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Alto Neuroscience

Using AI-driven brain biomarkers to match patients with the right drug.

ImmunoBlue

George Washington University

GW researchers developed a cell therapy manufacturing platform that avoids genetic engineering and activates immune cells against multiple, patient-specific target antigens simultaneously. A sample of a patient’s cancer cells obtained by surgery or biopsy is treated with photothermal therapy (PTT) in vitro, delivered by Prussian blue nanoparticles (PBNPs) at an immunogenic thermal dose. Immune cells (e.g. T cells, NK cells) from the patient are then exposed to the PBNP-PTT-treated cancer cells in vitro to activate them against multiple patient-specific, tumor antigens. The activated immune cells are then re-infused to the patient. Preliminary ex vivo data and studies in xenograft animal models show superior specificity of T cells generated through this novel immuno-engineered platform against glioblastoma, over T cells generated through traditional methods.

Precision Surgery Technologies LLC

University of California, Los Angeles

Tumor margin detection is difficult in head and neck and breast procedures, inadequate resection yields local recurrence, and broad resections are morbid procedure DOCI technology allows the detection of tumor margins without the need for injecting fluorescing material. Currently, there is no validated intraoperative technology to help surgeons identify precise cancer margins. There is a significant gap in the areas of intraoperative cancer margin delineation and precise surgical treatment of head and neck and breast cancer patients. We have developed a solution for this unmet clinical need.

Qrypt

An integrated quantum hardware and cryptographic solution for securing data. TRL 9

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.

Qlarity Imaging

University of Chicago

AI software that gives radiologists information they do not have access to today. Qlarity Imaging utilizes the QuantX MRI image analysis technology and reference database to aid in initial diagnosis and evaluation of extent of known disease of breast cancer patients. The software dramatically improves biopsy precision and treatment outcomes by identifying exactly where a malignancy is, how and where the needle should be inserted, and how deep the needle should go, effectively guiding the radiologists performing biopsy procedures. The technology was designed with physicians in mind, resulting in easy implementation and adoption in research and community hospitals demonstrating that not only does the technology work in theory, it also works in practice resulting in material improvement to patient outcomes.

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.

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.

LignaMed

University of Pennsylvania

[Update (8.2023): SBIR/STTR funding total - $7M, NIH Contract - $5.2M] LignaMed is dedicated to developing breakthrough treatments for severe asthma, organ transplant viability, and fibrosis. Its lead drug compound, LGM1506, is a single isomer synthetic small molecule with a unique mechanism of action proven to Improve asthma based on statistically significant data from its completed phase II NIH grant. The company is on track to achieve key inflection points for two of its programs: severe Asthma, with Phase I studies in man possible in 2024 and ex vivo lung perfusion for human donor lungs, with potential market approval under a drug as device pathway in 2024.

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.

Princeton NuEnergy

Princeton University

(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. )

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.

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.

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.

NanoStem Biotech

Rutgers University

Dr. KiBum Lee of Rutgers University is developing a nanoscaffold material and system that would enable effective stem cell therapy and drug delivery. The innovation promises functional recovery in patients with central nervous system injuries--like spinal cord injuries--for which there are no effective treatments today. Features of the nanoscaffold include 3D biomimicry, stem cell/neuronal differentiation, ECM-protein binding affinity, efficient drug loading/sustained delivery, and MRI-based monitoring capability.

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 /

Vanish Therapeutics

University of Pittsburgh

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.

BiomeSense

University of Chicago

[Update (8.2023): The company raised $6 million through a combination of Seed 3, and Seed 4 funding on February 14, 2023] Integrating proprietary technologies, the GutLab, “smart bathroom” technology for continuous patient microbiome tracking & MetaBiome, a cloud-based bioinformatics platform. Novel tools to continuously track, analyze, and store individual microbiome profiles, providing vastly more data than, and at a fraction of the cost of, current practice. Creating the GutLab, a novel “smart bathroom” technology for continuous, at-home microbiome tracking & MetaBiome, a cloud-based bioinformatics platform. This platform is a generational leap over existing measurement tools: (1) much cheaper and more scalable, (2) produces & analyze dense time-series data, unlocking an entire dimension of never-before-accessible biomarkers, and (3) has far higher accuracy & precision, ensuring all data generated can be stored in a single, standardized database – a first for the microbiome field.

