Adventures in Technology Development:

How an SB Startup is Commercializing the “Next Big Biosensor”

Ken Babcock

CEO, Affinity Biosensors

In this talk I’ll describe many of the facets involved in starting a company aimed at commercializing a new technology for real world applications, an exciting career option for many scientists. Along the way we’ll cover the actual technology (a MEMS-based biosensor that is the world’s most sensitive detector of mass in fluid); what good it might do (e.g., monitor the progression of HIV in developing countries); some of the resources available at the local business/university/technology interface; and the circuitous (but not atypical) path that I took from a UCSB physics post doc, to on-the job business training at local AFM company Digital Instruments, to various executive roles in a public company, and finally to a “small business” CEO.