Welcome to the latest round of Lab Chat, in which we try to demystify the often complex field of biomedical research. Today, our well informed post-doc takes on commercial drug development, specifically, why the heck does it take so long for prescription drugs to move from lab to local pharmacy?
 

With a culture of collaboration, a willingness to adapt and a focus on creating the kind of urban environment that attracts creative talent, the Steel City has moved from gritty to green and is now poised for the next wave of growth.

Navigating the streets of Cleveland on a bicycle is nothing new to Will Ansley; he's an experienced and dedicated bike messenger. “A lot of people do it for a little bit and either can’t handle it or don’t like it,” Ansley says of the high rate of turnover in his vocation.
 
The only problem Ansley has encountered is that he wasn't earning his fair share. “A lot of [messenger] companies these days don’t give you a fair percentage of the rate they are charging,” Ansley says. “Since you’re not getting that much money and the company doesn’t care about their workers, people leave.”
 
So Ansley decided to take matters into his own hands. This past March he launched Ohio City-based North Coast Courier, the only employee-owned bike courier service in Cleveland. He based the company on a trend he’d seen in Chicago, where many courier companies are worker-owned and everyone gets a say in company decisions.
 
Right now, North Coast Courier is focused on personal deliveries, like food and groceries. But the company will deliver pretty much whatever a customer wants. The delivery zones are downtown from the lake to Carnegie Avenue and E. 30th Street, Tremont, Ohio City and Gordon Square. The cost is only $5 for delivery in any of these zones and $7 for delivery beyond E. 9th Street.
 
There are a few spots that North Coast Courier also will deliver to: The Hildebrandt Building, 78th Street Studios, the Flats and Jakprints. “It’s because we know a lot of people in those buildings and lots of them are worker-owned businesses or solo-owned,” explains Ansley.
 

The Templin Bradley Company building, the stout brick frame of which has served as a gateway to the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood for the past 100 years, once housed the nation's largest seed and bulb company. Templin Bradley gave away literally hundreds of thousands of seeds and bulbs during the Depression, and was a leader in helping citizens start victory gardens during World War II.

Yet this landmark property at 5700 Detroit has been vacant and boarded up for over 10 years, collecting weeds and trash. Plans to remake it into loft condos floundered during the recession. But now that property will be reborn as a 30-unit apartment building, slated to open next spring. Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization (DSCDO) and its partners have worked doggedly over the past few years to assemble the development plans and financing to get this long-sought project off the ground.

"It's been a major eyesore along Detroit Avenue, and really remains the largest problem property there," says Matt Lasko, Assistant Director of DSCDO. "It's really important for us as a CDC to be able to preserve its history and story."

The project will consist of 15 affordable apartments and 15 market-rate units. The redevelopment will return the building to its original 1916 look, which includes the reinstallation of fabric awnings on the first floor, the re-creation of a master stairwell on the front of the building, and the restoration of a seed bed along Detroit that Templin Bradley once used to test and advertise its products.

The front of the building also will feature a prominent public art installation and a quasi-public space with benches that can be enjoyed by residents and the public.

The building will offer secure indoor parking on the first floor and unique living spaces above. There will be four artist live-work spaces with lower levels designed for painting, sculpting and other artistic endeavors. The units will have concrete floors, high ceilings, exposed ductwork and expansive windows. Prices will range from $630 to $840 per month for one-bedroom units and $750 to $950 per month for two-bedroom suites.

Construction will begin next month, and DSCDO is hosting a groundbreaking event on Thursday, May 29 at 10 a.m.

The project is being developed by DSCDO in partnership with the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, Ohio Development Services Agency, Huntington Bank, City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, The National Endowment for the Arts, Vintage Development and Marous brothers construction.

Eugene Malinskiy already is on his third startup and he's not even 30 yet. He created his first company when he was 16, later selling both for a profit. Now he's launched Dragon ID, a healthcare innovation and design firm that has grown from zero to 20 employees in the span of just two years.

Dragon ID is a biomedical startup that helps doctors and hospitals solve healthcare problems. The firm focuses on the medical device, health IT and surgery markets, and has a cross-functional team of whizzes to help healthcare professionals create solutions. The Dragon ID team is working on a number of products, but one that's getting buzz is EuCliD, which will be used in transcatheter aortic valve replacements to help prevent emboli from breaking away and causing blood clots or strokes.

Recently, Dragon ID moved from Shaker Launchhouse to the Heights Rockefeller building, where it is currently customizing its own space, including a lab, to accommodate growth. Malinskiy says the firm will benefit from having more professional offices and a location that's closer to where employees live.

"The City of Cleveland Heights was very welcoming," he says, referencing financial incentives that helped seal the deal. "They really want us here."

Malinskiy attributes Dragon ID's growth to the booming healthcare sector in Cleveland, where he can do business with the Clinic and other big players. "Being here, companies can come to us and say, 'We have this idea, what can you do?'"

