A Look Inside Transcriptic’s New Biotech Testing Facility

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Transcriptic, the cloud-based biotech lab that tests for experimental drugs automation and robotics, has become a key platform for many biotech companies in Silicon Valley.

The platform has been particularly useful for many of the biotech companies now coming out of Y Combinator. These startups don’t have the deep pockets of big pharma and need a low-cost solution that produces rapid results. Transcriptic has offered a $20,000 credit to Notable Labs, AtomWise and other YC-backed startups to help spark the drug discovery market within the valley.

It takes an average of 12 years and billions of dollars to get a new drug on the market. According to Transcriptic, its services enable scientists to work remotely with a wide swath of data and automated equipment that can produce low-cost results in days. While there’s a lot more to getting a drug on the market, this could greatly reduce the time and cost involved in getting life-saving drugs to market faster.

There are other robotic lab testing facilities in the works, such as Emerald Cloud Laboratory. Unlike other facilities, Transcriptic builds its own robots and customized code rather than bringing in more expensive and traditional automated equipment. This further cuts down on cost and allows the lab to scale quickly.

Transcriptic recently moved into a new 22,000 square-foot facility in Menlo Park, California. This gives it a bit more room to grow and the ability to introduce additional services. We caught up with founder Max Hodak to check out the new space.