You Asked, We Answered: Bakar Bio Labs Launches Experts-In-Residence Program

By Chrissa Olson.

Bakar Bio Labs is proud to introduce our new Experts-in-Residence (XIRs) program, bringing in four inaugural XIRs focused on finance, CMC operations, business development and regulatory affairs to support tenants in biotechnology product development.

Although Bakar Bio Labs is an early-stage startup incubator, these experts have a particular focus on later-stage resources to help these companies, especially if they started in academia, succeed beyond their time here.

Eda Altiok, who just joined us as director of partnerships, says that meetings with the XIRs are available at both set times, and on-demand.

“What I kept hearing [from tenants] was that they needed access to industry, access to personnel, and people who’ve encountered similar challenges to what they’re going through, and how to overcome those challenges,” Eda says. “We want them to feel like we’re setting them up for success at Bakar Labs, so we’re excited to unveil this program.”

Eda adds, “We recently collaborated with UCSF Innovation Ventures on an event and learned of the XIR program they’ve developed for entrepreneurs at UCSF. Based on our tenants’ needs, we were inspired to create something similar, with a slant toward later-stage companies.”

The pilot program just kicked off this fall with several seminars and office hours planned for each XIR. XIRs will be available for both CEO+ Circles (seminars for CEOs and their C-suite teams), private office hours, and on-demand.

Here are our experts:

Yvonne Li will join us as a finance expert. She has held senior roles including SVP of finance, interim CFO, principal financial and accounting officer, and chief administrative officer at OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Senti Bio, Nkarta Therapeutics, and Amunix. She has hands-on experience growing startups from 15 employees to IPO, managing collaborations, and closing a cross-border merger. She can answer your questions about what kind of internal systems to use to track your finances, a quarterly reporting structure, and how to handle earnings reports and much more.

Todd Renshaw will join us as an expert in CMC operations. Formerly an SVP of manufacturing & supply operations at VIR Biotechnologies, he built global CDMO networks and helped secure over $1 billion in government funding for pandemic preparedness. Earlier, he led global clinical and commercial outsourced operations at Genentech/Roche. As an expert in navigating contract organizations and setting up CMC workflows, he will support our companies with all aspects of drug development scale-up operations and clinical readiness.

Lynne Krummen was the SVP of regulatory at VIR Biotechnologies and the Global VP of regulatory at Genentech. Her development experience spans multiple molecular modalities including biologics, ADCs, small molecules, siRNA, gene therapy and combination products developed for a broad spectrum of clinical settings including oncology, immunology and infectious diseases. She will be able to answer your questions about every step of the drug development regulatory process, especially regarding setting up your company for regulatory success, common pitfalls in regulatory IND submissions, and preparing for the FDA INTERACT meeting.

Denis Bronnikov is currently the VP of business development at 4D Molecular Therapeutics and will serve as our XIR in business development. Denis is a business development executive and has supported portfolio growth at big pharma companies and privately owned ventures spanning multiple geographies. He will support our companies with licensing agreements, as well as how to handle deals and acquisitions with big pharma.

Learn more about the XIR program and other resources for our tenants on our website here.