Scaling a Biotech Business: Lessons on Pivoting & Growth from Affinity Immuno

Amir describes a non-linear path into science, switching from social sciences after rediscovering biology and finding organic chemistry intuitive and creative. She explains her PhD work at the University of Calgary in carbohydrate chemistry, synthesizing tumor-associated carbohydrates to support vaccine and detection research. Amir outlines how Affinity Immuno started with off-the-shelf ELISA kits, grew within PEI’s expanding biotech ecosystem, and pivoted during COVID-19 to pandemic research tools, rapidly scaling and engaging globally before facing a post-COVID downturn. She details the company’s customer-driven expansion into custom polyclonal chicken antibody production and method development/validation, while preferring organic growth as a small-to-medium business. She also discusses active transportation initiatives in Charlottetown and reflects on pandemic risk drivers, climate change impacts on disease spread, and the value of diverse career paths in life sciences.00:00 AI Intro and Welcome01:55 Finding Science Late03:52 Why Organic Chemistry05:04 PhD Cancer Carbohydrates05:34 From Pharma to Startup08:28 Active Transport Advocacy10:54 Cycling Origin Story13:08 Affinity Immuno Growth18:53 Pivoting by Customers21:36 Small Business Vision23:09 Next Pandemic Thoughts27:31 Closing Reflections We'd be honoured if you checked us out:Pat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-tea/North Star Scientific on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIpR59D5c6N8iuYVBEVIShQNorth Star Scientific on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/north-star-scientific/Let's Navigate Science Careers Together!