Stork AI

Stork AI is leveraging its strong foundations in reproductive medicine, big data, and artificial intelligence to create next-generation fertility products that ultimately help people have babies. It is commercializing a decision assessment tool comprised of patent-pending, AI-based software (“STORK”) that reliably assesses embryo (blastocyst) quality. STORK was developed using a proprietary, multi-focal embryo image dataset from Weill Cornell’s Center for Reproductive Medicine. STORK can also predict genetic defects such as aneuploidy, which involves an abnormal number of chromosomes in the embryo.

Gateway Bio

Duke University

Gateway Bio is developing an innovative “PEG-like” drug conjugation technology that eliminates the antigenicity issues surrounding PEGylation today. Gateway Bio was specifically formed to translate several scientific breakthroughs from the lab of Professor Chilkoti at Duke University into commercially viable products and processes by combining the expertise of the academic scientists closest to these technologies with the business acumen of experienced start-up professionals. The initial core technology of Gateway Bio is based on several key patents on POEGMA conjugates that have been successfully licensed from Duke by Gateway Bio. Our novel method of creating PEG-like conjugates could be applied to generics, existing drugs, newly developed drugs or any of the PEGylated pharmaceuticals currently on the market. There are currently 15 FDA-approved peglyated drugs, with dozens more in clinical trials. Sales of the two most successful pegylated products, Pegasys and Neulasta, exceeded $5 billion in 2011.

Aethergen Biosciences

Dartmouth College

Fungal bioproduction makes up 50% of the industrial enzymes market, a $10B market with a CAGR of 7.1% yearly. Fungal production of enzymes requires that large, dense cultures of cells be aerated properly. Dense cultures, however, become very viscous; stirring these cultures to provide oxygen can damage cells. Aethergen introduces mutations into fungi which convey morphology beneficial for fermentation processes, and lower oxygen consumption by half. This alleviates the need for a tradeoff between culture density and oxygen transfer. Aethergen can thus offer both enzyme manufacturers and strain improvement companies a more efficient process, lowering raw material costs and increasing margins.

HeroWear

Vanderbilt University

[Update (8.2023): SBIR/STTR funding total - $1.9M, Venture funding total - $2.85M] Working men and women lift every day. They do it in warehouses and on production lines. In offices and combat zones. Every day, they lift the economy worldwide. Whether it’s the day-to-day grind or responding to a crisis, their strength supports us all. And they deserve gear that sustains their strength, for work and for life. That makes their job safer. The HeroWear Apex means that their weight is over. The world’s first exosuit for all, built from the ground up for both men and women, the Apex is a back-assist exosuit that uses a proprietary band-based mechanism to reduce strain on the back without getting in the way.

SkyNano Technologies

Vanderbilt University

Using patent-pending technology developed at Vanderbilt University, our technique overcomes cost and scaleability limitations associated with traditional manufacturing techniques, while also giving commercial viability to carbon conversion technologies through the introduction of a high-value secondary material produced from greenhouse gas inputs. Our technique relies on electrochemistry, rather than solely catalysis, and results in a highly efficient process to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into useful functional nanomaterials.(6.2022 - SkyNano was selected to receive $2M in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The funding is part of the ARPA-E HESTIA program, which prioritizes overcoming barriers associated with carbon-storing buildings, including scarce, expensive and geographically limited building materials. As of August 2022, SkyNano has raised ~$8.5M (million) in non-dilutive funding from a variety of federal, state, and commercial sources.)

AbSeek Bio

Vanderbilt University

The human immune system participates in complex interactions with virtually all other systems in the body. In particular, the B-cell component of the adaptive immune response plays a role in various disease settings, including infectious disease, cancer, autoimmunity, cardiovascular, hematologic, neurologic diseases, and others. In addition, antibodies (a product of B cells) are effectively used in diagnostics, therapy, and prevention. To address these significant challenges with current technologies for B cell characterization and antibody discovery, we recently developed a novel technology that, for a given sample, enables the mapping of antibody sequence to antigen specificity from a single high-throughput experiment for a large number of antigens and B cells at a time.

