Jump to content

Emerald Cloud Lab: Difference between revisions

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→Products and Services: details on services
Citation bot (talk | contribs)
Bots
5,356,359 edits
Add: doi-access. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | #UCB_CommandLine
 
(16 intermediate revisions by 10 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Biotech company}}
{{Infobox company
{{Infobox company
| name = Emerald Cloud Lab
| name = Emerald Cloud Lab
| logo =
| logo =
| type =[[Privately held company|Private]]
| type = [[Privately held company|Private]]
| industry =
| industry =
| fate =
| fate =
Line 10: Line 11:
| founder = {{Unbulleted list|D.J. Kleinbaum|Brian Frezza}}
| founder = {{Unbulleted list|D.J. Kleinbaum|Brian Frezza}}
| defunct =
| defunct =
| hq_location_city = [[San Francisco, California]]
| hq_location_city = [[South San Francisco, California]]
| hq_location_country = United States
| hq_location_country = United States
| area_served = <!-- or: | areas_served = -->
| area_served = <!-- or: | areas_served = -->
Line 19: Line 20:
| num_employees_year = <!-- Year of num_employees data (if known) -->
| num_employees_year = <!-- Year of num_employees data (if known) -->
| parent =
| parent =
| website = {{URL|emeraldcloudlab.com}}
| website = {{URL|https://emeraldcloudlab.com}}
}}
}}
'''Emerald Cloud Lab''' is a privately-owned biotech startup. The company is among the first to offer [[laboratory automation]] through the [[software as a service]] model. D.J. Kleinbaum and Brian Frezza founded Emerald Cloud Lab in 2010.<ref name="BeerCloud2015">{{cite web |last1=Garner |first1=Rochelle |title=Science labs in the cloud: Champagne discoveries, beer budget |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/science-labs-in-the-cloud-champagne-discoveries-beer-budget/ |website=Cnet |accessdate=29 October 2019 |ref=BeerBudget |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151028132021/https://www.cnet.com/news/science-labs-in-the-cloud-champagne-discoveries-beer-budget/ |archivedate=28 October 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
'''Emerald Cloud Lab''' (ECL) is a privately-owned biotech startup. The company focuses on advancing laboratory virtualization, for chemistry and biotechnology, by building the first fully functional cloud lab, allowing scientists to conduct all of their wet lab research without being in a physical laboratory.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mouratidis|first=Yiannis|title=A Cloud Lab Dedicated To Cancer Drug Discovery|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/yiannismouratidis/2019/02/27/a-cloud-lab-dedicated-to-cancer-drug-discovery/|access-date=2020-07-29|website=Forbes|language=en}}</ref>


== Products and Services ==
== Products and services ==
ECL is a physical laboratory that can be accessed remotely by scientists via the internet. Scientists ship samples to an ECL facility and design their experiments in the ECL Command Center software application. ECL Command Center is a fully integrated application, where experiments are encoded in a language and grammar designed by ECL to allow remote operation and ensure reproducibility. ECL remotely conducts your experiments in a highly automated ECL facility exactly to the scientist’s specifications. The platform collects and organizes all data generated by and relevant to experiments into a powerful knowledge graph. ECL Command Center’s extensive suite of tools can then be used to plot, analyze, and visualize results.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=How the ECL Works|url=https://www.emeraldcloudlab.com/how-it-works/|access-date=2020-07-29|website=www.emeraldcloudlab.com|language=en-us}}</ref>
Emerald Cloud Lab provides automated laboratory tests and assays through a remote electronic lab notebook interface. Research groups are also provided the ability to access and add their experiments to an [[Ontology (information science)|ontology-indexed]] database of previous laboratory tests to see experiments similar to theirs.<ref name="TechCrunch-July2014">{{cite news |last1=Buhr |first1=Sarah |title=Emerald Cloud Laboratory Is Experimenting With Drugs In The Cloud |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/08/experimenting-with-drugs-in-the-cloud/ |accessdate=24 April 2020 |work=TechCrunch |date=8 July 2014}}</ref> Unlike some competing companies, ECL fully owns and operates the research infrastructure used to conduct experiments. Experiments are encoded in an language and grammar designed by Emerald Cloud Lab to allow remote operation and reproducibility.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Segal |first1=Michael |title=An operating system for the biology lab |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02875-z |accessdate=24 April 2020 |work=Nature |date=25 September 2019 |pages=S112–S113 |language=en |doi=10.1038/d41586-019-02875-z}}</ref>


