Giving entrepreneurs the space to soar
By fundamentally changing the approach to life science research, we give entrepreneurs the playground to be creative. We lower the barriers to entry, minimize the start-up hurdles and provide a launchpad to take theories from hypothesis to data. Because we believe their success will not only change their business, it will impact the lives of many.
An idea and a utility room
In 2006, Doug Crawford repurposed a utility room at the Mission Bay campus of the University of California and the QB3 Garage was born. As the first technology incubator in the UC system, the Garage was met with skepticism. “It’ll never work,” their advisory board said. “It’ll be an intensive care unit for sick companies.” But of the first six startups, four raised Series A venture funding and a fifth was acquired for $25 million – and all within the first two years.
As word spread, so did demand. Entrepreneurial scientists were drawn to the easy access of lab benches and equipment and the camaraderie of being around other entrepreneurs. Keeping that in mind, Doug jumped on the opportunity to lease and completely transform a warehouse in San Francisco in 2013. The result was MBC BioLabs, a full-service incubator offering laboratories, office space, meeting rooms, and an in-house staffed CRO facility with millions of dollars’ worth of equipment. Within six months, it was at full occupancy.
Now with over 50 resident companies, an extensive list of successful alumni companies, and a second location in San Carlos, MBC BioLabs is the premier biotech incubator in the Bay Area. And we’re just getting started.
Our Team
Our mission-driven team is small yet mighty. With a rich scientific background and a proven track record, we come to work everyday to serve our entrepreneurs and empower their success.
Douglas Crawford, Ph.D.
General Manager, MBC BioLabs
Managing Director, Mission Bay Capital
Douglas Crawford, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Mission Bay Capital
Doug’s goal is to help entrepreneurial scientists create successful startups. To this end, he founded and manages MBC BioLabs. This state-of-the-art coworking laboratory program in San Francisco allows entrepreneurs to rapidly generate data without getting bogged down in facility management. Rather than spending months getting a facility up and running, MBC BioLabs startups can generate important data in their first week.
Doug is also the Managing Director of Mission Bay Capital and has overseen the investment in 45 companies, 9 of which have already enjoyed successful exits (Alector, Atreca, Calithera, Cell Design Labs, iPierian, Principia, Redwood Biosciences, True North, and Zephyrus). He is a board member of Avexegen, Epiodyne, Graphwear, Invenio, Magnamosis, Magnap, Mitokinin, SiteOne (observer), and Tangible Sciences.
Robert Blazej, Ph.D.
Director, MBC BioLabs
Partner, Mission Bay Capital
Robert Blazej, Ph.D.
Partner, Mission Bay Capital
Robert Blazej co-founded Allopartis Biotechnologies out of the original “garage” incubator at UCSF and has been hooked on entrepreneurship ever since. Allopartis was acquired by Novozymes in 2013 and Robert became director of Novozymes’ Digital Biotechnology site in San Francisco before joining MBC Biolabs in 2017. Robert is a passionate biotechnologist with a diverse skill set spanning business, life science, engineering and intellectual property. Robert brings 10 years of small and big company operational experience to the team and is thrilled to be able to share that experience with MBC Biolabs resident companies.
Linda Eng
Director of Operations, MBC BioLabs SF
Office Manager, Mission Bay Capital
Linda Eng
Office Manager, Mission Bay Capital
Linda served as assistant to Douglas Crawford at QB3 years ago, where she helped Mission Bay Capital in its formation and launch. Thereafter, Linda was offered a role within UCSF’s Department of hematology and oncology as Program Manager of the Translational Research Program under the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, an NCI cooperative group. While there, her role grew into Program Manager of the Prostate Cancer Research Program for UCSF’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Linda provided project management for a $10M Stand-Up-To-Cancer Prostate Dream Team, a six-institution clinical trial effort to target treatment-resistant metastatic prostate cancer.