Veramorph

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Veramorph is a specialty pharma company with a differentiated platform oral dosage technology. We are growing a pipeline of unique orally reformulated generic drugs and new molecular entity co-development partnerships to generate revenue from a risk-averse blend of licensing agreements with commercialization partners. Doug, founder and CEO, invented the technology as an MIT postdoc and has 10 years experience in formulations. Acting VP of manufacturing, Colin Minchom, has over 30 years of drug product experience. Leadership is complemented by a team of consultants covering legal, regulatory, and pre-clinical topics and guided by an advisory board of several experienced entrepreneurs. $675K raised (11.2022). (Update - $225,000 NSF SBIR Phase 1.

Theranostec

University of California, Davis

Theranostec have developed a novel, nanoparticle treatment platform allowing for targeted and effective chemotherapy, which can be enhanced with phototherapy, while also lowering toxicity. (UPDATE: Received $3M research funding to develop our approach in companion animals. Received multiple SBIR Phase I and Phase II grants - $4.7 Million.)

AimRNA

University of California, Davis

AimRNA’s novel RNA bioengineering technology produces a wide variety of biologic RNA molecules through a large yield, cost effective bacterial fermentation process, among them a number of leads have been demonstrated efficacy and safety for the treatment of lung and liver cancer in animal models. We have been awarded with SBIR Phase I grant in 2018, and we are currently raising $500,000 to fund IND-enabling studies and $7 million for clinical investigations.

Sierra BioPharma

University of California, Davis

Sierra Biopharma is developing therapeutics that selectively neutralize, remove, and destroy immune components that lead to autoimmune diseases, starting with the orphan indication myasthenia gravis (MG). Sierra Biopharma has developed an antigen-specific therapeutic for MG that targets pathogenic antibodies (Abs) and the memory B-cells (mBCs) that lead to their production. This biologic compound currently binds to and neutralizes the main immunogenic region (MIR) in directed pathogenic Abs and should eliminate their mBCs.

VasoBio

University of California, Davis

VasoBio is startup company focusing on vascular disease treatment & medical devices. VasoBio has developed a proprietary ligand-based coating technology, VasoCoat, to improve vascular grafts and other blood contacting devices. Our technology overcomes the major barriers of currently available vascular grafts and possesses optimal functionality. The current focus of VasoBio is to apply VasoCoat to improve patency of hemodialysis vascular graft and reduce thrombosis, stenosis, and infection. (Update: Received about $500,000 from the Kidney Innovation Accelerator (KidneyX), a public-private partnership between the US Department of Health and Human Services and the American Society of Nephrology.)

UV-C N95 Sterilization

University of Chicago

Currently there are several solutions under consideration for disinfecting N95 respirators for re-use, with UV-C as the preferred solution because of ease of deployment and widespread applicability. Problematically, present UV-C disinfection solutions are limited by shadowing, which prevents exposure of the masks to the required effective dose of UV irradiation. The inventors utilized UV-C light field modeling and extensive test measurements to develop a proprietary arrangement of lamps for disinfecting. The configuration eliminates shadowing, allowing for full irradiation and disinfecting of the contaminated N95 respirator surface in the shortest amount of time.

ERLY Antivirals

Carnegie Mellon University

Our lab has developed novel broad-spectrum antivirals for treatment of all nine human and several animal herpesviruses that overcomes drug resistance. We have shown that the pressurized state of the viral packaged genome is a target for antiviral therapies. This pressurized DNA state in herpesvirus capsid shell (exerting tens of atmospheres of pressure) is responsible for DNA ejection into a cell nucleus, causing infection. Several lead compounds that "turn off" capsid pressure and block viral genome ejection into a cell have demonstrated superior efficacy and safety in testing conducted at the NIH/NIAID. Although high activity has been shown with all human herpesviruses and several animal herpesviruses, our focus will be on treatment of human cytomegalovirus and MDV (Marek’s disease virus in poultry). For HCMV treatment, the market is dominated by generics, such as ganciclovir and foscarne, that have low efficacy and safety profiles. For MDV, no treatments are available.

