The Problem Stalling Mitochondrial Research
Grace Akinyele was deep into her doctoral research on mitochondria when she found a hurdle that no amount of expert feedback or jerryrigging could resolve: the mitochondria she was studying were dying too quickly. Once extracted from a cell, they stay functional for only a few hours before they begin to lose their energy-producing abilities and die. Unlike whole cells, which can be preserved for years, there was no viable way to keep mitochondria alive without damaging their core function.
“When you extract the mitochondria, you have to use them immediately for research or you lose them,” she explained, noting that her team would work with multiple animals at the same time to get enough data. “It just created a logistical problem – because we needed to run lengthy respirometry experiments within the short viability window of the mitochondria.”
That left no margin of error. if anything went wrong in the research – which can happen routinely, either due to delays or instrument failures – they would be back to square one, losing all the samples. This wastes time, labor, and resources on experiments that were logistically difficult and expensive to run.
“Many researchers can't study mitochondria effectively, which is unfortunate because mitochondrial dysfunction is at the root of so many major diseases, like heart disease, Alzheimer's, obesity, diabetes, and even cancer,” she explained.
“It was always ringing at the back of my mind that there should be a way to preserve mitochondria."
Grace had always been interested in entrepreneurship, having pursued several non-scientific ventures in the past. But she was curious about how to merge that interest with her deep scientific background.
That’s when her husband suggested the Science Center might be a valuable resource for exploring this. Grace’s first answer was simple:
“I don't think so.”
She'd initially assumed she needed to have a fully worked-out solution for the mitochondria problem she'd identified.
“I finally decided to apply on the last day, and it has completely changed the course of my life,” she said, crediting her husband as her biggest supporter.
Grace Akinyele at her University of Pittsburgh graduate hooding ceremony
The Evolution from Innovation to Health Startup
In 2025, Grace didn’t have a startup – she had an idea. She wanted to develop a bioengineered platform to preserve mitochondrial viability and function for extended periods outside living organisms.
Exploring whether or not that idea could form a real company was the basis of her fellowship experience.
While she came into the Fellowship with a lot of entrepreneurial experience, she had never started a biotech company – which has many unique pain points and commercialization challenges.
In fact, she thought it “was going to be easy,” she said with a laugh. “But when you're starting a life science company, you're in the research phase, you're also doing a lot of customer discovery and market analysis,” she explained. “You really can't start a scientific business all by yourself, the way you can with some other businesses.”
Founders are much more reliant on other people – connections, funding, health systems, government, etc. – to get their innovation off the ground.
“You need to have a group of people, and that's one thing the Science Center really encouraged us on: have a community of people,” said Grace. “They told us that as a scientific business, we really need a community of advisors, and you need to really build out your team.”
The Science Center focuses on preparing potential entrepreneurs for the nitty-gritty parts of running a business so that they can be not just life science founders, but CEOs. Customer discovery – making sure there is an actual need for their product, and how that need translates to innovation – is a linchpin.
“When you're starting from scratch, you don't know what you don't know,” said Grace. At first, she thought customer discovery was putting the cart before the horse – why were they asking for feedback before they had a developed product to show? But then it clicked:
“It really pushed us on to just go out there, talk to people, find out if your product can be classified as nice to have or must have.” And talking to industry experts as part of the fellowship helped Grace realize her product was, in fact, a “must have” for many – it would help labs around the world save money and time on their research.
“I witnessed her transition from thinking primarily as a scientist to acting as a strategic entrepreneur,” observed Dr. Kevin Baumlin, the Fellowship’s co-director.
Sink or Swim: Moving Forward in Entrepreneurship
It’s no secret that entrepreneurship – especially life-science entrepreneurship – isn’t for the faint of heart. There is often a pivotal moment where biotech startup founders realize they are going to sink or swim.
For Grace, who had decided to move forward with her company as a result of her customer discovery journey and encouragement from her Science Center mentors, the moment came during the difficult pre-revenue stage. She'd made a deliberate choice to hold off on raising dilutive funding until she hit key technical and commercial milestones, but that meant she needed non-dilutive funding to bridge the gap (a classic early-stage biotech chicken-or-egg scenario).