Our Partners
By bringing together small life science companies with the largest biotech companies, we create mutually beneficial relationships, alliances and opportunities for both entrepreneurs and corporate partners. This access provides our entrepreneurs valuable insights about where to focus their efforts and speeds the pipeline of innovation for our partners.
We’re thrilled to partner with
these companies:
Founding Partners
Johnson & Johnson Innovation, LLC focuses on accelerating early-stage innovation worldwide and forming collaborations between entrepreneurs and Johnson & Johnson’s global healthcare businesses. Johnson & Johnson Innovation provides scientists, entrepreneurs and emerging companies one-stop access to science and technology experts who can facilitate collaborations across the pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics and consumer companies of Johnson & Johnson.
MBC BioLabs San Francisco
Founded in 1918, Nitto Denko Corporation is Japan’s leading materials manufacturer, offering over 13,500 diversified industrial products to more than 70 business fields such as electronics, automobiles, ecology, and life science. Since its initial success with transdermal drug delivery patches in the late 1970s, Nitto has been expanding its footprint in life science including siRNA-based drug discovery and biodegradable drug delivery systems, GLP/GMP-grade oligo-nucleotide manufacturing, and analytical and process development services.
MBC BioLabs San Carlos
Platinum Partners
AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company committed to developing innovative advanced therapies for some of the world’s most complex and critical conditions. The company’s mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to markedly improve treatments across four primary therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, virology and neuroscience. In more than 75 countries, AbbVie employees are working every day to advance health solutions for people around the world.
Celgene Corporation, headquartered in Summit, New Jersey, is an integrated global biopharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases through next-generation solutions in protein homeostasis, immuno-oncology, epigenetics, immunology and neuro-inflammation.
Amgen is committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative human therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like advanced human genetics to unravel the complexities of disease and understand the fundamentals of human biology. Amgen focuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages its biologics manufacturing expertise to strive for solutions that improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people’s lives.
Astellas Pharma Inc., based in Tokyo, Japan, is a company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. We address unmet medical needs by turning innovative science into value for patients in areas where we have expertise and where cutting-edge science and technology are poised to drive innovation. Our culture is rooted in a set of shared values called the Astellas Way. These principles and behaviors focus us on always making a positive difference and create an atmosphere where we can contribute to tomorrow’s medical advancements.
Gold Partners
Agilent is a global leader in the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. Working in concert with customers, they strive to improve drug quality and access, clean air, food and water, cancer diagnostics, laboratory economics and workflow, and so much more.
Bio-Rad is a global leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing a broad range of innovative products for the life science research and clinical diagnostic markets. With a focus on quality and customer service for over 65 years, our products advance the discovery process and improve healthcare. Our customers include university and research institutions, hospitals, public health and commercial laboratories, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, as well as applied laboratories that include food safety and environmental quality.
Founded in 1997, ChemoMetec specializes in the design, development, and production of high-quality instruments using patented technology.
Creoptix is revolutionizing the study of label-free molecular interactions and changing the world of drug discovery.
Eppendorf is a leading life science company that develops and sells instruments, consumables, and services for liquid-, sample-, and cell handling in laboratories worldwide. Its product range includes pipettes and automated pipetting systems, dispensers, centrifuges, mixers, spectrometers, and DNA amplification equipment as well as ultra-low temperature freezers, fermentors, bioreactors, CO2 incubators, shakers, and cell manipulation systems. Consumables such as pipette tips, test tubes, microtiter plates, and single-use bioreactor vessels complement the range of highest-quality premium products.
Cytiva is a 3.3 billion USD global life sciences leader with nearly 7000 associates operating in 40 countries dedicated to advancing and accelerating therapeutics. As a trusted partner to customers that range in scale and scope, Cytiva brings speed, efficiency and capacity to research and manufacturing workflows, enabling the development, manufacture and delivery of transformative medicines to patients.
