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Entrepreneurial Research Lab Alumni Launch Medical Device News Website
“I don’t believe at all that the appetite for news has shrunk. I just think the delivery is broken, not the business model,” said Brian. As a recent journalism graduate, Brian saw a need for journalists to create their own jobs rather than relying on print newspapers and magazines. While working as a business reporter, Brian was struck by the lack of a single, coordinated news website for medical devices and envisioned a niche news site that focuses its resources on content, not print distribution. Brian began fundraising to start the business in the summer of 2008, but when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, his investors pulled back. “BU and ITEC saved this business, there is no doubt about that,” said Brian. As ERL recipients, the alumni use space in the Boston University Business Incubator and are connected to the university community, which gave MassDevice the credibility with investors to close its first round of funding. The company also has access to student interns and in the past semester has worked with graduate and undergraduate interns from the School of Management and College of Communication on a range of projects including editorial and website search engine marketing. One intern, when asked to research a few potential sales targets, submitted a detailed survey of 100 companies that MassDevice used to focus its sales efforts. The Entrepreneurial Research Laboratory provides incubator space in the Boston University Incubator, mentoring and networking opportunities to outstanding Boston University students or recent alumni in exchange for the entrepreneur’s active participation in ITEC educational activities, including designing new educational programs, acting as a live case study, and providing guest lectures. 
The first ERL participant Brandon Johnson, President of Boston Microfluidics, Inc. and a 2004 graduate of Boston University's Biomedical Engineering undergraduate program, is developing a device that reduces the time needed to test for STDs from days to minutes. He entered the ERL as the sole employee and left a year later to move across the river to a 1,300 square foot office at 22 Third Street in Cambridge. At the time Brandon left the ERL, the company had secured a second round of funding and hired several employees. Microfluidics now has five more employees and raised additional funding. The company is in the process of selecting a manufacturer and preparing to begin the quality testing required by the FDA. Brandon anticipates release of the first product in early 2010. The ERL fellowship is open to the founders of early stage, high-technology start ups who participated in entrepreneurial education and training as BU students, started a business based on that experience, and want to stay involved with BU while creating their new business. Participants are chosen by ITEC faculty based on the following criteria.
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Brian and Brad founded