Science Exchange (company)

In 2011, as an assistant professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Iorns came up with the idea for Science Exchange after needing to conduct immunology experiments, but having difficulty finding potential collaborators or providers to work with.{{citation |url=http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110819/full/news.2011.492.html |title=An eBay for Science |author=Zoë Corbyn |date=19 August 2011 |journal=Nature |doi=10.1038/news.2011.492 |access-date=18 August 2012|doi-access=free }}{{citation |url=http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/04/02/leading-a-movement-to-change-the-pace-of-scientific-research/ |title=Leading a Movement to Change the Pace of Scientific Research |date=2 April 2012 |publisher=Scientific American |access-date=18 August 2012}} Iorns formed Science Exchange with Knox and Abbott, and the company applied for a place in the Y Combinator startup accelerator program. The company was accepted into the Summer 2011 batch of Y Combinator and launched the first version of its website in August 2011. In 2012 Iorns was recognized by the Kauffman Foundation for her role in starting Science Exchange.{{citation |url=http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/2012-kauffman-foundation-postdoctoral-entrepreneur-awards-recognize-entrepreneurship-excellence-in-researchers.aspx |title=2012 Kauffman Foundation Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Awards Recognize Entrepreneurship Excellence in Researchers |date=14 March 2012 |publisher=Kauffman Foundation |access-date=18 August 2012}}{{citation |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/biotech/2012/04/science-exchange-kauffman-foundation.html?page=all |title=One-on-one with Science Exchange's Elizabeth Iorns |author=Ron Leuty |date=27 April 2012 |publisher=San Francisco Business Times |access-date=18 August 2012}}{{citation |url=http://www.fastcompany.com/1829497/dropping-some-science-scientists-ditch-academy-and-become-entrepreneurs |title=Dropping Some Science: Scientists, Ditch The Academy And Become Entrepreneurs |author=David Zax |work=Fast Company |date=4 April 2012 |access-date=18 August 2012}}

Science Exchange is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), with customers paying an annual subscription fee.

In August 2012 Science Exchange partnered with the open-access scientific publisher Public Library of Science (PLOS) to launch the Reproducibility Initiative, a program developed to assist researchers in validating their findings by repeating their experiments through independent laboratories.{{citation |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/08/reproducing_scientific_studies_a_good_housekeeping_seal_of_approval_.html |title=Good Scientist! You Get a Badge |author=Carl Zimmer |date=14 August 2012 |publisher=Slate |access-date=18 August 2012}}{{citation |url=http://www.bio-itworld.com/news/08/17/12/Reproducibility-Initiative-increase-value-biomedical-research.html |title=Reproducibility Initiative to Increase the Value of Biomedical Research |date=17 August 2012 |publisher= Bio IT World |access-date=18 August 2012}} The program is facilitated by the Science Exchange platform, which matches scientists with experimental service providers according to areas of expertise. Iorns has been a longtime spokesperson on the issue of reproducibility in academic research.{{citation |url=http://blog.scienceexchange.com/2012/04/the-need-for-reproducibility-in-academic-research/ |title=The Need for Reproducibility in Academic Research |author=Elizabeth Iorns |date=6 April 2012 |publisher=Science Exchange |access-date=18 August 2012}}

In 2013 Science Exchange partnered with the Center for Open Science to reproduce findings from widely cited published research in the field of cancer research. The goal of the study, called the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology (RP:CB), is to find common reasons explaining why aspects of experiments are hard to reproduce by independent laboratories.{{citation |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/what-proportion-of-cancer-studies-are-reliable/513485/ |title=How Reliable Are Cancer Studies? |author=Ed Yong |date=18 January 2017 |publisher=The Atlantic |access-date=22 February 2017}}{{citation |title=Replication studies offer much more than technical details |author=Nature editorial |date=18 January 2017 |journal=Nature |volume=541 |issue=7637 |pages=259–260 |doi=10.1038/541259b |pmid=28102281 |bibcode=2017Natur.541R.259. |s2cid=4452092 |doi-access=free }}{{citation |url=http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/1/23/14324326/replication-science-is-hard |title=Cancer scientists are having trouble replicating groundbreaking research |author=Belluz, Julia |author-link=Julia Belluz |date=23 January 2017 |publisher=Vox |access-date=22 February 2017}} In January 2017, the first five replication studies of the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology (RP:CB) were published.{{citation |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/01/18/510304871/what-does-it-mean-when-cancer-findings-cant-be-reproduced |title=What Does it Mean When Cancer Findings Can't Be Reproduced? |author=Richard Harris |date=18 January 2017 |publisher=NPR |access-date=22 February 2017}} Three more RP:CB replication studies were published in June 2017.{{citation |url=https://osf.io/e81xl/wiki/home/?_ga=2.20288700.505222041.1512403884-1508414524.1512403884 |title=Reproducibility Project:Cancer Biology page on the Open Science Framework |author=Open Science Framework |date=27 June 2017 |publisher=Open Science Framework |doi=10.17605/OSF.IO/E81XL |access-date=3 December 2017}}

