Episode 47: A Launchpad for Biotech Innovations - The BioChallenge Pitch Competition with Key Opinion Leader Kris Khalil

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Welcome back to BIO from the I'm James Zanewicz, the Chief Strategy Officer at Tulane Medicine, and today's guest is Chris Khalil, who is the Executive Director at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center, or NOBIC as we call it here, as well as the Managing Director at the BIO Fund. NOBIC and Tulane have close ties. For example, our partnering receptions at BIO on the Bayou coming up on October 29th and 30th this year, they're all held at NOBIC, as well as our AI and Healthcare Design Lab is going to be held at NOBIC. So we often work together, but today I want to focus on something else. else, an independent event that NOBIC has following Bio on the Bayou, the BioChallenge pitch competition making a triumphant return this year. Welcome to the show, Chris.

Thank you, James. Pleasure to be here. Always a pleasure to hang out.

So before we dive into the BioChallenge, many people may not be familiar with the Bioinnovation Center. I mean, they should be, but they might not be from the New Orleans region, may not have heard of it. Sure. So what can you tell us about NOBIC, and what is your mission and vision?

Sure thing. So the New Orleans BioInnovation Center is a private 501 business incubator dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and supporting early-stage biotech startups. Our mission is to catalyze innovation in life sciences sector and contribute to the growth of the region. And we provide a range of resources to companies really in their infancy at their most vulnerable state, including state-of-the-art lab space, mentorship, and access to capital through our bio fund. We've worked with over 500 companies, helped support over 100 SBIR and STTR applications, and our client portfolio has raised over $500 million in outside funding. Our companies have also been included in acclaimed incubator programs such as IndieBio, TMCX, JLABS, MassChallenge, and more. Our vision at the end of the day is to be a driving force in making New Orleans and Louisiana a leading hub for biotech innovation.

So you're not just an incubator, you're an accelerator as well, with a lot of services to help companies move forward.

That's correct. And many of these Our services are specially tailored to very early entrepreneurs who are scientists, who are medical students, who are PhDs, who are keenly interested and aware of the opportunity to start their own business. And we help wrap our arms around them and help them navigate those difficult and choppy waters.

And that's something where in the Gulf South, where we are the third coast and emerging, it's still early for us. And I think what you guys are doing, showing resources that are not only here but from outside the region, is really incredible. And so as kind of a tandem to that, I'd like to ask what value the BioInnovation Center provides to the region as a whole.

Absolutely. So we think that we play a pivotal role in the economic development ecosystem of New Orleans because we're all about driving resiliency through expanding the industries that exist here in New Orleans, and more so away from the legacy industries of oil and gas and hospitality tourism into more frontier technologies like biotech and the life sciences. Which not only hire folks at a higher wage, but also improve health outcomes at, at the end of the day. So the value that we provide are creating high-quality jobs, stimulating outside public and private investment, and really fostering collaborations like this one between academic institutions, industry, and government. The BioInnovation Center and Tulane's partnership is incredibly special, and it expands since the infancy of the New Orleans BioInnovation Center. At Nobic, we think of ourselves as bridge builders, as navigators of discovery, and it's exactly what your office does, James, at here at the Tulane School of Medicine. We've got this amazing symbiotic relationship that's only going to grow in supporting scientists becoming entrepreneurs, and it's such an exciting journey to help follow and help support. Nobic provides an enormous amount of experiential learning opportunities for students coming out of the School of Medicine. as well as the School of Science and Engineering, as well as the business school, as well as the law school. And so we like to think of ourselves as really the neutral ground here in downtown New Orleans for all the research institutions and their students looking to get exposure to early-stage life science biotechnology entrepreneurship. At the end of the day, we help retain local talent, we help nurture homegrown talent, and we help encourage graduates from institutions like Tulane School of Medicine to stay and innovate here in New Orleans.

And you're located in the heart of the BioDistrict, which, let's be honest, post-Katrina was a bit of a desert, but it really is coming into its own anymore with a lot of the activities going on. So that's exciting for us, I think, as a region.

It's really exciting. And what's happening on the ground is it's evolving very fast, slow but fast. So the BioDistrict is an entity that had been around 17 years, but now it's taking a new direction at a really important juncture and a critical time. So the BioDistrict just got approved for a $95 million tax-occurrence financing deal over 20 years from the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. And this is going to help drive a ton of innovation and development in the space in our backyards. And we're really excited about that.

That's exciting. I know our VP of Government and Community Relations, Sharon Courtney, is always very excited about innovation districts and BioDistricts, and she may be picking your brain more and more on that because I know this is her area of passion right now. But we're here to talk about the BioChallenge today. It's an annual pitch competition at Nobic that invites entrepreneurs and startups to showcase their ideas and innovative technologies. And this year it's returning and taking place on October 31st, Halloween. Horrible time to be in New Orleans if you want to come and have fun. That was sarcasm. Can you tell us more about the event and what people should expect when they show up for it?

