A Start-Up’s Launch

Testing for sexually transmitted diseases can take anywhere from three days to two weeks, an eternity for patients waiting for results. A new device being developed by Brandon Johnson (ENG’04), president of Boston Microfluidics, Inc., could cut that time from days to minutes.

But although Johnson, the sole employee of his company, patented the technology for his device more than a year ago, he needed help getting the product to market. “I raised some initial seed capital,” he says, “but finding funding and affordable office space has been challenging.”

A joint effort of the School of Management’s Institute of Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (ITEC) and the University’s Office of Technology and Development (OTD), the ERL provides individual fellowships to recent BU alumni who have started technology companies and are interested in helping to design new entrepreneurship education and training programs.

“The ERL is a virtual laboratory that connects new entrepreneurs with students, professors, mentors, businesses, investors, and policy makers,” says Jonathan Rosen, executive director of ITEC. “Its concept stemmed from the idea of having people who have come through BU — M.B.A. graduates or undergraduates with concentrations in entrepreneurship — remain involved with the University by helping us develop programs that better serve upcoming generations of entrepreneurs.”

ITEC itself is a relatively new University venture. A branch of SMG, it expands education and training for undergraduate and graduate students with concentrations in entrepreneurship. It also works with businesses and foundations to create sustainable enterprises in areas of health care, clean energy, and information systems.

Starting a company, however small, is no easy feat. It requires a great deal of cash up front — after all, entrepreneurs must patent their products — and a lot of equipment. “Computers, software, Xerox machines, paper, printers,” Rosen says. “It adds up quickly, which is why business incubators are so beneficial to fledgling companies.”

While traditional incubator programs typically work independently of the University’s academic programs, the ERL fellowship directly involves entrepreneurs in the educational process. ERL participants help develop and test new ITEC educational and entrepreneurial initiatives and serve as guest lecturers at SMG. And because participants work so closely with students and faculty members, Rosen explains, they receive the added benefit of a built-in networking system.

“I’ve received a lot of help on the technical end,” Johnson says, “but by far the most useful thing about the ERL is being able to talk to professors and having access to the intellectual powerhouse of the University.”

Johnson was selected as the ERL’s first fellow because of his prior services to BU. “Even before he moved into the ERL,” Rosen says, “Brandon volunteered as a guest lecturer and spoke on various panels. He provided an outstanding model for people who are thinking about starting their own companies.”

His company’s mission also dovetails with ITEC’s commitment to developing new technologies in the health sciences, Rosen says. Johnson’s product, which is being refined in an off-site laboratory, tests for up to 10 sexually transmitted diseases in 10 minutes. Upon receiving FDA approval, Johnson says, the device will hasten the diagnosis and treatment process for STDs.

In the meantime, he says, he and his company are benefiting from their relationship with BU. “The ERL is exactly what I think universities should be doing to help entrepreneurs,” he says, “and I’m happy to do everything I can to help build the program.”

While the ERL primarily targets entrepreneurs in the College of Engineering biomedical engineering program, it will eventually include budding entrepreneurs in all of BU’s schools and colleges.

Vicky Waltz can be reached at vwaltz@bu.edu.