Mike Dale is President and Chief Operating Officer of Personalized Stem Cells, Inc. (PSC), and co-founder of our parent company, VetStem Biopharma. Mike’s journey is not the typical biotech career path.
In the 1970’s Mike had no scientific or biotech aspirations or education. His “biotech” experience began as an animal care technician at a local research institute. This was a time when biotech was in its infancy and it seemed opportunities were everywhere. One of those opportunities came from Dr. David Katz, a prominent scientist at Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Katz was forming a non-profit research institute and Quidel, a start-up diagnostic device company.
This is when a light went on. Mike was surrounded by brilliant and dedicated scientists who often spent unproductive time in non-scientific activities. What if those activities were identified and organized so that scientists could do science? And thus, a career path and lifelong purpose was born.
Mike joined Quidel and Medical Biology Institute on March 1, 1982. His role was poorly defined and included animal facility design, research animal care, radiation waste management, chemical waste management, equipment maintenance and other scientific support functions. Dr. Katz supported and challenged Mike at every turn.
One of Mike’s responsibilities was to produce antibodies using goats for pregnancy test kits. It was something like a luxury health spa for the goats who lived the good life and only had to contribute (like a blood bank) each month.
Fast forward to 1990. Mike met Dr. Bob Harman and joined his company, HTI Bio-Services that was involved in clinical trials for veterinary drug development. Bob, like Dr. Katz, supported and challenged Mike at every turn. Together they grew HTI Bio-Services and formed an antibody company, HTI Bio-Products. These two companies grew to over $15,000,000 in annual revenue, employing over 200 people. Both companies were sold in 1999 and 2000.
Bob immediately went to work finding the next big thing and contacted Mike to help form VetStem Biopharma in 2002. VetStem was the first company in the United States to provide adipose stem cell services for use in veterinary medicine. VetStem developed FDA compliant processes and developed and validated several treatments for dogs, cats, and horses.
In 2018 Mike and Bob formed Personalized Stem Cells, Inc. (PSC) to apply the extensive experience of VetStem to the unmet medical needs in human medicine. PSC has received FDA approval for multiple clinical trials including osteoarthritis and COVID-19.
Mike continues to be inspired by the intelligence, dedication, and creativity of the scientific and medical communities. He has been fortunate to have the opportunities that have come his way and is excited to see what the future holds for PSC.