Revisit your favorite ventures

Over 30% of such withdrawals are due to cardiac toxicity (pro-arrhythmic effects mediated by cardiac ion channels), therefore regulatory agreements mandate the testing of all new drugs for cardiac liability. GW researchers developed the first scalable automated all-optical system for high-throughput cardiac electrophysiology and electromechanics. The system includes a method for combined optical pacing and optical recording from a variety of primary and stem-cell-derived cells and tissues. This platform allows for active dynamic interrogation, such as robust pacing protocols that can reveal Vm, [Ca2+]i or contraction’s frequency response (restitution) and temporal instabilities. The researchers also developed “spark-cell” spheroids which can be used as a reagent that can be frozen, transported, and deployed on-site to confer optical pacing of cardiac cells.

ChemRes Therapeutics

Up to 80% of ovarian cancer patients develop resistance towards platinum based chemotherapy drugs which are most commonly used against cancer. There is an urgent need for therapeutic agents that overcome such drug resistance. We developed small molecule drugs that overcome platinum drug resistance in vivo and in vitro. These compounds inhibit Acidic nucleoplasmic DNA‐binding protein 1 (And1) or sentrin-specific protease 1 (SENP1) and re-sensitize platinum-resistant cancer cells to platinum drugs.

EnTiCe

EnTiCe is developing a low-cost battery for grid reliability. The EnTiCe system is an all-soluble, electrode decoupled and long lasting design that is considerably less expensive than all-Vanadium RFBs ($400/KWh at scale). The EnTiCe battery uses patented membrane and electrode technologies, with the plan to reach <$50/KWh following scale up and commercialization. The initial target market for this redox flow battery is utility scale storage, which is expected to grow at 20% CAGR in the near term with growth concentrated in China, EU and North America.

Enviar Therapeutics

Current delivery platforms for RNA and gene editing technologies induce off-target effects and fail to specifically target tissue types. Led by Columbia’s Dr. Fatemeh Momen-Heravi and Dr. Akiva Mintz, the Enviar team has recently developed a novel customizable delivery platform—called SafeExo—based on engineered exosomes. Exosomes naturally carry biomacromolecules including different RNAs (mRNAs, regulatory miRNAs, etc.), DNAs, lipids, and proteins and can deliver their cargoes to the recipient cells, elicit functions, and mediate cellular communications. SafeExo is the first engineered exosome platform capable of eliminating endogenous nucleic acids, which greatly reduces off-target effects. SafeExo is further optimized to enhance RNA stability, CRISPR efficacy, target uptake and specific cell/tissue delivery of large payloads, such as targeted CRISPR/CAS gene editing machinery and RNAi therapeutics. This platform has the potential to treat new diseases and improve current therapies.

Inleptin Therapeutics

Carnegie Mellon University

Note: No company is formed yet. Seeking entrepreneur to lead. Opioids remain an indispensable treatment for severe pain despite increased risk for obese patients with tolerance. Of particular concern is opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD), especially during sleep, due to comorbid obstructive sleep apnea common in obese patients. Naloxone is the only drug available that can reverse the adverse effects of opioids and prevent death. However, naloxone has limited use because it reverses analgesia and induces withdrawal. A preventive treatment for sleep-related OIRD that does not affect analgesia or induce withdrawal is critical in patients with obesity. GW and JHU researchers found that intranasal leptin can reverse morphine-induced apneas, hypoventilation, and upper-airway obstruction while enhancing analgesic effects in mice with obesity.

Impact Proteomics

Our company, Impact Proteomics, makes protein sample preparation kits to provide researchers in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with high quality protein samples faster than ever, improving research reproducibility and saving time and money. High quality protein preparations are essential for drug and biomarker discovery, monitoring therapeutic efficacy, biologic drug quality control, and for understanding fundamental cellular processes. For decades, industry and academia have been hindered by incomplete and irreproducible protein sample preparation. These samples are often contaminated with other cellular components and incompatible reagents, such as DNA, salts, and the reagents used to break open cells. Fast, high quality sample preparation can mean the difference between finding a lifesaving drug target or wasting millions of dollars and decades of time on a failed drug discovery project. Impact Proteomics is here to ensure every project reaches its potential.

