Year: 2017

Involved Industries

Fashion

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Drug Design Methodologies

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2017 | Status: Active

What is Drug Design Methodologies?

Drug Design Methodologies develops novel software to chemically optimize and accurately measure drug-target binding. By identifying and focusing resources upon the most promising candidates and eliminating problematic compounds that could exhibit off-target effects, we accelerate and de-risk drug development pipelines in both pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries while significantly lowering costs.

Company Leadership

Chris Ho

Owner

Involved Industries

BioTech

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Omniose

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2017 | Status: Active

What is Omniose?

Omniose is an early-stage biotechnology company developing polysaccharide conjugate vaccines against serious bacterial threats using its proprietary bioconjugation platform.

They are expanding the range of bacterial targets that can be addressed with bioconjugate vaccines. Bioconjugation relies on single cells that simultaneously produce a polysaccharide antigen along with an engineered carrier protein and a conjugating enzyme to precisely link them together. This is a much simpler process than conventional chemical conjugation methods and has the potential to produce higher quality vaccines. However, the enzymes used for bioconjugation thus far could only address a limited range of bacterial targets.

Their platform enables the precise enzymatic attachment of virtually any bacterial polysaccharide (sugar) antigen to engineered carrier proteins within a single E. coli cell. Hence the name Omniose, “all sugars.”

Company Leadership

Christian Harding

Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Harding is the primary innovator and driver behind Omniose’s R&D activity and bioconjugation platform development. For more than five years, Dr. Harding has helped refine Omniose’s bioconjugation platform for use in developing bioconjugate vaccines against different bacterial threats. He has been awarded multiple federally funded SBIR and STTR grants, authored numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts in distinguished journals, and is the inventor of multiple issued Omniose patents.

Dr. Harding conducted his Postdoctoral Fellowship under Dr. Mario Feldman’s mentorship at Washington University in St. Louis focusing on microbial glycobiology. He earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from The Ohio State University and a B.S. from the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina.

Christine Szymanski

co-founder

Dr. Szymanski is a Professor at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and Associate Department Head of Microbiology at the University of Georgia. She has been exploring bacterial glycomics for three decades. She combines her expertise in food safety and animal health with novel therapeutic diagnostic platforms developed during her postdoctoral fellowship at the Naval Medical Research Center vaccine program, the key findings while employed at the National Research Council of Canada, and the translational advances during her tenure as an Alberta Innovates Technology Futures Scholar at the University of Alberta where she cofounded VaxAlta, a company creating glycoconjugate vaccines for livestock and human health applications.

Dr. Szymanski has published over 100 publications and has served as President of the Society for Glycobiology and President of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and has received the Peter Gallagher Memorial Glycomics Award for Contributions to Health and Medical Research.

Roman Fleck, Ph.D., MBA

Chairperson

Dr. Fleck is the CEO of Janpix, which was recently merged into Centessa Pharmaceutical. He was previously a Venture Partner/Advisor to Medicxi after having been a Principal at Index Ventures Life Sciences, Medicxi’s predecessor company. He invested in and represented Index Ventures on the boards of GlycoVaxyn (sold to GSK), Versartis (NASDQ: VSAS), and Novocure (NASDQ: NVCR). Earlier at Index Ventures he was also involved with Funxional Therapeutics (sold to Boehringer Ingelheim) and Micromet (sold to Amgen). He started his career at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals in Connecticut where he led drug development projects in oncology, inflammation and cardiovascular disease, advancing several compounds from pre-clinical to clinical stage.

Dr. Fleck received a Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry from MIT as well as an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business. He has authored or co-authored numerous publications in prestigious journals as well as many issued patents.

Mario Feldman

Co-Founder & Scientific Advisory Board Member

Mario F. Feldman is a Professor of Molecular Microbiology in the Department of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine, in St Louis. He graduated with a B.S. in Biotechnology from the National University of Rosario, Argentina and received a Ph.D. from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He then held postdoctoral positions at the University of Basel and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland. Before joining Washington University, he was an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada, where he cofounded VaxAlta, a spin-off company dedicated to livestock vaccines. Dr. Feldman’s current research focuses on the pathogenesis of the multi-drug resistant bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii. He is recognized for his work characterizing secretion systems, microbial glycans, and outer membrane vesicles. He has coauthored over 80 publications in prestigious journals and he has been awarded with multiple NIH grants.

Dr. Feldman is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He received the Canadian Institute of Health New Investigator Award.

Timothy Cooke, Ph.D., MBA

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Cooke has over thirty years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry with a focus on vaccines. He was previously CEO of NovaDigm Therapeutics, CEO of Mojave Therapeutics, COO at AVANT Immunotherapeutics, and SVP at Ology Bioservices. Prior to his leadership roles in the biotechnology industry, he held several positions at Merck establishing a global vaccine-focused marketing and sales organization.

Dr. Cooke has been the Biotechnology Industry Representative to the U.S. National Vaccine Advisory Committee since 2015. He is on the Advisory Board of Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) and is an observer on the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Vaccines and Antimicrobial Resistance. He was previously Co-Chair of the BIO Vaccine Policy Advisory Committee and was on the Incentives for Vaccines Working Group of the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria. Dr. Cooke was the Vaccine Industry Representative to the Working Group of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance during its formation in 2000.

