Featured Prime Mover: Dimension Inx CEO Caralynn Nowinski Collens

Last month, Prime Movers Lab led Dimension Inx’s $12 million Series A round to help the company commercialize its regenerative therapeutics. We caught up with Dimension Inx CEO Caralynn Nowinski Collens to ask about their new facility in Chicago, see who inspires her every day, and discover what makes her a prime mover. Here is a portion of that conversation:

Can you tell me a bit about your background?

After starting my first company during medical school, my entire career shifted from medical research to focusing on how to turn deep tech into products, primarily in the life sciences. I spent time in venture capital and investment banking before I took a detour from biotech in 2011 to build an advanced manufacturing innovation center. That’s what led me to meeting my now partners, Ramille Shah and Adam Jakus, the inventors of our biomaterials and manufacturing platform. In late 2019, I joined them to lead Dimension Inx.

What inspired you to join Dimension Inx?

I am motivated by building companies and teams that use transformational technology to improve people’s lives. Dimension fits my personal mission perfectly. Further, from my last company, I was excited about how advances in materials and manufacturing technologies could allow us to engineer in ways not possible before — or in Dimension’s case, how we could engineer biology to create therapeutic solutions for big unmet patient needs.

Can you explain how Dimension Inx creates implants that direct cell behavior and actually regrow tissue and bone?

We know that tissues are more than just cells, and cells are not enough on their own to rebuild or regenerate. We use our biomaterials and biomanufacturing process to engineer three-dimensional microenvironments that mimic the cell’s natural environment and provide cues for growth. Think of these as blueprints that direct cells to behave in the intended way.

Why is the company turning its attention to restoring ovary health now?

We started with hard and soft tissue to derisk the technology as well as manufacturing and regulatory pathways, but our platform really shines for restoring tissue and organ function. The complexity of the ovarian microenvironment and its role in healthy egg development creates an opportunity to showcase what our platform can do, while also creating novel solutions for fertility and women’s health more broadly.

Dimension will move into a new facility in Chicago next month. What will this new space help you achieve?

Not only will we expand our R&D footprint and capabilities, but we will also have a cGMP production area that will ready us for launch of our first product, CMFlex, a bone regeneration device for facial reconstruction. We will also now have the space to grow our team through this next phase.

What was the least expected challenge you’ve overcome to reach this point?

I initially expected that we would limit our internal production to pilot scale and would leverage a contract manufacturer for full production. COVID changed that assumption, and as many facilities shut down, we made a decision to build cGMP capabilities on our own. This not only ensured that development kept on pace, but we also discovered ways to build new IP and capture more long-term economic value.

Who inspires you?

I am inspired by those who dedicate their lives in service of others, those who live authentically with purpose, and those who persevere through huge challenges to find a solution. A fitting example with relevance to Dimension: Women like my sister, now the mother of two, who faced extreme challenges and sadness in her journey yet stopped at nothing to become a mother. And my other sister who became a surrogate to help her on that journey. There are too many of these stories, and everyone inspires me.

Have you read anything lately that inspired you?

I am greatly inspired by stories of perseverance. I recently read Jonathon Kozol’s “Fire in the Ashes”, which told a number of stories from his 25 years working among the poorest families in America. Reading the stories of the children who overcame all odds and their parents who were determined to change their children’s trajectory was incredibly motivating.

Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.

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