Vanish Therapeutics

Pain is the second largest burden on the US health care system, and with the advent of the opioid epidemic it has become apparent that patients with chronic pain do not have sufficient treatment options. A proven non-pharmaceutical method of pain treatment is through nerve and spinal cord stimulators, which are devices that are implanted in the body and use electrical signals to control and modulate the perception of pain. In addition, patients report that their pain is controlled long after electrical stimulation has stopped, and the nerve stimulator market has grown to over $3Billion per year. However, these stimulators often require surgery to implant, can cost more than $30,000 and have excessively high failure rates which are estimated to be over 30%, requiring revision operations and rapidly increasing costs to over $100,000 for a single device.

YouBiotics

73.6% (250m people) of the American Population is overweight or obese. Weight disorders place a significant burden on the healthcare system due to increased risk of deleterious disorders such as diabetes, kidney failure, liver failure, cardiovascular disease, and COVID-19. A key issue in reducing weight gain in the population is that weight loss therapies are not covered by insurance, unless patients are severely obese or possess multiple co-morbidities, requiring patients to pay nearly $1,500/month. Considering that persons in lower socio-economic standing are more likely to be overweight or obese, it is unsurprising that the prevalence of obesity continues to rise. These expensive weight loss therapies aim to alter an individual’s metabolism, which is very difficult to accomplish and often yields significant side effects with long-term use.

Reach Neuro

[Update (8.2023): Venture funding total - $750k] Stroke is an incredibly pervasive problem that directly affects one quarter of the world’s population. Unfortunately, many of these people are told they will never regain functional use of their arm or hand. With Reach, they will. One of our patients was able to cut food with a fork and knife and feed herself for the first time in 9 years since having her stroke. In contrast to existing assistive tools such as functional electrical stimulation, Reach’s device allows the user full control over complex and naturalistic movements. Advantages of the technology: • Assists movements in all upper limb joints • Restores naturalistic and voluntary movements • Immediate improvements • Assists users in performing tasks of daily living • Eligible for chronic stroke patients even years after their stroke • Uses standard implant device and surgical procedure • Does not require donning and doffing bulky equipment

Respair

University of California, Santa Barbara

Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP) is viewed as an inevitable consequence of long-term ventilator support rather than a preventable infection. In fact, VAP develops in 1 out of 3 intubated patients in intermediate care units. Along with the high prevalence, VAP has an average mortality rate of almost 50%. As a result, hospitals utilize procedural steps to prevent VAP in patients (such as head elevation and maintaining oral hygiene), but these actions fail to adequately prevent the root cause of VAP which is that current endotracheal (ET) tubes, or breathing tubes, do not create a long-term and effective seal in the trachea to prevent bacteria from entering the lungs. These tubes fail to create a proper seal because they employ an inflatable cuff that (1) deflates over time, (2) does not maintain consistent contact with the airway surface, and (3) is susceptible to shifting position with every patient movement. These design flaws allow harmful bacteria to pass the cuff and enter the lungs of patients.

ChromaTiR

ChromaTiR (color through total internal reflection) is developing a technology to create color-shifting effects in a broad range of materials that is more cost-effective and safer. They are working to advance their patent-pending technology, which allows the use of a low-cost, simplified and more customizable method to generate vibrant, iridescent coatings in which no nanoparticles and no metal films are used. ChromaTiR offers customizable color shifting special effect coatings and pigments with tunable color profiles and large angular separation between colors.

