Obatala Sciences

Obatala Sciences, founded in 2017, is a biotechnology firm operating at the intersection of tissue engineering and drug discovery, with a strategic focus on addressing metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and related cancers. The company was co-founded by Dr. Trivia Frazier, who serves as President and CEO, along with Dr. Jeffrey Gimble and Dr. Xiying Wu. Dr. Frazier's personal motivation for starting the company stems from her mother's decade-long misdiagnosis due to a lack of data on the disease's prevalence in minority populations. This experience, combined with her extensive research background in biomedical engineering and sciences from Tulane and Dillard Universities, drives the company's core mission to enhance diversity in preclinical research.

The company operates on a hybrid business model, generating revenue through both the sale of research products and the provision of contract research services. Its client base includes pharmaceutical and biotech companies, academic institutions, and U.S. government laboratories. Obatala's core value proposition lies in its proprietary platform of research-enabling tools that more accurately replicate human biology compared to traditional animal models, thereby aiming to reduce drug development costs and timelines. Central to its offering is ObaCell®, a "fat-on-a-chip" microphysiological system that creates three-dimensional human adipose (fat) tissue models for in-vitro analysis. This technology, based on patents licensed from Harvard University, allows researchers to test the efficacy of drug compounds on tissue models derived from a diverse biobank of donors, classified by age, sex, race, and BMI.

Obatala's product ecosystem includes a portfolio of human-derived adult stem cells, specialized hydrogels (ObaGel®) for 3D cell culture that mimic the in-vivo environment, and various culture media. This integrated system enables the creation of customized tissue models, including the commercially launched ObaCell® Obesity-on-a-Chip and a pancreas-on-a-chip model currently under development. By providing humanized, demographically diverse tissue models, Obatala directly addresses the high failure rate of therapeutics that show promise in animal studies but fail in human trials. The company's work aligns with recent FDA initiatives encouraging alternatives to animal testing and NIH calls for greater diversity in clinical research.

Since its founding as a spin-out from LaCell LLC, Obatala Sciences has achieved significant milestones, including securing a total of $3.53 million in funding over three rounds. A key funding event was a $3 million Series A round in October 2022, co-led by être Venture Capital and Ochsner Lafayette General. The company has received numerous accolades, including being named the Minority Health Products and Services Firm of the Year by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Keywords: fat-on-a-chip, organ-on-a-chip, 3D cell culture, adipose tissue models, drug discovery services, preclinical research, human-derived hydrogels, stem cell biobank, metabolic disease research, diabetes research, obesity research, microphysiological systems, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, in-vitro models, personalized medicine, diverse patient data, preclinical drug testing, contract research organization, cell-based assays