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The UCSF Student Newspaper
Thursday, December 5, 2013
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NEWS
NEWS
Family House Offers a Home Away From Home
Hatching Life Sciences Startups in UCSF’s Backyard Dogpatch incubator QB3@953 helps graduate students pursue new career paths
By Nicole Croom Staff Writer
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s a referral hospital, UCSF offers care to many patients from distant cities. And if you are the parent of a sick child, you already have enough on your plate to think about without the added stress of how to take care of yourself and the rest of your family in an unfamiliar place. Family House, a nonprofit, privately funded program, offers a sense of community and stability for those struggling families facing the unimaginable. Family House primarily serves the families of oncology patients under the age of 18. The families are referred to Family House by social workers at Benioff Children’s Hospital if they live 50 miles outside San Francisco and have significant financial need. It was founded in 1981 and started off as a
Volume 58, Number 12
By Alex Loucks Staff Writer
Photo by Nicole Croom/MS2 Family House primarily serves the families of oncology patients under the age of 18.
single building, located across the street from the parking garage on Irving Street, which still houses up to 10 families a night. It expanded in 2005 to include a four-floor residence called the Koret Family House, located on 10th Avenue, that can house up to 24 families per night. Family House spares no expense in providing its residents all the comforts of home.
FAMILY HOUSE » PAGE 4
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f you’ve got an idea for a startup and a spare $800, you might consider renting space in the new QB3 incubator building. QB3@953, which opened this fall at 953 Indiana St. in San Francisco, is designed to support biotech startup companies through the growing pains of launch and development. “Our fundamental belief is that the combination of entrepreneurship and great science is the most powerful force that can change the world for the better that we’ve ever discovered. So our goal is to give entrepreneurial scientists the tools they need to be able to create successful startup companies,” said Douglas Crawford, the associate director of QB3.
NEWS
PUSO/VSA Raise Relief Funds for Typhoon Victims By Linda Chen Staff Writer
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ince Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, the world has scrambled to bring aid to victims in its devastating aftermath. At UCSF, the Pilipinos of UCSF Student Organization (PUSO) and the Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) banded together in the hope of uniting the eintire UCSF community in supporting relief efforts. The highlight of the relief effort was a fund-raiser held on November 21. PUSO and VSA served a simple breakfast and a hearty lunch, asking individuals to donate whatever amounts they deemed appropriate. Breakfast was a casual affair. The groups served biscotti, bagels and various morning beverages to early morning class-goers. Lunch was the main attraction, and included delicious BBQ skewers and vegetables, and meat lumpia (similar to small eggrolls) for those who pre-ordered. As the last lumpia were distributed, all agreed that the fundraiser had been a rousing success. More than $2,500 was raised, thanks to the generous response from students, staff and faculty. PUSO and VSA are not finished yet. They
Photo by Dr. Jennifer Cocohoba PUSO and VSA joined forces to raise more than $2,500 for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. They are now collecting first aid supplies, pain relievers and multivitamins, toiletries, clothing and towels through December 13.
are collecting first aid supplies, pain relievers and multivitamins, toiletries, new or used clothing and towels through December 13. Donations may be dropped off in the bin located by the elevator on the ninth floor of the Medical Science building at Parnassus. Another student organization, the Student National Pharmaceutical Association, is col-
lecting nonperishable food items at the same location. If you prefer to make a monetary donation, PUSO/VSA recommends donating to NAFCON at nafconusa.org/.
Linda Chen is a second-year pharmacy student.
That $800 rents you eight feet of lab bench space per month. That may seem tiny to some, but not to Crawford. As he showed off a single occupied lab bench, he announced, “this eight-foot bench is the world headquarters of BioA2Z.” So, what are those critical tools for success? A balanced mixture of mentorship, resource allocation and peer-to-peer support. Located in the trendy Dogpatch neighborhood, QB3@953 blends in beautifully with the residential surroundings. The office space is sparsely but tastefully decorated, with just a splash of color to make the environment chic but cozy. The three lab areas are large and spacious, with room for startups to expand and shrink as necessary. Already, 24 companies have committed to space, with room for approximately 10 more startups. A brand-new building in a trendy neighborhood isn’t sufficient to draw entrepreneurs, though, and that is where the innovative approach to this new incubator comes into play. Learning from seven years of launching other QB3 incubators, Crawford and his team have once again improved upon their own model. Startups can now subscribe to a core facility with shared equipment — that means each startup is spending less money on equipment they don’t consistently use, and the facility reduces the overall redundancy of equipment among the labs. For example, instead of each lab having to throw down several grand for a PCR machine they are only going to use a couple of times a month, labs share the machine provided in the core facility. QB3@953 also reduces the logistical burden of ordering items in bulk, by providing a storeroom where startups can grab one box of gloves instead of ordering a whole carton. There’s even a deli fridge from which startups can grab one bottle of cell media. As an added bonus, QB3@953 has negotiated prices for all these items comparable to the prices for industry giants like Gilead, and they pass the savings on to the startups. In essence, “Because you only use what you absolutely need and the unit is so small, your costs are very small, so we allow people to create startups on a shoestring,” Crawford explains.
QB3@953 » PAGE 4