Milo Sensors

Millions of people all over the world face challenges with alcohol. One of the more traditional solutions people first consider is Alcoholics Anonymous. Through market research, we have learned that more and more non-traditional solutions are being sought out to supplement the recovery journey and we, at Milo Sensors, believe we can provide an option for the supervised or self-monitoring of alcohol consumption. Unlike other existing alcohol monitoring tools such as ankle bracelets, ION™ is designed for the wearer first, with discretion, comfort, and usability at the forefront. Common industries that benefit from similar monitoring devices, such as the criminal justice system or family law, seem to follow only after the recovery support network has failed and act as a punitive measure. In contrast, we aim to help anyone who seeks to improve their general wellness by focusing on their relationship with alcohol and then help rebuild trust with surrounding family members and supporters.

smartHER

smartHER is a mixed reality (MR/AR)-based medical device company focused on developing innovative solutions for gynecologic procedures, with an initial focus on rehauling how MRI scans are utilized for uterine fibroid removal. The company is spinning out of Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) where it has gained significant traction by developing a MVP. It has received multiple awards for its novel product design, established strategic partners in several relevant domains (e.g., women med device, cloud computing, and MR software), and is in the process of validating the technology through a clinical study. smartHER is looking to hire its inaugural Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Futura

University of Minnesota

Due to the rapidly growing use of opioids and its analogs (and the increase of fatal drug overdoses), Narcan is rapidly becoming the new Kleenex. Vaccines offer a promising treatment alternative to counteract opioid use disorders (OUD) and fatal overdoses. Vaccines generate opioid-specific antibodies that bind the target opioid, reducing the drug's impact on the brain and preventing the drug-induced effects. Futura is developing vaccines, antibody-based strategies, and small molecules to counteract opioid use disorders and overdose. These approaches can improve the lives of people living with substance use disorders or who are at risk of fatal overdoses. The team is testing the first in-human vaccine against the euphoric and toxic effects of oxycodone and have initiated Phase I Clinical Trials. Futura and UMN is seeking a leader co-found the venture with Dr. Pravetoni.

zTouch Networks

The cellular industry has begun a transition toward open, programmable, and cloud-native architectures to reduce cost and address major management challenges. This transition (like the telecom migration to SDN) creates a significant new business opportunity for a flexible automated management system. zTouch Networks leverages years of research and development to provide the industry’s first data-driven, intelligent and autonomous network operating system to power this industry upgrade. The zTouch has extensive relationships with key industry partners and manages the world’s largest RF emulator, Colosseum (a $30M+ resource) and the testbeds in the NSF Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (a $100M program). zTouch has an aggressive plan to pilot its platform in the next 18 months and is looking for partners and investors in this effort. It is looking to raise $5M to accelerate its pilot and add world-class leaders to run and grow the business.

synLubricin

Lubrication is critical in biology for tasks such as joint flexing and eye movement, but aging and disease can reduce natural lubrication. Current lubrication solutions either exhibit a short half-life (such as cortisone and hyaluronic acid) or poor long-term bio-compatibility (such as exogenous lubricants like glycerin-mineral oil), leaving a market opportunity to develop a durable, bio-compatible lubricant. synLubricin is a stable, and scalable, long-term bio-lubricant for joints, eyes, and medical devices. synLubricin has been developed in FDA-approved human cell culture systems and is able both to resist cellular adhesion and lubricate biological surfaces, such as cartilage. synLubricin is searching for a co-founder to help develop this venture opportunity.

EncapBio Systems

Cell replacement therapies hold tremendous promise for type 1 diabetes, hemophilia, lysosomal storage diseases and other cellular disorders. EncapBio Systems has developed technologies for safe and functional delivery of cell therapies ready for pre-clinical development. Most of our recent work, ranging from material synthesis and device fabrication to cell engineering and process integration, has been centered around the goal of successfully delivering safely insulin producing cells with long-term function for T1D patients. EncapBio Systems builds upon 10 years of research of high quality proof-of-concept publications and patent applications. EncapBio Systems is seeking co-founders and investors to help build the next biomaterial platform for cell therapy.

Aracari Biosciences

University of California, Irvine

[Update (8.2023) SBIR/STTR funding total: $1.3M] Aracari’s vascularized microphysiological systems are leading the way in preclinical drug testing. Aracari’s vascularized 3D Vascularized Micro-Organ (VMO) and Micro-Tumor (VMT) models incorporate perfused human vasculature for the physiologic delivery of nutrients, drugs and immune cells to multiple tissue and tumor types. These powerful next-generation tools are accelerating development of immuno-oncological and other therapeutics for more optimal patient outcomes. Aracari is seeking a Chief Business Development Officer as they expand their C-level team. (Crunchbase 2021: $1.2M Funding from NSF.)