Typically, Malinskiy and his cohorts receive an inquiry, then spend time vetting it, including attending surgeries, to understand the scope of the problem and potential solution. Once a solution is identified, the team builds a digital or physical prototype. Then, if the client decides to move forward, the company invests in bringing the product market through animal and human trials.

Dragon ID is internally funded through contracts with hospitals and doctors. The company has also won grant awards from MAGNET and the Innovation Fund.

 
The entrepreneurs behind Piccadilly Artisan Yogurt have unveiled the concept behind their new shop in University Circle. The Cleveland-based company's latest location, Piccadilly Artisan Creamery, will feature a style of ice cream and yogurt that is made using liquid nitrogen to rapidly freeze small batches of delicious ice cream.

This process of using liquid nitrogen to instantly craft yogurt and ice cream has grown rapidly on the West Coast, but Piccadilly is the first company in Cleveland to employ the technique. The process has three main benefits, say founders Adrian and Cosmin Bota: the rich and creamy texture it gives the frozen treats, the customization afforded to the customer, and the lack of preservatives needed when making it.

It all begins with the liquid nitrogen, which boils at an astounding -321 degrees Fahrenheit (that's several degrees colder than it was during the recent Polar Vortex). The nitrogen is added to the other ice cream ingredients in a mixer, where the nitrogen instantly freezes the contents on contact.

“We're really gonna let people go crazy and create their own thing,” Adrian explained during a demonstration on Thursday evening. Customers can decide what goes into their yogurt or ice cream and how soft or hard the texture will be. Because the ice cream or yogurt is being prepared fresh for each customer, preservatives are never necessary, which the owners claim results in a better-tasting product.

The Botas teamed up with designer Sailee Gupte, who helped transform the new store on Euclid. The tables and countertops are made of thick slabs of raw, live-edge wood. Exposed brick on walls gives the shop an edgy, urban feel. “Each area [Piccadilly] moves into has a specific feel and we want to pay homage to that," Sailee explained. To pay tribute to University Circle, the owners opted for “a more vintage and rustic theme.”

Piccadilly's owners have a passion for local, organic food that is evident in the menu offerings at their existing locations in Cleveland Heights and Ohio City. The owners buy from a local farm that does not use any preservatives, hormones or antibiotics, and they source other ingredients from the West Side Market. The Botas also will offer vegan yogurt options in the University Circle store.

“We’re just excited to be a part of this neighborhood," Bota told those in attendance.
 
The official grand opening of the new Piccadilly in University Circle is May 24th.
 

There's more than one way to get around Cleveland. As more and more alternative transportation options like Lyft, Uber and pedicabs enter the local market, residents are discovering that it's increasingly becoming easier to leave the wheels at home. Fresh Water took them for a test drive.

Welcome to the latest edition of Who’s Hiring in Cleveland?
 
There are plenty of good jobs to be found here in Cleveland. This is the latest installment in a regular series of posts in which we feature companies that are hiring, what those employers are looking for, and how to apply.
 
Here’s the latest Cleveland hiring news:
 
Lazorpoint, a customer-service driven information systems consulting company, has positions available within their IT help desk. The company also needs support/system engineers, .NET application developer and a CRM architect. Visit the Lazorpoint careers page for more information on each position and how to apply.
 
JumpStart, an organization that partners with community leaders to spark the growth of new entrepreneurial companies and builds resources and support for those companies, has three positions open: a marketing principal; a director of the mentoring program development; and a product development manager. Register with JumpStart’s career center to apply for these jobs.
 
Beachwood-based Luscious Verde, creators of handmade cards, invitations and announcements, needs a rock star full time salesperson. The position pays a base salary plus commission. The candidate with a great track record will be compensated accordingly. Send resume and cover letter to the hiring manager.
 
Have hiring news you’d like to share? Email Karin at Fresh Water Cleveland and send us this information or career links!

When Tim Hayes told his family as a kid that he wanted to make a cardboard box fly, they laughed at him. Yet decades later, he drew on those childhood experiences to help name his two-year-old product development company after the kind of imaginative, "blue sky" thinking that he exhibited on that day. 

Cardboard Helicopter Product Development, as it is now called, might just be inventing the next big consumer product right from the heart of Lakewood.

"I've wanted to be an inventor forever," says Hayes, an industrial designer who started the company with two childhood friends that he's known for years, Sean Barry and Carlo Russo, and fellow Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) grad Mustafa Kalic. "That's kind of why I went to school, to do my own thing one day."

Although Cleveland isn't as well known for product development as coastal cities like San Francisco, and Hayes has watched dozens of talented coworkers leave the area over the years, the landscape is shifting. Companies are more open to ideas from outside than in the past, thanks in part to the trend of open innovation. Essentially, Cardboard Helicopter's founders spend their days pitching ideas to companies, in hopes that they'll get a chance to create the next big thing.

Hayes explains that the business is broken into three parts: contract industrial design for hire, where Cardboard Helicopter helps design a product that's already sketched out; product licensing, where the firm designs a product from scratch and then attempts to license it with a company; and manufacturing, where the company attempts to create its own products.

