Our Story

Hadley, Hailey and Bryanna Lexus all meet in the Riley Lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In the Fall of 2019 they all decided to tackle the issue of antibiotic resistance against MRSA. 90,000 people are infected with MRSA every year in the United States alone and 20,000 of those individuals will die. We have entered the post-antibiotic era so alternatives need to be looked at in order to combat this issue. The Riley lab looks at bacteriocins as the alternative to these conventional antibiotics that are no longer working as effectively as we want them to be.

The three of them came together with an idea to prevent MRSA outbreaks in community settings such as gyms. Together they came up with an idea of a spray/wipe that is organic, non-toxic and had to power to kill pathogens on contact and thus Bac-B-Gone was formed. After realizing the demand was more prevalent in healthcare settings the team decided to shift their focus to preventing MRSA outbreaks in hospitals where they came up with a design and formula for a spray/wipe that could very much do this. They are planning on returning to helping other community settings in the future. 

With the idea in hand, the team entered Isenberg's Innovation Challenge at UMass Amherst. Where they presented their idea and business plan.

Bac-Be-Gone was able to tie for first prize in the Innovation Competition's "Seed Pitch" and won $5,000 in free-equity funding in November 2019. They continued in the competition in which they moved on from the Semi-Finals (February 2020) to the Finals. They won $1,000 in progressing onto the next round and competed against three other teams.  

Bac-Be-Gone has an amazing support base from their friends and members of their research lab, especially from the amazing Dr. Peg Riley. 

In February 2020, the team participated in "Amherst Pitch Night" at Amherst Works and won first prize with $600 and a free membership at Amherst Works. 

In March 2020, the team was nominated and won the 2020 Grinspoon Entrepreneurial Spirit Award.

The team also competed in the Smith College Draper Competition for Collegiate Women in which they made it to the semi-finals and competed virtually.

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Isenberg Innovation Challenge Finals were postponed to September 2021 over Zoom. The team took the first prize and a total of $41,000 in free-equity funding to develop their idea and business.

Bac-B-Gone officially became an LLC in the Common Wealth of Massachusetts in November of 2021.

The team continues to develop their product for it to be ready soon. Thank you for taking to time to read about our journey and where we are now. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions.

Bac-Be-Gone saves lives.

Thank you.