIVO BioSystems focuses on developing 4D human tissue models using organ-on-a-chip technology.
The technology combines tissue engineering with microfluidic technology to create realistic and differentiated human tissue models.
The continuous flow of nutrients and mimicking of blood and interstitial flows in the models provide more accurate and dynamic results.
Dr. Alberti advises startup founders to get involved in all aspects of the company and to be persistent in the entrepreneurship journey.
Establishing relationships with clients and investors early on, and listening properly to the clients and end-users are crucial for gaining trust and support.
💬 Quotes
"When you work in a small medium enterprise, it's a good training for them becoming a startup founder, because you get exposed to all the possible aspects, all the possible roles in a way, all the possible activity that company goes through."
"We had this mentality that it's good to get grants, but it's more important to get investors who believes in you and can support you for the long run, in a way."
"We combine tissue engineering with microfluidic technology to reconstruct in a small device, real human tissue starting from human cells, they form a three dimensional construct. And if we stop there, that would be a 3D model, but what we do, we have a continuous flow of nutrients, cell culture media in a way, something that mimics the function of the blood flow by providing constant supply of nutrients, but also bringing away the byproducts of the metabolism. This mimicking of the blood flow of the interstitial flows, we discover it has a very important effect on the development and differentiation of the cells and we basically, in this way, we add a fourth dimension to a 3D model, and that's why we call it a 4D human tissue model."
"I tend to say that we humans, we are not giant rabbits… What that means is that there are genetically and biologically difference between animals and humans and these differences generate and cause higher failure rates when you move from preclinical studies to clinical studies. And in drug development, statistics says that 92 percent of the candidates that pass preclinical test, they don't make it to after clinical trials. So that means that only 8 out of 100 drug candidates, actually pass the clinical studies. It's a very, very small success rate."
⏱️ Timestamp
01:07 - Introduction
04:52 - What REVIVO BioSystems offers
09:13 - Challenges and triumphs of early development
11:08 - Navigating the investment landscape
24:02 - Overcoming regulatory hurdles and industry standards
32:51 - Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
🎙️ Transcript
Episode Preview
Dr. Massimo Alberti: I always say is that when you work in a small medium enterprise, it's a good training for them becoming a startup founder, because you get exposed to all the possible aspects, all the possible roles in a way, all the possible activity that company goes through. And if there is someone that for any reason is sick and someone has to cover that role, and anybody should be ready to try to cover their role in the best possible way.
And that's what you do as a startup founder. You just get involved in all possible aspects of your startup and the company.
Jessie Wong: Hi, thanks for joining us on Nucleate Singapore Pulse, Singapore's premier podcast on the biotech ecosystem. I'm your host, Jessie Wong, a PhD candidate at Duke-NUS Medical School. Whether you're a student thinking about creating your own startup or an industry professional looking for diverse perspectives, this is the podcast for you.
The show notes and transcripts for the episode can be found on nucleatesingapore.substack.com.
Introduction
Jessie Wong: Today, we have Massimo Alberti from REVIVO BioSystems. Massimo is CEO and founder of REVIVO BioSystems, which is an A*STAR spin-off based in Singapore, focusing on preclinical human tissue models. Thank you for joining us, Massimo.
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Thank you. I'm honored.
Jessie Wong: Could you give us a little introduction about yourself and REVIVO as well?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Sure, as you said, I am the founder and CEO of REVIVO BioSystems, a startup, a spinoff of A*STAR here in Singapore, that works on organ-on-a-chip technology. I am an Italian engineer by training. I had a rather humanistic education before doing my engineering study. So I started, let's say in high school, I studied a lot of ancient Greek, Latin, literature, history, and philosophy.
But then I decided to become an engineer, biomedical engineer. So I studied in Politecnico di Milano, biomedical engineering. And after that, I moved to Denmark to do a PhD in micro nanotechnology. After that, I worked for a while in small and medium enterprise there, starting in R&D and moving also into a more commercial role.
And then, a few years later, I moved to Singapore to join A*STAR, where I worked for a few years on a skin-on-chip project that really laid the basis and the fundamentals for the technology that now REVIVO BioSystems is commercializing. I like to say that I am the son of working class in the sense that I come from working class family and I've been kind the 1st in my family, my standard family to graduate, to have a degree, to go to university and also to have a PhD. And that also brought me to travel around the world and to explore new culture. And this is a part of the things that drives me in everything I do.
