Alexander Kinev is the founder and CEO of Creative Scientist Inc., a Durham-based contract research operation founded in 2010. In this role, Kinev promotes cost-effective research for his clients, specializing in investigative cell biology. Creative Scientist clients include businesses in various industries, from cosmetics to pharmaceuticals to food and beverage.

After 15 years with this company, Kinev is looking for a new business venture that engages his scientific desire to uncover the unknown. Enter Altaecore – a new startup developing antimicrobial peptides to reduce contamination in the cosmetic and beverage industries.

The Durham Voice: Could you tell us about your new business venture, Altaecore?

Alexander Kinev: It’s a pre-money startup at this point. So, four people come to the lab every day to work, and a bunch of other people work as advisors, so they are like technical support. This company will develop technology to produce large quantities of antimicrobial peptides, which act as a disinfect that reduces contamination and is safe to ingest or apply to the skin.

There is already a big market for the single antimicrobial peptide that is produced today. We decided to develop a technology that will allow us to produce many different types of these peptides at a very high quality, and once you have it, you open many different markets. For example, you can use it in cosmetics. You can use it in non-alcoholic drinks, like beer, for example. You can use it for cleaning. You can use it to disinfect water.

Who is your target market for Altaecore, and how do you plan on reaching them?

We spent part of last year doing lots of market research. We went out and started talking to people before conducting our experiments. We ended up speaking to the owners of a lot of local breweries. It turns out there are certain problems they encounter when brewing non-alcoholic beer or low-alcoholic beer, which has been growing in popularity. The problem is non-alcoholic beer in itself is dangerous because, without alcohol, you don’t have protection against bacteria. So, we have decided that these local breweries will be our first customers.

Could you expand on some of the practical applications for these antimicrobial peptides?

Well, I can think of a few things. We’re trying to create a product that will open new markets.

When you produce biologics, you cannot use antibiotics because this product will go into humans, and the FDA will not allow you to use antibiotics. However, since you don’t use antibiotics, you face a problem of contamination. Whenever people work in a lab, there is bacterial contamination.

So, there are certain ways to reduce this contamination, but those methods don’t reduce contamination entirely. And this industry, our losses can be very big. One run of antibodies can cost the company $2 to $4 million. Now, if they have our peptide, it will be consumed by cells over time, but at the same time, it will protect the culture for quite a while against the majority of potential contaminants.

Why did you choose to base Creative Scientist and Altaecore in Durham?

Well, I was in the area because I had been working with UNC for about eight years, and I felt that my career wasn’t going where I wanted it to go. People spend not hours, but days, months and years writing grant applications to NIH. So, essentially, it becomes a nightmare because all you do is generate data and write grants. That’s all. You don’t have any other life. So, I realized that I don’t really want to do that. I want to develop my own projects, but to do my own projects, I need to make money. So that’s how this service [Creative Scientist Inc.] started, and the service allowed me to generate some revenue, which we put into research.

How have you funded this new venture?

Well, we started talking to NCBiotech. So basically, we’re negotiating with them to get us some funding so we can move our research forward. We are also in the process of looking into private investments for Altaecore.

For Creative Scientist, we secured some SBIR [Small Business Innovation Research] funding from NIH, which allowed us to move into RTP and buy some equipment. The company was generating revenue from the beginning, but it took us 3 to 4 years before we could make enough to grow.

Does Altaecore have any employees yet? Do you plan on hiring in the near future?

We are looking for some people but not hiring because we don’t have any cash yet. However, when I calculate how many people were involved in this project last year, counting advisors, business strategists, and researchers, I see that we have around 16 people involved in Altaecore.

What are your goals for Altaecore in the next 5 to 10 years?

I mean, ideally, I would like to create a $1 billion business and sell it.

But in all honesty, I feel like this is going to be a very big business, regardless. We’re hopeful because nobody has ever done this before, and we’re excited.

It’s an untapped market space with so many different applications across industries.