What is Bac3Gel’s mission and distinctive factors?
Bac3Gel’s mission is to become the market leader in advanced substrates for microbiology. The human body has more microbial cells than human cells, however, with current laboratory methods, it is difficult to understand the impact these microorganisms have on our body.
The Bac3Gel technology is the first to allow the development of 3D substrates with gradients, thus reproducing the conditions that microorganisms experience in the intestinal, pulmonary, gastric and cervicovaginal tracts.
Currently, 90% of chronic diseases affecting the human body are associated with the human microbiota. Our substrates can not only stimulate discoveries in fundamental research, but also to understand how diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are related to the human microbiota. By making this connection, we enable the pharmaceutical industry to move forward and test therapies that focus on what causes the disease rather than the symptoms caused by it.
Why the choice of the Taguspark Incubator to “plant” Bac3Gel?
Sebastião knew Taguspark well from his undergraduate and master’s days, and was already aware of the existence of the Incubator. We looked little for other options, because really the Taguspark Incubator was all we needed and more. As we were looking for an incubator that had laboratory facilities, essential for the activity of Bac3Gel, the choice of Taguspark became obvious. It has a very interesting ecosystem, with all kinds of different technological startups with which we are in constant interaction, sharing resources. It’s a very interesting network, in a very relaxed atmosphere. But above all very down to earth, focused on the essentials.
To what extent was the option an asset in the company’s journey, including the presence in international awards?
Recently we were fortunate to win an EIC Accelerator, known by many as the “Champions of Start-ups”, in fact we are the seventh start-up in Portugal to win an EIC Accelerator. An essential factor in obtaining this acceleration grant is the present and future facilities we have to execute the project.
The facilities provided by the Taguspark Incubator were considered indicated both for the acceleration process we are currently in, and for the future access facilities within the Taguspark for the scale-up phase. This possibility was praised during the evaluation process, since it allows us to plan and implement the current activities, but allows for concrete long-term planning.
How does Bac3Gel look at the Taguspark ecosystem and to what extent does it contribute to its affirmation in the international market?
Bac3Gel is a start-up of an instant global character, our market has no borders and our products allow their production in the facilities of the Taguspark Incubator with the possibility of being sent anywhere. Taguspark manages to unite the proximity to Lisbon, Cascais and Sintra to the quality of life, dynamism and access that this location provides.The ecosystem of the Incubator with diversified technological profiles, not only allows us a critical analysis of different points of view, but also to explore synergies.
Also very important has been our collaboration with Instituto Superior Técnico, which has made itself available to receive students who do their doctoral thesis at Bac3Gel, which led us to receive a Marie Curie scholarship recently within a Consortium that unites partners from several European countries.
How does Bac3Gel attract your talent to/from Portugal?
The Bac3Gel technology was born in Italy in a collaboration between different institutions and for this reason we have a wide network of contacts that among other reasons opens the flow of highly qualified people to Bac3Gel. The collaborations we have established with other entities since we created the company further strengthen our activity and mission.
Through its models, BAC3GEL offers the pharmaceutical and food industries the possibility to develop new therapies in a shorter period of time and at a reduced cost. How is the relationship with the Portuguese pharmaceutical and food industries? What about the medical universe?
We supply directly to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, which in turn uses our products to help them develop new drugs that will be marketed for both health and well-being. In a simple way to understand: it is currently possible to grow in the laboratory 20% of the known species of microorganisms, which result in 50% of the drugs on the market.
With Bac3Gel products it is possible to grow approximately 90% of the intestinal microbiota, opening up a whole new universe of potential innovative and truly disruptive treatments for medicine. These could not only solve the antibiotic shortage crisis, but also foster the development of a new generation of treatments that are friendly to the human microbiome, known as live biotherapeutics.
In terms of current projects, can they highlight or reveal some project that is in the pipeline or is the secret really the soul of the business?
a.Can you elaborate a little on this project(s)?
We believe as much as possible in an open and transparent exchange of information, mainly because our genesis is scientific research where collaboration is the secret of success.
In this European project, which we will start soon, we intend to validate our products with microbiota from a number of donors and understand to what extent we can recreate in the laboratory these microbial communities characteristic of each of these donors opening the possibility, too, to explore potential personalized therapies. It is a great project that will expand our team 5 to 6 times the current size with top talent in topics such as genetic sequencing, microbiology and bioengineering.
Within your sector of activity, can you highlight any ongoing trends to which you are responding?
In Europe we are entering a topic that has already become fashionable at a scientific level in the United States, the microbiome and its modeling. It is increasingly realized that the microbiome of each one directly or indirectly influences practically everything that happens and defines us at the systemic level. The microbiome is at the basis of predispositions as varied as depression, top athletic ability, obesity, aging speed, or tendency to vascular problems. The microorganisms that grow in us have the ability to hack our hormonal system and send signals through the blood in order to provoke for example cravings for healthier foods, or even provoke inflammatory responses that help treat chronic pathologies or on the other hand are the reason for the chronicity of these diseases. From this branch were born the live biotherapeutics, which are predicted to be a future branch of medical treatments.
If we see antibiotics as an atomic bomb that kills both beneficial and infection-causing microorganisms, live biotherapeutics act in a much more precise way by neutralizing pathogenic microorganisms.
Is Portugal able to attract and retain talent in your sector?
It does, but it’s far from the most attractive country to do so. Many of the factors that characterize Portugal have everything to attract this talent, however there are concrete points that block the retention of talent. At the individual level it is the possibility of paying net wages comparable to those of the rest of Europe in this sector. On the other hand, there is no such dynamic ecosystem in this industry in Portugal as there is for example in countries such as Switzerland, the Netherlands or Germany. Talent, by definition, seeks top challenges and increasingly enjoys being in an ecosystem that allows them to change companies or jobs if and when they wish. The decapitalization of the Portuguese business sector does not seem to allow us to “dumb down” our own biotechnological ecosystem that, despite being of high gain, requires a lot of investment to match the other top ecosystems. Only those who really like Portugal are established here, as is our case.
In one sentence, what is it to be Bac3Gel?
Bac3Gel’s ultimate vision is to become the next pharmaceutical unicorn in Portugal, help strengthen the field of biotechnology and make Portugal the center of the microbiome revolution, creating an unprecedented impact on human health and well-being. It’s the future of medicine and we want to be at the center of it.