The company's 6,000-square-foot headquarters on Detroit in Lakewood's west end provide a veritable playground for dreaming up and creating new ideas. The upstairs is an open-space studio with a ping pong table and pool table "to help get the blood flowing once in a while," says Hayes. The downstairs has a shipping area, large kitchen and shop where products can be built and tested.

Hayes and most of his coworkers live in Lakewood and enjoy walking or biking to work. The company recently has done work for Enerco and Jokari, among others.

"In the next five years, we'll hopefully have hundreds of licensed products," says Hayes. "We're able to do everything at a very low cost, because we have industrial design resources here. [We're] about keeping creative talent here. I went to school and just watched everybody leave, but there are so many manufacturing companies here. I think people can stay here and have longevity."

The New Ventures Healthcare Challenge once again will kick off the Cleveland Clinic’s 2014 Medical Innovation Summit, introducing the world to healthcare information technology companies with new and creative concepts.
 
"We’re looking for anything creative, innovative or inspiring," says Gary Fingerhut, executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations (CCI). “We want anything that’s going to revolutionize the health of our patients.”
 
While the summit does not start until October 27, the deadline for the first round of the challenge -- a video submission -- is Friday, May 30. “This year is a much more structured approach, with three rounds,” says Fingerhut. “There is the new video round, which explains what’s unique, why the idea is a game changer and how big an impact it will have." The second round is a web conference presentation. A select group of candidates will then be asked to present at the summit to a panel of experts and venture capitalists."
 
The winning company will work with CCI and its advisory board on commercialization strategies. The team will also demonstrate its product to a select group of Cleveland Clinic caregivers.
 
“Last year, the competition added a lot of energy because we had these really bright entrepreneurs from 40 states and 20 countries,” says Fingerhut. “It’s an exciting way to kick things off.” Eleven teams ultimately presented their concepts to the board.
 
Last year’s winner presented a thermometer that connects to the cloud for predictive analysis of the flu across the country. CCI currently is assisting the team with commercialization end of the product.
 
Applicants must submit a You Tube link to MIS2014@ccf.org  by May 30 to be considered for the video round.
 

Camino, a new Mexican restaurant and "tequileria," has opened on West Ninth Street in the heart of the Warehouse District. Eddy Galindo, the restaurateur behind Luchita’s, opened the venue to provide a casual, everyday option for downtown’s growing residential base.
 
Camino aims to capture the neighborhood’s “up-and-coming and increasingly residential community,” explains manager Lindsey Henderson. The venue, which is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, serves tacos, wings, burgers, empanadas, salsas and guacamole. On the drinks side is a sizeable selection of tequilas, craft beer and margaritas.

The menu features small plates priced from $3 to $5, including flank steak, mango-chicken, and chicken tacos. Margarita flavors include cucumber and pineapple-chili, but mojitos also are a big crowd pleaser.

Camino's tasty food and drinks are accompanied by a modern, unique dining room. A long communal table sits in the middle of the room, providing guests with the option to dine family style. Spacious tables and a large bar provide plenty of additional seating. Patio seating also is available; Camino is in the process of obtaining a license so that guests can enjoy their margaritas outside.
 
The owners plan to honor regulars and neighbors by implementing a rewards card system that would give benefits and discounts to those who stop by frequently.

Finding the perfect apartment to rent can be a pain in the neck. Factor in the desired amenities, attractions and location, and the search becomes even more difficult. Amit Patel thought of all that when designing Quo, a rental tool that matches users with apartments that suit their lifestyles.

“The idea around Quo is how we can change the way people search for residential rentals,” explains Patel. “There are hundreds of places on sites like Craigslist, all with the same feel and all through the same basic search engine. We wanted to understand what people are looking for, what their lifestyle is.”
 
Scheduled to launch later this month, Quo targets college students and young professionals who are looking for specific features in their neighborhoods. “Now you can put in preferences like, I want to live near a Starbucks, or near nightlife or places to eat,” explains Patel. “Or, choose areas that are walkable, bikeable or driveable.”
 
The site also will have a renter’s toolkit, where users can pay rent, split the rent between roommates and purchase renters insurance. A referral program offers incentives for renters who introduce friends to Quo. If a referral rents an apartment through the site, the referring user gets a cash incentive.
 
Even though Quo hasn’t yet officially launched, excitement already is building through word of mouth. The company already has more than 2,100 likes on its Facebook page.
 

Sometimes, even the most adventurous resident can grow a little too comfortable living in the same city after a while. But one can always find something new to discover if we just dig a little deeper. Lucky for us, a number of smartphone apps will help the explorer in all of us get reacquainted with the city we call home.

It's been four and a half years since the first edition of "Moon Handbooks: Cleveland" was published. Considering all that has taken place in Cleveland during that time, author and Fresh Water managing editor Douglas Trattner says that for the second edition, which was released this week, he went back to the starting gate.