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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.

AlvaHealth

University of North Carolina

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.

SOVE

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.

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.)

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.

Phlaxis

(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.

PionEar Technologies

Harvard University

Ear infections are the number on cause of doctors visits worldwide, affecting 700 million people each year. Chronic ear infections are often treated with the insertion of a tympanostomy tube into the ear drum. While these help to drain fluid, they often come with complications which can result in follow up surgeries and hearing loss. The PionEar tympanostomy tube technology addresses the most common complications by changing the geometry and materials of the tube to enhance fluid transport and reduce the chances of biofilm formation.

Tharzen

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.

Vittix Therapeutics

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.

RiboRupt Biotech

We have applied a unique, robust, and comprehensive image-based assay developed in our laboratory to discover small molecule inhibitors of nucleolar function. Results from pilot screens on FDA-approved drugs reveal 83 unique hits that include known and putative antineoplastic agents.

Pearl Bio

Investor: khosla ventures. 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.

Stork AI

University of California, Santa Barbara

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.

Vine Robot Technologies

Soft robotics shows promise for creating robots which are better able to navigate narrow and variable environments. The vine robot is able to extend its length many thousands of percent its body length with an internal pressurized vessel, which can be manipulated to change the direction of the robot tip. In testing, the vine robot is able to navigate through small passages and can even autonomously navigate towards light source with the addition of a camera.

AgileMD

Industry-leading analytic for predicting all hospital-caused deterioration and sepsis. eCART continually monitors patients using real-time data and drives clinical workflows for front-line staff and rapid response teams to prevent failure to rescue. AgileMD eCART is dedicated to improving patient outcomes by leveraging the way data is used. They are part of a revolutionary change in the delivery of healthcare that is being driven by the rapid uptake in technologies related to the capture, storage, and analysis of data. They empower electronic health records to deliver standardized clinical pathways that recommend orders, document decision-making, and save time.

MyophonX

University of North Carolina

Solutions for silent speech production lack innovation, cultural acceptability, and often involve invasive surgery. MyophonX is cutting-edge wearable technology for silent communication, with applications to stroke and laryngectomy patients as well as voice searching.

AnelleO

(Update: $862,923K SBIR Phase 2 - 2021) AnelleO is harnessing the advancements in the speed and scale of 3D printing technology for novel solutions in Women’s Health. AnelleO’s Intravaginal Rings (IVRs) offer a unique platform for sustained delivery of therapeutics – a non-invasive, self-administered and retrievable platform that can deliver drugs over a period of weeks or months. AnelleO is a medical device company that is developing a 3D printed intravaginal ring that can be used as a platform for treating a wide range of women's health conditions. Their first product, AnelleO PRO involves the only single administration of progesterone for infertility. Their technology enables controlled drug-release kinetics with up to 100% drug release, as well as rapid manufacturing and custom sizing. The manufacturing method allows for formulation of biologics and drug combinations not possible with traditional technologies.

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.

Aero Therapeutics

Aero Therapeutics is helping physicians in low-resource settings treat neonatal respiratory issues with their sustainable, rugged and affordable devices. Their current device oxygenates, warms, humidifies, and sterilizes air before it is delivered in a single, compact, and mobile enclosure. Developed iteratively in Ethiopia, their final prototype demonstrates comparable performance with commercially available devices at ~1/10th the cost.

Udacity

Udacity’s proven playbook is globally scalable, addressing the widespread digital talent shortages that impact growth, productivity, and innovation. We collaborate with enterprises and highly motivated individuals to design a tailored talent transformation journey enabled by our Digital Competency Platform. Our exclusive content is co-created and continually refined with industry leaders. Each Udacity program is deeply focused—eliminating guesswork in selecting the right course. Projects go far beyond step-by-step guides, cultivating the critical thinking required for workplace relevance. Expert mentors unblock learning with personalized support, and verify complete mastery of competencies.

Yoma Biosciences

DNA damage can be detrimental to cells as it can lead to mutagenesis, genotoxicity and tumorigenesis. One of the most frequent forms of DNA damage is 8-oxoguanine (8-OG), which is repaired by OGG1. Bioactive inhibitors of OGG1 and the GO pathway can be useful tools to investigate the connections of this enzyme activity to disease. Yoma Biosciences has developed potent, selective, small-molecule inhibitors of OGG1 and other enzyme targets in the GO pathway. These inhibitors provide useful tools to study the biological roles of OGG1 and also have therapeutic potential for cancer and inflammation. With multiple enzyme targets in the pathway (OGG-1, MTH1, MutYH, …) - currently un-drugged, Yoma has multiple chances for 1st in class candidate discovery.

AddGraft Therapeutics

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.

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.

Nanowear

Comfortable cloth nanotechnology undergarment captures from a patient at home more than 85 medical biomarkers that can be monitored by medical staff remotely.

