Can you tell us more about you and the idea behind QSM Diagnostics?

I consider myself a chemical engineer and my PhD is in bioengineering. The research and interests that I have, have been at that interface. As a postdoc, I lived in the Netherlands for a few years, and then I looked for faculty positions in 2010. That's when I got interested in the specific research that ended up turning into QSM diagnostics.

 Can you tell me about your background and how the company started?

I’ve been working in the animal health pharmaceuticals arena for over 20 years. I worked on the marketing side of things with many large multinationals and worked with companion animals and food as well.

One of the things I’ve noticed is that even though a lot of companies talked about loving cats and dogs, it looked like the dog products were getting a lot more attention. That started me thinking about why cats were not getting the same level of it.

Can you tell us about yourself and the story behind Torigen?

My name is Ashley Kalinauskas I’m the founder and CEO, and the idea for Torigen came from my graduate research at the University of Notre Dame. The professor that I worked alongside had developed a way of creating personalized cancer vaccines utilizing a portion of the patient’s surgically resected tumor.

tumors become the antigen backbone for the creation of an autologous cancer vaccine

What was the motivation behind your business idea?

Rejuvenate Bio’s technology originated in the lab of co-founder George Church, Ph.D., as part of our co-founder Noah Davidsohn’s postdoctoral research into the genetics of aging. We hypothesized that providing combinations of three longevity-associated genes (FGF21, sTGFβR2, and αKlotho) via gene therapy would combat age-related diseases and confer health benefits.

What was the motivation behind your business idea?

Our original vision was to bring lab test technology to the dairy field to improve animal health and help the dairy farmer identify animals infected with mastitis. This is done in real-time, rather than having to send specimens to a lab and wait for the results. Since the animals are identified quickly and can be treated, the farmer saves both time and money.

What is the story behind your business idea?

I'm not the only founder of SooS technology. Our other co-founder is the one who found out that sound vibration can affect sex reversal. We met in an agriculture exhibition here in Israel for the poultry industry and we just start talking with no context. We didn’t know each other before and he told me about what he was doing with his research and about his day-to-day job.

He observed that in a specific place under an electric pole there were alot more females than males.

What was the motivation behind your business idea?

We had stock theft and everything was so antiquated on our own livestock operations that required automation for the future.

What stresses do you feel in being the founder of a start up in the animal health space?

No stress really. If you realise people are comfortable with status quo, don’t want to change and few have foresight or are driven to change to improve, things become easier.

What is the story behind MI:RNA Diagnostics?

I'm a veterinary surgeon, I have worked with both large and small animals. While I was doing a postgraduate certificate in internal medicine, I enjoyed looking back at research and studying again and decided to do a PhD. I went to the University of Edinburgh for my undergraduate and the University of Glasgow for my PhD in immunology.