==History==
==History==


===Founding===
===Founding===
D.J. Kleinbaum and Brian Frezza grew up together on Emerald Drive, in the Philadelphia suburbs, and they long wanted to build a biotechnology business together. In 2010, after completing their PhDs, they came together to found Emerald Therapeutics in an effort to develop "antiviral therapy for diseases such as hepatitis and HIV". During this time, they experienced problems with laboratory hardware and software. Hardware often comes from disparate manufacturers, software is often rudimentary, and output can vary in formatting. To simplify laboratory testing, the group wrote centralized management software for the different machines and a database to store all metadata and results.<ref name=Bloomberg2014>{{cite web |last1=Vance |first1=Ashlee |title=Emerald Therapeutics: Biotech Lab for Hire |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-03/emerald-therapeutics-biotech-lab-for-hire |website=Bloomberg |accessdate=30 October 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705210722/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-03/emerald-therapeutics-biotech-lab-for-hire |archivedate=5 July 2017 |date=3 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> This "laboratory operating system" became Emerald Therapeutic's first product, launched in 2014 under the name Emerald Cloud Lab.{{citation needed|reason=Is this actually the first product? Is this the right year?|date=November 2019}}
D.J. Kleinbaum and Brian Frezza grew up together on Emerald Drive outside of Philadelphia. In 2010, after completing their PhDs, they came together to found Emerald Therapeutics in an effort to develop "antiviral therapeutics for diseases such as HPV and HIV". During this time, they experienced frustrations with laboratory hardware and software. Hardware often comes from disparate manufacturers, software is often rudimentary, and output can vary in formatting. To simplify laboratory testing, the group wrote centralized management software for the different machines and a database to store all metadata and results.<ref name=Bloomberg2014>{{cite web |last1=Vance |first1=Ashlee |author-link=Ashlee Vance |title=Emerald Therapeutics: Biotech Lab for Hire |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-03/emerald-therapeutics-biotech-lab-for-hire |website=Bloomberg |accessdate=30 October 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705210722/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-03/emerald-therapeutics-biotech-lab-for-hire |archivedate=5 July 2017 |date=3 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> This "laboratory operating system" continued to expand in capabilities, including the ability to directly control instrumentation and manage inventory and procurement. Recognizing the value this type of system presented outside of their own development goals, Kleinbaum and Frezza launched this service in 2014 under the name Emerald Cloud Lab.<ref name="Vox-Jun2014-FFLab">{{cite news |last1=Temple |first1=James |title=Founders Fund Backs a Robotic Lab that Puts Science in the Cloud |url=https://www.vox.com/2014/6/30/11628450/founders-fund-backs-a-robotic-lab-that-puts-science-in-the-cloud |accessdate=2 May 2020 |work=Vox |date=30 June 2014 |language=en}}</ref> In 2016, Emerald Cloud Lab and Emerald Therapeutics were spun off from one another, and both are independent corporations.<ref>Emerald Cloud Lab, Inc., California Corporation Entity Number C3251573. See {{cite web|date=November 10, 2016|title=Amended Statement by Foreign Corporation|url=https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=03963251-21527657|access-date=July 30, 2020|website=California Secretary of State|format=PDF}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Emerald Cloud Lab - Biocom|url=https://www.biocom.org/member/emerald-cloud-lab/|access-date=2020-07-29}}</ref>


===Business development===
===Business development===
As of 2014, Emerald Cloud Lab offered 40 types of laboratory tests, with intent to expand to over a hundred by the next year.<ref name=Bloomberg2014/> By 2017, the range of tests had expanded to 106 types.<ref>
As of 2014, Emerald Cloud Lab offered access to 40 types of laboratory instruments.<ref name=Bloomberg2014/> By 2017, the range of instruments had expanded to 106.<ref>
Groth, Paul; Cox, Jessica (2017), “Datasets for Potential of Robotic Lab Methods Usage in Biomedical Papers”, Mendeley Data, v3 http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/gy7bfzcgyd.3#file-2066813b-adc9-425e-a347-51122bdbe944</ref>
Groth, Paul; Cox, Jessica (2017), “Datasets for Potential of Robotic Lab Methods Usage in Biomedical Papers”, Mendeley Data, v3 http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/gy7bfzcgyd.3#file-2066813b-adc9-425e-a347-51122bdbe944</ref> As of July 2020, Emerald Cloud Lab offered full control of over 150 laboratory instruments, with plans to expand capabilities outlined through 2021.<ref name=":0" />