Jessie Wong: I can totally relate to that because I came from like a working class family as well.
So in this case, what does REVIVO BioSystems do and how did the skin-on-a-chip project spin off from your academic lab to what we call now REVIVO BioSystems?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Right. That's always a nice question, because it just allows me to tell a bit of the history of how things happen.
But basically, I was working in A*STAR , in particular Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) on a skin-on-a-chip project. The aim of that project was to develop a microfluidic systems where you could run permeations test. So that was the original study. So when you have to test for chemicals, if they penetrate or goes through the skin and out fast, there is a very traditional technology for doing that, which is called diffusion cells.
But we wanted to overcome the limitation of that technology and we worked hard on it. We achieved success, but we went really very much beyond that because then we thought we came up with the idea that we could actually grow directly cells on this microfluidic device. So not using real skin only, but really grow skin tissues and other tissues, a matter of fact, on this microfluidic device and run safety and efficacy studies for cosmetic products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
The fact that we managed to achieve these, overcome the limitation of traditional technology and expanded to all new range of applications, it actually made us think that this is actually worth working and investing our time and our efforts on. And when I say we, I talk about me and the researcher I was working with at the time in A*STAR.
What REVIVO BioSystems offers
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Moving forward, that became actually the core technology of what REVIVO BioSystems does. And we call it a 4D human tissue models because we combine tissue engineering with microfluidic technology to reconstruct in a small device, real human tissue starting from human cells, they form a three dimensional construct. And if we stop there, that would be a 3D model, but what we do, we have a continuous flow of nutrients, cell culture media in a way, something that mimics the function of the blood flow by providing constant supply of nutrients, but also bringing away the byproducts of the metabolism. This mimicking of the blood flow of the interstitial flows, we discover it has a very important effect on the development and differentiation of the cells and we basically, in this way, we add a fourth dimension to a 3D model, and that's why we call it a 4D human tissue models. The mimicking of the blood flow and the interstitial flow, it doesn't only provide a more realistic and better differentiated three dimensional model, but also allows you to analyze over time how the skin or the tissue that you're growing actually respond to stimuli, treatments chemicals. So it's really about adding a new dimension in the opportunity and the possibility that a system like this can give you.
Jessie Wong: Going back to when you were a postdoc, when you first came to Singapore, how was it like developing REVIVO BioSystems from scratch and how was your PI's reaction when you wanted to spinoff and what was the resources or knowledge that you require to actually have a spinoff in A*STAR?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: It was obviously terrible and exciting at the same time, because as you may know, working in a lab as a researcher, as a scientist. Most of the experiment you run aren't successful, most of them, they fail and, that constant will to keep doing it and changing a little bit thing here and there to slowly make it happen.
And it's true. You say, right. That we started from scratch because when we started, there was not an existing technology or an initial prototype or anything like that. We really started from the basic, the initial design of the microfluidic chip with the development of the protocol for growing full thickness skin tissues in a new way without using traditional collagen-based matrix. And we worked literally day and night on this project, because before we managed to automate the testing procedure, which is another great advantage of our technology, we had to do a lot of manual work, manual sampling and this really required us to stay overnight in the lab to keep working. And I know that it's not a new thing, a lot of scientists do that on a weekly basis. And that is the normal and routine. The good thing is that we were extremely motivated because we really wanted to develop something that could be useful.
We were a good mix of engineers and biologists, and we worked very well together. We had a great chemistry among the researcher, which was part of the reason, I think, why the project itself was successful. And it was also successful in a way that some of that people in that core team, they are the ones that now are part of REVIVO BioSystems, co-founder of REVIVO BioSystems, like me, like Professor Sriram Gopal, and Dr. Wang Zhi Ping. So my former PI was very supportive in everything. I do remember a time where he asked me if I could work on other projects. And probably it's one of the times where I really say no. And I think it was a great decision at the time because then I could really focus on developing this and bring it to the next level. And my PI was supportive. He supported me with the initial, like say scouting, to find some potential early adopters, some company who wanted to maybe do a little test to evaluate the technology and so forth. He was supportive also in the moment that I decided to to actually spin off.