On 30 July 2013 Science Exchange launched a program with reagent supplier antibodies-online.com, based in Aachen, Germany, to independently validate research antibodies.{{citation |title=NIH mulls rules for validating key results |author=Meredith Wadman |date=31 July 2013 |journal=Nature |volume=500 |issue=7460 |pages=14–16 |doi=10.1038/500014a |pmid=23903729 |bibcode=2013Natur.500...14W |s2cid=321809 |doi-access=free }}{{cite web | url=http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/medizin/qualitaet-der-forschung-rettet-die-wissenschaft-a-959629.html| title= Rettet die Wissenschaft|author= Nicola Kurth | publisher=Spiegel Online | date=March 23, 2014 | access-date=September 26, 2014}}

{{cite web | url=http://www.biotechniques.com/BiotechniquesJournal/2014/March/The-Antibody-Challenge/biotechniques-350688.html|title= The Antibody challenge|author= Jeffrey M. Perkel | publisher=BioTechniques | date=March 2014 | access-date=September 29, 2014}}

In June 2011, Science Exchange received a $100,000 investment from StartFunds' Yuri Milner, a $50,000 investment from angel investor Ron Conway, and a $20,000 investment from Y Combinator as part of participating in the startup accelerator program. In December 2011 the company announced it had closed a $1.5-million seed financing round led by Andreessen Horowitz.{{citation |url=https://techcrunch.com/2011/12/02/science-exchanges-marketplace-for-research-facilities-gets-a-1-5-million-boost/ |title=Science Exchange's Marketplace For Research Facilities Gets A $1.5 Million Boost |author=Jason Kincaid |date=2 December 2011|publisher=TechCrunch |access-date=18 August 2012}}{{citation |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/biotech/2011/12/science-exchange-y-combinator.html |title=Science Exchange Raises $1.5 M |author=Ron Leuty |date=5 December 2011 |publisher=San Francisco Business Times |access-date=18 August 2012}} In May 2013 the company closed a $4-million Series A financing round led by Union Square Ventures, Tim O'Reilly's O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and several leading angel investors including Esther Dyson, Joshua Schachter, Lisa Gansky and Yuri Milner.{{citation |url=http://allthingsd.com/20130429/science-exchange-raises-2-million-to-help-outsource-experiments/ |title=Science Exchange Raises $3 Million to Help Outsource Experiments |author=Peter Kafka |date=29 April 2013|publisher=AllThingsD |access-date=3 May 2013}}{{citation |url=http://www.usv.com/2013/04/science-exchange.php |title=Science Exchange |author=Andy Weissman |date=29 April 2013|publisher=USV |access-date=3 May 2013}}{{citation |url=http://bryce.vc/post/49264636545/our-investment-in-science-exchange |title=Our Investment in Science Exchange |author=Bryce Roberts |date=29 April 2013|publisher=OATV |access-date=3 May 2013}}{{citation |url=http://blog.scienceexchange.com/2013/04/science-exchange-series-a-financing/ |title=Science Exchange Series A Financing |author=Science Exchange |date=30 April 2013|publisher=Science Exchange |access-date=3 May 2013}} In March 2016 the company announced it had closed a $25-million Series B financing round led by Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital.{{citation |url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/23/science-exchange-moves-into-big-pharma-with-25-million-in-series-b-funding/ |title=Science Exchange moves into big pharma with $25 million in Series B funding |author=Sarah Buhr |date=23 March 2016|publisher=TechCrunch |access-date=30 March 2016}} In June 2017 Science Exchange raised $28-million in Series C funding, led by Norwest Venture Partners. In October 2019, the company announced it had raised an additional $20 million in financing, from a combination of equity and debt sources. Maverick Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners led the financing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191016005521/en/Science-Exchange-Raises-Capital-Advance-Innovative-Outsourced|title=Science Exchange Raises Capital to Advance Innovative Outsourced R&D Platform to Drive Biopharma Productivity|date=2019-10-16|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en|access-date=2019-10-17}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.scienceexchange.com/ Science Exchange website]

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Category:Companies based in Palo Alto, California

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Category:Scientific databases

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