We Are Cortex | Guillermo Rivera

In some ways, biotech company CapyBio is the happy result of a few complementary combinations. For one, co-founder Guillermo Rivera is a cell biologist, experienced in the lab with cell systems, while partner Samantha Morris is a computational biologist, skilled with big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

After they penned a research paper together, it grabbed the attention of BioGenerator, based in Cortex. The biotech investor saw an opportunity to create a business.

“When they approached, we said we don't have any expertise in this area,” Rivera said. “Being a scientist, I have no idea how to run a company.” And from that partnership, CapyBio — also headquartered in Cortex — was born.

Since then, CapyBio has gained investors from St. Louis Arch Angels and, in July 2023, an undisclosed share of a $2.4 million grant from the Missouri Technology Corporation.

The company is using AI and machine learning to build tools to create cell-based products that can be used in regenerative medicine therapies. More simply, CapyBio creates blueprints for how cells form and how scientists can differentiate them into, for example, cardiac or liver cells, so researchers can potentially create new organs or medical therapies.

“It could lead to better medicines, cheaper medicines,” Rivera said. “It could lead to better models so we understand better diseases such as cancer.”

With a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from the University of York in England, and while working as a senior scientist at the Washington University School of Medicine, Rivera was grateful for the chance to engage with pros at BioGenerator. He could do after-hours work to get up to speed in the business of biotech.

“This is the stuff of dreams, right? I don't think this would have been possible without the ecosystem that the Cortex has. It's all thanks to them.”