Challenges and triumphs of early development
Jessie Wong: So prior to that, how much experience did you have in business development and or management? Did that influence your decision to spin off or was there someone else managing that for you?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: I had a business development experience with management experience as well. Of course, I didn't have entrepreneurial experience and I don't think anything can prepare you for that anyway. I attended the boot camps and, and some training, and they're all good. They're very good, but nothing really prepared you for the real thing, which is why it's also so exciting and terrifying at the same time. But definitely that experience in business development was very helpful. It also, I would say, probably gives also a little bit more confidence from investors to invest in you, because ultimately the investors at the beginning in the early stage, they invest in you as a person in the team and as an engineer, as a scientist, but also as commercial player. And that was, I believe it was quite important.
I always say is that when you work in a small medium enterprise, it's a good training for them becoming a startup founder, because you get exposed to all the possible aspects, all the possible roles in a way, all the possible activity that company goes through. And, if there is someone that for any reason is sick and someone has to cover that role. And anybody could be ready to try to cover their role in the best possible way. And that's what you do as a startup founder. You just get involved in all possible aspects of your startup and the company.
And you have to show and lead by example. And if there's someone that is supposed to do the shipping and it's not there. You have to go and do it. Or, you know, anybody should be available and ready to do and cover. And this is extremely, it was extremely important.
Navigating the investment landscape
Jessie Wong: What were some of the most challenging questions posed by investors for REVIVO, especially in the first iteration of the idea or prototype?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Well, there were a lot of challenging questions, especially where you proceed to a due diligence stage where they really go deep into the technology, the commercial plan, the financial plan. From a technology point of view, it was important for us to make the investors understand it was sometimes a challenge itself that this prototype is tangible item that will be marketed, but behind there, there is a lot of know-how. There is a lot of trade secrets and that doesn't necessarily qualify into a patent and it should not be because it's more important to keep it as a trade secret. But also very challenging because you have to still convince them that this is very valuable.
We also had, I would say it's probably from the prototype stage, there is always the doubt in the back end of the investors with reason. I mean, understandably. Can this actually become a real product? Or it is never going to make it more than a prototype because then there are so many publication, manufacturing challenges ahead of you. I think being a bit naive helps because you don't know what you have to go through and then it helps you to be able to answer. But, having developing ourselves this technology, knowing the in and out of the skin reconstruction protocols and so forth, it helps to communicate better and to build that trust, even when all you have is a prototype. And it was very important to be able to already, when we started talking to investors to have done a very, very small, but very relevant service project where we had worked with some companies and that they evaluated the technology, having this feedback, this good traction, although very early stage was very important at the time.
Jessie Wong: So, in this case, what were some of the key factors that made your clients or investors trust REVIVO BioSystems and to give your products a try?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: I'd say that the possibility to provide a more realistic model for studying products that can provide you more accurate results was probably the key element for our argumentations to convince them.
But I have to say that, as an engineer, and I wanted to have a product company from the beginning, you know, just to raise money to develop the product and sell it. But it turned out that pivoting into testing services, which could give that confidence that your system and technology can be used and can actually be paid for it. So, having this hybrid business model where you do both testing services, but also once ready, you sell the product. And I think that really gave a lot of confidence to the investor, it also let potential clients test and evaluate the technology in the very beginning. It helped us to keep optimizing the technology itself and that's actually how we still operate.
We still operate in that way, in the sense that we have these testing services and we sell our laboratory equipment with the microfluidic devices. It was good that we pivoted in that way and it still allow us to launch the product this year and back in March, very, very happy moment for an engineer and a scientist to see this technology finally out there in the market, ready to be used.
Jessie Wong: Would you say that your first product was actually a service for people to use?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Yes, it was. It was, in fact, an evaluation project where our very first client wanted to evaluate the technology. And we did quite a remarkable project that took quite some efforts, but it helped us also to push ourselves to really work better. And it was successful, and because of that, this company actually decided to invest in us.
So it was exactly like that. You do an evaluation project and then either adopt the technology, or in this case, it was very good because there was a good alignment and they decided to invest in REVIVO BioSystems.
Jessie Wong: I see. So going back to starting REVIVO, what are some of the resources that were made available to you and your co-founders when you first started? Was being in Singapore a great factor or were there grants that was provided to you or you could tap on or was it your PI's grants that you have to make use first before you started applying for external grants?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: The skin-on-chip project, as we like to call it, was a project that I was hired for. We work on it three and a half years, almost four. It was a very good collaborative project between two research institutes in A*STAR. One more engineering-oriented and one more biology-oriented. So it was SIMTech from the engineering side and former IMB used to do molecular biology and it worked very well.
