It didn't look like the beginning of a global biotech company. In 2012, six scientists working in a corner of a UBC lab were developing technology they believed could transform how new medicines are discovered -- the team that would go on to form AbCellera.
From left to right, AbCellera's Chief Technology Officer Dr. Veronique Lecault with CEO Dr. Carl Hansen at the company's Mount Pleasant headquarters. (Photo credit: Paul H. Joseph/UBC Communications.)
Using innovations in microfluidics -- tiny lab-on-a-chip systems that can test hundreds of thousands of cells at once -- and machine learning, the team built tools that could rapidly find the antibodies most likely to fight disease. The process would compress months of discovery into days.
"We were a small team, but we believed that with enough grit -- and a bit of luck -- this technology could be a game changer," said Dr. Carl Hansen, then a UBC professor leading the team.
At the time, few outside the scientific community were talking about antibodies. Yet these tiny proteins are behind many of today's most powerful medical treatments -- from cancer therapies to drugs that fight infection, and, as the world would soon learn, therapies to confront a global pandemic. The first approved COVID-19 antibody therapies came from antibodies AbCellera discovered, and it changed the trajectory of the company.
"Our COVID-19 therapies proved our business model could work, proved our technology to some extent, and generated significant revenue," said Dr. Hansen. "That revenue allowed us to build facilities, invest in teams, and complete building the foundation of the company."
From a team of six to 600
That moment put AbCellera on the global stage. What began as a small UBC team has grown into one of Canada's fastest-growing biotech companies with about 600 employees. Dr. Hansen is CEO, while fellow co-founder and UBC alumna Dr. Véronique Lecault, who was a PhD student in Dr. Hansen's lab, now serves as the company's Chief Technology Officer.
"When we chose to build the company here, people were saying you can't really build something like this in Canada," said Dr. Lecault. "But we looked around at UBC and saw all the ingredients for success. The talent, the curiosity, the drive -- it was all here."
That decision to stay and grow in B.C. has reshaped the province's life sciences sector. In 2021, AbCellera began building its new global headquarters, a tech campus that includes two facilities totaling 380,000 square feet, in Vancouver's Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, anchoring a growing innovation district that is also home to companies like Zymeworks and Aspect Biosystems. Another facility recently completed on nearby Evans Avenue houses a clinical-grade manufacturing site for antibody therapies, a first-of-its-kind in Canada, that expands the country's ability to develop and manufacture new medicines at home.
The UBC advantage
In biotechnology, the early years are the hardest. Dr. Hansen noted that companies like Lilly and Merck have had a century to grow their capabilities. New companies must prove their science, find partners, and build infrastructure -- all at once.
"To get a company lab up and running would cost $10 to $15 million," Dr. Hansen said. "To fund this, the vast majority of the company would be owned by an early investor, which means you end up selling great ideas before they've had even a chance to blossom, never mind bear fruit."
At UBC, AbCellera had the time and space to take a different path. For its first five years, the company operated out of UBC lab space where the team could refine the technology, validate the science, and build the foundation that would allow the company to grow independently.
"Having university support early on was essential," he said. "The clock doesn't start until you take that big investment, and incubating at the university for five years was a huge advantage."
Building Canada's biotech talent pipeline
That environment also gives AbCellera access to an extraordinary pipeline of talent. Many of AbCellera's leaders and team members -- who call themselves 'AbCellerites' -- trace their careers back to UBC.
At one point, half of the company was made up of people who had either studied or worked at UBC, helping to grow B.C.'s talent base and strengthen the province's life sciences sector.
From left to right, AbCellera's Director of Engineering Dylan Neid, with Chief Technology Officer Dr. Veronique Lecault and Vice President of Communications, Tiffany Chiu. All are UBC alumni. (Photo credit: Paul H. Joseph/UBC Communications.)
AbCellera also brings on students from across Canada through its internship program, giving them hands-on experience in biotech and a direct path into the industry.
"People are really what make this company," said Dr. Lecault, who has personally met with nearly every AbCellera team member during the hiring process.
"We take the time to choose who we bring onto the team because that's where the magic happens," she added. "I look for curiosity, adaptability, and people who are passionate about what they do and who think about the bigger picture. When you bring people like that together, you can throw any problem at them and they'll find a way."
New medicines, made in Canada
The company is now advancing its first investigational antibody therapies into clinical trials taking place in Vancouver, including a potential treatment for vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause and another targeting atopic dermatitis, a common inflammatory skin condition.
As part of the Canada's Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub (CIEBH) led by UBC, AbCellera is also helping establish British Columbia as a centre for next-generation drug development.
"Vancouver has a real presence in biotechnology, and much of that has its roots at UBC," Dr. Hansen said. "I would say that if you look across the country, there isn't a comparable centre of strength that has as much potential as we have here."
For Dr. Lecault, it always comes back to people.
"We're surrounded by incredible talent, and we're just scratching the surface of what's possible for life sciences in B.C.," she said.
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