"Starting a spin-off was one of the most beautiful ways to bring our science to society"

Biosfer Teslab develops in-vitro diagnostic tests to improve the evaluation of cardiovascular risk in high-risk patients. Founded in 2013 as a spin-off of Rovira i Virgili University (URV) and the Pere Virgili Institute for Health Research (IISPV), the company’s first product on the market is Liposcale, an advanced lipid-protein test developed from the PhD dissertations of two URV students, Núria Amigó and Roger Mallol. Amigó saw how her dissertation became a company and has headed up the business since 2015 in hopes of bringing her research to patients.

Why did you want to be an entrepreneur?

It wasn’t exactly a conscious decision: setting up Biosfer was a challenge I couldn’t turn my back on. An intellectual, professional and personal challenge; a highly valuable opportunity to learn about things I’d never dreamed could interest me this much! I have four siblings who are economists and, with my scientific background, their conversations always seemed alien to me. Until I understood that one of the most beautiful ways of bringing science to society is through mixed projects and transfer, crystallizing concepts into reality.

What is the most important strategic decision you’ve made so far?

On a personal level, getting over the fear of abandoning academics. Professionally, setting up a good team that is aligned and cohesive both internally and externally. And also, finding an industrial partner with much more knowledge than we have about everything that doesn’t involve technology: market access, legal requirements for medical devices, sales networks, marketing, finance, etc.

What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

I don’t know if it’s the best piece of advice I’ve been given but it may be one of the most useful to Biosfer: in the concept phase of the project, I remember someone telling us to be honest about what we wanted the company to become, to follow our hearts in terms of its future.

And now what? What milestones do you want to achieve in the short term?

One of the things I want most is for the team, myself included, to continue enjoying what we do. To not lose our motivation to continue learning and innovating, our commitment to development, our active participation in research collaborations, the agility, creativity (necessary!!) and drive we put into the projects we start. To not lose  the essence of spin-offs and start-ups.