When that grant ended, we had two choices, either stop or try to find a way to continue. Me and my former collaborators, we really wanted to keep working on this because we had discovered at that time, how we were able to recreate these tissues, which are tremendously different from what you can see in 3D culture. By using 4D and microfluidics approach, you would just see tremendous improvement in the expression of proteins, biomarkers, and on the skin, which you don't see otherwise.
So we were like, okay, what are we going to do? If we stop now, this is going to be forgotten and that's it. And I don't like to do research for the thing of publishing papers, I want to do research and develop new technologies so that it can be used by someone. And I think there are a lot of researchers that wants to do that. So, we already knew we wanted to spin out and to start the company, but it was too early because we didn't have enough. The technology was to be developed further to be become more mature before we could think of raising money. So we applied for two more grants, one from the Singapore MIT Alliance for Research (SMART), which we got. And that was a very good grant because I think it's one of the few innovation grants that kind of helps you to commercialize also like the technology . It just funds you so that you can move the technology towards a commercialization path. And then another one from A*ccelerate A*STAR at the time. So these two grants, they were not huge, but they allowed us to mature the technology further and bridge that little gap of technology readiness that would be enough to convince and to even give us confidence to spin off.
And I have to say, I was so confident into this technology that I literally quit my job and for one year . We were bootstrapping, I was bootstrapping literally, which is, you know, this is a deep tech company, a startup, you need capital to operate, you need the funds to do it. So for that first one year, which was very hard because I quit and I started working on REVIVO BioSystems and you don't just need a laptop and you can work in a cafe when you run a company like this. You need a lab. You need the consumables and all these things. So having those early first clients was very helpful because, we could generate some revenues that could actually then be used to sustain and it was tough. But through that, then we achieved the moment where we started raising funds and that we were able to build the team that we have now.
Jessie Wong: Right. That sounds incredibly tough. So how was that one year like, because assuming that you got the grants from SMART and what were the deliverables? Do you have to give them equity at all at this point? Or like, were they just helping you out as REVIVO at a point when you incorporated?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Luckily, those were like just research grant, so they don't ask for for equity. They're not dilutive, and that's very good. Because at the time, you don't even have a company. It's just the idea that you want to make a company. I think after that, we didn't tap in other grants for startups, like the big grants, the startup that Singapore gives. But not because there was anything that was something we didn't like, but simply because we started fundraising. We had this mentality that it's good to get grants, but it's more important to get investors who believe in you and can support you for the long run in a way. So we focus our energies more on that than on those grants.
Having said that, we do tap, when necessary on capability development grants or market access grants, for example, from Enterprise Singapore, which are extremely valuable.
Jessie Wong: Right.
Dr. Massimo Alberti: but you're right that it was tough. It was a tough year. It was also COVID. Lockdown.
Jessie Wong: Oh dear.
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Yeah.
Jessie Wong: Oh dear. Okay.
Dr. Massimo Alberti: So yeah, the grant was already finished. We started the company, so that first year outside of the research institute with no grants or anything. It was tough. It was lockdowns. You could access the labs only at times but those are the things that really help you build resilience and test your motivation.
Jessie Wong: What's the inflection point or the turning point for REVIVO BioSystems? Was it after that one year of bootstrapping or was it during that year of bootstrapping?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: There was some during that year, because that's where we got our first clients. It was really, really great because through those revenue, we could support ourselves as a company, plus of course, funds from the founders, a bit of funds coming from the founders that could help us, and then of course, yeah, the big inflection point is being able to raise capital, our seed round. Then you have investors who trust you and believe in you. You have the funds, the capital to do what you want to do, what you plan to do. And you can speed up, you can accelerate on your growth.
Jessie Wong: Would you say that establishing relationships early on with investors and your customers is important for your journey as the founder of REVIVO BioSystems?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Yeah, it is very important. From the client's point of view, even during the very first research project, at the end of it, I started going out there, interviewing potential clients and getting their opinions, see if there was a market need. If there was a market fit as well.
So that was, it's very important to do that. I would recommend anybody from the lab, trying to commercialize what they develop, just do it very early, get those feedbacks early. Because they also allow you to modify optimize the technology while you're still developing to serve the needs of the clients.
