Several ex-DuPont scientists let go during the American chemical giant’s recently completed megamerger with Dow Chemical have formed a nonprofit CRO, which will start operating at a new lab on Oct. 1.
With a “generous” startup fund consisting of an undisclosed amount from the Longwood Foundation, the CRO, called the Science, Technology and Research Institute of Delaware (STRIDE), has leased lab space at the Delaware Innovation Space.
The hub is a science-related business incubator set up by DuPont, the State of Delaware and the University of Delaware at DuPont’s underused Experimental Station campus in Wilmington, Delaware.
The governance and business model of the CRO are in place, but only when it moves into the new shop will it officially be able to offer its innovation and R&D services to startup companies in biology, chemistry and related industries through its affiliate, STRIDE Services. Those services include polymers, computational chemistry, as well as technical, patent and marketing strategies consultancy.
“We can help our industrial clients innovate and develop new products and technologies, either by collaborating with their scientists when requested and/or working as an extension of their R&D departments,” STRIDE’s president Seetha Coleman-Kammula said in a statement.
The organization also has an 85-person-strong team, most of whom are former DuPont scientists who have innovative ideas but lacked access to resources to test them out, let alone bring them through to commercialization. For them, STRIDE offers access to resources, including the new lab space, so that they can advance their research to a stage where they can patent their inventions, attract funding and launch new businesses, the company said in the statement.
STRIDE is also growing its scientific talent pool by offering members other services, including networking, training events and marketing of members’ scientific services.
Both STRIDE and the Space were formed on the backdrop of the Delaware government’s effort to keep many former DuPont scientists and their work within the state. The new lab space leasing deal “gives them a home that will allow them to do what they love to do—get back to work in the lab,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said in a statement.