What was the impetus behind the Ensorcell brand?
Re:Build Manufacturing is headquartered in Massachusetts and operates a network of companies in the United States. The member companies, particularly Fikst, have been exposed to many product development challenges for life science instruments and equipment via the high concentration of life science organizations in the region. Eventually a critical mass of ideas for new innovations in the sector was the driver behind founding Ensorcell to bring these new technologies to the market.
Ensorcell reimagines life science tools by applying principles of manufacturability to the designs from the start. The goal is to commercialize a portfolio of life science tools at a more affordable price than some legacy products. Engineering, product design, and operations resources and facilities are available to the Ensorcell team from Re:Build. Because of the support from Re:Build member companies, we have unparalleled access to product design and engineering, combined with manufacturing capacity and capability.
How does it align across Re:Build as a differentiator?
Re:Build has a refreshing approach to contract engineering and manufacturing services across several sectors. Ensorcell is solely focused on developing and commercializing affordable life science tools by leveraging the design and manufacturing capabilities at Re:Build. We can remove the unnecessary and focus on function to bring premium quality tools to market at a better price. The driver behind this is lowering the barriers in research, development and manufacturing of therapeutics to expand patient access.
Leveraging Re:Build resources enables a lower amount of starting capital to bring products from concept to market. It also ensures a fully integrated supply chain and talent pool within the United States. As we innovate, we want to provide economic opportunities to our local partners.
Like our name, we wish to enchant and fascinate a market where most solutions require compromise. This is about bringing quality product performance and price into line with each other.
What are the biggest challenges Ensorcell is trying to solve?
Our team and our partners are undaunted by technological roadblocks and enjoy the challenge of finding a better way. We are starting with some selected applications, making them more functional, flexible and affordable.
Our first products are:
- Versaweld is a tube welder that streamlines sterile liquid handling connections with flexibility of location and size of tubing.
- Premaerix is a gas mixer that optimizes shear and flow rates for cell culture gas mixing in a user-friendly format.
- CellularFocus microscopy workstations can be customized from simple to extremely complex with supreme portability and battery power.
As the portfolio grows, we are researching technologies that are ripe for improvement or new development. We are not here to offer “me too” product; we want them to be “me better.”
What inspired you to compete with well-established brands?
We have a rather unique path to market given our relationship with Re:Build and our partnerships with the member companies. Most start-ups require a lot more investment and are consequently compelled to develop novel premium technologies. In many cases these offerings are increasingly niche, needing multiple trenches to advance from prototypes to manufacturing including full-time employees and facilities. Many life science tools start-ups end up chasing multiples on their investors’ contributions, pricing themselves out of the market.
Our team is doing things differently. We question design and engineering decisions from the ground up while keeping cost and performance in mind at every stage of development. Ensorcell has the potential to deliver on this promise in a way that we believe few can match.
What is your favorite thing about working in the life sciences sector?
Biology fascinates me. The complexity of the study of life from the micro to the macro, the ability to uncover the unknowns, and the ingenuity that we see in modern day solutions inspire me. I am motivated every day knowing that the technologies I get to work on are instrumental in developing and manufacturing life altering treatments.
In my early career as a cell and molecular biology researcher in the pharma industry in Cambridge, I was exposed to new technologies all the time. I noticed how tools solve challenges. For instance, an experiment that used to take a day and a half with an unacceptably high rate of failure could be reduced to half a day with results that were reliable every time after a new instrument or reagent was introduced to the laboratory. Game-changing!
Through my career, I became intrigued with the idea that the state of the art of technology goes hand-in-hand with the cutting edge of scientific knowledge. The Human Genome Project took thirteen years to sequence a single individual’s genome. We can do the same today in a matter of hours showing the power of innovation in action.
From being among the pioneers of single-use bioprocess technologies to launching ever better life science laboratory products, it has been a thrilling journey. I have loved being a part of the march to ever increasing knowledge of how biology works and how we can apply that knowledge to make our world a better, healthier place. And now to lead a company that will not only contribute new innovative solutions, but also make them affordable, I could not be more thrilled and enthusiastic about the future.