Bone-Rad Therapeutics

University of California, Irvine

Bone-Rad Therapeutics, Inc. is a Delaware corporation whose objective is to develop and market Spine-Rad (TM) Brachytherapy Bone Cement as an innovative, improved, and cost-effective treatment paradigm for the management of cancer tumors in the spine which affect over 230,000 patients per year in the U.S. and a similar number in the E.U. Four patents covering this technology have been issued and exclusively licensed to Bone-Rad Therapeutics. An additional patent is pending. Developed at The University of California Irvine, Spine-Rad Cement delivers internally-targeted radiation therapy directly to the tumor as it simultaneously treats existing or impending vertebral fractures, restoring strength to the bone. Administered in a single procedure, Spine-Rad Cement will eliminate the 10-20 hospital visits typically needed for external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) as well as the significant side effects of EBRT.

Bacchus Therapeutics

[Update (8.2023) SBIR/STTR funding total: $405k] Bacchus Therapeutics is a biotech company that exploits cancer’s hypermetabolic state by targeting specific cancer metabolic pathways. The aberrant expression of MYC is virtually unmatched, making MYC one of the most frequently deregulated oncogenes in human tumors, including, liver, kidney, CNS, hematopoietic, breast, prostate, lung and GI tumors. Human studies and animal models have established that dysregulation of MYC underlies the pathogenesis and aggressiveness of numerous cancers. Our founders, Drs. Gouw and Felsher, discovered that MYC regulates the aberrant lipid metabolism of tumors and that inactivation of key lipid enzymes results in regression of tumors. (Update: After receiving the IGNITE program grant in 2021, Bacchus opened a lab at one of the shared wet benches in the Prince William County Accelerator in early 2022.)

Episteme Prognostics

Dartmouth College

Cancer patients, after the first diagnosis often ask, “how bad is my tumor and what should I do if it is bad?” In about half of all cancer patients, the first line of chemotherapy fails, disease recurs, and patients die. Episteme has succeeded in targeting a specific epigenetic signature of pancreatic cancer patients, which could potentially be reverted by epigenetic drugs making the tumors amenable to chemotherapy. Episteme invented a novel microarray-based platform technology called “ATAC-Array”. This proprietary technology avoids the time and cost of next-generation ATAC library sequencing – the only microarray that reads chromatin accessibility. No other test provides such a comprehensive, cost-effective and clinically useful epigenetic summary. Episteme offers a personalized theragnostic test utilizing ATAC-array, histopathology and immunohistochemistry, to predict chemotherapy response and stratifying cancer patients to epigenetic (reprograming) therapy for better outcome and better quality of life.

Sharper Sense

Sharper Sense is a wearable noninvasive neurostimulation patch that addresses the most significant unmet need in existing hearing loss treatment: speech comprehension in noisy environments. The Sharper Sense patch optimizes mental state for accurate central auditory processing while worn. This improves hearing acuity and reduces the likelihood of misperceptions. Following positive results of pilot clinical studies, the company is now seeking seed funding to organize an exceptional team, make mass-manufacturable hardware, further strengthen intellectual property, validate a pivotal clinical trial plan, build a network of early-adopting clinics, and broaden the pathway to reimbursement. We are also looking for strategic partners in the hearing care space.

Pangolin Therapeutics

Yale University

[Update (8.2023): The company raised $350,000 of seed funding from Connecticut Innovations and others on May 26, 2021] Numerous clinical trials in amyloidosis have failed as a result of misdirected focus on amyloid states of disease-causing proteins. Pangolin Therapeutics’ (PTx) small-molecule platform, termed Pangomers™, was developed to address this deficiency. The Pangomer™ core structure enables selective targeting of pre-amyloid, toxic oligomers (PAOs). Here, we seek to address Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), an aggressive, orphan-indicated form of Parkinson's for which there are no approved therapeutics. Our pilot efforts have identified and validated a strategy for development of Pangomer™ analogues that neutralize PAOs from MSA. Additional funding will allow execution of this strategy delivering a lead molecule for pre-clinical advancement.

Pearl Bio

Yale University

[Update (8.2023): The company raised $4.11 million of seed funding from Khosla Ventures on October 7, 2021] Pearl Bio is an early-stage venture pioneering design and production of next-generation therapeutics and biomaterials for medical applications and beyond. Biology is constrained to the 20 natural amino acids, limiting the ability to site-specifically modify therapeutic proteins to improve half-life, tissue targeting, or assembly. In contrast, chemical synthesis of therapeutics enables access to greater functional diversity, but template-directed synthesis is challenging. Pearl Bio unites the precision of biology with the unlimited diversity of chemistry in a transformative platform that produces therapeutics and biomaterials with tunable properties for applications in oncology, immunology, and rare disease.

