A Fort 91原创-based company launched by a local researcher aims to help other scientists and grad students while they undertake their complex lab work.

PositionScale was created by Dr. Negin Kazemian, a microbiome researcher with a PhD from the University of Okanagan.

Her new project isn't about bacteria, it's about reaching out to solve systemic person-to-person issues in research labs, including burnout, lack of institutional support, and mentorship gaps.

"As a grad student, I saw other grad students struggle," Kazemian said.

Meanwhile, the professors overseeing the grad students were also often struggling to balance their lab work and teaching.

PositionScale is about offering support services to laboratory operations, helping with mentorship effectiveness, and helping build up institutional support systems.

Right now, the new company's focus is university science labs here in B.C., said Kazemian.

Strategic advisor Reuben Mann noted they won't be short of clients in the region.

"There's a lot of universities in the area," he said, with TWU, UFV, UBC, and SFU in the Lower Mainland, along with universities in the Okanagan all fairly close at hand.

"Right now our focus is B.C., but we're definitely reaching out across Canada, as well," said Kazemian.

According to the company founders, a recent National Research Experience Report shows that while many science labs provide supportive environments, others have toxic lab cultures, a lack of mentorship, and gaps in training younger researchers on things like experimental methods, data analysis, and scientific writing.

Kazemian studied for her undergrad, masters, and PhD at UBC Okanagan, and has authored 12 peer-reviewed papers during her career in science. Her research has been cited more than 780 times, and she won the prestigious Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship.

Mann said right now the company is reaching out to labs and has some beta customers, and is looking to create a cloud-based web application for its clients.

Kazemian and Mann believe their company's work will be broadly applicable to people who work in academic science and engineering labs across the country.