Revolutionizing Cell Separation with Dr. Brandon McNaughton, CEO of Akadeum Life Sciences

Today we are chatting with Dr. Brandon McNaughton, CEO and Co-founder of Akadeum Life Sciences. Brandon is an award-winning inventor and scientist with over 15 years of experience working with magnetic beads and nanoparticles. His experience includes the development of new types of particles, separation, and biosensors. Brandon brings previous startup experience in the life sciences and venture capital. He is also a recognized expert in customer discovery and in using human-centered design for high technology applications.

Before Akadeum, he served as entrepreneur in residence for Detroit Innovate, an early-stage venture fund facilitated by Invest Detroit. He also founded and served as chief technology officer of venture capital-backed startup Life Magnetics. He earned a Ph.D. in applied physics from the University of Michigan.

About Akadeum
At Akadeum, we seek to improve human health by enabling better processes. Our platform technology is broadly applicable, but we are particularly focused on process improvements in the areas of cell therapy manufacturing, clinical diagnostics, and cell & molecular research.

Akadeum is revolutionizing the way separations are performed, including cell separation, nucleic acid extraction, chemical separation, and so much more. The power of our platform is that we’ve developed an elegant and easy-to-use technology that can enable faster, more accurate, and scalable workflows to solve the problems of tomorrow.

Links:
https://www.akadeum.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhmcnaughton/

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

Transcript

Kelly Stanton: 0:16

Hi everyone. I'm Kelly from Qualio, and I'm your host here at From Lab to Launch. Thanks for joining the show today. We've published over 50 interviews with innovators and life sciences across the world. It's been so inspiring to hear stories of perseverance and innovation to improve human health and save lives. If you've enjoyed the conversations, please consider subscribing and giving us a review on Apple or Spotify. If you wanna, beyond from lab to launch, please see the application linked below in the show notes. Today we are chatting with Dr. Brandon McNaught, CEO and founder of Akadeum Life Sciences. Brandon is an award-winning inventor and scientist with over 15 years of experience working with magnetic beads and nanoparticles. His experience includes the development of new types of particles, separation and biosensors. Brandon brings previous startup experience in the life sciences and venture capital space. He's also a recognized expert in customer discovery and in using human-centered design for high technology. Applic. Before Akadeum, he served as an entrepreneur in residence for Detroit Innovate, an early stage venture fund facilitated by Invest Detroit. He also founded and served as Chief Technology officer of Venture Capital back startup life magnetics. He earned his PhD in Applied Physics from the University of Michigan. Let's bring him in. Hi Brandon. Thanks for joining us today.

Brandon McNaughton: 1:37

Hi Kelly. Thanks for having me.

Kelly Stanton: 1:40

Can you tell us a little bit about your background? Uh, it's quite

Brandon McNaughton: 1:42

extensive. Yeah, thanks. Uh, you know, for me, everything really starts, uh, in the sciences. I mean, that's where I got my start. That's where I got exposed to the lab. I was actually trained, as you said, uh, in applied physics. And so when I started my career, I had no thoughts of going into the life sciences. I didn't anticipate that, but what I got exposed to in my early research days and working with magnetic particle was, you know, cell work and bacteria and cancer cells. And it was in that work that I wound up finding myself doing this really interesting process that is called, uh, magnetic separation. And the idea is you essentially have to reach into a sample and sort of fish out, like something that you want, like a T-cell and you use magnetic particles to do that. And we were doing that to, uh, a great extent and we basically started just having all kinds of idea. And you know, what, if you could use the magnetic particle as a biosensor, that was actually what led to the company life magnetics. And at the time we believe it was the most sensitive biosensor of its kind in the world. That's where we, we felt like, well, okay, we're scientists. We got into science to help people to make a positive impact in the world. And we felt like starting a company based on the science and, you know, that type of technology. Could then carry this, these new discoveries, like the name of your show from the lab all the way out into the world and to helping people. And, and I think that's at the core of a lot of scientists and was for me. And so that's how I found myself starting companies. That's how I found myself even getting involved in mature capital. It was always working on things that were new, innovative and that could have an impact. You know, and since I've started, like you said, multiple companies have been involved, uh, in a lot of different project. And that's how, at least career wise, uh, I found myself doing, uh, what I'm doing now.

