Kamila Malysz has had a fascination with biology and genes since an early age.
“When I was a small child, if I heard on TV or radio something about genetic engineering it always made my heart beat faster,” she says. “I just thought it’s so cool that you can change the code of life.”
As public awareness of and interest in stem cell research increased so did Kamila’s. When news broke of how scientist Shinya Yamanaka had discovered how to convert adult skin cells into embryonic cells in mice (a discovery that led to him winning a Nobel Prize in 2012), she became even more intrigued by the possibilities of genetics and regenerative medicine.
“I was so excited about it, that biology can go backwards,” she explains. “That’s when I knew I really wanted to go into that, that there’s such potential. I always wanted to make an impact in the world. And biology was my passion, so it felt natural.”
A destination of choice
Having attended the International School in Warsaw, Poland, Kamila was aware of its strong links to the UK. This influenced her decision to travel to further her studies.
She gained her Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology in 2015, followed by a Master of Science by Research in Developmental Biology in 2016, both at the University of Edinburgh. Kamila then found herself with a choice: to stay in academia or gain industry experience.
A successful job application landed her a position at Censo Biotechnologies as a logistics coordinator. She was quickly promoted to stem cell technician in the company’s recently established gene editing department.
Kamila describes her time there as “a really great experience”. However, after three years she realised that the more senior members of the company had PhDs.
This gave her the incentive to return to academia. She applied for a maternity cover core scientist postdoctoral position at the University’s Roslin Institute. Here she started her PhD, focusing on explaining the role of certain genes in human leukaemia.
Support from Edinburgh Innovations
Kamila spent two years working intensively and collecting data for her thesis. She then noticed posters around campus for entrepreneurship workshops hosted by the University’s commercialisation service, Edinburgh Innovations (EI).
“It was that spark that gave me some new direction in life,” she says of signing up to the workshops. “I was always thinking about a career combining science and business, but I couldn’t see there was a place for me in this. EI have a totally different mindset. They are all about commercialisation. The support from EI made me believe that it’s possible to make that transition from academia to business.”
The workshops inspired Kamila to reconnect with a friend, Kasia Maj, whom she worked with at Censo Biotechnologies. During a brainstorming session they came across a paper on exosomes and how they rejuvenate old mice. As an industrial stem cell scientist Kasia had the expertise to make exosomes from different types of cells. They began working on a business model, entering awards, applying for grants and looking for lab space. This enabled them to become cofounders of Excellio Labs.
Understanding Exosomes
So, what are exosomes and what does Excellio Labs do with them?
“Exosomes are small vesicles – tiny sacs of fluid – that are secreted by every cell in our bodies. They are a natural way of communication between cells,” Kamila explains.
“In our technology, we tweak them to equip them with a sort of biological GPS by deriving them from different types of cells and leveraging their natural targeting abilities to the cell of origin,” she continues. “They can deliver drugs precisely where they are needed in the body.”
Kamila goes on to explain the benefit of using exosomes in the treatment of diseases: “Exosomes being natural are not detected by our immune systems. They don’t cause adverse immune reactions, they are not toxic and they naturally deliver different messages between cells, so the drugs are delivered to the desired cells in the most efficient manner.”
Starting up
In order to get Excellio labs off the ground Kamila attended EI’s Startup Summer Accelerator. This 12-week intensive learning and leadership online programme empowers students and recent alumni to become startup leaders. “We learned about the basics of doing business, accounting and pitching,” Kamila says. “All those things are not that difficult, but if you don’t know them, then they are not intuitive.”
She also received funding through Venture Builder Incubator, run by the University’s Bayes Centre and EI. This programme of workshops and events helps postgraduate students and research staff turn their ideas into realities. After this, she started to explore more funding opportunities.
“I got my very first grant from the Innovate UK Unlocking Potential Award. Our advisor from EI pointed that out and encouraged us to apply. The money was small, just £15K, but it gave us momentum,” Kamila explains. “Then we got money from Converge Kickstart last year, EI also recommended that. We also had a grant from another accelerator in Bristol, Science Creates, which enables us to develop our proof of concept.”
Winning the Emerging Female Entrepreneur prize
As well as gaining funding from grants Kamila has been winning prize money. Her latest success was at the University’s Inspire Launch Grow awards in June this year. The annual ceremony celebrates entrepreneurs from the University student and recent graduate community. Kamila is the inaugural winner of the Emerging Female Entrepreneur award. It acknowledges the accomplishments and resilience of women in this arena.
On finding out she won Kamila said, “I didn’t expect that because I felt like there are more advanced companies than us. It’s a great honour really.”
The £10K prize pot will go towards boosting Excellio Lab’s resources and cash flow. “The money is really useful to generate more data before applying for bigger grants. It will help us a lot. We will buy a lot of reagents for that,” she explains. “We are just before getting the payment from the grant, so it will help us to smooth out the finances.”
Raising funds to support the business hasn’t been the only obstacle. “Definitely the biggest challenge was finding lab space. In Edinburgh it’s very difficult and many startups struggle with that,” says Kamila. “We are very lucky to have a space in Roslin Innovation Centre now, but not having our own lab has held us back for many months.”
A business model with impact
Excellio Labs is off to a strong start, and is carrying out several feasibility studies. There are grant applications to work with companies in the UK and Switzerland on making exosomes to target cancer. At Edinburgh, the team has a collaborator with a promising, but currently too toxic, drug for colon cancer. Excellio’s exosomes could make it safe to use.
“That’s our business model, to have the drug vehicle that will make drugs less toxic and more efficient by taking it exactly where it’s needed,” explains Kamila. “After the feasibility studies, when we have validated that our approach works, we will connect with more companies or academic groups that have promising drug targets, preferably those that failed clinical trials at some stage so that we can make them pass.”
As well as supporting the safe development of therapeutics that otherwise might not make it to market, Excellio Labs is also looking to ensure exosomes are available to improve treatments for as many diseases and patients as possible.
“If we have the carrier that is better than others, it would be a waste to just use it in one drug,” says Kamila. “I’m all for impact to really make that transition from chemical traditional drugs to biological ones, which are much more effective and can cure many diseases that are currently untreatable. I’m really willing to make our technology accessible to companies who are interested in it.”
A balancing act
Now in her final year of her PhD Kamila is putting the final touches on her thesis. She is on track to submit it this September. How has she managed to juggle her studies at Edinburgh with setting up her own business?
“I started the company in the third year of my PhD,” she explains. “I managed it mainly because I did a lot of work for my PhD during the first two years. So I had lots of results and in my third year I was still working on my PhD, obviously. But let’s say for the first two years I was in the lab seven days a week, then I cut it down to five days a week and I was working on my startup at weekends, which wasn’t full blown at that time.”
Building a business
As Excellio Labs becomes more of a full-time commitment for Kamila, she has clear plans for its development over the next five years: “We want to have clinically ready tissue-specific exosomes from several major disease classes like cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, to have them ready to load with the therapeutics of other companies. We also hope to be on advanced clinical trials with our own therapeutics.”
It is Kamila’s entrepreneurial flair and drive that has pushed her forward. She believes other student entrepreneurs at Edinburgh can achieve success through determination, self-belief and finding support: “Always follow your dreams and do not settle for less. If you want something, just go for it. Go to EI workshops, connect with people who are in the place where you want to be and follow their advice. You never know where it’s going to take you.”
Photo credits: Callum Bennetts/Maverick Photo Agency.
