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When Dr. Philippe Goix conceived of a groundbreaking piece of equipment, he knew he needed expert engineering help to make his dream a reality. "I had to develop a prototype to get to the next level," he said. As head of Guava Technologies, then a fledgling, one-person biotech start-up, he didn't have a huge budget. What to do? Through one of his best contacts - and one of his investors - Dr. Goix was introduced to Victor Simonyi, president of Berkeley BioWorks, an innovative engineering consultancy with clients of all sizes - and all budgets. It was a meeting that would lead to a remarkable partnership that's still going strong. Here's how they did it. In February 1999 Dr. Goix was working out of a crowded two-room office at the Alameda Naval Air Base in California. He met with Simonyi and was struck by his responsiveness. Said Dr. Goix, "At big consulting firms, it's difficult to get attention for small projects." Dr. Goix, who was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the University of California at Berkeley, immediately hit it off with Simonyi, who holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a master's degree from the American Graduate School of International Management. Said Dr. Goix , "Victor was available, eager, had a good team and good clients." Simonyi, for his part, thought Dr. Goix seemed like a promising partner. "Philippe was the kind of client we seek," Simonyi said. "He was passionate about an idea, he posed an interesting design challenge to us and he came across as collaborative." The two companies began working together. The project: design a prototype of the Guava Personal Cytometer Analyzer (Guava PCA) to help scientists at big biotech companies and research institutions take years off laborious research. Simonyi and the Berkeley BioWorks team immediately began scoping out the project in consultation with their new client. They agreed on key milestones and, at Guava's request, did everything from redesign optical mounts to update all hand-sketched designs into 3-D models and fabrication-ready drawings. As with any complex technical project, there were design challenges that cropped up that had to be dealt with. In short order, they were. By that time, Guava had expanded to new office space in Burlingame, Calif., and Dr. Goix had assembled a talented team of mechanical engineers, software and electrical engineers and cell biologists with a strong group of consultants - including Berkeley BioWorks -- advising his company. "Communication went very well," Dr. Goix said. "They did their job on time." Within six months Guava had a prototype; Dr. Goix was very pleased with the quality of design and the engineering solution. As Guava's commercial plan developed Dr. Goix was able to raise more capital. In the spring of 2000, Dr. Goix posed a new challenge to his team and Berkeley BioWorks: to build an alpha, then beta product. Once again the joint team raced the clock. When they ran into a problem with reliability, they came up with solutions. A self-described pragmatist, Dr. Goix noted, "The challenge of an early stage high technology company is that you're always racing to meet milestones and you can't be perfect because you'll never get there." The team forged ahead. Armed with a beta, Guava Technologies landed its first client. As for the engineering work, "I think everyone did a good job," Dr. Goix said. "I'm very happy with the group." At that point, he hired Berkeley BioWorks to help his team achieve the next milestone. This time Guava Technologies needed to build its first commercial product with an eye toward producing it in significant number. By June 2001, Guava was shipping the first units of the Guava PCA. Dr. Goix is proud of the product they came up with and considers the Guava PCA the first in a new category. "It brings personal access to cytometers," he said. That is, it helps the biologist at single-cell analysis on the micro-volume scale. It's also, Dr. Goix maintained, "better and faster than any current alternative." Before the Guava PCA, scientists had to rely mainly on a very expensive piece of equipment (approx. $120,000 apiece) that took months of training. The Guava PCA doesn't replace it but is a fraction of the cost and takes considerably less training to use. Dr. Goix considers Berkeley BioWorks a key partner in the development of the Guava PCA. In fact, while Guava, like all Berkeley BioWorks' clients, can file and own all patents created during their work together, a Berkeley BioWorks engineer is proud to be listed as one of the inventors on a patent for which Guava has applied. That patent is one of three patents pending and two already issued for Berkeley BioWorks' engineers. #### |
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