Kelly Stanton: 3:25

That's really fascinating too. Can you talk a little bit more about some of, like some of these new types of particles, separation and biosensors.

Brandon McNaughton: 3:33

Sure, Sure. So what's interesting is, uh, if you, if you wanna reach into a sample that maybe has hundreds of different types of cells, or even dna, right? Like when you want to get dna, how do you get that? If you have a blood sample, you know, you have, you know, billions of cells at times and you're trying to, you know, weed through this, really, this soup of a lot of different things, and just pull one tiny thing out, like DNA or specific cell type. And what was interesting is we said, Well, if you're doing that to separate it, what if you could use the magnetic properties of a tiny particle, right? These magnetic particles that are used to fish out the DNA or the. You know, one micron, maybe even smaller. So our initial idea, uh, you know, my previous work was to then use the magnetic properties of that particle to tell what's on its surface. So if you have like a DNA on the surface of this little particle, why can't you sort of shake that magnetic particle? And from how it responds to the shaking, tell what's on its surface. So this was, this how we did the, the biosensor. And what turned out is, uh, it was, it was quite exciting at the time we could actually detect a single bacterial. So when one little bacterial cell will come along and stick to a magnetic. We could actually see a massive change in the sensor. And that's because we were essentially moving the magnetic particle rotating actually. And the rotation rate would change by a factor of four. And then when we saw that, we thought, wow, that'd be an incredible core technology for a diagnostic system, for bacteria. And that led then to further development. We build instrumentation around it. And so I've used magnetic particles for a lot of different things. That's one of them. Uh, so I feel like, you know, I love the technology, but I also started to run into the limitations of what you could do with those. And that's ultimately also how I wound up working at Akadeum.

Kelly Stanton: 5:16

Gotcha. Nice. So you're also, you're a recognized expert in customer discovery and in using human-centered design for high technology applications. What does customer discovery and human-centered design.

Brandon McNaughton: 5:30

Well, I, how I think about it is about putting people first. So it's, you know, it's, if you go into a lab a lot of times or even, you know, a high growth, high technology company, a lot of times they're thinking about the technology, right? Like, Oh, we have the coolest new technology. It's the, it's next generation sequencing. It's next generation pcr, it's next generation, fill in the blank. And everybody's so excited about that. But who's excited about the person who's gonna use it and the person who it's gonna. So when you look at it, there's a really different way to think about the world rather than, Hey, let's develop a cool technology and figure out what to do with it. Instead, you say, Let's actually, you know, immerse ourselves with the people who are trying to do what we want to help with, and let's actually put them first and envision what a product and technology would look like that serves. So it's really about, you know, that's like human-centered design or customers discovery. It's all about putting the people first. And what's interesting is you often will arrive with a different technology if you take that world view. And so, like in my personal career, I'd say in my early days, uh, as much as I maybe wouldn't wanna admit it, I was in that camp of, oh, oh, the technology's everything. It's so cool. Like, let's just, you know, if the technology works, it's gonna change the. And I don't think that way at all anymore. I'm totally in the other camp where it's like I almost don't care about the technology as much. I care about the people and the problem they have and then going out and finding the best technology and product that serves them. And I think that's how you maximize impact and that's really what it means. And so like Akadeum, this current company I founded, we spoke to hundreds of people before we even formed the company, and we just listen. And we paid attention and then we, that's what then defined what we should build and what we should do in terms of developing technology and products.

