Biotechnology companies are healing, fueling, and feeding the world.

While working for a university incubator based in Alachua, I promoted the advancements made by our resident startup incubator companies and graduate companies.

Raising awareness of the complex problems our startups were solving boosted our region’s reputation for breakthrough innovation and attracted support for our growing entrepreneurial economy. My responsibilities included writing press releases and creating content for publication in regional media outlets. For one such project, I interviewed company leadership at Pasteuria Bioscience (an agricultural start-up acquired by Syngenta for $113 million) and AxoGen (a healthcare startup recently listed on the NASDAQ exchange) to write two feature stories:

• Persistence and Petri Dishes: How 3 Dedicated Scientists Grew a Multimillion Dollar Agriculture Company from the Ground Up

• Got Nerve? Local Biotech Company Offers Patients a 2nd chance at Life, Mobility, and Recovery

To craft a compelling narrative, I spoke to multiple sources including a military veteran who had received a successful nerve graft and a scientist who helped find a commercial solution to a parasitic worm damaging soybean crops.

These business profiles were published in Business in the Heart of Florida magazine’s September 2013 edition. The magazine had a print circulation of about 7,500 copies and an estimated readership of 20,000.