Enquirer Consulting Group

Reachable Buyer Map

Prepared for Alexander Vinitsky · Assay development and protein services · September 2026

Here is the map Ben promised. It is built on the service side: the teams that pay an outside lab to develop a binding or activity assay, measure a concentration, or express and purify a protein they cannot staff for themselves. Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut come first, because that is where the work is and where a drive still counts, with the national picture underneath. For each group, who inside it signs, roughly how many exist, and then a first cut of named companies with the person at each. It describes the market, not your business, and there is nothing to buy at the end of it.

Who buys assay and protein work from an outside lab

Six groups, ordered by how directly they buy rather than by how many of them there are. Counts are banded on purpose and come from public registers, so they describe employers and registrants, not laboratories.

Discovery-stage biotech with a protein or biochemistry seat

The core of the market and the fastest to buy. A company of fifteen to two hundred people runs one or two programs, has a director of protein sciences or biochemistry who owns every assay and every protein the program needs, and cannot staff surface plasmon resonance, enzymology and expression at the same time. What they cannot staff, they send out, and the person who sends it is the person who chose the target. Nine in ten of these employers are under fifty people, which is exactly where the outsourcing happens.

Who signs: director or head of protein sciences, director of biochemistry, VP of discovery biology, and the chief scientific officer at anything under about thirty people.

800 to 850

employers in scientific research and development across the four states, about 500 of them in Massachusetts, roughly 750 under fifty people; 3,200 to 3,500 nationally

Pharmaceutical discovery groups in the corridor

Slower to open and durable once inside. The large companies between New Jersey and Cambridge all run in-house assay development and protein sciences, and all of them still send overflow, orthogonal methods and label-free binding work outside when a program moves faster than the group can. Two signatures are needed here, not one: the scientist who wants the data and the outsourcing or contracts lead who releases the money and holds the preferred-vendor list. Getting on that list is the whole game, and it is usually done by a method transfer rather than a pitch.

Who signs: director of assay development, director of biochemistry or in vitro pharmacology, head of protein sciences, and then the contracts and outsourcing lead on the paperwork.

200 to 300

pharmaceutical employers and registrants across the four states, roughly 40 of them at fifty to 250 people and a handful larger; 850 to 1,000 nationally

Antibody and biologics developers

A specific buyer for a specific method. Anyone developing an antibody or an engineered protein needs affinity and kinetics on every candidate, Fc receptor binding on the ones that matter, and epitope work when the mechanism is argued. Most of these companies are discovery-stage and already sit inside the first group's count; this row is the layer registered as biological product makers, which is smaller and closer to the clinic. They buy characterization by the campaign rather than by the assay.

Who signs: director of antibody discovery, head of antibody engineering, head of biologics, VP of protein therapeutics.

50 to 150

registered biological product makers across the four states, depending on whether it is their primary activity or one of several listed; 300 to 900 nationally

Diagnostics and assay-kit makers

The buyer who resells the method rather than consuming it, which changes the conversation. A diagnostics company needs a concentration assay that transfers cleanly to its own instrument and its own facility, and it values a lab that has done the transfer before. Small teams here run one or two assay developers and buy the rest. The clinical laboratories in the same registers are mostly on the service side themselves and are listed for honesty rather than as a target.

Who signs: director of assay development, VP of research and development, chief technology officer at the smaller ones.

40 to 100

in vitro diagnostic makers across the four states; 300 to 900 nationally. Separately, 280 to 300 medical and diagnostic laboratory employers in the four states, most of them buyers of reagents rather than of development work

Academic and hospital laboratories

Not a commercial buyer in the usual sense, and the map would be dishonest without it. A funded lab buys purified protein and the occasional assay when a grant allows and a core facility cannot deliver, and one adopting investigator pulls several others behind them. It is reached through a different door, by scientific reputation, a shared instrument or a former colleague, and it does not answer a commercial approach.

Who signs: principal investigator, core facility director, and the grants office on the paperwork.

No public count

the employer registers do not carry universities as a separate class, and labs inside them are not registered at all; built by name, not bought

The reagent side, kept separate on purpose

Ben asked on the thread whether the target is the teams who buy the service or the people who buy the reagents themselves. This map is the first. The second is a different market with a different route: instrument and analytical tool makers who need active proteins and validated assays as products, and behind them every bench that buys a kit. The tool makers are countable and named below. The benches are not, and a map that pretended to count them would be four fifths noise.

