Toronto, CANADA, September 18, 2018 — BenchSci, the AI-powered biological product search engine, has added accomplished life science entrepreneur Karen Padgett to its advisory board to guide new offerings that empower antibody suppliers.

“We’re grateful for Karen's help in the next phase of our evolution,” says Liran Belenzon, CEO, BenchSci. “Our technology has transformed antibody research for scientists. We now want to have the same impact for suppliers. Karen's experience will ensure we solve their most pressing problems with purpose-built solutions."

Using machine learning, BenchSci decodes data in scientific papers to inform purchases. To date, it has compiled data on 4.3 million antibody products from 9 million scientific papers. These include closed-access papers from leading publishers such as Springer Nature, Wiley, Wolters Kluwer, Karger, PNAS, and JAMA. Born in the home of deep learning, the University of Toronto, BenchSci is backed by Google’s AI-focused venture fund, Gradient Ventures.

Researchers in 14 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies and 1,300 academic institutions now use BenchSci to find antibodies. Doing so, they can find the right antibodies for an experiment up to 24x faster. This can shave 2-6 months off a research project.

Biological product suppliers have the opposite problem to researchers. Researchers have struggled to find data on the use of biological products. Suppliers have struggled to make this data available. This is because many products get relabeled by distributors, or aren't properly cited. So suppliers themselves often don't know all the ways researchers use their products.

BenchSci aims to empower suppliers with solutions that address such challenges. This includes improving the comprehensiveness and accuracy of their product data, and providing a new direct sales channel with no relabeling.

To advise on such solutions, Padgett will apply more than 20 years of success in life sciences. This includes founding Novus Biologicals, acquired by Bio-Techne in 2014. Padgett will join luminaries on BenchSci’s advisory board including Professor Richard Zemel, research director for the Vector Institute.

“I am thrilled to be joining the advisory board at BenchSci and excited to see the impact this tool can have in assisting researchers to efficiently find the right tools for their research,” says Padgett, now the VP of Antibody Business Unit at Bio-Techne. “BenchSci has huge potential, using machine learning, to drive better purchase decisions, and I am excited to be part of this disruptive team.”

About BenchSci

BenchSci is decoding the world’s biological data to reduce the time, uncertainty, and cost of biomedical research. Researchers waste time and money on antibodies that don't work. This slows studies, destroys samples, and leaves patients waiting for treatments. Artificial intelligence can solve the problem, and we're building it. Our technology helps researchers find reliable antibodies 24x faster and 75% cheaper. We use machine learning to decode comprehensive open- and closed-access datasets, display published figures with no commercial bias, and allow researchers to search by important experimental variables. BenchSci now powers discoveries in 14 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies and 1,300 academic institutions. Academic researchers can sign up free at landing.benchsci.com/academic. Industry researchers can request a demo at www.benchsci.com/contact/. Passionate people can join us at https://careers.benchsci.com/ca/en/search-results.

About Karen Padgett

Karen Padgett is a highly accomplished entrepreneur and senior executive with more than 20 years of success within biotech and life sciences.  She has proven her ability to challenge the status quo and develop strategic plans to drive organizational growth. Her areas of expertise include startups, product development, branding, marketing and go-to-market strategy.  Currently, Karen serves as Vice President of the Antibody Business Unit with Bio-Techne. Karen started with Bio-Techne as the Vice President of Global Marketing following the acquisition of her own company, Novus Biologicals, in 2014.  In addition to her entrepreneurial career, Karen has served on several non-profit boards including Breakthrough Kent Denver; University of Colorado Cancer Center Fund;Kent Denver Board of Trustees; and a member of Chancellor's Advisory Council for Texas Christian University. She loves to mentor to young professionals and is a member of AUTM, CBSA, and YPO.  Karen graduated from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, in 1993 with an MBA in Marketing and she obtained her BS in Microbiology from Indiana University, Bloomington in 1986.

Contact

Simon Smith
simon@benchsci.com
416-738-6058