WOBURN, Mass. – Noted local inventor and entrepreneur Ben Bikson has launched a new high-tech startup in Woburn’s science and technology cluster. Avanpore, LLC will occupy 3,200 square feet of research and development space at 21 Olympia Avenue, a Cummings Properties-managed building.
Avanpore develops separation solutions for continuous manufacture of pharmaceuticals. The startup is Bikson’s second high-tech venture in recent years. He has commercialized four technology platforms in the past.
In 2005, Bikson founded PoroGen Corporation, which manufactures molecular filtration membranes. The company first leased a small incubator lab with Cummings Properties in 2007, and has since grown to a 35,000-square-foot operation in Cummings’ Cabot Road campus in Woburn.
PoroGen was acquired in 2015 by French-owned Air Liquide Advanced Technologies US LLC. Bikson stayed on as deputy vice president until striking off on his own to found Avanpore.
“I returned to Cummings with my latest venture because I know the real estate firm can support my company’s development at any stage,” said Bikson. “Experience has taught me that if I need to expand faster than anticipated, Cummings will find me a larger space to accommodate my growth.”
Cummings Properties key accounts manager Marc Knittle worked directly with Bikson on the lease.
“Finding an appropriately sized facility with existing lab infrastructure was important for an early-stage firm like Avanpore,” said Knittle. “Cummings has an established history of placing startups in spaces that provide them the opportunity to innovate and evolve without delay.”
Among Avanpore’s new neighbors are science and technology firms Agrivida, Covaris, Modular Genetics, Nantero, and Novarials.
Bikson holds a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from Riga Polytechnic Institute in Latvia and a Doctor of Philosophy in Polymer Chemistry from Weizmann Institute Science in Rehovot, Israel. A member of the American Chemical Society and North American Membrane Society, he lives in Newton and holds dozens of patents related to membrane technologies.
