March 18, 2026
By Tracie Troha

When Mason Chilmonczyk, M.S. ME 2017, Ph.D. ME 2020, arrived at Georgia Tech to pursue graduate degrees in mechanical engineering, his goal was to become a professor. Instead, an unexpected turn in his research led him to entrepreneurship.

Today, he is the chief executive officer of Andson Biotech, a growing biotools startup he co-founded with Andrei Fedorov, associate chair for graduate studies and the Rae S. and Frank H. Neely Chair at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. The company is commercializing a breakthrough technology Chilmonczyk developed during his doctoral research that simplifies the development and production of cell and gene therapies.
 

Removing Bottleneck in Biotechnology

Mass spectrometry is a critical step in developing biotherapeutics, including monoclonal antibody drugs, mRNA treatments, and gene and cell therapies. Traditional workflows can take hours of sample preparation and analysis, slowing research.

At Georgia Tech, Chilmonczyk developed a microfluidic device that reduces mass spectrometry analysis time from hours to minutes. The innovation became the foundation of Andson Biotech’s DynaChip platform technology, which simplifies and accelerates mass spectrometry for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

“It was the right idea at the right time, in front of the right people,” Chilmonczyk said.
 

An Accidental Path to Entrepreneurship

Chilmonczyk’s path to entrepreneurship was anything but linear.

He initially joined Fedorov’s lab to work on mass spectrometry applications in pulp and paper manufacturing. Support from the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center in Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT) and Georgia Tech’s Marcus Center of Excellence for Cell Biomanufacturing later helped redirect the research toward cell and gene therapy applications, revealing the technology’s potential in biopharmaceutical development.

“We swapped out pulp and paper manufacturing for biopharma,” he said. “It was an accident, but a good one.”

As his doctoral research progressed, collaborations across campus expanded the technology’s potential in cell and gene therapy development. At the same time, Chilmonczyk began reconsidering his career goals.

“I asked myself, if I’m on my deathbed, what do I want to say I spent my time doing?” Chilmonczyk said. “We had a chance to contribute to therapies that save people’s lives. I had to take a swing at maybe changing the world.”
 

Building the Company

In 2019, Chilmonczyk and Fedorov began exploring commercialization. They incorporated their company and started pitching investors, but those early days were challenging.

“We failed to raise money a lot,” Chilmonczyk said. “You fail 300 times before you raise millions of dollars.”

The experience sharpened his communication skills. He delivered hundreds of presentations, conducted countless customer interviews, and built relationships across the industry. Over time, the pitch evolved, even as the core idea remained the same.

“The idea hasn’t really changed much since 2019,” he said. “It’s just how I present and package it now.”

Early support from the Georgia Research Alliance helped the company get off the ground and connected the founders with investors who later led major funding rounds, including a $3.6 million round in 2024 and a $5 million round in 2025. Some of those investors include the co-founders of Axion Biosystems, another Georgia Tech spinoff company.

Andson Biotech now has about a dozen employees in metro Atlanta. In August 2025, the company received a Deal of the Year Award from Georgia Life Sciences.

Fedorov said Chilmonczyk’s willingness to take responsibility has been key to the company’s success.

“It’s about assuming personal responsibility not just for your own success, but for something bigger than yourself,” he said. “Mason has that capacity.”
 

Advice for Future Founders

Chilmonczyk’ s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is simply to be kind and nurture your network.

“Be nice to everybody along the journey,” he said. “It’s a small world. How you make people feel matters.”

One of his earliest supporters, whom he met at an event years before Andson Biotech was formally launched, later became a key investor and connector.

He also believes doctoral training prepares students for startup life.

“A Ph.D. is actually perfect training for entrepreneurship,” he said. “The uncertainty, the struggle, navigating rooms where people are a lot smarter than you—if you do it right, that prepares you.”

Though he no longer plans to pursue a faculty role, Chilmonczyk is leading in a different way by guiding a team, building a company, and helping accelerate the development of next-generation therapies.  

“Seeing the impact this company could have on human health and cell immune therapy is revolutionary,” he said. “It saves people’s lives. That’s what motivates me.”