Absolutely. So the BioChallenge pitch competition is one of our flagship events at the BioInnovation Center, and we've designed it to spotlight the most promising biotech startups All across the world, contestants can expect a rigorous yet rewarding experience and opportunities to present their ideas to a panel of expert judges, to get valuable feedback, to generate a new network, and to rub elbows with potential investors and, and industry leaders. So this competition's taking place, as you said, James, on Halloween this year. It's gonna be really amazing. We're super excited to bring this competition back. We have a great track record of helping these companies grow into businesses that have a shot of monetizing really amazing intellectual property and novel technologies. Currently, we're about at 75 applicants from all across the world, and we hope to get that to above 100 by our deadline.

And you have 6 slots, is that right? Is that right?

That's correct. So we're bringing 6 finalists, and we're going to be doling out a pool of over $100,000 in cash. So this is non-dilutive funding. We're not taking any equity in these companies. And we're going to be awarding cash that will hopefully allow these entrepreneurs and scientists to generate more decisionable and actionable data for their respective technologies.

All right, so you kind of leaned into our next question, which is perfect. So I want to ask you, who should consider competing this year? Like, what is the realm of companies you're looking for, and what value can the competition provide them if they're successful, or even if they just attend, either monetarily or otherwise?

Absolutely. So this year's event is supported by partners such as BARDA Drive, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and their Division of Research Innovation and Ventures. We're also supported by Silicon Valley Bank, Downtown Development District, GNO Inc., and many others, including our Biofund investment firm. So James, this year we're hunting cutting-edge solutions that address current and future health security challenges due to this partnership with BARDA and BARDA Drive. So for example, some of our areas of interest for 2024 are flexible therapeutic and vaccine platforms, at-home diagnostic technologies, microphysiology systems or tissue chips, and digital health solutions focused on health security preparedness and response. So anything under the gamut of the BARDA or Health and Human Services areas of interest for this year.

And so I'm sure there are a lot more opportunities there as well. Is there somewhere online people can go to find those? Absolutely.

So people can find more information on biochallenge.neworleansbio.com regarding the particular areas of interest, and they can also go online to apply to our pitch competition.

When people come in and join in the competition, whether they're pitching or attending, obviously they're getting access to BARDA, they're getting access to Nobix Network, but what value do they get out of this, either monetarily or in other ways?

Absolutely. So beyond the monetary prizes, which can be quite substantial and obtaining additional data or helping a company matriculate along that commercialization pathway. Beyond the monetary prizes, competitors gain exposure, credibility, and invaluable connections that can lead to partnerships and new funding opportunities. Our goal is to help these companies get to a point where they can have advanced conversations with federal officers as well as venture capitalists that would be next up in plugging the company with cash to help the company move along that commercialization pathway.

And this isn't the first year that the BioChallenge has happened. So do you have any examples of previous success stories or companies that have come out of the competition?

Absolutely. So our previous BioChallenge award winners have raised over $150 million in VC and federal grant awards, and we're really proud of that number. We've had several notable successes emerging from past BioChallenges. And for example, I think a lot of folks in our community have heard of AxisSim Technologies, which emerged out of Michael Moore's lab. And Dr. Curley from Tulane University brought that technology to fruition, licensed it from the institution, and have raised over $20 million in private funding and federal funding to help their technology move forward. We also had a company from LSU Health Sciences New Orleans, Chosen Diagnostics, win $25,000, and they have since raised over $2 million in outside funding and received their FDA clearance.

And that's Dr. Sun Kim, right? She's incredible.

That's correct. Absolutely wonderful. This technology helps identify Necrotizing enterocolitis for premature infants at a very early stage. And it's a nasty disease with a high mortality rate. But if they're able to identify this disease early, they're able to treat it and save the lives of premature infants. So these technologies are not only making a huge impact in hiring specialized talent, retaining that talent here locally in New Orleans, but they're directly saving lives and improving health outcomes for patients.

And so before we turn to New Week in General, I want to close a little bit. I do want to remind people this is Halloween. So if they're coming in, they should pack a costume because the BIO Challenge, the Bullpen, and BIO in the Bayou are all coming together on Halloween night to meet in the Quarter. And while it's not a sponsored event, we're gonna pick a place and we're all gonna network and work together where if people are in town, you know, they could expense drinks 'cause it's a work event. And we're gonna walk around the French Quarter on Halloween night as probably the most interesting professional bonding you've ever had in your life. And I just wanna remind people of that.

That's right.

I mean, I think, Loose ties are incredibly important, and this event, both Bio on the Bayou and BioChallenge, allow for both weak ties and strong ties to be developed. It's always a lot of fun to see folks come in from out of town and to have them revel in the activities in New Orleans that we often take for granted. So we're really, really excited about bringing a new cadre of folks down for BioChallenge, both federal entities, investors from both coasts. And all across the country.

But maybe we need to on Halloween night have an unofficial prize. I don't know, something challenge where we judge the best costume. It'll be interesting to see these people who pitch over the first 3 days at Bio on the Bayou or as part of the Bullpen or part of Bio Challenge, then competing in costume contests. I like this.