Mucosinix Pharm

Yale University

Mucosinix has a new class of antibiotics which have not been shown to trigger resistance in MRSA culture. This new antibiotic class shows promise as a treatment for multidrug resistant microbes.

TUG-C Obesity Target

Yale University

While obesity is a growing worldwide epidemic, there are few effective treatments. This technology aims to inhibit a degradation pathway, therefore increasing heat and calorie burn in patients with obesity.

CynAxis

Yale University

A vast majority of drugs and biologics fail to enter the brain for treatment of brain cancers and neurological diseases. Our discovery yielded key insights into how the immune system naturally overcomes the blood brain barrier to fight infections. We leverage this insight to enable safe and transient drug access to the CNS using a simple intranasal peptide delivery approach.

Gene Activation Product Engine

Yale University

Over 95% of rare disease have no treatment or cure: there are over 7,000 known rare diseases collectively affectiting 30 million Americans. Many of these disease are genetic disorders, in which there can be considerable genetic variation between patients. Current drug development pipeline does not cater to rare mutations, as drug development often takes more than 10 years and over $2B to get a drug to market, making the small patient populations inhibiting. Even if a therapy is developed, genetic variation of the disease means not all patients in the already-small patient population may be able to be treated, limiting their impact and incentive to develop these therapies.

Revalia Bio

Yale University

[Update (8.2023): The company raised $1.08 million of pre-seed funding from Leva Capital, BoxOne Ventures and Connecticut Innovations on January 18, 2023] We have developed a novel linker technology that can enable potent targeting of nanomedicines for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. We further have a unique clinical pipeline for development of this technology using ex vivo perfusion of non-transplanted human organs. Our primary lab, the Tietjen lab, has developed a robust pipeline for preclinical research on human kidney and liver with the capacity to expand to heart and lung in the future. This provides a direct path to clinical impact in organ transplantation and will enable broad translation for a variety of indications.

LeptoX BioPharma

Yale University

Leptospirosis is the Ebola virus of the bacterial world, difficult to diagnose, and for which there is a 20% mortality rate. Leptospirosis is a global health threat, particularly for travelers and for soldiers. The vaccine for human leptospirosis is unsafe and of unknown efficacy, creating a vast domestic and global demand for an effective vaccine that is currently unmet. Current vaccines are bacterin type vaccines and of limited efficacy, duration, and safety, however LeptoX is offering a first-in-class vaccination (first for animals, to be developed for humans) that outcompetes its competitors in all of these categories.

IMAD Therapeutics

Immuno-Modulators of Alzheimer’s Disease (I.M.A.D.) was founded by Dr. Elizabeth Bradshaw and Dr. Wassim Elyaman from Columbia University’s Department of Neurology. The team is pioneering genetically-driven strategies to treat Alzheimer’s disease by directly targeting susceptibility genes in the CNS innate immune cells, called microglia. Their lead program is a preclinical non-antibody biologic which has been shown to target the CD33 genetic susceptibility signaling pathway in human microglia and clear β-amyloid from the brain of treated mice.

BioBina

Effective treatment of abdominal and thoracic cancers requires a more targeted and improved penetration of therapeutics in order to reduce off-target side effects and increase efficacy. BioBina has developed a treatment strategy which utilizes existing radiation therapy with an increased specificity and penetration of the therapeutic to the affected tissue. The technology has been developed for ovarian cancer and has the potential to be extended to a multitude of abdominal and thoracic cancers.

Parallel Works

University of Chicago

[Update (8.2023): SBIR/STTR funding total - $572k] Parallel Works is a web-based platform that simplifies and automates the complex workflow of parallel computing. They speed up simulation and analytics campaigns across industries by making parallel computers from hybrid clouds and clusters easier to use. Their platform is built on the Parsl and Swift parallel scripting technologies developed over the last decade by Argonne National Laboratory, and is designed to run simulation and analytics on the world's largest computing resources. (Sept. 2021 -Argonne and Parallel Works won the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s (FLC) Midwest Regional Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer for bringing Argonne’s Machine Learning–Genetic Algorithm (ML-GA) design optimization software to commercialization.)

