One question I get periodically is “you have built all of these very capable and unique processes that have been used to create a huge amount of value, why not open it up to others outside of Mozza?” We have built formidable research pipelines. And I have no reservations against giving away all the methods, protocols and tools we have built along the way. But I have zero interest in running a CRO (contract research org).
If I had extra lab capacity I would use it to execute my own ideas, not someone else’s.
There is money to be made running a service business. Plumbers don’t raise VC money to invent new ways to unclog pipes. And likewise there are plenty of CROs that dutifully service the pharma/biotech industry. They don’t need to invent drugs themselves; just run assays for companies that don’t want to develop those capabilities in-house. Nothing wrong with a service oriented business model.
So how can I be so against running a CRO myself when I very clearly see CROs as worth while businesses?
I actually have run CRO businesses in the past. In 2016 when I moved LA Biohackers aka TheLAB to a new location east of Downtown, the move wasn’t just about a larger, more convenient facility but a complete shift in the organization’s scope. Instead of being a just bio-hackerspace-commune, the organization expanded to renting bench space (biotech incubator) and science classes on the weekends (educational institution), both of which are in some sense service oriented businesses. In hindsight we were probably diversified too much horizontally and not being great at any one thing. But that’s for a different essay. Eventually we got the finances stabilized and the different businesses were running smoothly, I found myself (1) having extra time on my hands, and (2) not being satisfied watching other people do research (mostly unsuccessfully) while I ran a mediocre small business. Naturally I started doing research projects for other people in exchange for money (CRO). Mozza was actually launched out of one of these contracted research projects, but again, another essay.
This was around the same time cannabis was legalized and many people quickly came to possess lots of cash when the state granted them licenses to grow or sell. Some of these folks had bigger dreams and wanted to obviate the need to grow plants by using microbes instead. Naturally, a lot of the contract research I did revolved around cannibanoid production in single celled organisms. I knew that none of these ventures would ever be more cost effective than growing plants. But that is the crux of contract research. I can provide my two cents but ultimately someone is paying me to do a thing. And sometimes I believe that thing is silly. But they are paying me to do it nevertheless. And I do like the craft of biological research. The day-to-day research operations can be fun and semi-mindless. Like how my mom likes to do her crossword puzzles.
Without digressing too far into the details of the research projects I was doing on the behalf of others, suffice it to say I am familiar with biotech service businesses. At least on a very small scale.
At Mozza we really have developed methods in house that we operate as pipelines for our internal research and would be valuable to other people or companies trying to do soybean genetics. But that phase of my life is over. In the past I was flailing around trying to make some sort of biology themed business. Any sort of biology themed business that I could make work. But these days I have a very clear mission and the “any net profit will suffice” attitude doesn’t work for me any more.
Mozza has so many projects that need to be done. And after we solve casein production there are plenty of other proteins or animal products that I want to tackle. I just believe in my current mission so much that I could not imagine waking up every day to execute someone else’s ideas.
This shift in thinking about my own work has changed how I perceive other businesses, too. Hot take - when I see tech companies pivot to being a “platform” I just roll my eyes. If you start a tech company, can’t get any products to market, then pivot to being a service company, either (A) you can’t execute, in which case I don’t want to hire you to execute my research for me. Or (B) the whole concept doesn’t work.
I fondly remember reading about the MIT synbio scene in pop-sci magazines while I was in college circa 2003-2006. BioBricks. iGEM. Biofuels. I was so hyped up for the (near!) future of biology. Ginko was supposed to be this revolutionary synbio company that was going to grow the drugs, food and industrial chemicals of the future. A bio-manufacturing company engineering microbes to do the works for us. But that never materialized and they pivoted to doing projects for hire. Ahem, sorry, “collaborating with partners”. Yes, this derogatory recounting of Ginko’s history will probably be refuted by the dwindling Ginko fanboys. But if you believe in them so much, go buy their stock!
I, for one, will be in my lab working on my own projects.
I was thinking of ending the essay there, then realized I never finished the idea of a soybean CRO. I do think soybeans are the bio-platform of the future and there will be opportunities for a small number of service providers to do plant-specific research ops as a service. Running a soybean engineering lab requires a lot of infrastructure and specialized techniques. There will be a lot of problems to be solved with engineered soybeans - more than I can handle myself. Other people will need to work on their own niche projects involving soybeans. But (1) not everyone wants to have the whole stack in their repertoire, (2) not everyone can afford to have the whole stack in their bedroom lab, and (3) there are lots of methods that have been developed specifically for soybean that are highly technical and would require a lot of time to learn yourself. Why not have an expert do the technically (extremely) challenging parts while you focus on the design?
Mozza and other molecular farming companies have all had to develop the same technological stack independently by hacking away for years and spending millions of dollars. Spending a million dollars and multiple years figuring out how to generate a transgenic soybean plant in 6 weeks (yes, that exists despite best protocols in literature take 6-9 months) is a non-starter for most people. Figuring out how to transform soybeans at all is no small matter.
Mozza has a well led pipeline for getting genetic designs turning into plasmids, getting those plasmids into soybeans, identifying clean transformation events, assaying protein expression and propagating high performing events. Replicating that would require a sterile tissue culture lab, full molecular biology lab, specialized greenhouse and a digital system for tracking every construct and plant in the pipeline.