Kelly Stanton: 7:16

It's interesting the thoughts I'm having as you speak too, that I see a lot of parallels in this. I spent a lot of time in my career in the startup space and from a quality system perspective, helping customers figure out how to get their products to the market. It is amazing to me. You know, they have a few requirements. They have this great idea, but they haven't thought about, uh, commercialization. Is this actually usable in the field, in the current iteration of the technology? Or is this reimbursable? Am I gonna be able to get paid? Right? Am I gonna be able to sell this? And so, uh, I feel like kind of what you're describing here really sort of turns that whole development process on its head, which I think it needs to be frankly. But really thinking about it from that user perspective, the end user perspective. Uh, that changes things. It causes you to think about different requirements and maybe designs along the way to, to get there. Exactly. So I love that you guys are doing that. That's, that's great. I think more people need to do

Brandon McNaughton: 8:13

those things Yeah. I I think it's, it also makes it more meaningful cuz you're connected to the impact. You know, cuz I, if you go around and talk to scientists and engineer engineers, one common thing a lot of them have is this kind of, this desire and I don't know where it comes from to, to kind of help people or to have a positive contribution to the world. Almost like social entrepreneurship, but then you'll see that, but then at the same time, you'll see where all they think about is the technology. And I don't think those things are, you know, in agreement. It's, I would rather work where let's use our, our skillset to help people and, and that's what's exciting about working that way.

Kelly Stanton: 8:47

Definitely. Well, and, and so it's interesting you said as you were on the pathway to founding aca. You spoke to people and listened to their inputs. So, so my next question was talking to us about the ideas and inspiration behind the company, but you've already kind of partially answered that. So based on what you heard, what challenges or needs did you see in the industry that you wanted to solve through what Akadeum is delivering

Brandon McNaughton: 9:12

is deliver. Yeah, it said go a little bit more, uh, deeply into that right now, if you just look, take for example, if somebody wants to do cell separation so that you know, they kind of first set the stage for what that even means. If I gave you a vi of my blood, Kelly and said, Uh, can you get my T-cells out? That's like giving you a bowl of a billion m and ms and saying, Can I have a blue once please, that, that's the engineering or scientific c. So you can imagine, like your answer might be, Oh, let's pl out one at a time. You know, and there's actually technologies that do that, do that. But you can imagine then it's a huge system. It's a few hundred thousand dollars it takes forever. It's cumbersome. And what that leads to then is a lot of people spend more time separating their cells than studying them. You know, like somebody who starts their day, they'll go get their sample ready, They, they gotta gather the sample first, and they might spend a few hours processing their sample. Then they might spend a few hours doing a separation and it's 2, 3, 4 o'clock before they even start their science or their study. And so I, I, I like to say people don't wake up in the morning excited about separation. I mean, I do that's why I'm, you know, working at the stadium. They, they're excited about the science and the experiments they can do after. So our goal then is let's empower them to get through that as quickly as possible, but also keep the cells in the most healthy and happy state, because the longer you're fussing around with the cells, the more you're doing damage to them. So we have this incredible technology. That addresses a ton of problems in the, in the life sciences. And it allows, for example, you to go to large volumes. It allows you to have a fast protocol. It's very, very simple. And what's neat is it's all a result of those conversations and what people wanted to do, and really another way to say it differently are to say differently. It's their hands were tied with what they were able to do. And so what that means is there's certain things that people wanna do in their workflow that they can, So for example, uh, Like if you wanna do single cell sequencing, you need 70% viable cells to go do that. Well, what happens if you froze a sample and only 20% of our. Well, you need a technology then to remove the dead cells. So the percentage of the sample is, is a lot more alive so you can run the sequencing. So we have products that do that. So the vision and goal of the company is really to enable protocols that were otherwise impossible. And that's spans research that spans diagnostics and even cell therapy, which is one of the most exciting areas, you know, for us right now. Because there, there's a huge need to have better processes cuz it's a very complicated and expensive process.

Kelly Stanton: 11:40

Definitely. Yeah. And in the case of cell therapies or some of those very targeted, uh, treatments that you've got the timeline right, the timeline becomes your, your

Brandon McNaughton: 11:48

biggest enemy. And three weeks is about what it takes now. And it's like who, you know, who wants to wait three weeks for their treatment and also who wants to pay, you know, a quarter million dollars for it. And it just, it's almost inaccessible for a lot of, you know, disease states right now in its current work.