Dr. Cooke has a Ph.D. in bio-organic chemistry and an M.B.A. from Columbia University and a B.S. from Saint Joseph’s University.

Involved Industries

BioTech

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ViTAL

Origin: IL | Grant Awarded: 2017 | Status: Active

What is ViTAL?

ViTAL’s software allows teachers to create digital learning content that is accessible to students who are blind and visually impaired. Teachers add multisensory feedback to adopted curriculum and materials, enabling students to explore and consume the content via touch (vibrations), sound and sight on tablets.

Company Leadership

Jenna Gorlewicz

Co-Founder and President

Involved Industries

Education Software

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Strayos

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2017 | Status: Active

What is Strayos?

Strayos has developed a image processing platform that turns images captured by drones into highly accurate 2D and 3D models of any physical site. Strayos machine learning analytics on 2D/3D models provides real time analytics to increase mining company ROIs, by automating tasks, directly reducing overhead and enabling enterprises to make actionable decisions from drone data.

Company Leadership

Ravi Sahu

Involved Industries

Enterprise Software

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Sunstation USA

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2017 | Status: Active

What is Sunstation USA?

Life happens outdoors. Eliminate the worry of being caught without proper sun protection. Sunstation USA is your #1 resource for community sunscreen dispensers!

Company Leadership

Ross Donaldson

Founder & CEO

Involved Industries

Personal Care Products

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Rozzy Learning Company

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2017 | Status: Active

What is Rozzy Learning Company?

Rozzy Learning Company believes kids are never too young to learn about their career opportunities. Rozzy is an edtech company that develops educational software that introduces young kids to the careers of their future. Rozzy is the first company to create career readiness programs for elementary school.

Company Leadership

Allison Bischoff

COO

Involved Industries

Education & Training Services

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SentiAR

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2017 | Status: Active

What is SentiAR?

SentiAR is a venture-backed software device spinout developing a 3D visualization platform for interventional surgeries. Spun out of WashU in 2017, the company’s holographic platform will initially be used in catheter ablation procedures treating cardiac arrhythmia. SentiAR intends to submit a 510(k) application in 2018.

Company Leadership

Jon Silva

Co-Founder & CTO

Jon created the SentiAR visualization platform and has oversight for the
overall technical design and development to meet current and future
clinical applications. It was his original work that secured over
$500,000 in grants to build the initial prototype on the Microsoft
Hololens platform for in-human engineering trials. As an Asst. Professor
of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, his
research laboratory specializes in applying computational approaches to
address problems in cardiac electrophysiology. Jonathan is part of the
Cardiac Bioelectricity and Arrhythmia Center, and his academic
preparation includes a BS from Johns Hopkins University, an MS from Case
Western Reserve University, and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering,
Washington University.

Jennifer Avari Silva

Co-Founder & CMO

Jennifer Avari Silva is responsible for the clinical application of the
SentiAR technology for patient use. She is an Asst. Professor of
Pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis and Director of
Pediatric Cardiac Electrophysiology at St. Louis Children’s Hospital,
where she leads the largest pediatric electrophysiology program in the
Midwest. Dr. Avari Silva has published numerous papers bringing new
technologies to pediatric patients, allowing her to develop an extensive
industrial network with companies that include, St. Jude Medical,
Medtronic, Biotronik, and Biosense Webster.

Mike Southworth

lead developer & Co-founder

Michael is responsible for the company’s holographic platform
validation, software planning, and team execution. Prior to joining the
project, he developed 3D computer vision exploitation of sensor data for
use in airborne platforms as an electrophysics scientist at Boeing
Research and Technology. From 2007-2015 at the Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), Michael specialized in the rapid
development of embedded systems for direct deployment to the Department
of Defense end users, primarily focused on the technical integration of
wireless embedded systems with emerging microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS) sensor technology, navigation, electro-optical sensor development
and 3D sensor exploitation. Michael earned his BS from UC Berkeley and a
dual MS from Johns Hopkins University.

Berk Tas

CEO & President

Berk Tas serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of SentiAR.
Berk has led development of emerging technologies and companies in
Fortune 500, private equity, venture capital funded and privately held
organizations. Prior to joining SentiAR he led the development of a
novel Trans-aortic Valve Replacement technology into CE Mark studies at
HLT Medical. In 2016, he played an integral role in the acquisition of
Sensium, Oxford UK, a novel wireless monitoring technology. Prior to
that he served in various leadership roles at Sunshine Heart developing
a first of its kind, heart failure therapy and at Boston Scientific
developing several novel therapies and technologies focused in Cardiac
Rhythm Management. He holds an MBA from the Carlson School of Business
at the University of Minnesota and a BS in Electrical Engineering and
Physics from the School of Engineering at St Thomas University.

Involved Industries

Medical Device

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MyStrengthBook

Origin: Canada | Grant Awarded: 2017 | Status: Active

What is MyStrengthBook?

MyStrengthBook is a software-as-a-service start up that aims to improve physical performance of athletes in the gym. On our web platform, athletes can track and analyze their training data, as well as gain access to exclusive training programs that are designed by top athletes and trainers. As more coaches are becoming interested in leveraging our data tracking and analysis system, current features under development are more ‘coach focused’.

Company Leadership

Mike MacDonald

Ceo

Involved Industries

Mobile Application Software

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