Who signs: product manager or R&D lead at a tools company; the lab head at the end user, one bench at a time.

230 to 580

analytical laboratory instrument makers across the four states, primary activity against any listed activity; 1,200 to 3,800 nationally. End-user laboratories deliberately uncounted

A first cut, named

Companies inside the groups above, in the four states, with the seat that signs off on outsourced assay or protein work. Built from what is public in September 2026 and checked company by company. Titles move; check each one before a first approach.

Discovery-stage biotech with the seat in house

Teams of fifteen to a few hundred people whose director of protein sciences, biochemistry or discovery biology owns every assay and every protein a program needs, and sends out what the group cannot staff. Alphabetical.

Company	Who signs	Why this one
Accent TherapeuticsLexington, MA · under 50	Jennifer CastroDirector of Translational and Discovery Biology	Small-molecule inhibitors of RNA-modifying enzymes. Enzyme activity and inhibition assays are the daily work, and the seat is confirmed on the company's own listings.
Accutar BiotechCranbury, NJ · under 50	Jessie Jie SuDirector, Discovery Biology	Computation-led small molecules and degraders with a fresh 2026 partnership. Binding, enzyme and protein work in a team that cannot staff all three.
Aktis OncologyBoston, MA · 50 to 150	Dasa LipovsekVP and Head of Lead Discovery	Miniprotein binders for radiopharmaceuticals. Every candidate needs affinity and kinetics, and the seat is named on the company site.
CugeneWaltham, MA · under 50	Lingyun RuiHead of Protein Sciences	Engineered cytokines and masked bispecifics. Receptor selectivity is a binding-assay question, asked continuously, by a team of about fifteen.
Delphia TherapeuticsCambridge, MA · under 50	Christopher QuinnDirector of Biochemistry	Preclinical oncology with in-house biochemistry at about thirty people. The textbook profile for outsourced assay development.
DEM BioPharmaCambridge, MA · under 50	Loise Francisco-AndersonHead of Biology	Myeloid and macrophage checkpoint biology, funded and hiring. Protein reagents and binding characterization sit under the head of biology.
Generate BiomedicinesSomerville, MA · 150 plus	Adam RootVP and Head of Protein Sciences	Generative protein design at scale. A large in-house group that still buys expression, purification and orthogonal characterization when design cycles outrun capacity.
Keros TherapeuticsLexington, MA · 50 to 150	Rosa GrenhaDirector, Protein Biochemistry	Ligand biology in the TGF-beta family. A named protein biochemistry seat with a large-pharma protein sciences background.
ModeX TherapeuticsWeston, MA · 50 to 150	Hao ChenDirector, Protein Sciences	Multispecific antibodies with an in-house protein sciences group that is recruiting. Title as carried on the company's own people page.
MOMA TherapeuticsCambridge, MA · about 50	Michael MorrisonVP, Biochemistry and Biophysics	Mechanism-based discovery on enzymes that move. Confirmed on the company team page, and on record as a user of outsourced discovery services.
Rocket PharmaceuticalsCranbury, NJ · 150 plus	Hong LiDirector of Assay Development	Gene therapy with a standing assay development function. The right seat; the name is directory-sourced, so confirm before approach.
Scholar RockCambridge, MA · 150 plus	Adam FogelSenior Director, Discovery Biology	Growth factor biology with a discovery group that has an assay development pedigree. Confirmed in role.
Souffle TherapeuticsWatertown, MA · 50 to 150	John YoonDiscovery Biology	Muscle-targeted siRNA conjugates. Binding and characterization work on the conjugate side; a published team contact rather than a confirmed title.
Synolo TherapeuticsCambridge, MA · under 50	Monica MenzenskiHead of Protein Science	Computational protein design and multi-specific biologics at under twenty people. New in the seat, which is when vendor lists get rebuilt.
Tango TherapeuticsBoston, MA · 50 to 150	William MallenderVP, Biochemistry	Precision oncology. Biochemistry leadership owns assay development here, with a large-pharma background in the seat.
VidaVinciWatertown, MA · under 50	Julie DooleyDirector, Biochemistry and Biophysics	A small, funded discovery team with no public pipeline yet. Structurally short of internal capacity, which is the point.
Voyager TherapeuticsLexington, MA · 50 to 150	Richelle SopkoDirector of Protein Science, Non-Viral Therapeutics	Capsid and non-viral delivery. The seat sits over exactly the protein work an outside lab supplies, in a group that is hiring.