Kelly Stanton: 12:05

Definitely, definitely. Well, so I read this description on, on the Akadeumian website and I wanted to bring it up cuz I thought it was really powerful. I'd love for you to explain a little bit more elegant in its simplicity, powerful in its

Brandon McNaughton: 12:16

application. All right. I, I love it. It's, uh, so you're getting excited now we're talking about the technology and the impact. Uh, so, so the status quo right now, You know, without kind showing visuals, the status quo requires a lot of equipment and gear to say, Going back to that T-cell example I gave you, it requires like, you know, magnets and tubes and sometimes even if you're doing microfluidics and, and it requires entire machines and instruments. So that's kind of the status quo. If you just wanna pull out the T-cells from a blood sample. And what we're able to do, we're able to do, to do that inside of a simple tube. So you don't need anything really except, uh, Ause tube that people already have in the lab. And the way that is possible is instead of using, say something like magnetic particles, we still use tiny particles, but they float. So there're these tiny floating particles, we like to call them micro bubbles. And so how it works is you essentially attach one of those micro bubbles to the t. And then as soon as it attaches and it attached through an antibody, as soon as that happens, it's like a little life preserver for the tcell, just like floats into the top of the sample, almost like bubbles in beer and everything else sinks. And what's remarkable, but what's remarkable about that is you essentially just mix it up. Once everything's bound, the TCEs float to the top and every other cell type that's not attached to a bubble. And so literally you do a separation and a tube and it works as long as you're essentially in a gravitational field like on earth, It works and it's, it's remarkably simple. I mean, we like to believe it's actually the simplest way you can separate a cell out of a, out of a blood sample or other samples, and it's all enabled by micro bubbles which allows the cells to float and you get a separation that way where you can scoop'em off and, and go use'em for downstream applic.

Kelly Stanton: 14:00

Wow, That's, And so the application of that within the laboratory, all that equipment, you don't have to have, that's, uh, that's pretty incredible. So if we shift gears back to you as an entrepreneur who's founded multiple high tech startups, what's been some of the biggest lessons you've learned

Brandon McNaughton: 14:18

along the way? Uh, biggest lessons, like, for me at least, is I, having done this now, I think the biggest thing it takes is perseverance. Right? And maybe said differently, it's like I'm a big believer and find something that's worth failing for. Find something that's worth like persevering for. And like what I saw firsthand from working in the lab is just all the limitations we talked about. And what's interesting is if you, if you were to kind of try to predict, well, what are all the steps we'd have to take to have a successful product on the. You can make your roadmap and you can make your plan, but when you actually go do it, it's not a straight path. It's a very Kirby path. A lot of changes, a lot of ins and outs. And so actually had a, uh, one time I, I got to meet, uh, Dean Cayman, who's the inventor of Thes. Uh, you know, the thing you stand on. Yeah. Mall cops, writer or whatever, whatever they use important nowadays. He also is, he's actually quite a prolific inventor portable dialysis. I think he even contributed that freestyle coke machine you see at some food places. Oh, nice. And being a prolific inventor, I asked him, I said, You know what, like what? Like when you get to a point of having invention, what do you do after that? And he said, Well, you know, he said he didn't know. He just like looked at me and said, I don't know. And so then I, you know, I thought, Here's like the modern day Edison, and he doesn't know. So I said, Well, you know, I asked him again, like, Hey, what should, what should you do? And he said, You know, I don't know. And he could tell I was sort of grappling with the fact that, you know, he's telling me not the answer to my question. He says, The reason you don't know is cuz once you get there, you look back and you could have never. What it would take. And I think it's just so true. And one of the takeaways I have from that is, you know, like if you take something like an invention, maybe an ice cream or something, right? I, I have a, a new invention of how to make ice cream and we're gonna franchise it and we're gonna do all this cool stuff. Well, what's interesting about that is like you're still gonna have to go through all the hard stuff to make that successful. So even though I've had, even things that were patentable around making ice cream, believe it or not, I never have started a company doing that. Cause I don't, I'm not that passionate about ice cream. I'm passionate about helping people in the life sciences and what's impacting, you know, positively lifestyle and healthcare. And that's, that's why to me, like you gotta find that sweet spot for you and be in line with what you care about and what you're passionate. And that's what's neat about Akadeum is everyone here shares the vision and mission and, and the passion for helping people through improving separation.

