Bionaut Labs Comes Out of Stealth To Reveal a Micro Robotic Treatment for Brain Tumors

Keerthi Vedantam

Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.

bionaut labs
Courtesy of Bionaut Labs

A small group of scientists and engineers are developing a device smaller than a flea that will wind its way inside the heads of people with brain tumors and deliver life-saving treatments.

Bionaut Labs, a Los Angeles startup, unveiled on Wednesday the tiny rigid remote-controlled device with metallic parts, a silica polymer exterior and a cavity to place treatments inside. It's a sort of drone for the body.


"This is the revolution and this is where it starts," said physicist and co-founder Michael Shpigelmacher. "I have no doubt that 10 years forward, there will be not one, but there will be multiple companies in this universe of ... remote-controlled micro robots."

Bionaut Labs began preclinical trials in 2018 to treat brainstem glioma, a tumor nestled in one of the most complex and delicate areas of the body — the brainstem, which controls everything from breathing to eating to heart rate. Because of its location, surgery is often not an option and some patients undergo radiation therapy.

"You really want to hit up that tumor and you don't want to just flood the whole body with a payload that would have significant toxicity or side effects," Shpigelmacher said.

Their "micro robot" or "Bionaut," as the company calls it, is still untested in humans. But, the device is meant to be injected by doctors into the brain and controlled with a magnetic device that moves it through the brain and to the affected area. Once treatment is complete, it's removed magnetically. It's biggest advantage, the company hopes, is to deliver targeted treatment, eliminating the need for physicians to turn to more invasive medicines such as radiation.

Michael Shpigelmacher, Bionaut Labs

Physicist Michael Shpigelmacher is the co-founder of Bionaut Labs

"This is mostly useful for anatomical targets that are hard to reach where you need that level of anatomical precision," Shpigelmacher said.

He and his co-founders Aviad Maizels and Alex Shpunt previously worked together at a startup called PrimeScience that was later acquired by Apple in 2013. He began working with pharma companies in 2007, watching drugmakers formulate and reformulate drugs when they failed clinical trials.

Part of the problem is that medicine, most often pills, taken by patients flow through the bloodstream and often have side effects from depression and weight gain to even more serious ones. If it works, the Bionaut would only release chemicals to specific areas and not diffuse through a patient's bloodstream. That method, known as localized treatment, means drugs could be stronger and more targeted.

"That would maximize efficacy at the site of action, and minimize toxicity in all the places where it shouldn't have any activity," said Dr. Eunjoo Pacifici, a professor at the USC School of Pharmacy, about localized treatments.

But the process isn't easy. Drugs are highly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. It can take years before a drug comes to market. Localized treatments often require a device to inject that treatment into the body. That, too, can take years for the FDA to approve.

"It's a combination product. Sometimes you need to have different parts of the FDA review that product as well. It's like developing two products at the same time," Pacifici said.

Bionauts are focused on brainstem glioma for now, but Shpigelmacher's background at McKinsey has him thinking big — the implications of Bionauts, he said, could change the way drugs are developed.

Pacifici said the drug-making process is a "high-stakes game" because companies often have to pump thousands of dollars into researching, developing and testing drugs without the promise of a return on investment. But if the FDA does not accept the benefit/ risk profile of a certain drug, it cannot get to the next step and be marketed or sold.

"You hope the product will do what you want it to do and there's some promising results in the lab, there's some promising results in the animals and the early stage clinical trials seem very promising," Pacifici said. "But then when you actually throw down the big money to conduct a big trial, more often than not it fails. A product can fail at any stage, but when it fails at a pivotal stage, it's a huge loss for the company."

If treatments can be localized, Shpigelmacher said, the amount of time companies spend in the research and development phase could shorten, and drugs would be conceptualized and tested to be used with a Bionaut.

The company raised $20 million in backing from Khosla Ventures, Upfront Ventures and Bold Capital.

https://twitter.com/KeerthiVedantam
keerthi@dot.la

Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.

How the 'Thrift Haul' Boosted Secondhand Ecommerce Platforms

Lon Harris
Lon Harris is a contributor to dot.LA. His work has also appeared on ScreenJunkies, RottenTomatoes and Inside Streaming.
How the 'Thrift Haul' Boosted Secondhand Ecommerce Platforms
Evan Xie

If you can believe it, it’s been more than a decade since rapper Macklemore extolled the virtues of thrift shopping in a viral music video. But while scouring the ranks of vintage clothing stores looking for the ultimate come-up may have waned in popularity since 2012, the online version of this activity is apparently thriving.