Carver Biosciences

University of California, Irvine

(Update 9.22 - Closed $3M seed round by Khosla Ventures). Broad-spectrum antiviral therapies do not exist, tragically hindering our ability to respond to viral outbreaks and pandemics. We need new approaches to treat these diseases, as existing therapeutics are very narrow-spectrum and take many years to develop. Carver Biosciences is a startup company developing CRISPR-based therapies for RNA viruses that infect humans. Carver’s approach is a programmable, platform technology that could offer a generalizable solution for treating many viruses, as targeting is dictated by a guide RNA sequence. The underlying technology, CARVER, was developed by founder Cameron Myhrvold during his time as a postdoc at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and was published in Molecular Cell in 2019.

WiLO Networks

WiLO Networks bridges the gap between passive RFIDs and high power Long Range (LoRa)/Sigfox to enable precision agriculture, military surveillance, fire mitigation, smart highways, and other IoT applications. Currently, WiLO Networks focus is to provide solutions for precision agriculture. WiLO Networks is building a novel physical layer communication technology based on low-power integrated circuits (ICs), which can be embedded in sensor nodes and gateways at very low cost. This physical layer technology combined with novel network architecture and protocols, as well as intelligent machine learning techniques promises a 10 year lifetime for sensor nodes powered on millimeter-scale batteries. These ultra-low power sensor networks are the key to precision agriculture, monitoring the health of buildings/bridges, and military surveillance. WiLO's solutions can reduce waste to promote sustainability and carbon neutrality.

cAPAcity Genomics

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified thousands of noncoding variants associated with human traits and diseases. However, translating these variants into therapies continues to be a significant challenge. Alpaca Genomics has constructed a multi-tissue atlas of human 3′ UTR alternative polyadenylation (APA) quantitative trait loci (3′aQTLs), connecting thousands of noncoding GWAS variants with the APA of target genes, identified in 49 tissues isolated from 838 individuals (sourced from the Genotype-Tissue Expression Project). Alpaca Genomics is using 3’aQTLs to discover novel APA-linked susceptibility for many human diseases, such as diabetes, prostate cancer, coronary artery disease (CAD), Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Parkinson's disease, and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Tandem Repeat

Tandem Repeat Technologies, Inc. (TR Tech) is the market leader in Sustainable Textiles Manufacturing. TR Tech has created the world’s first programable textile which is 100% sustainable, self-healing, and fully biodegradable. Established in 2018, TR Tech has developed revolutionary technology that combines materials science and biomanufacturing to produce performance composites with tunable properties. The technology is covered under five (5) issued US patents and additional five (5) pending with Squitex. The physical characteristics of Squitex will allow it to be adopted into many products and technologies. It is a platform performance material that is renewable, green, strong, flexible, self-healing, energy efficient and friendly to most of today’s manufacturing processes. The use will only be limited by the creativity of application and the ability to produce the quantity of material to meet market demand.

Princeton NuEnergy

University of California, Davis

(10.2022 Update -Princeton NuEnergy, Inc. ("PNE"), an emerging growth company primarily engaged in the regeneration of lithium-ion battery ("LIB") material, announced it successfully closed a seed funding round at $7M in Q4 2021. The round was led by Wistron Corporation (TPE: 3231), a Fortune Global 500 member and an industry leader in electronics recycling services. Other investors in the round include Shell Ventures, Greenland Technologies (NASDAQ: GTECH), CleanTech Open, AIBasis Fund, WorldQuant Ventures, and the angel round investors. Princeton NuEnergy ("PNE") is an innovative clean-tech startup company spun out from Princeton University in 2019 focused on the direct recycling of lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles and consumer electronics. Opened its Lithium-Ion Battery (LIB) Direct Recycling 500-ton pilot production line with Wistron GreenTech. )