Antibody and biologics developers

Where affinity, kinetics and Fc receptor binding are bought by the campaign rather than by the assay.

Company	Who signs	Why this one
Mediar TherapeuticsBoston, MA · 50 to 150	Daniel TavaresVP, Antibody and Protein Engineering	Antibodies for fibrosis with in-house engineering. Buying authority sits with the engineering lead, and the title was checked this month.
Tectonic TherapeuticWatertown, MA · 50 to 150	Peter MarekDirector, Antibody Discovery	Antibodies against hard membrane targets. In-house discovery that needs orthogonal binding data on every candidate.

Larger neighbors with the seat

Two signatures here, the scientist and the outsourcing lead. Two more in the corridor, Merck in Rahway and Moderna in Cambridge, hold the same seat; confirm the name on approach rather than trusting a directory.

Company	Who signs	Why this one
Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare DiseaseNew Haven, CT · large	Melissa BatonickDirector, Discovery Biology	Rare disease discovery on the New Haven site. Her own background is protein purification and recombinant antibodies, so the conversation is short.
PfizerNew York, NY · large	Wayne StochajHead of Target Protein Sciences	Biotherapeutics discovery. The target protein seat is the one that sends expression and binding work outside when a program moves faster than the group.
RegeneronTarrytown, NY · large	Giane SumnerAssay Development, Bioanalytical Sciences	On the bioanalytical side rather than discovery, so the door is critical reagent characterization and binding support for methods, not target biology.

Diagnostics, kept narrow

One row, because most of the diagnostics and tools companies in the registers sell assay development themselves and are competitors, not buyers.

Company	Who signs	Why this one
Verax BiomedicalWestborough, MA · under 50	Lisa ShinefeldDirector, Assay Development	Cleared lateral-flow tests. Buys custom proteins and antibody characterization, not discovery work; a long-tenured seat.

A research funder that runs discovery through contract labs

Non-profit, and reached in that register.

Company	Who signs	Why this one
CHDI Foundation (CHDI Management)New York, NY and Princeton, NJ · under 50	Joshua AlperDirector, Biophysics	Huntington's disease drug discovery run almost entirely through outside laboratories. The biophysics lead's remit is exactly the binding and characterization work on offer.

Where the openings are

The buyer is a seat, not a logo. Every group on this page routes the decision through one job: the director of protein sciences, the head of biochemistry, the assay development lead. That person chose the target, owns the timeline and knows what the in-house group cannot do this quarter. Reaching that seat by name beats reaching the company, and it is the difference between an afternoon and a quarter.

The demand is under fifty people. Roughly 750 of the 800 or so research employers in the four states are that size. A company with fifteen scientists and two programs outsources by necessity, decides in a week, and comes back for the next protein. The large names are where the logos are; the small ones are where the purchase orders are.

Label-free binding and method transfer are the specific claims. Most contract labs quote a menu. A team that develops the method on surface plasmon resonance, validates it, and then moves it onto the client's own instrument is answering the question a director of protein sciences actually has, which is whether the assay will still work after the invoice is paid. Lead with the transfer, not the menu.

The corridor is a reason to pick you. New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts hold about a fifth of the national count and sit within a drive of each other. Samples travel by courier, scientists visit, and a problem gets solved in a room. A local lab that says so plainly is choosing a smaller market on purpose, and buyers read that as focus.

Built from public federal registries and professional directories, pulled July to September 2026. Counts are banded deliberately and cover Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut unless stated otherwise; where a register counts primary activity and any listed activity separately, both are shown and the smaller number is the one to plan on. Employer and registrant counts are not laboratory counts. Named companies and titles are as they appear publicly in September 2026 and should be checked before a first approach. Segments with no credible public number say so rather than showing one.

This is the service-side cut. If the reagent side is the one you want, say so on the thread and Ben will re-cut it. Reply there, or to Ben Beattie: ben@enquirerconsulting.com. Still no call attached.

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