INSIGHTS / Blog

Q&A Blog: Insights from Ash Zarkan on the ICURe Engage Programme

Introduce yourself and your venture

Ash Zarkan: My name is Ash Zarkan. I’m the CEO and co-founder of BioTryp Therapeutics. BioTryp is a spin-out from the University of Cambridge. We are still based in Cambridge, and the science was based on the research that we have done at the university. What we are developing at BioTryp is an orally administered therapy for patients with bacterial infections, but we are targeting patients with urinary tract infections as the first indication.

Why did you decide to take part in ICURe Engage?

Ash Zarkan: I joined ICURe as part of a team. At that time, I was an early career researcher. We had a senior researcher who was the head of the group, a technology transfer officer from Cambridge Enterprise, and an advisor. That was a couple of years ago. At that stage, there was no company. Just over eight years of scientific research, and we thought we had something interesting. However, we weren’t sure whether we should go down the spin-out route, look for partners to license it out, or even if there was commercial potential at all. We thought ICURe might give us the ideal platform to explore whether there was commercial potential and, if so, what the most suitable route to market would be.

What training did you receive on the programme?

Ash Zarkan: We first joined ICURe Explore. At that time, I don’t think it was even called Explore and Exploit yet, but it was equivalent to what is now known as Engage. During that time, my time was effectively bought out from the university, and I was sent out to attend conferences, speak to potential partners, and engage with stakeholders. I spent around three months travelling to different events, trying to determine whether what we had was of interest to stakeholders, potential partners, and future customers. ICURe provided a huge amount of support, guiding us through the process, and helping us understand what questions to ask, who to approach, and how to approach them. Eventually, we reached the options round, where we pitched our findings.

Since our idea was approved as a spin-out, we progressed to ICURe Exploit, where we received support to incorporate the company, start looking for investment, and apply for grant funding.

What has it enabled you to do going forward?

Ash Zarkan: It gave us the platform to start the company, but even before that, it ensured there was a market and a real need. That was extremely important. Another key aspect is that, when I joined ICURe, most of my team were academics – we didn’t have much knowledge of the business world. ICURe helped us develop the skills to view things differently, pitch differently, and think beyond the science towards commercialisation. In summary, it helped us shift from pure research into business, validate our market, and establish the company.

Was it important that the training was themed on biofilms?

Ash Zarkan: That was particularly important for us because our therapy is an anti-biofilm oral treatment. We were expecting to benefit from ICURe’s mentorship, but we also gained valuable support from the National Biofilms Innovation Centre, which introduced us to potential partners and stakeholders in biofilm innovation. For us, it was a perfect match – we had a biofilm-related invention, and there was a biofilm ICURe programme. It couldn’t have been better.

Would you recommend it to other researchers working on biofilms-related innovations?

Ash Zarkan: Absolutely. I have already recommended ICURe to several people, and some have joined the latest biofilm-focused cohort. I particularly recommend it to those in my network who are involved with the National Biofilms Innovation Centre. More broadly, I encourage any researcher with commercially interesting science to consider ICURe as a way to validate its potential.

How did you find balancing the programme with your other responsibilities, and how much time did it take up?

Ash Zarkan: During ICURe Explore, I was fortunate that I didn’t have other responsibilities – I was able to pause my work at the university and focus entirely on ICURe. Without that, it would have been very difficult to fully engage with ICURe Explore. Later, during Exploit, it became more challenging because we had incorporated the company, and I was splitting my time between research and the business. It wasn’t easy, but it taught me how to balance multiple responsibilities effectively.

Final thoughts

Since ICURe, our company has made great progress. We have been operational for over a year, raised more than £300,000 in non-dilutive investment as a pre-seed round, hired a research scientist, and secured over £100,000 in grants. Most recently, we reached an inflexion point and are now raising a £2 million seed round. The company is heading in the right direction, and it all started with ICURe.

ICURe is an Innovate UK programme, funded by the National Biofilms Innovation Centre and delivered by the SETsquared Partnership.