SomaTx Design

KneeMo addresses problems associated with musculoskeletal disorders including sports related injuries and chronic disease such as osteoarthritis (OA). The potential market is substantial since musculoskeletal disorders affect more than one out of every two persons in the United States over age 18 and three out of four over age 65. Osteoarthritis alone accounts for 242 million people in the world who live with activity limiting symptoms. Pharmaceuticals, often used to alleviate the musculoskeletal pain come with side effects that can include addiction. KneeMo takes a novel mechanical approach to engage multimodal sensory pathways that signal pain using cutaneous mechanical stimuli (e.g., vibration) where over stimulation in one mode of the system (e.g., vibration) can gate response in other modalities (e.g. pain). KneeMo was shown in a placebo controlled clinical trial to provide an effective and safe alternative to pharmacological interventions to reduce pain and enhance function.

Neufi

Brown University

The field of brain-machine interfaces has advanced significantly over the past two decades, particularly in its successful transition into human clinical trials. However, this progress has largely relied on wired, invasive sensors for the acquisition of neural data. Neufi has leveraged cutting-edge integrated circuit technology and nanofabrication methods to develop a battery-less, ultra-low-power, compact volume “thread” that can be injected under the scalp for chronic tracking of brain rhythms and patterned electrical stimulation. The technology has high spatial and temporal resolution and has potential applications in many areas of neurology and psychiatry.

Protein Architects

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are a $300B market, about $20B in diagnostics and $30B in antiviral therapeutics. Yet antibodies require poorly scaling, expensive mammalian cells, vary with batch, are environmentally unstable, and are subject to escape by viral strain evolution. Protein Architects is developing beta solenoid proteins as “molecular Legos” for applications in self-assembly of nanoparticle based devices and materials. Our polyvalent, environmentally robust viral decoy proteins for antigen diagnostics and therapeutics can be scalably produced in microbial GMP facilities at 1/50 the cost per binder yet bind up to 1000000x stronger than antibodies. As receptor decoys, they align with viral evolution, and modular human design makes immunocompatible therapeutics. We are seeking seed financing and regulatory advising on our in development viral decoy antibody substitutes for SARS-CoV-2 antigen diagnostics and therapeutics. We are positioned to make a difference in this pandemic, and future viral threats.

AddGraft Therapeutics

University of Chicago

There are over 900k cocaine addicts in the USA alone while worldwide cocaine usage rates have been growing at over 2% a year over the last decade. In the USA this results in over 15k deaths, 505k ER visits and $21B lost annually. Despite all of this, there is currently no FDA approved treatment for cocaine abuse disorder. AddGraft Therapeutics aims to be the first FDA approved treatment for cocaine abuse disorder utilizing our revolutionary gene delivery platform. Our treatment promises to be long lasting, minimally invasive and highly effective at treating the challenging aspects of addiction. AddGraft's technology is a novel skin-based gene delivery platform for treating cocaine abuse. Patients receive an autologous skin graft of genetically modified skin-stem cells which produces a dual molecule solution to effectively break down cocaine, preventing lethal overdose, and to behaviorally prevent frequent use, relapse, and developing of new addictive behaviors.

Phlaxis

University of Chicago

(UPDATE: Phlaxis received nearly $280,000 in investment, including the Moonshot Prize, a $40,000 award that recognizes unique technologies to solve global challenges. Phlaxis also participated in the second cohort of the Compass deep tech accelerator.) Between 2007 and 2017, there has been a 377% increase in the treatment of diagnosed anaphylactic reactions to food. The current standard of care is not enough to stem the tide of patients suffering the healthcare costs of food allergies. Phlaxis is an innovative immune tolerance company focused on providing a new approach to treating food allergies. Phalxis' allergen tolerance platform features proteins, or antigens, that are engineered to deliver precise, targeted allergy therapy, without the side effects of broad immunosuppression. Phalxis’ allergen-specific platform can be translated to virtually any food allergy, including the Big 8 of milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, crustacean shellfish, wheat, and soy.