Kelly Stanton: 16:37

Gotcha. And so, so some of those, uh, lessons, but then the flip side of that challenges. What, what are some of the, what's, what's, what's hard about this. Why can't we

16:46

just

Brandon McNaughton: 16:46

don't wanna do it. Yeah. I think what's hard, I, I like to believe actually what's attractive about it is that it is hard, right? Like, cuz if you think about it, if if something were easy it would already be done and right. A probably the more worthwhile the problem is to solve, the more difficult it's gonna be. So I think it's a given that it's hard. And what's hard about it is that it's never been done before. Like our company, micro bubbles have never been used in the way we are using. I mean that we've, we've had a ton of patents on it because of that. But that means you're figuring a lot out and that means you're trying different things, A lot of trial and error. And I think the key is to recognize that's normal, right? It's normal that there's gonna be a lot of trial and error in figuring it out. And it's, it's interesting cuz the history science shows us too, like antibiotic. When they were doing the initial work at Bayer, uh, they were, would do an experiment and write no effect, right? So they, they would try all these different compounds, no effect. And for five years, five years, they wrote that in their lab books. No effect. So think about that, like how many of us would've stopped before that five years? What? They were so passionate they kept going. And now look at the, the impact we have. Probably billions of people are live because of that. And, and I, I think knowing that that's how it's gonna be when you get into it, if it's a worthwhile problem to solve it is, is one of the most important things.

Kelly Stanton: 18:05

Definitely. If you could go back and tell yourself something at the beginning of your career, what

Brandon McNaughton: 18:10

would that be? I think for me, and, and I have a chance to, to work with a lot of young people as well. For me it's the message really. Be comfortable with who you are and what you're passionate about. Cause I, I feel like we're almost encouraged, like when we're younger to sort of fit a mold or, you know, you know, like, oh, you gotta get the certain GPA and the certain s a t scores and you know, there's like this list of, you know, check boxes that we encourage young people to do. But like, what does that say about who they are? Like, you know, they're not their gpa, that's not who they are. You know, and so early in the career, I think it's easy to, like, when you're just starting working, you're, you're trying to be something maybe that isn't you. Right? And what's fascinating to me about people is the most powerful and impactful people, I think, are working on something that they're passionate about, and their passion is part of who they are. So that, that's what I would go back and tell myself is, you know, start working on the thing you care about sooner and start and be okay. You know, there's nothing wrong with whatever interest or thing you're into. It's okay. Right. It's okay. And throw yourself at it. And I think being okay with that sooner is, is better for everybody. Is better for society too. Definitely.

Kelly Stanton: 19:19

Yeah. Keep a whole lot of people from getting college degrees. They don't need

Brandon McNaughton: 19:22

Huh, That might be a different conversation for different podcast No,

Kelly Stanton: 19:27

but it is. It, it's, it's, I love that, I love what you said there. I, I think that's, I think that's really important. You know, people figure. What matters to you and then chase it. So definitely agree with that one. Uh, if you had some, do you have some favorite resources, uh, that you might recommend to other fellow entrepreneurs? Maybe some books or courses, mentors that you think would be

