Rebel With a Cause
Rice pioneers a biotech venture focused on delivering breakthrough therapies to patients.
Spring 2025
By Silvia Cernea Clark
To be on the cutting edge of biotech means creating something brand-new — and at Rice, that’s not just devices. Launched last fall, RBL LLC is committed to rapidly building companies based on the life-saving medical technologies developed at Rice’s very own Biotech Launch Pad.
RBL’s mission is to fast-track the journey “from bench to bedside” by leveraging a large portfolio of over 100 patents from Rice faculty, bringing together scientists and engineers with experienced business executives to launch companies in a thriving biotech innovation environment.
“This is a pivotal moment for Houston and beyond,” says Paul Wotton, executive director of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad and RBL’s managing partner. “Houston has rapidly emerged as a global life sciences powerhouse, blending cutting-edge research with early clinical applications at Rice and the city’s world-renowned hospital systems.”
Located in Houston’s Texas Medical Center Helix Park, RBL bridges the gap between academic biotech discoveries and the clinical care market. RBL’s location within the TMC provides greater opportunity to collaborate with premier clinical centers, corporate partners and global investors — all within the same complex — to rapidly bring groundbreaking therapies to patients by directly transforming Rice’s most promising life science technologies into high-impact ventures, company leaders said.
Our goal is to rapidly bring Rice’s pioneering research into the clinic, delivering lifesaving solutions to patients around the world.
RBL was co-founded by an experienced team of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and investors, including Wotton; Omid Veiseh, Rice professor of bioengineering and faculty director of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad; Jacob Robinson, Rice professor of electrical and computer engineering and of bioengineering; and Dr. Rima Chakrabarti, a physician scientist and venture capital investor with KdT Ventures.
“RBL provides a powerful platform to translate high-impact scientific discoveries into therapies that will dramatically improve patient outcomes,” Veiseh says. “Our goal is to rapidly bring Rice’s pioneering research into the clinic, delivering lifesaving solutions to patients around the world.”
The creation of RBL was spearheaded by Paul Cherukuri, Rice’s chief innovation officer, and Veiseh, who recognized the need for launching a commercial entity to create multiple startup companies faster from newly developed biotechnology.
“RBL is a game-changer for Rice, Houston and the global biotech community,” Cherukuri says. “This venture not only accelerates the commercialization of our innovations but also sets a blueprint for other universities looking to maximize the real-world impact of their discoveries. By combining scientific expertise with entrepreneurial support and strategic clinical partnerships in the TMC, we’re creating a model for driving large-scale biotech innovation that universities everywhere should aspire to replicate.”