Aromha

Harvard University

Smell loss is an early indicator of infectious and neurodegenerative disorders. In COVID-19, for example, objective smell loss may occur in >90% of patients. Though molecular (PCR) tests are effective in diagnosing SARS-CoV-2 infection, with moderate sensitivity and high specificity, they typically are costly (>$50), with long turnaround times (up to 5-7 days) and have not been as effective in controlling asymptomatic spread. The Aromha Smell Test complements molecular tests with high sensitivity and negative predictive value and can be scaled quickly to provide an important new tool to prevent community spread of COVID, with an at-home, non-invasive, safe, and cost-effective screening test that provides instantaneous results. This platform technology, developed based on 20 years of olfactory research at Harvard, can also be utilized to provide an early signal and improve care in critical neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Disease, and Traumatic Brain Injury.

PrevPanc

PrevPanc is developing an improved prophylactic against pancreatitis caused by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), by targeting two key inflammatory pathways. Post-ERCP pancreatitis can be life-threatening, excruciatingly painful, and costly. PrevPanc is developing a more effective and practical treatment to prevent pancreatitis, with significant improvements beyond current options of indomethacin, stenting, and IV hydration. PrevPanc's therapy is a combination of a calcineurin inhibitor combined with indomethacin to target two distinct inflammatory pathways, achieving higher effectiveness than the current standard of care with minimal change in post-procedure care.

SmartScan2

Case Western Reserve University

SmartScan2 is revolutionizing secure identification applications with unclonable polymer film-based, scalable technology. Most, if not all security devices in use today can be corrupted, counterfeited, or easily interpreted. Examples of these devices include personal identification cards, passports, pharmaceutical product tracking, currency, and product identification tags. One good example of this corruption involves credit cards. The fifty year old “magnetic strip” technology on a credit card has been corrupted by the use of illegal credit card “skimmers” attached to the credit card readers, and reported in the local news as prevalent on gas pumps and ATMs. The newer “chip” technology on credit cards can also be corrupted by the use of credit card skimmers which are becoming more prevalent in similar locations. SmartScan2's ID security is “unclonable” since it is vastly more difficult to corrupt, counterfeit or interpret the relevant information.

Acurasset

Viral infections causing hepatitis are major contributors to human morbidity and mortality. Currently, there are no approved directly acting antivirals that cure two of these viruses - hepatitis B (HBV) and E viruses (HEV) – that account for close to 300 million infections world-wide. Our goal is to develop novel small molecule therapeutics that can be readily deployed to combat efficiently these diseases. To achieve this, we capitalize on discoveries and technical advances from our lab that put us in a unique position for targeted high through-put screens. We have already identified a lead molecule that is effective against multiple HEV genotypes, and we have uncovered a minimal set of host factors that are essential for HBV persistence.

ArrePath

Carnegie Mellon University

(UPDATE 4.22) ArrePath, an anti-infective drug discovery company addressing the global health challenge of drug resistant infections, announced today that it has raised $20 million in seed financing to advance its proprietary, machine learning (ML)-based platform for the discovery of new classes of anti-infectives to overcome antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Insight Partners, and Innospark Ventures co-led the financing, which also included Viva BioInnovator, Arimed Capital, PTX Capital, and Nor’easter Ventures. ArrePath also announced that Dr. Lloyd Payne has been named President and CEO. Dr. Payne, who serves on the Novo REPAIR Impact Fund Scientific Selection Board and the AMR Action Fund Scientific Advisory Board, brings more than 25 years of scientific and business leadership in the discovery and development of anti-infectives. Dr. Zemer Gitai published proof-of-concept for the approach in the journal Cell in June 2020.