Yeah, I like where your head's going. Bonus points if you can tie in your costume to your novel technology and your, your life science technology.

And this wasn't planned. This is us riffing, which is the best part of podcasts. I love it. All right, well, getting back on track, we talked about Nobic earlier, but are there any projects coming out of Nobic that you're excited to share right now?

Absolutely. So in addition to BioChallenge, we're really excited about all of our ongoing partnerships with local universities on many translational research projects, helping them form pilots and integrate into health systems. We're currently expanding our support services for startups through our commercialization program. We've got a new accelerator program tailored specifically to socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Trying to help them get access to more of the venture capital funding that will be flowing through the state of Louisiana over the next couple years. And we have a really, really amazing partnership with JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and we call this our Advancing Diversity in Life Science Initiative. And we're going to be hosting many different workshops, webinars, and providing one-on-one support to life science entrepreneurs, both Black entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs who have been underserved by the private venture capital community. And so we're looking to drive at least $8.5 million to Black and female-led companies over the next 5 years. And we think we can do that in 2 years.

That's incredible. And so with this, I know you don't do it alone. You have a great team. I know Marjorie Gilbert, cuz she helps us with all of our events and keeps us on track. But do you wanna talk about some of the rest of your team members just to give them some shoutouts here?

Absolutely. So we don't operate in a vacuum. We have an incredible amount of partners and stakeholders, both externally and internally. The companies that have flowed through our incubator have raised over $500 million, and the folks on our team have helped drum this up by making sure that these companies have every bit of access to non-dilutive and dilutive funding opportunities that entrepreneurs on, on the coasts have. And so Maween Khadr is our programs lead who's putting on the BioChallenge, and Corey Patti, who's our strategic partnerships officer, has helped round up a ton of support for this really incredible and important event for the Bioinnovation Center and the New Orleans community.

Your team's great and I always love working with them. And I want to thank you for making time to join us, Chris. But before we let you go, I want to ask you a little bit about your background. How did you get here? Like, I mean, you've got some interesting roles. How did you get there and wind up in this spot?

Sure. I appreciate that. So I'm born and raised in Greater New Orleans. So Metairie, Louisiana was home for me. Come from a family of immigrants who made their way down to New Orleans by way of New York City, Miami, Funny enough, Baton Rouge, and then down home in New Orleans.

So just coming down the rivers?

That's right, exactly. And just started my career in finance and banking doing kind of mid-market risk analysis for all different types of companies and had the pleasure after Katrina of moving back home to New Orleans to manage the New Orleans Biofund portfolio and get that program off the ground. And we were successful in deploying—

That was something I'm going to brag on you for a second. That was something people thought was going to be a failure and you turned it into something, which is really impressive.

Thank you, James. I, I appreciate that. I, I'd like to say I knew what I was getting into fully, but I knew that there was an enormous opportunity based on my prior career in, in finance to place really critical risk capital in the hands of entrepreneurs that would have been able to raise this money if they were in other markets. But in post-Katrina New Orleans, it was a capital desert for any type of technology that wasn't real estate or legacy industry like oil and gas. So we successfully deployed several million dollars into 25 companies, and those companies did well. And now we're able to take those returns from that fund and place some new investments in university spinouts and other companies that are improving health outcomes in our periphery.

That's fantastic. And then that led to you taking over management of Novick at an interesting transition time, and here's where we got, right?

That's correct. So, so 4 years ago, I was tapped to become executive director of the Bioinnovation Center during a challenging period, and Many of the community partners, and including Tulane University, LSU Health Sciences Center, and LED, came together to ensure that the BioInnovation Center's mission was to be continued. And thanks to the support that we've received, and thanks to our efforts internally to fill the building, to raise some outside funding through federal partners, state partners, and philanthropic partners, we're now putting on new and amazing events and new and amazing programming to help drive this industry forward.

That's great. Now that I put you on the spot, made you unplanned talk about yourself, I do want to thank you officially for joining us. October is poised to be a really exciting month in New Orleans with BIO on the Bayou on October 29th and 30th, the bullpen wrapping around us with that, followed immediately by the BIO Challenge on October 31st, then all of us coming together and going out on Halloween night, which I imagine means nobody will be working on that Friday, but you never know how things go. And I want to tell people that as always, we're going to have your contact information and info links about a lot of the things you've talked about. The BioChallenge, the New Orleans BioInnovation Center, Bio in the Bayou, the companies you referenced who you've helped through the BioChallenge, we'll have those all posted in our show notes. And thanks so much, Chris. I appreciate you coming on.

Thank you, James. I really appreciate it. People can find us on neworleansbio.com. They can reach out to us on LinkedIn, IG, Facebook, X, or they can come find us at 1441 Canal Street in downtown, right across from the School of Public Health.

That's perfect. I want to tell everyone to make sure they connect with Chris because his network is incredible, and check out the links to learn more. Hit that subscribe button so you get more content like this, and thank you once again for joining us, Chris.

Thank you, James. It's a pleasure to be here.

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