“I wasn't at the point of seeking venture capital funding, so I needed to rely on non-dilutive funding, but that was the time SBIR (government funding) got shut down. So: what was I going to do next if no new funding came in?” she explained.
Wanting a safety net, she applied to a few jobs – and even received an offer.
“But after some self-reflection, I realized that I had only applied out of fear,” she recalled. “So I decided not to take the job and to just double down on the startup instead. And thankfully, Activate came through a few months later.” In Spring of 2026, Grace was accepted into the Activate Program – a prestigious entrepreneurship program that comes with $350,000 of non-dilutive funding. In other words, more than enough to keep her mitochondrial startup, now known as Mitovon Biosciences, moving forward.
Similar to the Science Center opportunity, “I almost did not apply to Activate – and that is a $350,000 opportunity that I would have lost,” she said. Her hesitation wasn't about fear; it was about fit. "I didn't think my technology aligned with the program’s priorities," she explained. So, before ruling herself out, she attended several of Activate's information sessions to learn more.
The experience of getting into both the Science Center Fellowship and Activate has taught Grace a valuable lesson.
“Apply to all the opportunities. Don't let fear stop you from going after things that might change your life.”
Grace Akinyele, founder and CEO of Mitovon Biosciences
Try and Maybe Fail: But Maybe, Succeed
It takes a special type of person to push through the noise and friction of taking a medtech innovation to market – and Grace is no stranger to pushing through.
“There are so many steps I've had to take going through a PhD as an immigrant,” she explained, having first moved to the US from Nigeria to study cancer biology. Grace wanted to apply for an EB-1A visa – which requires applicants to prove they’re in the top 1% of their profession (for context, receiving a Pulitzer prize or an Oscar are examples of achievements given for this extraordinary ability category).
“I was going to go through lawyers because most people do. But then all the lawyers told me I wasn't qualified,” she explained. “I don't think they fully understood how to translate a scientist's impact into what the visa category was actually looking for.” For some people, that may have spelled the end of it. But for Grace, it led to a question:
“What do I do then?”
The answer: reading meticulously through the application policy manual, and eventually drafting her own petition – a thousand-page self-collated document of evidence.
“And that's why nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it. I was very determined. I applied – and I got the EP-1A. And at that time, I had not even gotten my PhD. So to be recognized by the United States as being at the top of my field at that time – was just really extraordinary,” she said.
Grace noted that sometimes, her path forward has involved making bold – though respectful – asks.
“I realized I needed a specific piece of equipment for Mitovon’s R&D, but there was no way I could afford it. I contacted the CEO of the manufacturing company, proposing a scientific collaboration,” she recalled. “And that interaction yielded free equipment worth $80,000 as part of our collaboration.”
Finding a Life Science Community in Philadelphia
When Grace applied to the Science Center fellowship, she was living in Pittsburgh. Although she’s completed her full year of the fellowship, Grace will be staying in Philadelphia.
“Really and truly, I'm staying because of the biotech community in Philly,” she explained.
Philadelphia has been nationally ranked as one of the top five life science hubs in the nation – this means that Philadelphia-based biotech startups are surrounded by the connections, talent, and infrastructure needed to help a life science company thrive.
“I've really, really enjoyed the scientific community around here, the biotech startups, and the events that I've gotten to attend,” she said. “To build a life science company, you really need to be surrounded by a community of like-minded people. And I feel like Philly is a place where I'll thrive.”
Science Center cohort in the office lobby
Biotech Startups Build a Foundation of Entrepreneurship
The benefit of programs like the Founders Fellowship and Venture Fellows is that PhDs and early career professionals interested in life science entrepreneurship can explore whether it’s the right pathway for them. For Grace, it was no longer a question by the end: she is now all in on being an entrepreneur.
“Not to be too dramatic, but it has changed my life. I know that I am never going to apply for a job again,” she explained. “The fellowship gave me the foundation to achieve key milestones that have helped establish and grow my company. Like with the funding, we're getting key partners, and we’re currently setting up pilot studies.”
She credits the Science Center with reshaping her relationship with entrepreneurship.
“The Science Center has changed how I think and given me a foundation I'm still building on. I'm just very grateful,” she said.
