“We are building Voxcell in Victoria because the quality of life here is fantastic…” —Karolina Valente, CEO, VoxCell BioInnovation
James MacDonald Photography
The Life Sciences Innovator
Karolina Valente was a young girl living in Brazil when her mother was first diagnosed with breast cancer. By the time the cancer returned years later, Karolina was pursuing her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Victoria.
“I still remember the day that I could decide what to do with my thesis,” she says. “ I decided to really understand how cancer works.”
It wasn’t until later, until the end of her PhD, that Karolina came up with the idea for VoxCell, a Victoria-based company creating human-like cancer tissue models and proprietary universal bioinks for the drug development industry. VoxCell’s 3D bioprinted tissue models provide drug developers with a more human-like platform to better test the effectiveness of anti-cancer drug candidates.
“The majority of the drugs that are tested in humans in clinical trials fail, says Karolina, “so Voxcell is creating a platform for those drugs to be tested earlier and for us to have an indication if those drugs are going to work in humans or not. That became my life mission.
Part of a Dynamic, Growing Sector
“We are building Voxcell in Victoria,” says Karolina, “because the quality of life here is fantastic…”
The life sciences sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors in B.C., Karolina says. “We want to stay in Victoria. We want to continue growing this business in Victoria. We want VoxCell to be known for being in Victoria. I could not have imagined building a business anywhere else, to be honest.”
James MacDonald Photography