Brandon McNaughton: 19:50

useful? Yeah, I, I'm a benefit of a lot of different I guess things in that category cuz my view. To achieve success, it really takes a little bit of, of everything. Like you almost have to do, you know, I don't wanna say whatever it takes, but you, you really have to kind of go everywhere in my opinion, and learn from everyone that you can. So for me, the probably the top thing, one of the top things is mentorship. Because like, if you can find somebody who's doing what you want to do or has done what you want to do, there's nobody better to listen to and, and take advice from. And, you know, I have this view that. You know, I'll, I'll keep learning until the day I die. I mean, it's just like, I just, I'm a, I'm an avid learner. I just believe that there's always more to learn and there's a real opportunity to learn from the people around us. And so I have this really I think humbling experience where I have a long list of just great mentors that I've had going all the way back to when I was in the lab. And it's interesting to see like the influence they've had and how much they've helped me get a get to where the company is today and, and even the things I've done now. And so I, it's, it's hard to even take credit for it in a lot of sense because. Of those great mentors over the years, I would say that. And you know, find a mentor. If you don't have one, find one immediately. And, and if you don't know how, a lot of times you just go meet with somebody who you're inspired by and, and you ask them, you say, Look like you're doing exactly what I wanna do and, you know, would you consider mentoring me? And that maybe that means, you know, you're doing a phone call with them or copy with them once a month or once a quarter. But you know, it's so important to do it. And I think so many people. Don't recognize how many people who are, you know, more advanced than what you're doing, want to help. Cuz they, they see themselves, I think, right? It's like, oh, you know when, you know when I was in your shoes. This is what I wish I would've known. Kinda like one of your questions. So I think there's that. And then I'm also a big believer in just always reading and always trying to learn again, from, from, you know, everyone you can. So, I, I don't know. It's hard to pick one book to be honest. I just feel like I've learned from so many Sure. But, uh, that's a little bit, I dunno if that's specific enough, Kelly, but that's least how I think about, Cause like you, you gotta find the mentors who fit what you're trying to do. And the books too, right? Cause like even the books that you want to use, it depends on what you're trying to do. It, you know, like if you wanna be. You know, start a kit surfing company or something. It's very different than starting a food company, is different than starting a life science company. And, and probably depending on which one of those are, you're gonna be looking at different materials. So it goes back to, you know, making sure you're in line with who you are and what your passion is, and, and then leaning out on all those things as you try to start a company or, or start a project.

Kelly Stanton: 22:18

Definitely, definitely. So what's your most recent read then?

Brandon McNaughton: 22:22

Oh, what are you reading right now? I, I actually have been reading a lot of a Watts. I don't know if you know Alan Watts, but he's a, he's a philosopher, probably in the late seventies. Uh, interesting guy. But he, he's a philosopher, but he knows physics really well, which is probably why I enjoy him. But, ah, yeah. He's, he's one of the, at least one of the things I've been reading, and it's surprising actually, you find, uh, I think business advice, even in those books that aren't necessarily business books, So that's where I, I, I think there's a lot to learn that isn't explicitly like a business book. I do, one of my favorite business books was the Halo Effect. So that's a, that's a fun one. And I dunno if you know about the Halo effect, but. It's like when you only look at the positive outcomes and then form sort of a set of rules around the positive outcomes. So like, Good To Great is a book where apparently, like if you just look at the companies that were successful and only those, they came up with these seven rules, but they didn't look at the companies who followed those seven rules that weren't successful. So that's, that's kind of the halo effect, that you only see the positive. And so that, that book is really great, I think. And then the other second book I like for business is, It's called a drunkard's walk, which is actually a history of probability. Cause I think in, you know, when you're starting new technology, the goal is to get the probability of success to a hundred percent. And so, you know, you basically, it's iterative and that's why, you know, probability statistics are interesting for that. But I think those two books kind of form an interesting duo, you know, at want to interpret how to do something new. But also what it really takes and, and really takes strategy and implementation. I think that's what it all comes down to. What's your strategy and did you actually implement it? Yeah, definitely.

Kelly Stanton: 23:55

Definitely. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Where can people go to learn more about Akadeumian Connect with your company and connect with

Brandon McNaughton: 24:02

you? Yeah, so we're, uh, best places online@Akadeum.com. That's akadeum.com. And we are on, uh, you know, social medias, Twitter, LinkedIn, others. Uh, yeah, please check us out. Appreciate a follow and appreciate the time.

Kelly Stanton: 24:18

Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us today, Brandon. It's

24:21

been

Brandon McNaughton: 24:21

fun.