According to a new trend story from CNBC, interest in “reselling” platforms like Etsy-owned Depop and Poshmark has exploded in the years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. In an article that spends a frankly surprising amount of time focused on sellers receiving death threats before concluding that they’re “not the norm,” the network cites the usual belt-tightening ecommerce suspects – housebound individuals doing more of their shopping online coupled with inflation woes and recession fears – as the causes behind the uptick.

As for data, there’s a survey from Depop themselves, finding that 53% of respondents in the UK are more inclined to shop secondhand as living costs continue to rise. Additional research from Advance Market Analytics confirms the trend, citing not just increased demand for cheap clothes but the pressing need for a sustainable alternative to recycling clothing materials at its core.

The major popularity of “thrift haul” videos across social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok has also boosted the visibility of vintage clothes shopping and hunting for buried treasures. Teenage TikToker Jacklyn Wells scores millions of views on her thrift haul videos, only to get routinely mass-accused of greed for ratching up the Depop resell prices for her coolest finds and discoveries. Nonetheless, viral clips like Wells’ have helped to embed secondhand shopping apps more generally within online fashion culture. Fashion and beauty magazine Hunger now features a regular list of the hottest items on the re-sale market, with a focus on how to use them to recreate hot runway looks.

As with a lot of consumer and technology trends, the sudden surge of interest in second-hand clothing retailers was only partly organic. According to The Drum, ecommerce apps Vinted, eBay, and Depop have collectively spent around $120 million on advertising throughout the last few years, promoting the recent vintage shopping boom and helping to normalize second-hand shopping. This includes conventional advertising, of course, but also deals with online influencers to post content like “thrift haul” videos, along with shoutouts for where to track down the best finds.

Reselling platforms have naturally responded to the increase in visibility with new features (as well as a predictable hike in transaction fees). Poshmark recently introduced livestreamed “Posh Shows” during which sellers can host auctions or provide deeper insight into their inventory. Depop, meanwhile, has introduced a “Make Offer” option to fully integrate the bartering and negotiation process into the app, rather than forcing buyers and sellers to text or Direct Message one another elsewhere. (The platform formerly had a comments section on product pages, but shut this option down after finding that it led to arguments, and wasn’t particularly helpful in making purchase decisions.)

Now that it’s clear there’s money to be made in online thrift stores, larger and more established brands and retailers are also pushing their way into the space. H&M and Target have both partnered with online thrift store ThredUp on featured collections of previously-worn clothing. A new “curated” resale collection from Tommy Hilfiger – featuring minorly damaged items that were returned to its retail stores – was developed and promoted through a partnership with Depop, which has also teamed with Kellogg’s on a line of Pop-Tarts-inspired wear. J.Crew is even bringing back its classic ‘80s Rollneck Sweater in a nod to the renewed interest in all things vintage.

Still, with any surge of popularity and visibility, there must also come an accompanying backlash. In a sharp editorial this week for Arizona University’s Daily Wildcat, thrift shopping enthusiast Luke Lawson makes the case that sites like Depop are “gentrifying fashion,” stripping communities of local thrift stores that provide a valuable public service, particularly for members of low-income communities. As well, UK tabloids are routinely filled with secondhand shopping horror stories these days, another evidence point as to their increased visibility among British consumers specifically, not to mention the general dangers of buying personal items from strangers you met over the internet.

How to Startup: Mission Acquisition

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

How to Startup: Mission Acquisition

Numbers don’t lie, but often they don’t tell the whole story. If you look at the facts and figures alone, launching a startup seems like a daunting enterprise. It seems like a miracle anyone makes it out the other side.

  • 90% of startups around the world fail.
  • On average, it takes startups 2-3 years to turn a profit. (Venture funded startups take far longer.)
  • Post-seed round, fewer than 10% of startups go on to successfully raise a Series A investment.
  • Less than 1% of startups go public.
  • A startup only has a .00006% chance of becoming a unicorn.

Ouch.

Read moreShow less
https://twitter.com/spencerrascoff
https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerrascoff/
admin@dot.la

From The Vault: VC Legend Bill Gurley On Startups, Venture Capital and Scaling

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

Bill Gurley in a blue suit
Bill Gurley

This interview was originally published on December of 2020, and was recorded at the inaugural dot.LA Summit held October 27th & 28th.

One of my longtime favorite episodes of Office Hours was a few years ago when famed venture capitalist Bill Gurley and I talked about marketplace-based companies, how work-from-home will continue to accelerate business opportunities and his thoughts on big tech and antitrust.

Read moreShow less
https://twitter.com/spencerrascoff
https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerrascoff/
admin@dot.la
RELATEDEDITOR'S PICKS
LA TECH JOBS
interchangeLA
Trending