StraDEFY

Yale University

Stradefy Biosciences is developing innovative bioadhesive nanoparticles (BNPs) to deliver therapeutic agents to target tissues at maximally effective doses while reducing systemic toxicities. The Company licensed from Yale technology from the laboratories of Professors Mark Saltzman and Dr. Michael Girardi with high value applications in oncology, autoimmune diseases, and other indications. ESV’s Venture Partner, Brian Dixon, is CEO. Elm Street Ventures led the Peritoneal carcinomatosis is a late stage manifestation of colon and ovarian cancer with a poor prognosis. Intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy is effective, but current methods lead to toxicity, which is not easily tolerated by patients. We propose a new approach, in which the chemotherapy drug is encapsulated in bioadhesive nanoparticles (BNPs) that can be delivered locally by established IP infusion methods. These BNPs are retained for many days in the IP space, and slowly release chemotherapy drugs, maximizing effectiveness, while minimizing toxicity.

Vittix Therapeutics

Yale University

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a highly lethal, orphan lung disease with limited treatment options. Vittix Therapeutics, led by Dr. Naftali Kaminski, Chief of the Pulmonary Section at Yale University, has identified thyroid hormone small molecule mimetics as a novel therapeutic approach, targeting mitochondrial function in lung epithelial cells and to date, has produced compelling in vivo proofs of concept. Received a Blavatnik Award in May 2019.

RIGImmune

Yale University

[Update (8.2023): The company raised $5.7 million of seed funding from F-Prime Capital, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Connecticut Innovations on December 7, 2022] Activating the innate immune system within tumors is a promising new direction in immunotherapy because it can be used against a broad spectrum of tumor subtypes and it ensures that cells throughout the tumor microenvironment become sensitized, resulting in attack and destruction by T cells. RIG-I is a particularly sensitive trigger of innate immune response in tumors, so agonists of this receptor are promising immunotherapy agents. Through a unique class of RIG-I agonists called Stem-Loop RNAs (SLRs), the scientific team is evaluating the efficacy of SLRs as immunotherapy and antiviral agents.

Allyx Therapeutics

Yale University

[Update (8.2023): The company raised $2.31 million of Series A1 venture funding in a deal led by Spring Mountain Capital on February 9, 2023] Loss of brain synapses is highly correlated with symptom progression in Alzheimer’s dementia, but there is currently no treatment to slow or halt synapse loss. Allyx’s prion protein antagonists rescue synapses and memory function by interrupting the deleterious signaling triggered by amyloid without removing plaque itself and are effective at reversing deficits after they develop.

Allagium Therapeutics

Yale University

Modulation of MAP Kinase Phosphatases in Targeting Liver Disease. A novel platform for allosteric targeting of MAP kinase phosphatases to achieve nodal regulation of signaling pathways that can be leveraged for therapeutic purposes.

VitaScan

Addressing vital nutrient deficiencies, which are surprisingly prevalent and may lead to severe health issues, VitaScan provides rapid, accurate, and affordable testing for vitamins and micronutrients. With our first product, IronScan, we focus on swift identification of iron deficiency, affecting one-third of the global population and causing numerous health complications. Now, VitaScan's portable system allows for not only hospital avoidance but also facilitates convenient testing at a physician's office, clinic, or even at home.

ClostraBio

University of Chicago

(Sept. 22 Update) ClostraBio, Inc., a late-preclinical stage biopharma company developing therapeutics to transform intestinal health, today announced a $4 million close of its Series A-1 financing. The round was led by Portal Innovations and funds will be used to complete remaining preclinical studies to advance CLB-004 towards first-in-human clinical studies treating mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis. ClostraBio is a preclinical-stage pharmaceutical company creating medicines to treat diseases resulting from intestinal barrier dysfunction, especially those caused by shifts to the microbiome. The first indications are in the treatment and prevention of food allergy, initially peanut allergy, and ClostraBio recently began a program in colitis. ClostraBio has licensed a proprietary drug delivery platform and are using this platform for oral delivery of small molecules and metabolites derived from the microbiome to the GI tract.