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.

bioProtonics

University of California, Santa Barbara

[Update (8.2023): SBIR/STTR funding total - $150k, Venture funding total - $2.86M] Many diseases can only be diagnosed properly by looking at sections of the tissue post-mortem or from invasive biopsies. Imaging of subtle textural aspects of tissue is not possible due to low resolution in magnetic resonance (MR) images. bioProtonics has developed a method to measure tissue texture using MR data without the need for rendered images. In many diagnostic workflows, the bioProtonics technique could replace biopsies. Such applications include neurodegenerative disease, liver disease, osteoporosis, cancer, lung disease, prostate disease. (Update 2019 - 2021: $1,049,785 + $782K Seed Funding)

SPARKBio

George Washington University

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.

Entelechy

Entelechy’s business-focused approach ensures they design, develop, and deliver the most effective performance change possible. Whether it’s world-class training, job aids, documentation, coaching, consulting, web-based training, or user help, the solution you get from Entelechy is guaranteed to help you achieve your business goals. They provide a training module with training materials and access to a team of learning and development, and instructional design experts to help execute your program flawlessly.

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.

SOMA

Brown University

The prevalence of chronic pain is currently on the rise, however, there are few effective and accessible cognitive-behavioral interventions that are widely available to the population experiencing chronic pain. Limited healthcare system capabilities and high treatment costs prevent many patients from receiving or even seeking non-pharmaceutical care. Therefore, there is a need for a more accessible, affordable, and efficacious technology that will allow individuals with acute or chronic pain to track and manage their pain symptoms and triggers. The SOMA Pain Manager is a smartphone application that allows acute and chronic pain patients to track and predict pain. Further, a digital therapeutic program is currently being integrated into the application that will deliver cognitive-behavioral interventions. Overall, the SOMA app provides an easy and accessible option for individuals seeking to manage and treat their pain symptoms.

Synaural

Northwestern University

The Synaural platform uses engineered acoustic probes to elicit specific neural activity within the brain. A robust, easy to use, non-invasive headset records the neural activity and patented algorithms extract unique metrics that provide objective insight to the subject’s neural health and can be used to guide treatment in a meaningful, measured way. To date, the metrics have demonstrated enough specificity to be correlated with various conditions e.g. concussion, learning disabilities (e.g. Autism, reading, dyslexia), and hearing.

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.

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.

Qunnect

Leveraging proprietary hardware and the quantum mechanics properties of photons to enable quantum communications. Quantum-secure networking leverages the physical-encryption of photons to enable unprecedented sensitivity and speed of detecting eavesdroppers/hackers. Several barriers exist to broad implementation of scalable quantum networking in the real-world. Foremost, devices supporting quantum transactions, analogous to digital telecom, need to be invented. These devices must be deployable in the real-world and, ideally, also compatible with existing infrastructure, like optical fiber beds.

Tendo Technologies

Princeton University

(Update: Raised an estimated $2 million from Rhapsody Venture Partners and Tyche Partners in 2023). Founded in 2017, Tendo Technologies is an innovative firm emerging from the Marcus Hultmark research lab at Princeton. The company specializes in advanced flow sensing/measurement technology. The scalable technology uses nanoscale conductive ribbons to achieve extreme sensitivity for gases and liquids. Tendo's tech, packaged with tailored components for specific applications, proves useful across numerous industries, including medical, agricultural, HVAC, and manufacturing sectors.

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.

FUSONEX

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a hereditary disease that affects ~50,000 families in the United States and causes the development of hundreds to thousands of adenomas in the rectum and colon. When left untreated, 100% of FAP patients develop colorectal cancer by the age of 45. Although small molecules and monoclonal antibodies targeting mTOR and IL-23 are be tested to treat FAP, these approaches are not specific to polyps and therefore cause a variety of unintended side-effects. Additionally, although genetics studies have identified variants in the APC gene as the causal mutation for FAP, gene therapy technologies need to be optimized to achieve the precision and efficacy necessary to serve as a viable therapeutic option for FAP. This technology is a monoclonal antibody targeting the Annexin A1 (ANXA1) protein complex that may be useful in treating FAP and other cancers related to ANXA1 activity.