Researchers and pharmaceutical groups have long been concerned about the lack of [[reproducibility crisis|reproducibility of laboratory testing]] in the biomedical field. A 2017 paper used Emerald Cloud Lab and a similar company, [[Transcriptic]], to explore how robotic lab automation could ameliorate this problem. The paper concludes that, "we believe that robotic labs can provide the basis for performing a large percentage of basic biomedical research in a reproducible and transparent fashion".<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=29134146|pmc=5681851|year=2017|last1=Groth|first1=P.|title=Indicators for the use of robotic labs in basic biomedical research: A literature analysis|journal=PeerJ|volume=5|pages=e3997|last2=Cox|first2=J.|doi=10.7717/peerj.3997}}</ref> Frezza has described this laboratory inconsistency as one specific reason for the development of Emerald Cloud Lab and the use of automation.<ref name="BeerCloud2015" />
Researchers and pharmaceutical groups have long been concerned about the lack of [[reproducibility crisis|reproducibility of laboratory testing]] in the biomedical field. A 2017 literature analysis article posited that highly automated, internet connected labs like ECL could ameliorate the problem. The paper concludes that, "we believe that robotic labs can provide the basis for performing a large percentage of basic biomedical research in a reproducible and transparent fashion".<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=29134146|pmc=5681851|year=2017|last1=Groth|first1=P.|title=Indicators for the use of robotic labs in basic biomedical research: A literature analysis|journal=PeerJ|volume=5|pages=e3997|last2=Cox|first2=J.|doi=10.7717/peerj.3997 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Frezza has described this laboratory inconsistency as one specific reason for the development of Emerald Cloud Lab and the use of automation.<ref name="BeerCloud2015">{{cite web|last1=Garner|first1=Rochelle|title=Science labs in the cloud: Champagne discoveries, beer budget|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/science-labs-in-the-cloud-champagne-discoveries-beer-budget/|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151028132021/https://www.cnet.com/news/science-labs-in-the-cloud-champagne-discoveries-beer-budget/|archivedate=28 October 2015|accessdate=29 October 2019|website=Cnet|ref=BeerBudget}}</ref>


==Financing==
==Financing==


After spinning out of Emerald Therapeutics, the company has gone on to raise capital in multiple rounds. Key investors include [[Founders Fund]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Emerald Cloud Lab|url=https://foundersfund.com/company/emerald-therapeutics/|access-date=2020-07-31|website=Founders Fund|language=en-US}}</ref> Schooner Capital,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Portfolio|url=https://www.schoonercapital.com/portfolio|access-date=2020-07-31|website=SCHOONER CAPITAL|language=en-US}}</ref> [[OS Fund]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Portfolio Companies|url=https://osfund.co/portfolio-companies/|access-date=2020-07-31|website=OS Fund|language=en}}</ref> Alcazar Capital,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=AVG Focused Fund Portfolio of Investments|url=https://www.avgfunds.com/focusedfunds/focused-funds-portfolio/|access-date=2020-07-31|website=Alumni Ventures Group}}</ref> Western Technology Investment,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Portfolio|url=https://westerntech.com/portfolio/|access-date=2020-07-31|website=WTI}}</ref> Sound Ventures,<ref>{{Cite web|last=PhD|first=@Marina T. Alamanou|date=2019-10-07|title=Artificial Intelligence in Preclinical Design and Execution: Investors and Startups|url=https://medium.com/@avocado_2015/artificial-intelligence-in-preclinical-design-and-execution-investors-and-startups-2bee3400ee6b|access-date=2020-07-31|website=Medium|language=en}}</ref> SciFi VC,<ref>{{Cite web|title=SciFi VC|url=https://scifi.vc/|access-date=2020-07-31|website=scifi.vc|language=en}}</ref> Incite Ventures,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Incite|title=Ventures|url=http://www.incite.org/ventures/|access-date=2020-07-31|website=Incite}}</ref> and Spike Ventures.<ref name=":1" />
⚫
The business got its second round of funding by 2014 from the [[Founders Fund]], a venture capital firm founded by [[Peter Thiel]]. This funding round provided $13.5 million.<ref name=Bloomberg2014/>

⚫
The business got its second round of funding by 2014 from the [[Founders Fund]] (FF), a venture capital firm founded by [[Peter Thiel]], bringing total funding raised from FF up to $13.5 million.<ref name=Bloomberg2014/> The first FF funding round was not public.<ref name="Vox-Jun2014-FFLab" />


==References==
==References==
Line 46: Line 49:




[[Category:2010 establishments in California]]

[[Category:Biotechnology companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Biotechnology companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Companies based in South San Francisco, California]]

Latest revision as of 23:40, 2 December 2023

Emerald Cloud Lab
Company typePrivate
PredecessorEmerald Therapeutics
Founded2010; 14 years ago (2010)
Founder
  • D.J. Kleinbaum
  • Brian Frezza
Headquarters
South San Francisco, California
,
United States
Websiteemeraldcloudlab.com

Emerald Cloud Lab (ECL) is a privately-owned biotech startup. The company focuses on advancing laboratory virtualization, for chemistry and biotechnology, by building the first fully functional cloud lab, allowing scientists to conduct all of their wet lab research without being in a physical laboratory.[1]

Products and services

[edit]

