Meet the Minds Behind SimpleCell

SimpleCell, the brainchild of Sehej Bindra and Arvind Vivekanadan, was developed in the Spring 2024 SCET course titled ENGIN 183C 002 – Challenge Lab: Transforming Brain Health with Neurotech | A Berkeley Changemaker Course. By the end of May, the team earned second place at the Collider Cup and was recently accepted into Forum Ventures.

SimpleCell is a platform integrating large language models to streamline bioinformatics research, allowing researchers to approach large clinical datasets efficiently and accurately. We followed up with Sehej and Arvind to learn more about their journeys and the evolution of SimpleCell, from its inception to the present. 

The Founders’ Paths to Innovation

Both Sehej and Arvind recently graduated with the class of 2024. Sehej and Arvind earned degrees in Biochemistry and Electrical Engineering Computer Science, respectively. It wasn’t until their final semester in the Neurotech Collider Lab course that their journeys intersected. 

When Sehej started at UC Berkeley, he originally planned to follow a pre-med path to pursue a career in biological research and academia. However, his freshman year was online, and he was not able to get wet lab experience due to the pandemic. Instead, Sehej developed his passion for teaching science within his local community, establishing his own brand and tutoring business. He enjoyed being able to provide a valuable service to students in his community, and he found the work deeply meaningful. Sehej developed his business acumen, gaining an understanding of how to scale a business, and he knew that he wanted to continue building educational products that could directly impact other people once he was able to return to campus in person. 

Since Arvind began his time at Berkeley, he was determined to build something. He immersed himself in Berkeley’s startup ecosystem, and he joined the Berkeley Venture Capital Club and took on analyst roles to learn more about what makes successful startups. He describes the proximity to Silicon Valley and the unique offerings at UC Berkeley as being instrumental to his development. 

The Origins of SimpleCell

Throughout his time at Berkeley, Sehej participated in biological research at a lab at UCSF. It was here that he noticed a critical pain point: medical doctors lacked the formal training to manipulate large data sets efficiently, a task that has grown increasingly important over the past decade. Without the proper computational skillsets, researchers faced significant barriers to interpreting their data accurately and quickly. 

As an undergraduate student, Sehej was responsible for the more tedious aspects of data analysis in the lab. Feeling frustrated by current methods, Sehej knew that there had to be a better solution to assist medical researchers in streamlining the data analysis process; he observed that nearly all of the researchers he worked with instinctively turned to ChatGPT to get started. However, ChatGPT is not tailored to the unique challenges of bioinformatics. Sehej identified an opportunity to create a specialized tool to help researchers confidently and accurately work with large datasets. 

“What if we just create a better ChatGPT, fine-tuned for bioinformatics?“

Sehej Bindra

When Sehej pitched the idea to the class in January, Arvind strongly identified with the vision and mission, and a partnership was born. Arvind’s computational background and software skillset complemented Sehej’s domain knowledge, and they built a team comprising all undergraduate students.

The Importance of Peer Mentorship and Support

Reflecting on the mentorship they have received throughout the development of their startup, Arvind and Sehej both recognize their peers as being among the most influential forces in their development. They noted that it was witnessing their peers build successful businesses just one year out of graduating that inspired them, and they noted that the encouragement from their peers has been instrumental to their success. 

In reflecting on their proudest moments, Arvind recalled the completion of the first functional prototype as being a particularly remarkable moment for him, as it represented a culmination of all of their research and learnings. For Sehej, the thing that resonates most deeply is that he listened to his instincts despite initial dubious responses. 

He said, “I was able to kind of stick to my gut and see this project through and help lead the team and actually create a prototype and then convince these judges that this vision is compelling.”

Looking Ahead

As Sehej and Arvind continue to develop SimpleCell, they keep their central intent at the heart of their work – to create a solution that helps the average biologist transform drudgery into enjoyable tasks. 

Sehej said, “My personal goal with SimpleCell is to create some beautiful software that takes a frustrating task and not only makes it easy, but enjoyable. That’s genuinely what drives me.” 

Similarly, Arvind noted that he hopes to make an impact that changes the lives of biologists using a product he brought to life. 

He said, “There is a saying that it’s better to have a few people who really love your product than a lot of people that kind of use it. If we can come out of this where we build something that actually changes lives every day by using our product, then I would consider that a win.”