CardiacTEEM

Brown University

Cardiotoxicity of pharmaceutical drugs, industrial chemicals, and environmental toxicants can be severe, even life threatening, which necessitates a thorough evaluation of human response to chemical compounds. Predicting risks for arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death accurately is critical for defining safety profiles. Currently available approaches have limitations including a focus on single select ion channels, the use of non-human species in vitro and in vivo, and limited direct physiological translation. CardiacTEEM has developed in vitro 3D models of atrial and ventricular tissues from human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes that can be used to evaluate chamber-specific responses without the need for animals. This self-assembled 3D microtissue technology provides a straightforward way to analyze physiologically relevant metrics like action potential patterns. CardiacTEEM is exploring applications in pharmaceutical development as well as environmental chemical toxicity testing.

Milo Sensors

University of California, Santa Barbara

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.

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.

Cycladex

Northwestern University

(Update: Sept. 2021 - Cycladex has completed construction of a production facility in the US that will use the company's novel gold recovery technology. The company uses a novel, patented chemical process to recover precious metals by cutting leach time from 30 hours to 6 hours on average. The development of the technology was supported by the National Science Foundation SBIR program and from investors in the UK.) Gold mining has been a historically low innovation industry. The industry standard is to use a cyanide process to isolate gold, which is expensive and potentially dangerous. Cycladex has created a method to isolate gold in an inexpensive, environmentally-friendly way.

Atomwise

The company’s proprietary AtomNet technology identifies new small molecules for therapeutic targeting of difficult proteins. Atomwise is a venture-backed drug discovery platform company powered by robust and evolving machine learning algorithms. The proprietary AtomNet technology identifies new small molecules for therapeutic targeting of difficult proteins. Atomwise has wholly-owned pre-clinical assets in immunology, co-developed assets in oncology, hematology, and immunology, as well as several stealth candidates in discovery phase. (University of Toronto)

ArrePath

Princeton 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.

Pre-Fever Detection of Infection

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Techniques for detecting infection by monitoring physiological states before symptoms become apparent. A machine learning model is used to analyze patient data and help to identify whether a patient was exposed to an infectious chemical agent. This detection could lead to earlier patient care and increase the probability of a positive prognosis.

ViewsML

Dartmouth College

Utilizing artificial intelligence in conjunction with the electrocardiogram to help clinicians identify cardiovascular disease more quickly, more accurately, and at a fraction of the cost. Real time capture of microscope video that is digitized, formatted and stored for AI and ML based use to enhance patient diagnosis. ViewsML uses a machine-learning model to predict biomarker expression in patient samples, both spatially and quantitatively. This reduces a 24+ hour process down to a few seconds, saving time and resources that can be redeployed elsewhere in the hospital or laboratory.

QuantHub

Platform to assess current state and provide personalized intervention where needed. Founded in 2018, QuantHub provides an efficient yet rigorous vetting platform for hiring data professionals and a modern, in the flow of work, learning platform focused on both AI skills for analytics teams and data literacy skills for the entire enterprise. QuantHub is a SaaS subscription-based platform written for data scientists by data scientists, providing skill tests, data challenges, and skill development plans completely tailored to the unique characteristics of the advanced analytics space.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

SOVE

University of North Carolina

SOVE is making a new approach for orthodontics. Traditional braces have never been comfortable or attractive, therefore there has been a large movement in the market towards invisible braces. However, many current 'invisible' alternatives suffer from a range of compromises that can make them under-perform. SOVE is developing the 2Insight, a two-stage orthodontic system that eliminate the problems associated with esthetic orthodontic appliances.

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.)

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.

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.

Prediction Health

Vanderbilt University

[Update (8.2023): SBIR/STTR funding total - $222k, Venture funding total - $3.98M] Prediction Health is revolutionizing patient care and enhancing the efficiency of clinicians and administrators. Designed specifically for Physical Therapy (PT) compliance and documentation, 'PT Practice Intel' simplifies documentation, compliance, and operational excellence. By reading and analyzing free form notes and EHR data, it automates the laborious tasks, reducing burnout, and increasing efficiency, hence fostering a better environment for outstanding patient care.