Founder’s Story: Wave Lumina

For Vernon LaLone, a scientist and entrepreneur who grew up in Elk Rapids, a passion for science initially led him far outside the region, first to study at Michigan State University and then to pursue a doctorate degree at University of Michigan followed by postdoctoral research at Imperial College London in England.

Vernon recently founded Wave Lumina – a company based in Traverse City – to tackle a specific challenge related to PFAS. Before environmental engineering firms and government response teams can clean up PFAS, commonly referred to as “forever chemicals,” they need to know where they are, but laboratory testing currently is expensive and time consuming.

20Fathoms spoke to Vernon about his vision for Wave Lumina, the challenges of running a startup, and his advice for entrepreneurs. Vernon, who was riding the high of winning both second place and the audience choice award at the September TCNewTech event, was in great spirits, fresh off taking a few people he met at the event on a tour of his lab.

The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

20Fathoms: How are you feeling following TCNewTech?

Vernon: I feel honored! I had a great time. Obviously there’s a lot of support in the local community here, and a lot of people today have been reaching out. I couldn’t be happier! Well… maybe if I’d won first place. [Laughs]

20Fathoms: What inspired you to start Wave Lumina?

Vernon: I’ve been working on the technology that we’re using since 2015 – but in the pharmaceutical, biomedical, and biomaterials engineering industries. Once I started learning about PFAS… I started asking questions. People are willing to wait this long for test results? Pay this much? It blew my mind. Then the Air Force put out some relevant research last year. This tech I’d previously spent eight years of my life working on could measure PFAS rapidly – there was a solution.

20Fathoms: What was that transition like from your previous career to entrepreneurship?

Vernon: It’s been challenging but also satisfying. Having to worry about finances has been the biggest change. I’ve always been focused on doing experiments or developing technology. In academia, I did science for the betterment of the world. Now I still do that, but we have to make money to be able to keep doing it. It’s a different game, but it’s fun.

I feel more satisfied now than I ever have before. Folks like you guys at 20Fathoms and all these other supports I’ve been able to tap into – Aqua Action, Conquer Accelerator – have helped so much with that. I have a long way to go and lot to learn but am certainly making progress in that realm.

20Fathoms: What are you working on at Wave Lumina right now? What’s your next milestone?

Vernon: Right now, we are bringing in real-world field samples to test. There are some projects that are happening in the state and around the country where they are cleaning up PFAS contamination and they need to know quickly what is in the samples. So that’s what we are working on; testing our method and being able to provide reliable, valuable results to the potential clients as quickly as possible. Our goal is to show over the next few months, in a few case studies, how well our tech performs. We’re also applying for SBIR grants to support R&D [research and development] efforts. Doing science is awesome, but you have to pay for it!

20Fathoms: What’s your vision for Wave Lumina? Where do you see the company in 3 or 5 years?

Vernon: Three years from now I hope we have a commercial retail product that we’re able to sell. We’ll be based in Traverse City, and we want to manufacture as many parts of the device as we can ourselves. In 5 years, we hope to have manufacturing operations well established up here in Traverse.

I want to create jobs for scientists and engineers. It’s a beautiful place to live but there’s not a lot of opportunities here for highly technical people. I want to support the blue tech economy in whatever ways we can and the growth up here.

To be able to live up here and do meaningful science and engineering research – that’s the dream. I want to inspire younger people – kids who are interested in science and engineering – that you can do impactful, cool things with it and you don’t have to leave to do it at the fanciest, most prestigious universities.

20Fathoms: It’s been quite the journey for you. What have you learned along the way?

Vernon: The value of relationships with other people. You know, we have that up here in Traverse. We wouldn’t be half as far as we are without the support of the broader community, 20Fathoms, OOPs (Office of Possibilities), NMC (Northwest Michigan College), and the MSU Conquer Accelerator. Working with other people is so valuable early on. Don’t try to develop something in a vacuum.

Without the support of 20Fathoms, I probably would not have started Wave Lumina in Traverse City.

There’s other business startup support who have helped us tremendously too, like NMC’s OOPs and CommonPlace. The technology aspect of 20Fathoms and the networking opportunities create an amazing complimentary startup ecosystem here in Traverse City.

20Fathoms: What’s one of your most memorable exciting moments on your startup journey?

Vernon: TCNewTech – this week has been really cool. I knew Broc Crandall from Stocked – we grew up in Elk Rapids together. When I saw him pitch at TCNewTech, I think it was virtual and I wasn’t even in the US. It was so cool to see someone create something, and it’s been something I wanted to do for a long time.

We recently moved into a lab in the industrial park near the airport, and for the first time in my life I am in charge of my own lab space – it’s been amazing. I always wanted to be a research professor and have my own lab but we don’t have that [a research university] up here yet. Working collaboratively with NMC and being able to build that foundation in TC, it’s a dream come true for me. I never imagined I could do this up here in Traverse.