Labii facilitates research and development by providing user-friendly, customizable Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) and Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to document, manage, and interpret data. Labii ELN & LIMS can be configured for any type of data, and the functions can easily be enhanced and expanded by stand-alone applications. We address the unique needs of each of our customers and are the trusted provider of hundreds of biotech companies and academic labs.
Leica Microsystems develops and manufactures microscopes and scientific instruments for the analysis of microstructures and nanostructures. Ever since the company started as a family business in the nineteenth century, its instruments have been widely recognized for their optical precision and innovative technology. It is one of the market leaders in compound and stereo microscopy, digital microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy with related imaging systems, electron microscopy sample preparation, and surgical microscopes.
LI-COR technology enables scientists around the world to improve lives by advancing discovery. From the first low-cost light sensor filtered for the waveband absorbed by plants, to pioneering the development of near-infrared fluorescence detection systems for DNA sequencing, LI-COR strives to provide innovative solutions for researchers.
Today, LI-COR Biosciences is a leading innovator in systems for plant research, gas analysis, drug discovery, protein research, and small animal imaging.
Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at www.lilly.com and http://newsroom.lilly.com/social-channels.
Miltenyi Biotec provides innovative products that address sample preparation, separation of cells and their analysis, and that advance the concept of cellular therapy. We are committed to supporting the translation of basic research into therapies in immunology, cancer, neuroscience and stem cell biology.
As the Life Science Business Unit of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, we are dedicated to solving the toughest problems in life science by collaborating with the global scientific community in areas from drug discovery and development to manufacturing and diagnostics. We have 20 dedicated manufacturing sites around the globe, 20,000 employees working towards a healthier future worldwide, and invest 241M Euro in Research & Development for Life Science. Our 300,000 products range from lab water systems to gene editing tools, antibodies, cell lines and end-to-end systems to manufacture drugs. We work closely with our customers from academia, biotech and pharma to help deliver the promise of their work better, faster and safer. We are known as MilliporeSigma in North America, and as Merck Life Science in the rest of the world. To learn more about our products, please visit SigmaAldrich.com.
With a portfolio of more than 3,000 products covering the fields of genomics, protein analysis and expression, cellular analysis, drug discovery and genetic identity, Promega is a global leader in providing innovative solutions and technical support to life scientists in academic, industrial and government settings. Promega products are used by life scientists who are asking fundamental questions about biological processes as well as by scientists who are applying scientific knowledge to diagnose and treat diseases, discover new therapeutics, and use genetics and DNA testing for human identification. For over 35 years, Promega has consistently integrated the values of corporate responsibility and sustainable business practices into all aspects of our corporate culture and activity. We realize that our success depends upon the connections we forge among our customers, community and employees.
The Sartorius Group is a leading international partner of biopharmaceutical research and the industry. With innovative laboratory instruments and consumables, the Group’s Lab Products & Services Division concentrates on serving the needs of laboratories performing research and quality control at pharma and biopharma companies and those of academic research institutes. The Bioprocess Solutions Division with its broad product portfolio focusing on single-use solutions helps customers to manufacture biotech medications and vaccines safely and efficiently.
Servier is committed to therapeutic progress to serve patient needs with the help of healthcare professionals. We strive to provide future generations with a world where quality healthcare is available and accessible to all. Driven by a pioneering spirit, we dare, we strive, and we accomplish together.
Sony Biotechnology was founded in 1995 and is based in San Jose, California and has affiliate offices in Japan, China, Europe as well as distributors in many regions of the world.
Over the years, Sony Biotechnology products have received numerous outstanding new product awards as well as technology awards including the Frost & Sullivan Emerging Technology award, and the Milestone Award.
TetraScience is an Internet of Things company founded by scientists and engineers. Our mission is to modernize research by bringing cloud software to the laboratory. We think the future of science starts by connecting all scientific equipment to the web.
Toray Group combines nanotechnology with its core technologies of organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry and biotechnology. Toray’s mission is to contribute to society through the creation of new value with innovative ideas, technologies and products.
