14.10.2019 | Published by Cambridge Independent
Bit Bio is the name of the newest cell coding company in Cambridge following a relaunch at on Monday (October 14).
The rebrand took the audience by surprise. The first inkling that a name change was afoot was a remark by Prof Patrick Maxwell, Regius Professor of Physic and head of the , near the end of his speech which celebrated the work by the university to support spin-outs.
鈥淭he mission in Cambridge is at the highest level of science, and it鈥檚 an excellent ambition and we can only achieve it through interaction with the commercial world, and for that we need brilliant academics such as Mark [Kotter, CEO of Bit Bio] to take the discoveries into the world.
鈥淚t takes a really big investment over a long period of time to change the world and I think we have something special here in a great environment, which all of us here are pleased to be able to support.
鈥淗owever, although I鈥檓 not a brand consultant, I鈥檓 not sure about the name 鈥楨lpis鈥�, so that鈥檚 one bit of feedback for you.鈥�
Ten minutes later became Bit Bio: a video was shown, illustrating the journey to the new name, and Dr Kotter talked through the journey from his initial experiments to the current formula for 鈥渁 synthetic biology approach in which you change the cell by rebooting the stem cell with a new programme鈥�.
Bit Bio CEO Dr Mark Kotter, right, with Prof Patrick Maxwell, Regius Professor of Physic and head of the School of Clinical Medicine of the University of Cambridge. Picture: Maddy Parr
The new programme is called opti-ox 鈥� 鈥渙ptimised inducible over-expression鈥� 鈥� and ushers in a new era of hugely efficient cellular reprogramming at scale.
Commenting on the initial use of the word 鈥楨lpis鈥�, a Greek word meaning 鈥榯he spirit of hope鈥�, Dr Kotter said: 鈥淭he transition from hope to reality prompted us to transition our new name, and our new name is BitBio.
鈥淏its are the building blocks of code and biology is the building block of life and we鈥檝e put the two together.鈥�
Bit Bio is nothing if not ambitious. 鈥淥ur moonshot goal is to develop a scalable technology platform capable of producing consistent batches of every human cell,鈥� said Dr Kotter.
The company, the Start-up of the Year winner at the 2018
At the time, Dr Kotter started the experiments which resulted in a single stem cell being replicated countless times with unerring accuracy and quality, he was 鈥� still is 鈥� an academic neurosurgeon and honorary consultant at the University of Cambridge, specialising in complex spinal surgery.
The company he founded is now based in the building on and the first clients for its newly discovered cell biology approach are already in place (though they can鈥檛 yet be named).
Prof Maxwell was followed to the podium by , centre fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance, who spoke on how new technology can 鈥� indeed must 鈥� help global sustainability.
Bit Bio鈥檚 default position is geared towards sustainability. Dr Kotter is co-founder of , which builds non-animal steaks. He believes the cellular technology developed by BitBio will reduce the number of animals being tested on and will alleviate their suffering for humanity鈥檚 sake.
The third speaker at Bit Bio鈥檚 鈥楾he Next Chapter鈥� event was Sara-Jane Dunn, a scientist based in the biological computation group at Cambridge and an affiliate PI at the Wellcome-.
Speaking of progress in biology, Dr Dunn said the field 鈥渘eeds experimentalists, data scientists, business people and cognitive scientists to interpret the data鈥�. Coding cells 鈥渉as caught the attention of the biology community and biology has caught the attention of the AI community鈥�.
鈥淏ased on my experience and understanding, there are a number of ways in which AI can accelerate knowledge but we have to be mindful and not overhype,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have to learn first and foremost that these tools must be led by human ingenuity.鈥�
Speaking exclusively to the , commented: 鈥淎s the head of a medical school, I try to help new, worthwhile things to happen, and Mark is a talented young neurosurgeon and I see my job as helping him navigate that landscape, though in his case he鈥檚 very good at taking the lead and I鈥檓 not sure I am that much help鈥�
鈥淚 want people to be open to the application of their work. Those working in monoclonal antibodies discovery are motivated by curiosity but that is greatly helped by people developing a product or a medicine. I think that鈥檚 quite infectious. Once someone鈥檚 done it, people will think 鈥榠f they can do it I can too鈥�, and that generates excitement.鈥�
Bit Bio鈥檚 CFO and COO, Florian Schuster, said: 鈥淲e deeply honour the university and are delighted and honoured to have Prof Maxwell here.鈥