Rubitection

Rubitection is developing a skin health and wellness system to improve assessment and care management of dermatological, plastic surgery, and vascular conditions with an initial application to early bedsores detection. Bedsores are an $11 billion healthcare problem at affects 2.3 million each year killing 60K. If detected early they can be prevented, but low cost early detection tools are not available. Our Rubitect Assessment System (RAS) empowers any caregiver in hospitals, nursing homes, and in home care to detect bedsore early and support care management. Rubitection’s issued patents, and exclusive worldwide license provide barriers to competitors. The RAS’ low risk FDA pathway allows a quick path to a $4.1 billion US bedsore market. Two recurring revenues supports long term sustainability. Within 5 - 6 years of product launch, Rubitection will generate $48 million in sales using a hybrid sales model. Rubitection will exit through acquisition to a wound care company like Hill-Rom, or 3M.

geCKo Materials

geCKo Materials provides volume manufacturing for a bio-inspired, energy saving, reusable, multi-purpose, industrial and consumer adhesive. The mechanical adhesive is composed of directional, microscopic inclined features with a tapered geometry. geCKo’s unique IP is in the manufacturing method, introduced by Dr. Capella Kerst in her PhD at Stanford and protected by pending patents. Tested in the lab and in use with customers, a 1 square inch adhesive is capable of supporting 15 lbs of weight in shear with no attachment nor detachment force needed. The geCKo Opposing Force scales with area and can be purchased at any area. Integrating onto your robot grippers is simple, just a peel and stick. We can offer integration assistance and expertise for simple, quick and easy integration.

Free Dynamics

Our silicon-based quantum sensor can continuously sense and record information without the need for batteries. By interrogating the stored information at a later time instant, the recipient can retroactively monitor the environmental conditions the sensor experienced. Advantages: Continuously logs data from environmental stimuli without external power or batteries / Provides cumulative, time-integrated information for later retrieval / Leverages mature silicon manufacturing to reduce cost / Reduces gap in coverage by augmenting existing periodic, battery-based solutions /

Think Bioscience

University of Colorado

[Update (8.2023): raised $17M seed funding in Aug 22] Pharma companies have increasingly relied on innovative biotech startups to bolster their pipeline. The global small-molecule drug discovery market reached $25B in 2019 and is expected to grow to $50B by 2027. Think's business model is to partner with pharma companies to build precisely targeted, readily synthesizable molecules. For a drug target of interest, standard partnership models consist of an upfront fee with long-term development milestones and royalties. Just for the SHP2 (similar class to PTP1B) market, there have been several partnerships with deal values exceeding $500M. Synthetic biology is a growing field that designs microbes to confer capabilities outside their native function. Proof-of-concept has been demonstrated in elusive target, PTP1B, which is implicated in type 2 diabetes, obesity, and breast cancer. Further development will focus on optimizing the two novel drug scaffolds and expanding the platform to other key protein classes.

Toragen Biotechnologies

University of California, San Diego

(Raising $5.4M in a Series Seed Round - "we will deploy the proceeds from the round for our Phase I clinical trial with our lead drug candidate." Sept.2022 ) Toragen Biotechnologies is focused on developing, repurposing and commercializing uniquely selective cancer drugs targeting cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV associated cancers include Head and Neck Cancer, Cervical Cancer, and multiple other Genitourinary and Gastrointestinal Cancers. We are developing drugs designed to inhibit HPV oncogenes, the root cause of malignant transformation in these cancers. It is our intent that these drugs will be more selective for malignant cells and better tolerated by patients than traditional cytotoxic and radiation cancer therapy. Our drugs interfere with the ability of the HPV virus to inhibit the immune system and will thus enhance the ability of the immune system to eradicate these cancers and potentially augment the activity of existing immunotherapies for cancer.

FloraPulse

The FloraPulse system is a microchip tensiometer (microtensiometer) that is embedded into the tree woody tissue and directly measures the water status, known as water potential. Because the measurement is taken directly inside the water-carrying tissue, readings are very accurate and reliable. You receive daily midday stem water potential readings, along with science-backed irrigation recommendations. Since 2017, we raised $1.2M in non-dilutive SBIR research awards to develop microT, and successfully field tested the product in almond, grape and prune commercial orchards and vineyards. In 2019-2020, we received $50k in customer deposits and sold the first 60 subscriptions ($90k) to 15 customers in the US, Chile and Australia. Customer feedback has been very positive. We are looking to hire a seasoned CEO to help the company raise funds, build partnerships, and continue increasing product sales in the US and abroad.