Pulmera

Case Western Reserve University

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.

SmartScan2

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.

YouBiotics

University of Pittsburgh

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

University of Pittsburgh

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

Innerworld

Vanderbilt University

A virtual therapy world that is designed to respond to the patient and increase their engagement. What it says here in the approach description is exactly the same as what it says in the description. Innerworld has created a virtual therapy world that is designed to respond to the patient and increase their engagement. The platform allows users to explore and work through their challenges, emotions, and behaviors while learning cognitive behavioral therapy based life changing tools.

SomaTx Design

University of California, Davis

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.

Tissue Oracle

Columbia University

The Tissue Oracle addresses an unmet need to identify which regions of excised breast tissue should undergo histopathological assessment to diagnose breast disease. Our envisioned product deploys optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging and artificial intelligence image analysis to achieve the microscopic-level resolution, large field of view, and fast throughput necessary for integration into clinical workflow. The value proposition is that our image-guided sample selection can reduce the number of tissue blocks submitted for histopathology, and the associated cost and workload, by 30-50%. The target customers are pathologists and administrators seeking greater efficiency for a key step in breast cancer care.

AimRNA

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.

Molecular Decisions

Molecular Decisions provides boutique CRO services to pharmaceutical companies, helping them do faster and more confident drug development and clinical trials. The company analyzes clinical or analytical samples using nano-immunoassays that precisely measure specific protein isoform drug targets, enabling sound, immediate decisions related to drug efficacy.

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.

LeptoX BioPharma

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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.

Veramorph

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.

Palm Therapeutics

University of California, San Diego

Palm Therapeutics is a San Diego based biotechnology startup, and member of JLABS@San Diego, in the early stages of development of an innovative class of drugs known as depalmitoylating molecules (DPALMs). The DPALM strategy was developed in the Devaraj Lab at The University of California San Diego by Dr. Andrew Rudd and Prof. Neal Devaraj. Our technology targets post-translational protein palmitoylation and represents a fundamentally new approach to inhibiting protein function. In preliminary studies, NRas-targeted DPALMs have shown in vitro and in vivo efficacy in NRas-driven melanoma models, and in September 2020, we were awarded a Phase I SBIR from NIH/NCI to pursue this indication.

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).

ViewsIQ

Dartmouth College

Real time capture of microscope video that is digitized, formatted and stored for AI and ML based use to enhance patient diagnosis.

ThinkLive

Founded 2018 Georgia Institute of Technology. Providing STEM education embedded in training students to play a turntable

LiMAX Biosciences

Harvard University

Update 10.22 - Limax has raised $2m in funding, which supported the launch of topical and internal hemostat programs. The company is seeking $6m in seed funding to support first human trials, followed by a $12m series A round to support clinical trials and commercial launch. Limax Biosciences has developed a biodegradable adhesive hydrogel for advanced bleeding with strong and rapid adhesion to wet tissue surfaces. According to Limax CEO Ben Freedman, 30% to 50% of surgeries today are associated with bleeding-related complications, costing the health system between $10,000 and $15,000 per case in hospitalization and prolonged hospital stays.Wounds outside and inside the body are common and can be devastating. Wound adhesives have not been able to compete with suturing due to lack of strength and flexibility. LiMAX has developed a gel adhesive using biomimicry which is able to outperform existing medical adhesives in strength and flexibility.

Endovascular Retrieval Device

Inferior vena cava (IVC) filters are implantable devices that prevent clots from embolizing from the legs to the lungs. Even though the FDA recommends retrieval of the filter when the risk of VTE or bleeding has resolved, IVC filter removal is technically challenging and sometimes impossible because of tilt and scarring. The team has developed and patented a device that can safely retrieve filters in any configuration.

PETcoil

PETcoil enables healthcare providers to offer PET/MRI scans with better imaging quality for a fraction of the cost compared to existing solutions. Commercial integrated PET/MRI scanners cost ~$6M + ~$2M for required room renovations, an unaffordable cost for many institutions. PETcoil's patented portable PET insert can be placed into any existing MRI scanner, enabling it to perform simultaneous PET/MRI at 1/8th of the cost compared to integrated systems. A proof-of-concept radiofrequency (RF)-penetrable PET insert has been developed and successfully tested, supported by grants from the NIH, Stanford Bio-X & Biodesign programs, and the Coulter Foundation.

Sulabha BioPharma

We have developed a computational platform for de novo designing of dual inhibitors that can simultaneously engage their targets and (most importantly) augment protein-protein interactions. Employing this strategy and iterative modifications, we have designed and synthesized a mutant selective inhibitor for ALK2, depicting a proof-of-concept for this platform towards the treatment of FOP and DIPG.

Revalia Bio

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.

EncapBio Systems