Because it's always very important to hear the voice of the clients. As a researcher and scientists, sometimes we get so much into what would be cool to develop, what would be very nice to add and so forth, and then only to figure it out that nobody wants it or that it is not something critical to have and people wouldn't pay for that additional thing that you have developed and spent so much time on, so this is very important.
For the investor. It's the same. My personal experience was through these bootcamps, that trains you a little bit on the pitch, then go to pitch startup competitions, where you can meet investors, ask people, you know, if they know investors. You establish the relationship and, you know, some people that have those relationships built already because of, you know, of their family or their circle of friends. For us, it was not like that. We had to really just go out there and, very important thing was that through my co-founders, we could establish a good advisory board. So industry experts who would be advisors to REVIVO BioSystems and those, they could make those warm introductions to investors, which is much more efficient than if you just do a cold call, let's say to investors. But I would say also helpful to go to the startup competition, not to win it, to train yourself to speak in public, but also to really meet investors. Sometimes you get lucky and you meet the right one and then it goes well, but the earlier the better. In fact, we started doing this back in 2018 and we actually raised funds. We've closed the seed round in 2021. So of course there was COVID in between, things got complicated, but it takes time. It also takes time once you find the investor that is interested in you to then close the deal. So, the earlier the better.
Overcoming regulatory hurdles and industry standards
Jessie Wong: How was the preclinical testing market and landscape like for skincare when REVIVO BioSystems first started out?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: The preclinical testing market we focused on was the one related to skin testing initially.
And what I found out is that from a tool, equipment and laboratory equipment point of view, there has not been much innovation in the last 20, 25 years. There is a lot of innovation in developing creams and cosmetics. There's a lot of innovation in that, no doubts. But from the testing point of view, not much has done. And I think part of it is because most of the research for these kind of tools is done and focus on more disease treatment and the pharmaceutical applications. So there was not much going on. So I think now, I don't want to sound too arrogant by having launched our product and having really trying to make a big shift and a big change into this market with our platform technology. I think we have brought some remarkable innovation also in that field. And our path is to use this as a beachhead for then expanding into the whole oral care, pharmaceutical, and even nutraceutical preclinical testing market.
So, from Singapore point of view, again the preclinical testing market, especially for skin, was not very, very strong at the time. But I'm quite happy, I think we put Singapore in the map for the skincare preclinical testing market.
Jessie Wong: You basically had a first movers advantage, but because you were one of the first few pioneers, how were the regulatory processes like for REVex and ReleGO? Was it especially difficult for you guys?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Part of the reason why we wanted to focus strongly on the skin is also because from a regulatory point of view, the skin care and cosmetic market is not heavily regulated as it could be the pharmaceutical and that leaves you room for having also companies and clients to test, to give it a try without worrying too much just for checking the technology. It has not been very hard in that sense therefore. Although moving forward, it is important for us to make ReleGO and REVex the industry standard for permeation studies to make it become so. For in vitro release testing and permeation and for that, we will have to work together with the relevant authorities, both locally and also internationally in other countries to make that happen and that will require a little bit of time and effort. So, from that point of view, we do need to meet some regulation. It's a matter of talking to relevant authorities when we will push more and we will start doing it. Push more on to the pharmaceutical market, then we will have to address more stringent regulatory environment, which is the one for the Food and Drug Administration and similar authorities.
Jessie Wong: REVex and ReleGO was actually one of the first few products in the market for preclinical testing, especially for skin. How would you compare your products to the gold standard? Because let's say the gold standard has been animal testing. So how did you manage to compare your products to the industry standards back then?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Right, when we talk about animal testing, I tend to say that we humans, we are not giant rabbits. There is a pioneer into cruelty-free research, which is Thomas Hartung, a role model basically for everybody who works in this field. He likes to say, humans are not giant rats, giant mouse. And since I work with skin and skincare, I say, you're not giant rabbits. But, what that means is that there are, genetically and biologically, differences between animals and humans and these differences generate and cause higher failure rates when you move from preclinical studies to clinical studies. And in drug development, statistics says that 92 percent of the candidates that pass preclinical test, they don't make it to after clinical trials. So that means that only 8 out of 100 drug candidates, actually pass the clinical studies . It's a very, very small success rate.
For the cosmetic, it's a bit different because the path is different, but also there is a high failure rate. This is, of course, due to the animal testing, which is, animals, as I said, we are different species. So what works on a mouse doesn't mean it’s going to work on a human being.
