Last May 6, Tec Labs promoted its Demo Day. In this event, the Ciências ULisboa Innovation Centre opened its doors to welcome everyone who wants to know the in-house science and technology-based startups and spin-offs. BioISI Researchers Olga Ferreira, Elisabete R. Silva and Hugo Botelho were present to showcase their research projects and services due to their potential interest for industry stakeholders.

Olga Ferreira and Elisabete Silva, PhD Student and PI, respectively, from Bioactive and Multifunctional Materials Lab at Chemistry for Biological Systems Group, gave participants the opportunity to meet their innovative project Self-disinfecting foams designed with grafted bioactive agents for long-lasting microbial threats prevention.  According to Elisabete, this event “(…) allowed to contact or even establish potential relationships with an investing public or stakeholders capable of promoting access to risk capital funding for a scientific and technological project [which has] (…)  a developed technology still in the product-market-fit validation phase, but with demonstrated potential for growth, scalability, and implementation in the global market.” Olga reinforces the overall positive experience by saying that “(…) it was beneficial as it allowed us to emphasize the project’s potential while also opening up opportunities for partnerships and alternative approaches for our research.”

Hugo Botelho, BioISI High-Throughput Screening (HTS) Facility Coordinator, took this opportunity to present the facility’s services to potential interested industrial partners and investors. In the same way as to Olga and Elisabete, Hugo also believes his participation can be fruitful for the facility, as he shares that: “There was an informal atmosphere throughout which really benefited the interaction. I learnt about entrepreneurship and became aware of some of the biotechnology startup companies supported by Tec Labs. I expect that this participation boosts future business opportunities for the Facility.”

Find out more about the Bioactive and Multifunctional Materials Lab here.

Discover the BioISI HTS Facility here.

From left to right: Olga Ferreira, Elisabete R. Silva and Hugo Botelho.