From Chemical Engineer to Bioscience Entrepreneur

DeskGen's AutoClone platform enables rapid and accurate assembly of DNA sequences

MEng graduate's start-up company announces equity investment of £275,000

It’s been a very busy two years for Victor Dillard since he graduated from Imperial with a first-class MEng degree in Chemical Engineering.  Desktop Genetics Ltd (DeskGen), the bioinformatics company Victor co-founded in 2012 with two colleagues from his MPhil at the University of Cambridge, has just announced that the company has secured an equity investment of £275,000.  Add to this a £100,000 grant from the Government’s Technology Strategy Board, and the result is a very healthy investment – an impressive feat for a start-up company that is less than a year old.

Victor Dillard

One person who’s definitely excited about the news is Victor himself.  “It is another successful step forward, I'm thrilled!”, he said.  ”We are supported by a group of investors who are convinced both with the quality of the technology and the DeskGen team, and that is very motivating.”

The investment will partly be used expand the functionality of the company’s genetic engineering  platform  ‘AutoClone ™’, a search engine that enables biotechnology researchers to design and source the exact DNA needed to build desired DNA sequences, potentially saving hundreds of hours of lab work or the need to synthesize DNA externally.   The technology works from the databases of existing DNA researchers – commercial or academic - have in storage.  By enabling these researchers to efficiently search millions of chunks of DNA, AutoClone™ can identify the best combination to build a required vector (a method for scientists to give specific information or modifications to cells).  Further information on the software and DeskGen’s plans for growth can be found on their website.

The route from a degree in Chemical Engineering to biotechnology entrepreneur in two years may not be a conventional one, but Victor is certain that his MEng helped pave the way for his burgeoning success.  He said: “Studying Chemical Engineering prepared me very well for the MPhil [in Bioscience Enterprise] as it taught me a very rigorous approach to problem solving.  After taking Biotechnology classes as an Undergraduate I quickly identified biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals as key innovative areas in which I wanted to get involved.  If my time at Imperial taught me one thing very well, it is to learn quickly and in a structured way.  I think these are key ingredients for a start-up, and I owe it to Imperial College.”