Andluca Technologies

Princeton University

(Update 12.21 - Andluca Technologies has been awarded a $1M Phase II SBIR grant from NSF to continue development of their near-ultraviolet (NUV) organic photovoltaic technology. Andluca was selected for $400,000 in follow-on funding from Empire State Development via the Luminate NY accelerator program. The New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation, and Technology (CSIT) awarded $75,000 through the Clean Tech Seed Grant Program. Andluca, a Princeton University spin-out, has developed UV-solar-powered smart glass for improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Andluca’s patented technologies can reduce building energy use by up to 40% while significantly enhancing occupant comfort and productivity.

AlvaHealth

Yale University

[Update (8.2023): SBIR/STTR funding total - $1.48M, Venture funding total - $0.74M] Getting immediate medical attention is critical after a patient has experienced a stroke. However, stroke symptoms are often not identified by the patient or family members until it is too late to administer treatment. There is currently no wearable-linked mobile app which specifically detects a stroke incident. AlvaHealth is pairing wearable devices with machine learning to detect a stroke incident immediately based on the activity in both arms of the patient. Early detection of stroke can improve the outlook for patient recovery. (Update) Alva Health was part of MassMEDIC's IGNITE 2021 cohort and also participated in the MassMEDIC Startup Stadium during BIOMEDevice Boston 2021. Alva Health is the recipient of the $350,000 grand prize as the winner of its 2021 MedTech Global Competition.

Surgical ai

Harvard University

Operating rooms are often not efficient and are costly to hospitals. Solutions to increasing efficiency neglect to monitor errors in real time which can be stopped and improve efficiency from the time of the incident. This technology pairs artificial intelligence with real time monitoring of operating room procedures to increase efficiency of hospital operating rooms.

My Gene Counsel

Yale University

[Update (8.2023): Venture funding total - $3.38M] My Gene Counsel has created scalable, digital technology that pairs specific genetic test results with accurate, continuously updating information for clinicians and consumers. By helping patients and doctors become aware of the implications of genetic testing results, My Gene Counsel can help improve patients' lives and avoid unnecessary risky medical procedures.

Clarasim Systems

ClaraSim Systems, Inc. has developed a computer simulated environment in which surgeons can perform surgery on virtual bone using virtual instruments. By combining patient-specific data with a powerful simulation engine, we are able to create 3-D patient models that can be explored and modified in real-time with virtual surgical tools providing both haptic and visual feedback. Our system enhances the surgeon's ability to perform skilled surgery by enabling them to rehearse drilling through accurate representations of the patient's bony and fragile structures. The anatomical insight gained from interacting with the simulation provides guidance during actual surgery leading to better outcomes. While the system enables preoperative rehearsal, it is also used as a teaching tool, giving trainees the opportunity to experience many different cases in a safe and efficient setting. The technological and clinical capabilities of the product stem from over 30 person-years of research conducted by the company founders.

Powernet

Stanford researchers have developed an architecture and control scheme for the coordination of distributed energy resources (DER), such as solar and storage, to minimize operation cost, enhance network reliability, and provide DER aggregation. The availability of electric load and generation data in electric grids varies both spatially and temporally due to: the random nature of loads and renewable generation; distributed locations of the loads and DER; and communication delays. Stanford researchers have found that control schemes that utilize local information (within the firmware of the storage unit, or in a home automation appliance) and delayed information to a global controller (e.g., collected from smart meter readings) perform near the ideal, but unimplementable, theoretical limit of performance.

Molecular Decisions

Born from the expertise of Dr. Dean Felsher and Dr. Alice Fan, Molecular Decisions, also known as MDI, specializes in developing proteomic-based assays, including the Nanoimmunoassay (NIA). Primarily serving pharmaceutical companies, MDI enables faster and more informed drug development and clinical trials by precisely measuring protein isoform drug targets. Striving to revolutionize patient care, the team's mission is to aid physicians in making better-informed decisions by providing real-time information about drug efficacy.

ProteoWise

Yale University

[Update (8.2023): SBIR/STTR funding total - $250k, Venture funding total - $8.65M, Yale Innovation prize - $2.5M] ProteoWise was founded by a seasoned team of scientists from the Strittmatter Laboratory at Yale University which has a history of commercialization of innovations emerging from the lab. ProteoWise aims to unlock the protein world. Its technology will disrupt the protein analysis industry by enabling researchers to move beyond the current Western Blot standard and into easy, high-throughput bench-top proteomics.

