Biotech firm founded by Kevin Christopher competing in national event at end of August
A company co-founded by attorney Kevin Christopher, who also happens to be a biotechnology entrepreneur, won first prize and the “Alnylam Award for Excellence” in the New Haven region of the national “Nucleate Activator” biotech accelerator program. As a result, the start-up named Calliope Bio PBC will compete against regional winners from around the country during the “Nucleate Summit” August 28, 29 and 30 in Boston.
Christopher is known to many as the Founder of Rockridge Venture Law® and a leader in the emerging benefit corporation movement. A past founder of companies in biotech, consumer products, and renewables, he is currently an Executive MBA student at the Yale School of Management.
Calliope is one of three start-ups from Yale University launched in early 2022 as part of the inaugural “Nucleate New Haven Accelerator Program.” It is focused on innovating a computational and characterization platform that overcomes key bottlenecks in synthetic biology and opens the door for development of inaccessible drug pipelines and the manufacturing of novel biomaterials.
For the New Haven regional competition, Calliope participated as an early stage drug discovery company using innovative methods to mine and characterize microbial DNA for development of orphan GPCR (G-protein-coupled receptors) targeting natural products.
Following the New Haven program, Calliope was accepted as a 2022 Pad-13 member of the “Berkeley Skydeck” accelerator. Today, Calliope is administratively housed in Chattanooga while it explores regional partnerships and site locations for agtech and pharmaceutical R&D.
