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My name is Matthew Walls
I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Epistem
we are an epiphereal stem cell company.
We are looking at how drugs
effect the body and what impact
they have over stem cells
and we've been here for 11 years.
During that period we've grown quite successfully
certainly over the last four or five years.
When we started there were only
six people, four to six people,
in the company and that was in 2000,
with a little bit of funding
and a big idea.
The great thing about the Incubator
is that over the period of the last ten years
its allowed us to be able to move from being
a four to six people group
to now we have just shy of just 60 people
in the company.
I'm Carol Barker
I'm the Managing Director of XCellR8.
XCellR8 provides a range of cell culture based services
to the cosmetics and personal care industries.
I always wanted to have my own company
but I didn't imagine that I would do it just yet,
I was working for a US based cell culture company
and that company unfortunately was acquired
by a huge corporation
so I then found myself in a position
really of perhaps having a once in a lifetime opportunity
to start my own business.
The first time I saw the Core Technology Facility
it was still under construction
and I was walking round in a hard hat and fluorescent jacket
being shown the facilities and now its really developed.
Well we now have four dedicated laboratories upstairs,
and we have an office space and administration
downstairs here at the incubator.
Very easy to host events,
very easy to bring our customers in,
whether its analysts, AGM's, and broker meetings,
we can bring them all up to Manchester.
To start with we had a virtual tenancy,
because we didn't need the lab facilities initially,
then we went into a lab share with one of the other companies here
and it worked really well for both companies.
And then we both recently got to the point
when we were ready to move into our own facilities.
This is our cell culture lab
this is where we have all of our contract testing activities
and we also have customers coming in
to be trained in cell culture here.
There is a cluster here
of like-minded individuals
who share a common sector view around
whether it be life science biotech and med tech.
So as a start-up a new company coming here
providing they can tailor that space, competence levels
and access to the right people,
its a perfect place to start.
So all of these are very expensive pieces of equipment
here on 'Gene Drive'.
So you have your tissue sample in there
or urine or blood sample,
it goes into the unit like that cartridge there,
and then within thirty minutes it gives you a result.
So this is the future of diagnostics.
So this is the Core Technology Facility
and this area is called 'The Street'
this is the main thoroughfare.
There is also a large lecture theatre known as 'The Egg'
where we have our key note speeches
and then in the various small training rooms around the building
we have different seminars and demonstrations,
so its the perfect location for that
and we always get good feedback from our delegates.
We've got our own restaurant and canteen
facility here, Hickman’s, which is very good.
Excellent food, and its convenient
we've got Starbucks just across the way as well
it tends not to be the piece that you think about most often.
Grabbing coffee first thing and maybe a bacon sandwich
is all important!
UMIC have been very supportive,
they've given us a lot of business mentoring where we've needed it,
they have been very supportive of the fact that
XCellR8 is what I would describe as a true start-up company,
you get a lot of great business support
there is various types of business mentoring available,
people are very knowledgeable about the sources of funding
that might help to boost your business in the early stages
I think it allows you to punch above your weight as a small company
because we would never be able to be in an environment like this
within our own premises at such an early stage.
Location in the north west is very much
a working roll your sleeves up approach
coupled with the academic excellence of the University,
I think from a cost perspective its well placed,
highly professional staff,
the sector here in the north west in pharm and biotech
is particularly well placed.
We actually have several customers within the Incubator building
I'd say there is a lot of interaction between companies,
and I would say compared to my previous experience
where I was in an Incubator that consisted of
companies from all different industries,
this definitely has an extra edge.
We are able to give each other a bit of moral support
if we are starting up a new venture,
but also to pass on key contacts.
Its always busy, there is always a lot happening,
its quite a vibrant place,
its dynamic, there is a youthful feel about the place.
When our customers come to visit us
whether its for a training course or to discuss our contract testing,
they're always impressed with the facilities that we've got.
It fits very well for a bio-based company
who is looking to grow in this area.
You know there is few other places certainly locally,
that is as well placed to facilitate and get started
on a start-up basis.