The Molecular Foundry’s Industry Q&A series features conversations with company leaders and entrepreneurs who have leveraged our facility’s capabilities to accelerate their technological development and commercial success. These interviews highlight how access to advanced nanoscale characterization, synthesis, and fabrication tools—combined with expert scientific guidance—has helped businesses overcome critical R&D challenges, validate new technologies, and bring innovative products to market.
How Natron Energy Turned Prussian Blue Pigment into Safer, Longer-Lasting Batteries
Colin Wessells, founder of Natron Energy, takes a moment to talk to us about how his experience as an industry user at the Foundry influenced the growth of his company right from its very inception. He shares the fascinating chemistry behind the Prussian blue electrodes in Natron’s sodium batteries, and how what he learned at the Molecular Foundry led to the company’s expansion from just him as a sole proprietor to a 250-person company with facilities across the country.
Finding the Right Peptoids for the Job
Colin McKinlay originally came to the Foundry on behalf of Nutcracker Therapeutics to learn more about peptoids—short amino acid chains similar to peptides but with expanded tunability that makes them ideal for drug delivery applications. At the Foundry, he worked with staff scientist and peptoid-pioneer Ron Zuckerman to find a way to use these molecules to deliver mRNA to specific targets in the body. Now Nutcracker Therapeutics has its own peptoid-based delivery platform which it uses to help enable personalized cancer therapeutics.