Rhenium Chemotherapeutics

About half of treated cancer patients receive platinum-based drugs (eg. cisplatin, carboplatin) alone or in co-administration with other anticancer agents. Despite their efficacy, their use is limited by toxic side effects and inherent or acquired resistance to platinum-based drugs by tumor cells. To address this challenge, a Cornell team lead by Prof. Justin Wilson have developed rhenium-based chemotherapeutics for treatment of platinum-resistant cancers.

DeckTherapeutics

[Update (8.2023): Raised seed investment from CH Innovations & Catalytic Impact Foundation & won a $500K grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in July 2022] THDG3 represents a novel, patent protected omega-3 diglyceride emulsion developed by Dr. Deckelbaum’s laboratory at Columbia University. Acute injection of THDG3 emulsion following stroke leads to a marked reduction in brain tissue death (up to 90%, demonstrated in 6 rodent models), with associated preservation and recovery of both short and long term neurofunctional outcomes. Due to the high risk profile and short window of administration, less than 8% of stroke patients receive treatment with t-PA, the current standard of treatment for stroke. DeckTherapeutics is currently developing THDG3 emulsion as a drug candidate for standard emergency treatment for stroke, a global unmet need, with phase 2a trials planned in 2021.

Tharzen

University of Chicago

Relying on developers to do web app maintenance is expensive and time-consuming. Many content management system (CMS) operators like Wordpress claim you can 'do it yourself' visually, but after 20-50 plugins, visual interfaces fall short as many dependencies fail. Tharzen offers a visual editing interface for any live website under any CMS, even hard-coded and dynamic web apps.

3rd Arm Inc

Articulated Wearables to enhance human productivity. 3rd Arm is prototyping a wearable, articulated robotic device that can be attached to a person at the hip or other location to augment human task productivity. This mechanical "third arm" has many uses such as assisting abled users (e.g. holding additional tools to enhance work), helping disabled users (e.g. providing support and lifting objects), and as a haptic interface for interaction with robotics systems and AR/VR experiences. 3rd Arm is incorporating the latest robotic technology with a newly designed 4-state brake mechanism in joints for advanced operations.

TargetSite Therapeutics

Yale University

[Update (8.2023): The company received $319,794 of grant funding from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on August 31, 2022] Inflammatory diseases such as autoimmune uveitis, multiple sclerosis and psoriasis are thought to be driven by over expression of cytokines such as IL-17. Therapeutic approaches to repress expression of pro-inflammatory proteins are promising, but miRNAs which stabilize the targeted mRNA can inhibit this process. This technology uses oligonucleotides to block the target sites of the stabilizing miRNAs, thus leading to decreased stability of the target mRNA. Based on novel insights into the biology of a new class of microRNAs, TargetSite Therapeutics is harnessing the power of a differentiated oligonucleotide therapeutic platform in order to target pro-inflammatory cytokines involved in therapeutic areas of distinct need.

Sarxion Biologics

Yale University

The shortage of human tissues for surgical applications has driven the market to identify alternatives, including polymeric and biologic materials. Animal tissue, particularly pig, is closing the gap in the critical shortage of human tissue. Current polymeric and conventional biologics exhibit a high degree of complications, in part due to the lack of adequate integration with the surrounding tissues. Sarcio has developed a superior porcine biologic material that addresses the integration deficiencies of polymeric and conventional biologics. Our material is prepared from pigs carrying a single gene knockout resulting in highly integration-competent decellularized tissues. Sarcio’s decellularized tissues are prepared using routine manufacturing methods and are demonstrably superior to conventional polymeric and biological scaffolds. Sarcio’s first planned application will be for hernia repair, a procedure that is performed up to 1 million times annually in the United States.

Lkit Therapeutics

Yale University

A Novel Chemical Approach to Target p53 Mutation in Human Cancer. There is currently no treatment that specifically targets p53 mutation, the most common genetic abnormality associated with cancer. Loss of p53 tumor suppressor function provides cells with a proliferative advantage but renders them susceptible to metabolic stress. We have developed potent and selective inhibitors for PIP4K2A and PIP4K2B that regulate cell metabolism and are essential for the growth of p53-deficient tumor.