ECL is a physical laboratory that can be accessed remotely by scientists via the internet. Scientists ship samples to an ECL facility and design their experiments in the ECL Command Center software application. ECL Command Center is a fully integrated application, where experiments are encoded in a language and grammar designed by ECL to allow remote operation and ensure reproducibility. ECL remotely conducts your experiments in a highly automated ECL facility exactly to the scientist’s specifications. The platform collects and organizes all data generated by and relevant to experiments into a powerful knowledge graph. ECL Command Center’s extensive suite of tools can then be used to plot, analyze, and visualize results.[2]

History

[edit]

Founding

[edit]

D.J. Kleinbaum and Brian Frezza grew up together on Emerald Drive outside of Philadelphia. In 2010, after completing their PhDs, they came together to found Emerald Therapeutics in an effort to develop "antiviral therapeutics for diseases such as HPV and HIV". During this time, they experienced frustrations with laboratory hardware and software. Hardware often comes from disparate manufacturers, software is often rudimentary, and output can vary in formatting. To simplify laboratory testing, the group wrote centralized management software for the different machines and a database to store all metadata and results.[3] This "laboratory operating system" continued to expand in capabilities, including the ability to directly control instrumentation and manage inventory and procurement. Recognizing the value this type of system presented outside of their own development goals, Kleinbaum and Frezza launched this service in 2014 under the name Emerald Cloud Lab.[4] In 2016, Emerald Cloud Lab and Emerald Therapeutics were spun off from one another, and both are independent corporations.[5][6]

Business development

[edit]

As of 2014, Emerald Cloud Lab offered access to 40 types of laboratory instruments.[3] By 2017, the range of instruments had expanded to 106.[7] As of July 2020, Emerald Cloud Lab offered full control of over 150 laboratory instruments, with plans to expand capabilities outlined through 2021.[2]

Researchers and pharmaceutical groups have long been concerned about the lack of reproducibility of laboratory testing in the biomedical field. A 2017 literature analysis article posited that highly automated, internet connected labs like ECL could ameliorate the problem. The paper concludes that, "we believe that robotic labs can provide the basis for performing a large percentage of basic biomedical research in a reproducible and transparent fashion".[8] Frezza has described this laboratory inconsistency as one specific reason for the development of Emerald Cloud Lab and the use of automation.[9]

Financing

[edit]

After spinning out of Emerald Therapeutics, the company has gone on to raise capital in multiple rounds. Key investors include Founders Fund,[10] Schooner Capital,[11] OS Fund,[12] Alcazar Capital,[13] Western Technology Investment,[14] Sound Ventures,[15] SciFi VC,[16] Incite Ventures,[17] and Spike Ventures.[13]

The business got its second round of funding by 2014 from the Founders Fund (FF), a venture capital firm founded by Peter Thiel, bringing total funding raised from FF up to $13.5 million.[3] The first FF funding round was not public.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Mouratidis, Yiannis. "A Cloud Lab Dedicated To Cancer Drug Discovery". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  2. ^ a b "How the ECL Works". www.emeraldcloudlab.com. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  3. ^ a b c Vance, Ashlee (3 July 2014). "Emerald Therapeutics: Biotech Lab for Hire". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  4. ^ a b Temple, James (30 June 2014). "Founders Fund Backs a Robotic Lab that Puts Science in the Cloud". Vox. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  5. ^ Emerald Cloud Lab, Inc., California Corporation Entity Number C3251573. See "Amended Statement by Foreign Corporation" (PDF). California Secretary of State. November 10, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  6. ^ "Emerald Cloud Lab - Biocom". Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  7. ^ Groth, Paul; Cox, Jessica (2017), “Datasets for Potential of Robotic Lab Methods Usage in Biomedical Papers”, Mendeley Data, v3 http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/gy7bfzcgyd.3#file-2066813b-adc9-425e-a347-51122bdbe944
  8. ^ Groth, P.; Cox, J. (2017). "Indicators for the use of robotic labs in basic biomedical research: A literature analysis". PeerJ. 5: e3997. doi:10.7717/peerj.3997. PMC 5681851. PMID 29134146.
  9. ^ Garner, Rochelle. "Science labs in the cloud: Champagne discoveries, beer budget". Cnet. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  10. ^ "Emerald Cloud Lab". Founders Fund. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  11. ^ "Portfolio". SCHOONER CAPITAL. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  12. ^ "Portfolio Companies". OS Fund. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  13. ^ a b "AVG Focused Fund Portfolio of Investments". Alumni Ventures Group. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  14. ^ "Portfolio". WTI. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  15. ^ PhD, @Marina T. Alamanou (2019-10-07). "Artificial Intelligence in Preclinical Design and Execution: Investors and Startups". Medium. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  16. ^ "SciFi VC". scifi.vc. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  17. ^ Incite. "Ventures". Incite. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Emerald_Cloud_Lab&oldid=1188032386"