{"id":83575,"title":"Biocartesian - Converting biology into digital molecular maps","tagline":"We use chemistry and microscopy to help scientists discover new drugs.","body":"**Tl;dr**: Finding new cures requires knowing **what** and **where** the abnormal molecules are in a diseased tissue, but current tools see less than 1% of those molecules. [Biocartesian](https://www.biocartesian.com/) combines microscopy and new chemistries to see a comprehensive picture, offering unprecedented insights into disease biology and new therapeutic approaches.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=83575\u0026key=user_uploads/89898/ee18ecba-242d-4cb0-bb1b-d9ab6de69ddd)\n\n# **👩‍🔬 Team**\n\nWe’re [**Ian**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-dardani) and [**Jess**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessxli/), two former UPenn PhDs on a mission to see every molecule in biological specimens. We’ve spent years advancing and troubleshooting the latest tools in biology, from DNA sequencing to microscopy, but even with these efforts, these tools revealed only a fraction of the underlying biology. We dreamed of a way for scientists to see everything (and fast) so they could reduce their guesswork and focus on the most promising therapeutic approaches.\n\n# ❌ **Problem**\n\nMost diseases remain a mystery because existing methods can see less than 1% of the molecules within a biological specimen. These methods can also take months for scientists to set up and often fail, wasting thousands of dollars per specimen and millions in failed drug programs.\n\n# 🔬 **Our approach**\n\nWe’re combining new chemistries and microscopy to see a full map of the molecules in biological specimens. Imagine if we could see into the \\~500 million existing tumor specimens to decode these cancers.\n\nTo use our technology, scientists simply ship their biological specimens to our laboratory, where we automate their conversion into digital molecular maps – saving them months of tedious data collection and troubleshooting.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=83575\u0026key=user_uploads/1116949/7deca4d9-cf29-45b4-852d-1fc471672b75)\n\nOur solution:\n\n* Enables scientists in any disease area to 50X their data collection\n* Saves scientists months of time\n* Lowers the cost of biological measurements\n* Expands access to bespoke assays developed by any scientist by integrating with our platform\n* Meets the growing demand for biological data as AI-led analysis supersedes the bottleneck of human-led analysis\n* Turns biology from 99% invisible to an interpretable problem\n\n# **🙏 Asks**\n\nIf you’re excited about this and would like to learn more, email us at:\n\n[**interested@biocartesian.com**](mailto:interested@biocartesian.com)\n\nor reach us at \u003chttps://www.biocartesian.com\u003e","slug":"Ljz-biocartesian-converting-biology-into-digital-molecular-maps","created_at":"2024-08-29T15:17:26.070Z","updated_at":"2026-05-25T00:32:40.568Z","total_vote_count":265,"url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Ljz-biocartesian-converting-biology-into-digital-molecular-maps","share_image_url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/media/?type=post\u0026id=83575\u0026key=user_uploads/89898/efcdf95a-0e15-47ac-b30c-b69fa483516e","company":{"id":29749,"name":"Biocartesian","slug":"biocartesian","url":"https://www.biocartesian.com","logo":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/829faf276e5fc759cb0c8e72860cd6cdab552050.png","batch":"Summer 2024","industry":"Healthcare","tags":["Hard Tech","B2B","Biotech","Diagnostics","Drug discovery"],"search_path":"https://bookface.ycombinator.com/company/29749"}}