California entrepreneur’s childhood illness inspires his work to save lives

Gustavo Garcia Jr. contracted life-threatening viral meningitis as a child and ended up in the hospital as a result. But for Gustavo, something good came out of this experience: It inspired him to pursue a career in medicine and research. After studying immunology at the University of California, Berkeley, he went to work at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), during the Zika virus epidemic of 2015-2016, and played a vital role during the COVID-19 pandemic. His work at that time was instrumental to his career because it allowed him “to see the gap in preventative measures to combat these viral diseases,” Gustavo said.

This experience with Zika and COVID-19 research led him – along with Dr. Vaithi Arumugaswami Professor of UCLA and Dr. Sanjay J. Chauhan – to found Veergen Inc., a biomedical technology start-up. Veergen’s mission is to research and develop vaccines that can be widely deployed to prevent ongoing and future outbreaks of emerging and prevalent viral diseases affecting the global population.

“It’s a challenging process,” Gustavo said of launching a biomedical company. “Not only are you starting a business, you are also developing biological vaccines. We work well together, and having co-founders who are willing to work with you day and night makes a huge difference.”

Veergen is currently working to develop a vaccine to stop the Dengue virus—a mosquito-borne illness primarily found in tropical areas—which has expanded to the Los Angeles area. They’re currently conducting preclinical studies with the goal of eventually approaching the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about regulatory approval.

For Gustavo, however, it’s not enough to develop a vaccine. He also wants to scale it and get it into people’s hands. Dr. Arumugaswami remarked, “he is deeply driven by a sense of responsibility to serve medically underserved populations by translating innovative medical interventions.” That’s why he turned to entrepreneurship, noting that private industry has considerably more resources for commercialization and is steadfast in developing innovative products like vaccines for people who need them.

In addition to the challenging work of product development, Veergen faces significant obstacles to secure necessary funding. Gustavo said federal funding for vaccine research is very competitive but Veergen is part of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corp) program, which supports researchers with entrepreneurial education and mentoring to help them bring their technologies from the lab to the marketplace. Having both an effective product with the ability to “translate their invention into impact” gives them a better chance of receiving federal funding from sources such as the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

Additionally, Veergen is able to operate at the Magnify Incubator located at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. This gives them access to the tools and technology needed to develop their vaccine. Furthermore, the program also gives Gustavo the opportunity to connect with clinicians, venture capital and legal counsel. Although being a business owner is challenging, receiving this support makes it easier to focus on the “incredibly rewarding” work of alleviating harsh diseases.

“It seems scary for those starting off, but no matter how big that mountain is, climbing it just takes that one small step to start,” Gustavo said.