Who We Are
Tosoh is the parent of the Tosoh Group, which comprises over 100 companies worldwide and a multiethnic workforce of over 12,000 people.
What We Do
Tosoh is one of the largest chlor-alkali manufacturers in Asia. The company supplies the plastic resins and an array of the basic chemicals that support modern life. Tosoh’s petrochemical operations supply ethylene, polyethylene, and functional polymers, while its advanced materials business serves the global semiconductor, display, and solar industries. Tosoh has also pioneered sophisticated bioscience systems that are used for the monitoring of life-threatening diseases. In addition, Tosoh demonstrates its commitment to a sustainable future in part by manufacturing a variety of eco-products.
For more than 30 years, Yokogawa Life Science has developed and provided innovative instruments based on original and proprietary confocal microscopy technologies. Our products: High Content Imaging systems and Confocal scanners specialize in live-cell and 3D imaging, enabling visualization and image analysis of dynamic cellular phenomenon. We are dedicated to the development of novel products employing microscopy and/or image analysis technology for the advancement of cell biology research and drug discovery.
Silver Partners
ACEA Biosciences is pioneering the development and commercialization of high performance, cutting edge cell analysis instruments for life science research and clinical diagnostics. Our mission is to provide innovative high performance technologies that advance scientific discovery and improve healthcare.
VWR is the leading global independent provider of product and service solutions to laboratory and production customers. With sales in excess of $4.5 billion, VWR enables science for customers in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, industrial, education, government and healthcare industries.
BioLabs are the premier co-working spaces for life science startups — unique places where you can test, develop and grow your game-changing ideas. As entrepreneurs and investors ourselves, we have first-hand experience with the pain-points biotech start-ups face. Our goal is to change how scientific entrepreneurs do business by building an ecosystem that empowers bioinnovators to grow quickly, while maximizing capital efficiency.
California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) is the trade association representing California’s life sciences industry. CLSA advances California’s world-leading life sciences innovation ecosystem by advocating for effective national, state and local public policies and supporting entrepreneurs and life sciences businesses.
We provide high quality, innovative products for life science applications enabling people around the world to make and deliver life changing discoveries.
Established in 2003, Hanhai Holdings is a high-tech conglomerate formed by science and technology experts, scholars, overseas graduates, and elites of Tsinghua University, Peking University, Renmin University, etc. Headquartered in the famous Galaxy SOHO building on Chaoyangmen Street in Dongcheng District, Hanhai Holdings has developed into a world-class, multinational conglomerate focused on science and technology park construction and development. In recent years, Hanhai Holdings have been making increased efforts to expand their presence globally, working to develop an international science and technology platform focused on investing in and incubating promising projects with global ambitions as well as partnering with established companies, leveraging resources from all over the world to accelerate their globalization goals.
LabCentral is a shared laboratory space designed as a launchpad for high-potential life-sciences and biotech startups. We offer fully permitted laboratory and office spaces. We also provides first-class facility and administrative support, skilled laboratory personnel, a domain-relevant expert speaker series ‒ as well as the other critical services and support that early-stage companies need to begin laboratory operations on day one. A private, nonprofit institution, LabCentral was funded in part by two $5 million grants from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, with support from its real-estate partner, MIT.
The SPARK program at Stanford is a partnership between Stanford researchers and volunteer experts from the biotechnology ecosystem that provides education and mentorship to advance promising research discoveries from the bench to the bedside. SPARK’s three-fold mission is to advance promising research discoveries into the clinic as new therapeutics and diagnostics; to educate faculty, post-doctoral fellows and students regarding the translational process; and to identify and promote more efficient approaches to bring new therapies to patients. Over 60% of projects completing SPARK have been licensed and/or advanced to clinical trials.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide, as well as the public and private capital markets that finance them. We represent companies at every stage of development, from entrepreneurial start-ups to multibillion-dollar global corporations. Since the firm’s inception in the early days of Silicon Valley, we have been privileged to help lay the groundwork for some of the world’s most innovative companies.