So, this isn't private news and it's already known to many, but there's some stuff I'd like to share here in the near future which may seem confusing or surprising unless I first officially come out with it on my blog.
Since several weeks ago, I am officially the Scientific Director of IndieBio EU, the accelerator formerly known (and mentioned here) as Synbio Axlr8r.
This is a pretty exciting shift for me; it closes a chapter where I worked under the umbrella of Glowbiotics, my open biotech start-up, and a stint as a mentor at Synbio Axlr8r 1.
So, I gave a talk at the Synbio Future conference in Cork, which was organised by SynbioAxlr8r and brought in some top talent in Synthetic Biology to speak about their work and the prospects for the future of the field, and Ireland's role in it.
My own talk was in the “translation” block, so I tried to discuss my experiences making a business out of Synbio. At the time, I was trying to raise money for IndieBB (an effort which failed), but I tried to keep that out of the talk except where it was relevant.
As is often the case when I fail to post for months, I've been busy. In addition to my own work in the lab, which currently entails bypassing and leapfrogging existing affinity chromatography standards while making DIY protein purification trivial (!), I've been roped into organising an ambitious Synthetic Biology business accelerator programme in my home city, Cork, and I'm officially a co-curator for the upcoming Synthetic Biology exhibition in Science Gallery, “Grow Your Own".