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Utilium: A Nature-Based Biofilm Buster ft. Dr. David Stapleton | E20
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David is a researcher-turned-innovator with three decades in biomedical science, a PhD-era discovery that reshaped our understanding of energy metabolism, and a new company, Utilium, born from a hospital bed and a handful of rocks from Bunnings.
In this episode, we sit down with one of CoLabs' Impact Members to explore his bio-inspired approach to biofilms: the invisible microbial communities that cost global industry $2–3 trillion a year, fuel antibiotic resistance, and lurk in the rubber seal of your washing machine.
David shares how crustaceans (who somehow keep their shells immaculate in an ocean seemingly devoted to the degradation of most things) became the blueprint for a technology that could transform healthcare, marine infrastructure, food production, and more.
In this conversation, we explore how daydreaming is a useful method for ideation, the freedom that comes with constraint, trusting your instincts, and why the gold is always hiding in the detail.
What we cover
- How David isolated AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) – a breakthrough enzyme central to energy metabolism – using a Velcro analogy and an analog lab setup, pre-internet
- The brutal economics of academic research: falling grant success rates, frozen samples, and an unceremonious exit
- A winding path through cannabis terpenes, horse probiotics, and ship biofouling that eventually pointed to biofilms
- What biofilms actually are – and why treating them as a bacterial problem misses the point entirely
- The first experiment: two rocks, some oregano oil, and 93 days in Port Phillip Bay
- How working with almost no equipment led David to discover something he would have missed in a fully-equipped lab
- The role of AI (including a helpfully sarcastic session with Gemini) in checking assumptions and staying honest
- Biofilm's reach: washing machines, chronic wounds, hospital sinks, dairy farms, pipes, marine hulls... a near-infinite problem space!
- Why antibiotic resistance is the wrong frame, and what crustacean shell chemistry suggests as an alternative
- Where Utilium is headed, and which applications David is backing first
Keen to learn more about Utilium?
- Website
- Patched Up
Still Curious? Check out what we're up to:
- Blog
Or sign up for our newsletter to keep in the loop.
This experimental and emergent podcast will continue adapting and evolving in response to our ever-changing environment and the community we support. If there are any topics you'd like us to cover, folks you'd like us to bring onto the show, or live events you feel would benefit the ecosystem, drop us a line.
We're working on and supporting a range of community-led, impact-oriented initiatives spanning conservation, bioremediation, synthetic biology, biomaterials, and systems innovation.
If you have an idea that has the potential to support the thriving of people and the planet, get in contact! We'd love to help you bring your bio-led idea to life.
View all episodes
By Co-Labs AustraliaSend us Fan Mail
David is a researcher-turned-innovator with three decades in biomedical science, a PhD-era discovery that reshaped our understanding of energy metabolism, and a new company, Utilium, born from a hospital bed and a handful of rocks from Bunnings.
In this episode, we sit down with one of CoLabs' Impact Members to explore his bio-inspired approach to biofilms: the invisible microbial communities that cost global industry $2–3 trillion a year, fuel antibiotic resistance, and lurk in the rubber seal of your washing machine.
David shares how crustaceans (who somehow keep their shells immaculate in an ocean seemingly devoted to the degradation of most things) became the blueprint for a technology that could transform healthcare, marine infrastructure, food production, and more.
In this conversation, we explore how daydreaming is a useful method for ideation, the freedom that comes with constraint, trusting your instincts, and why the gold is always hiding in the detail.
What we cover
- How David isolated AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) – a breakthrough enzyme central to energy metabolism – using a Velcro analogy and an analog lab setup, pre-internet
- The brutal economics of academic research: falling grant success rates, frozen samples, and an unceremonious exit
- A winding path through cannabis terpenes, horse probiotics, and ship biofouling that eventually pointed to biofilms
- What biofilms actually are – and why treating them as a bacterial problem misses the point entirely
- The first experiment: two rocks, some oregano oil, and 93 days in Port Phillip Bay
- How working with almost no equipment led David to discover something he would have missed in a fully-equipped lab
- The role of AI (including a helpfully sarcastic session with Gemini) in checking assumptions and staying honest
- Biofilm's reach: washing machines, chronic wounds, hospital sinks, dairy farms, pipes, marine hulls... a near-infinite problem space!
- Why antibiotic resistance is the wrong frame, and what crustacean shell chemistry suggests as an alternative
- Where Utilium is headed, and which applications David is backing first
Keen to learn more about Utilium?
- Website
- Patched Up
Still Curious? Check out what we're up to:
- Blog
Or sign up for our newsletter to keep in the loop.
This experimental and emergent podcast will continue adapting and evolving in response to our ever-changing environment and the community we support. If there are any topics you'd like us to cover, folks you'd like us to bring onto the show, or live events you feel would benefit the ecosystem, drop us a line.
We're working on and supporting a range of community-led, impact-oriented initiatives spanning conservation, bioremediation, synthetic biology, biomaterials, and systems innovation.
If you have an idea that has the potential to support the thriving of people and the planet, get in contact! We'd love to help you bring your bio-led idea to life.