Team-up between U of L and analytical lab a win-win

“We’d also be doing tests for heavy metals, pesticides, essentially everything that Health Canada requires producers to have their products tested for before it can be safely sold on the market.”

On why Blue Sky decided to hone in on cannabis, Tisdale said, “it really seemed to be the market that had the most demand and the least supply.”

“It was very easy for producers to get up and running quickly, but the laboratory seemed to lag behind a little bit and so that’s where we just found the most demand, and we had applied for our testing license and we were expecting it to take about a year and we got it in about two months, so we were thrilled and we were working on other avenues, particularly water but that really gave us a focus, so we shifted and really went all in on cannabis.”

Following cuts to post-secondary budgets across Alberta, including the U of L, Tisdale believed there had to “be some good to come out of this chaos.”

He said, “that ended up being an opportunity to really leverage underutilized equipment at the university [and] with the budget cuts, it became obvious [that] the university was a bit cash poor but instrument rich.”

“So, we figured let’s take that as an opportunity. Let’s leverage the equipment that’s not being used and let’s generate some extra income for the university, while still creating a business for us.”

A proposal was brought forward to executives at the U of L, who gave it the thumbs up. Initially, Tisdale said the idea was to use the lab space and testing in the fight against COVID.

“We had heard about the delays in time to get test results, and so we had started on that approach and the university was very helpful, but when we took that to Alberta [Health] Services, that [testing] was really all done with provincial labs so we realized there wasn’t an opportunity for us there, but the conversation was still breached with the university about what we were wanting to do, and they were very, very supportive of it and said yes, this is a good idea.”

Once the deal was finalized, the Blue Sky team set up shop in the U of L’s Science Commons building.

FUTURE EXPANSION

Looking ahead, there are plans for expansion. Tisdale explained that, “today, we can only offer a couple of the tests that Health Canada requires for cannabis and that’s actually pretty common with a lot of labs.”

“Most labs will have one area that they focus on, but they can’t do pesticides, for example, because that takes some very expensive and specialized equipment so they’ll sub-contract that test out to another lab, and everyone will have their niche.”

He noted that with the equipment at their disposal, Blue Sky will be the only lab in Alberta that can offer “the entire Health Canada suite in-house.”

“So, that’s our first focus, is to develop all of those tests, to get everything set up with the equipment that we need to be able to do that.”

Blue Sky has received recognition in its infancy, and recently captured the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce’s New Business of the Year award. The company is also collaborating with local outlets such as Down to Earth Labs, which specializes in soil testing.

HELPING STUDENTS

For anyone worried that Blue Sky is using office and laboratory space, Tisdale said they’re actually using the partnership as an opportunity to help students, by hiring and working with U of L learners.

He noted that, “we also want to actually help the university develop a lab certification program where we would help to train the students, so certainly we’re not looking to take anything away.

“We’re only looking to use what is sitting there not being used. There’s a lot of equipment that’s just completely underutilized and so, working with students, we’re hoping to leverage that to start a business.”

Tisdale’s team includes PhD candidate Luc Roberts, who serves as the company’s microbiologist and vice-president and Jackson Knott, Blue Sky’s lab manager and master chemist.

“It’s so great because there are a lot of people who graduate with, you know, chemistry degrees for example, like our master chemist Jackson Knott and there wasn’t really a good position for him to utilize those skills in Lethbridge and so, forming Blue Sky, it’s just a perfect fit with him. He’s exactly the person that we need and he’s so happy to be using all the skills that he developed at the university.”

Tisdale holds a business degree from the University of Alberta and is completing an MBA at the University of Edinburgh.

He commented, “the fact that we were able to find each other, with the timing and all have availability to work on this, to get the three of us together with exactly the skills that we need has been serendipitous.”

“If you take that and add to it, the equipment that we have at the university, that was really not being leveraged, it’s just such a perfect fit. It’s like the key to the lock that just fits and we’re able to turn it and open the door.”

Blue Sky has also received grant funding and hired local biology student Sara Dutton. Ag-tech student Kurtis Cridland is part of the team on a volunteer basis and the company’s hoping to receive more grant funding for Cridland and a computer science student to do database programming.

More on Blue Sky Analytical Labs is available here.

by Justin Goulet

Team-up between U of L and analytical lab a win-win

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