Pulmera

[Update (8.2023) SBIR/STTR funding total: $281k] Pulmera enables x-ray visualization of the tracheobronchial tree to aid physicians in guiding endoscopic tools in the pulmonary tract. Early diagnosis and treatment are vital for improving lung cancer survival rates, and tissue biopsy is necessary for diagnosis. However, performing a lung biopsy is difficult due to the complexity of the highly branched airways of the lung, making it difficult to access and obtain the tissue and the procedure can pose a risk to the patient. Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB) is the safest way to obtain a biopsy but diagnostic success is limited by poor real time visualization of significant portions of the lung. Should the biopsy procedure be unsuccessful, patients may then need to have the tissue surgically removed. In a high number of these cases, the nodules are found to be benign. Pulmera will greatly improve the ability to obtain a diagnosis for the patient using ENB.

Aepnus Technology

University of California, Berkeley

Maintaining and expanding lithium cell and battery manufacturing capability here in America—as well as in allied and partner countries—is critical to national security and is essential to developing resilient defense supply chains not under threat from near-peer adversaries. Based on engineering research conducted at UC Berkeley, Aepnus’ electrochemical technology platform reduces the cost to refine industrially relevant salts such as lithium, manganese, and potash by 70%, with far less environmental impact. By electrifying mineral refinement trains, we enable domestic production of these materials and position the US as a leader in the global production of battery minerals. Combining modular flow reactors and state-of-the-art electrode formulations (hardware) with thermodynamic optimization models (software), Aepnus will decarbonize the lithium-ion battery value chain and enable low-cost US domiciled refinement of critical battery minerals.

Eterna

As part of a portfolio of COVID-19 inspired innovations aimed at advancing RNA vaccines and tools, Stanford researchers have developed a secured, invite-only version of their popular Eterna platform for designing mRNA vaccines, called Inceptive. Inceptive is an online application that integrates RNA folding algorithms, a video game interface, and associated computational methods to revolutionize vaccine design and RNA structure prediction. The new, secured version of the platform is able to host selected participants to work in a confidential manner on problems such as designing improved mRNA vaccines that can be translated to clinical trials by industry partners and other collaborators. The data and designs generated by Inceptive users may be used to develop improved mRNA vaccines immediately for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bioada

Rutgers University

The scientific community is continuously trying to improve their understanding of genetic mechanisms in biological systems and finding biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. With growing accessibility, still, only the minority of investigators in the life and medical sciences has the means to analyze and leverage this enormous treasure of data. Bioada is an integrated, easy to use and interactive genomics data analysis platform for the broader community of life scientists.

M^3

We treat faces as if they were feet, and that’s absurd. Unlike feet, faces are 3D, yet we still measure them using 2D objects such as paper cutouts in the massive $6b market to fit people with masks. This doesn’t cut it, and the data backs it up: 50% of Americans don’t wear the CPAP masks they’ve been prescribed because of these fit, comfort, and convenience issues. The only reason we’ve tolerated this is that until recently there has been no better way to get good 3d measurements of your face without lots of specialized tools. We solve this problem by making it as easy as taking a selfie to get precise 3D measurements of your face.

Seven Biosciences

University of California, Davis

[Update (8.2023) SBIR/STTR funding total: $500k] Seven Biosciences is a GPCR (G protein coupled receptors) targeted drug discovery company which engineers and uses cutting-edge technology. Seven’s proprietary technology are fluorescent sensors based on any GPCR, which enables the functional visualization of the conformational change of the receptor in response to the binding of a given compound in real-time. The technology can be used for high throughput screening of compound libraries against GPCR targets, including orphan GPCRs, as well as for profiling the physiologically relevant effects of candidate molecules. Additionally, Seven’s GPCR sensors can be expressed in vivo –enabling the monitoring of compound effects at the site of action in awake behaving animals and in disease models undergoing treatment with unmatched spatial and real-time temporal resolution. ($500K SBIR - NIH & NSF)

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