Tag: entrepreneurs
-
Redesigned Crutch Developer Gains $450K in Early Funds
17 February 2015. A company developing a more comfortable alternative to standard underarm or forearm crutches, secured $450,000 in its first venture funding round. Financing for Better Walk Inc., a spin-off from Georgia Institute of Technology and based in Atlanta, is led by MB Venture Partners, a Memphis-based venture capital firm. A broken ankle playing basketball…
-
Genzyme Licensing Gene Therapies from Biotech Start-Up
11 February 2015. Voyager Therapeutics, a designer of gene therapies for central nervous system diseases, is licensing some of its treatments now in development to Genzyme Corp., a biotechnology subsidiary of the drug maker Sanofi. The deal is expected to bring the one year-old spin-off from four university research labs as much as $845 million.…
-
Report: U.S. Edge in Advanced Industries Slipping
5 February 2015. A new report from Brookings Institution says the United States is losing ground to overseas competitors in critical advanced industries that hold the key to the country’s long-term economic future. The study by the Washington, D.C. think tank was discussed in a forum today with six CEOs of U.S. companies and the…
-
Biochemistry Spin-Off Formed, Gains $45M Funding
4 February 2015. Revolution Medicines Inc., a spin-off enterprise based on research in protein chemistry at University of Illinois, is starting up with $45 million in first-round venture funds. The company is founded by Illinois biochemistry professor Martin Burke, and initially financed by Third Rock Ventures, a San Francisco venture capital firm. Burke’s lab in…
-
Trial to Test Drug to Delay Early-Onset Alzheimer’s
28 January 2015. A clinical trial is planned to test a current drug for epilepsy as a way to delay the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The late-stage trial undertaken by AgeneBio Inc., a start-up pharmaceutical company in Baltimore, is funded by a $900,000 grant from Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. The trial aims to address…
-
Material Developed to Prevent Li-Ion Battery Fires
28 January 2015. Materials scientists and engineers at University of Michigan designed a new material to better protect lithium-ion batteries from starting fires like the kind on Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The team from the lab of engineering professor Nicholas Kotov published its findings yesterday in the journal Nature Communications (paid subscription required). Kotov and first…
-
UC-Davis, National Labs to Train Science Entrepreneurs
23 January 2015. Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories are partnering with the Graduate School of Management at University of California in Davis to train scientists in entrepreneurial skills to take their discoveries to market. The pilot program, called Lab-Corps, is funded by a $350,000 grant from U.S. Department of Energy, parent agency of the…
-
Cancer Therapy Spin-Off Formed with $45M Funding
22 January 2015. Autolus Ltd., a new enterprise developing engineered immune-system cells for treating cancer, is being formed in London, with £30 million ($45.4 million) in early financing. The company is founded and commercializing research by Martin Pule, a hematologist at University College London. Pule, who serves as Autolus’s chief scientist, studies T-cells, white blood…
-
University Spin-Off Develops Bone Repair Technology
20 January 2015. A materials science research center and university spin-off company in Ireland are developing a technology using natural materials to repair bones in people and animals. The bone-repair technology is a product of Ireland’s Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research (Amber) center at Trinity College in Dublin and SurgaColl Technologies in Cork, a spin-off…
-
Trial Testing Gene Therapy for Rare Eye Disorder
20 January 2015. An early-stage clinical trial is underway testing a gene-repair therapy for choroideremia, a rare progressive genetic eye disorder that leads to blindness. The trial, conducted at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia began enrolling its first patients, according to Spark Therapeutics, also of Philadelphia, the biotechnology company leading the study. Choroideremia is associated with…