{"id":6885,"date":"2021-08-23T03:38:25","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T03:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca\/ip-education\/?post_type=spotlight&p=6885"},"modified":"2021-09-03T19:07:01","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T19:07:01","slug":"this-is-the-place-to-speed-up-global-research","status":"publish","type":"spotlight","link":"https:\/\/entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca\/ip-education\/spotlight\/this-is-the-place-to-speed-up-global-research\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the place to speed up global research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is the place to speed up global research<\/h1>\n\n
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U of T startup Honeybee Hub connects scientists with research study participants, making datasets more diverse and speeding the pace of discovery.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It began when Catherine Chan was looking for people to eat some pasta. As a master\u2019s student in U of T\u2019s Department of Nutritional Sciences, she was researching how noodles made from faba beans affect metabolic control in young adult males.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But finding participants proved difficult. \u201cPeople didn\u2019t know what opportunities existed or how rewarding it can be to take an active part in research,\u201d says Chan. When her study was over, \u201cthe participants asked me where they could join more studies but I had no idea where to direct them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now she does\u2014to honeybeehub.io<\/a>, where her startup is connecting scientists with people in the community who want to help the global research effort, in everything from vaccines and drugs to politics and tech products. Best of all, the digital approach to recruitment helps ensure a wider demographic range is represented in global research studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U of T Entrepreneurship helped Honeybee Hub scale up fast<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRecruitment delays and biases both limit the quality of research,\u201d says Chan. \u201cWe wanted to change that. And beyond just supporting filling quotas, we\u2019re also committed to building a community that will facilitate greater diversity and inclusion in research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she was finishing up her master\u2019s degree in 2018, Chan was accepted into the Techno program at the Impact Centre, one of U of T\u2019s incubators. \u201cI did market research with them, to figure out if there was a need for this,\u201d says Chan. \u201cTechno gave us great insights to get started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Impact Centre also provided microfinancing for incorporation costs and unlimited mentorship time. \u201cAs first-time and young entrepreneurs,\u201d says Chan, \u201cwe really need mentorship to help us make crucial decisions. The U of T mentors are so dedicated and we have conversations beyond the company to help us develop as entrepreneurs and<\/em> people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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