But there is also the issue that current alternatives to animal testing, which is 2D and 3D cultures, they are not realistic and efficient enough. They are based on this 2D and 3D culture, which, while they are good, again, models, but they are also very simplistic and they are limited in what kind of information and how realistic the model is, how close to the real, let's say, human tissue, human skin, human guts, they can be.
Most of the competitive organ-on-a-chip company, they work, again, with monolayers or 3D construct, but don't go further to really create an organotypic culture like we do, especially an organotypic culture in a microfluidic systems with a continuous flow of cell culture media and nutrients. So this 2D and 3D culture, they are simplistic, they ultimately cause cost of reworks because of false paths, false positive and false negative. They also, typically are not automated, so unless you are a very big pharmaceutical company that has invested a lot in robotic systems, you can't automate your protocols and that's what we provide. We provide all these additional benefits and this is the solution that we provide by combining microfluidics, tissue engineering and genetic engineering.
Jessie Wong: Moving forward, what would you say would be the greatest challenge for human tissue modeling technologies or companies like yours face?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Adoption is still like a challenge because this is still considered and it is a new technology and it comes with all the innovation and all the new things and the new benefit, but at the same time, companies and the end user, they may have their established protocol. They may have their suppliers. And to let them adopt and transition from something that worked always for the last 10 years, to a new way, it takes time. For the 4D tissue models, I think there is a lot more that could be integrated into this 4D tissue model.
For example, we have plans now to functionalize the cells so that they can release biomarkers that can be traceable in line. And so you would have an immediate way to do the analysis on our ReleGO machine in the future. Also, the possibility to connect different tissues. For example, right now, let's say we run test all on skin tissues, we test differently, but you can think you can interconnect the skin tissue with gut tissue and then a kidney tissue and then study how something that you're applying to the screen or it goes into the gut then reaches the skin and there's benefit for the skin and that is digested by or processed by the kidneys. So, this kind of more complicated models, they are challenging to achieve.
The other challenge, I would say, is to functionalize it. The whole model to simulate the immune response, I think those are very technological and scientific challenges that we have ahead of us. And that's in our plan to address. Again, from the commercial point of view, keep developing and keep upgrading the laboratory equipment from a fraction collector with fluidic control to a more holistic apparatus where you don't only automate the testing procedure, but you also can do the analysis and even the data analysis itself. That's our plan. Our direction we are going that also poses challenges, which are not challenges that cannot be overcome . We have the team in place for working and to make it successful.
Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
Jessie Wong: So given that you have established REVIVO BioSystems for a while now, do you have any advice for people who want to spin off an idea from academic labs?
Dr. Massimo Alberti: I can say from experience, the best favor you can do to yourself when you want to do something like this, it's just be persistent. There are going to be people who will tell you it's going to be difficult and if you believe in it, trust your guts and go for it. Just know that it's not the easiest part. You have to be aware that is the hard part. Well, if you're motivated enough and you believe in what you're doing, then do it.
I think people often tends to put researcher and scientist into a box of researcher and scientist, and they're only good at doing that. And while that is true for some, it may not be true for everybody. I don't like when people put you into a category and that's what you are. And I think that's what I do also, when I look for team members and try to recruit people and hire people, I always look at what's more behind. What do you bring besides your qualification and your skills? Because people do a lot of different things and they can be good at very different things.
If I had to remain in a category, I would have just been an engineer or been always only a scientist and then I would never, never done this transition. So just look at yourself in the mirror. There is much more in you than than just one category or one profession. I think that's the best advice that I can give to researchers and scientists who want to make the transition and bring the technology out of the lab.
Seek support. Don't be afraid to talk to people and to ask support and be very open and flexible, which doesn't mean you don't need to have your own strong opinion and conviction, but listen to your team members. Learn from them and ultimately, you have to listen to the end user and your clients and try to meet their needs. So always look for that.
Jessie Wong: Thank you so much for sharing with us your journey and advice as a startup founder in Singapore. Thank you for joining us Massimo.
Dr. Massimo Alberti: Thank you very much.
Jessie Wong: Stay tuned for monthly podcasts with key stakeholders of the biotech ecosystem, including founders, investors, and policy makers.
If you have suggestions for the podcast or who you'd like to hear from, feel free to drop us an email in the episode description. Join the Singapore Life Sciences Community Slack channel, powered by Nucleate Singapore, where we are building an open community to enable conversations in the life science ecosystem of Singapore.
📚 Further readings
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