2024 N.XT FUND CYCLE

The N.XT Fund, Northwestern's $10M gap fund, is currently OPEN. Northwestern startups with active options/licenses are encouraged to apply for up to $150k in funding. Investments should be aimed at de-risking technologies to reach a value inflection point to attract potential partners and investors.

2024 NM-Q MEDICAL DEVICE STUDIO

Northwestern Medicine's Mansueto Institute and The InQbation Lab, are partnering in a second year to help move medical device innovations from the napkin drawing stage to an initial prototype, working with engineering design firms. NM clinicians are invited to apply.

FARLEY-Q ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101 SUMMER BOOTCAMP FOR RESEARCH SCIENTISTS

The Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and The Querrey InQbation Lab are co-hosting a two-day summer workshop for McCormick scientists interested in exposure to entrepreneurship concepts at both a general and more practical level. Scientists will hear from panels consisting of entrepreneurial faculty and former PhD students who became founders of startups. The workshops additionally provide students the opportunity to think about their own research with a translational lens and, through live workshops, mock customer discovery, and collaborative brainstorming, distill and communicate their technology, the value of it, and the impact of its potential commercial product. Dates for the bootcamp are August 1 and 2, 2024. If you are interested, please complete THIS FORM. Remaining space is limited.

2024-2025 Q ENTREPRENEURSHIP FELLOWSHIP

The Q is accepting applications for the second cohort of Q Entrepreneurial Fellows (EF). EFs partner with Northwestern faculty to advance innovations towards commercialization. During the one year program, Fellows undertake technical development and define commercialization plans. EFs are supported with a one year salary (plus benefits), a $10k stipend, and access to resources like mentoring, instruction and coaching. For more information or to apply, visit the Q EF WEBSITE.

2024 INVO PRACTICUM

Since 2015, the INVO PRACTICUM has trained over 75 Northwestern research scientists interested in learning about the university technology transfer process. The Practicum is an unpaid 8-month internship program (October through May) open to all Northwestern graduate students and postdocs. The interns are exposed to areas of innovation and gain hands-on experience in evaluating technologies for patentability, marketability and commercialization readiness.

Applications for the 2024-2025 academic year are OPEN! Apply HERE.

Q EXECUTIVE-IN-RESIDENCE BRIDGE FUND

In support of the inaugural Q Executives-in-Residence (EIR) program, two Northwestern donors gifted $240k to build this program further. With these funds, The Q is devoting 100% of the funds towards projects supported by EIRs over the next four years.  The Q EIR Bridge Fund will support critical activities that were highlighted in EIR-faculty meetings and are pivotal for commercialization.  

Two Q EIR Bridge Fund awardees are Prof. Irina Balyasnikova (Feinberg, Dept of Neurological Surgery) and Dr. Bill Muller (Feinberg, Dept of Pathology). Prof. Balyasnikova will further test her T cell engagers (BiTE and TriTE) in glioblastoma animal models. Dr. Muller will expand his work on treating reperfusion injury.

Five Northwestern startups, Azul 3D (Prof. Chad Mirkin, Weinberg), Cour Pharmaceuticals (Dr. Stephen Miller, Feinberg), Rhaeos (Prof. John Rogers, McCormick), NanoGraf (Prof. Harold Kung, McCormick), and Numat (Prof. Omar Farha, Weinberg), were named to Chicago Inno's Fire Awards list which highlights 50 companies igniting Chicago's startup scene in 2024! And a big congratulations to The Garage at Northwestern University for being recognized as a "firestarter" providing sparks to the Chicago Innovation ecosystem. READ MORE

Syenex (Prof. Josh Leonard, McCormick) named to the BioTools Innovator 2024 Cohort. Selected companies will participate in a mentorship program with leaders in the biotools and diagnostics industries and will compete for a $300,000 grand prize. READ MORE

Azul 3D (Prof. Chad Mirkin, Weinberg) launched their OCEAN 3D printer, the world's largest and most productive area-wide 3D printing solution, producing ultra-fine features at an unprecedented rate. READ MORE

Lilac Solutions (Prof. Christopher Wolverton, McCormick) announced the launch of their latest generation ion exchange (IX) technology for lithium extraction along with a white paper detailing its performance. READ MORE

NanoGraf Corporation (Prof. Harold Kung, McCormick and Prof. Jiaxing Huang, former McCormick) began production at scale to provide the US military with batteries lasting up to 15% longer for missions and in-field combat. READ MORE

Sibel Health (Prof. John Rogers, McCormick) entered into a worldwide collaboration with Maruho to deliver an innovative, prescription-only digital health technology to treat unmet needs related to itch, such as atopic dermatitis. READ MORE

Amphix Bio (Prof. Samuel Stupp, McCormick) is raising $10M in Seed funding, to launch first-in-human clinical trials in 2025. Their supramolecular therapeutics platform triggers targeted regenerative signaling pathways and provides an extracellular scaffold to support tissue growth. Their first two programs are regenerative therapies for spinal fusion surgery and acute spinal cord injury.

Affix Medical (Dr. Riad Salem, Feinberg) is raising $500k in Pre-Seed funding to continue their mission to improve percutaneous drain management for all patients with indwelling lines/tubes/catheters. Their flagship product is a drain fixation device that mitigate the need for suture fixation, expedites dressing changes, and decreases rates of tube-related complications. This device is tailored specifically to long-standing percutaneous drains placed by Interventional Radiologists and was developed in collaboration with interventional radiologists at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Inomagen Therapeutics (Dr. Rishi Arora, Feinberg) is raising a $5M Seed round to continue its development of a non-viral gene therapy to improve the treatment of atrial fibrillation. In conjunction with the company’s ongoing SBIR Fast Track grant award, the funds will be used to develop its novel transcatheter cardiac gene delivery system, optimize its proprietary plasmid vector, conduct therapeutic dose response studies, and continue building the team with a goal of filing an IND and initiating clinical study in 2026. 

Opera Bioscience (Prof. Danielle Tullman-Ercek, McCormick) is raising a $1M Pre-Seed funding to scale up its bacterial protein secretion tool. The company's bacterial platform allows for manufactures proteins in a highly efficient fermentation process allowing for the development of high-purity therapeutics and research reagents. Opera will use the funds to advance existing biosimilar and therapeutics partnerships and bring a reagent protein kit to market.

Syenex (Prof. Josh Leonard, McCormick) is raising $10M to (i) integrate their delivery designs with 3 CDMOs, (ii) support the approval of 5 partner INDs, and (iii) secure a first-in-human readout for their lead T cell delivery composition. Since incorporating in May 2022, the company has raised $5M, launched two T cell delivery products, and secured over 20 partners with a first-in-human trial expected to initiate before year end.

Temprian Oncology (Prof. Caroline LePoole, Feinberg, Prof. SonBinh Nguyen, Weinberg) is raising $300k in Seed funding to demonstrate proof-of-concept in the treatment of melanoma in vivo. Temprian Oncology is developing lipid-based nanoparticle supercarriers to deliver active ingredients to metastatic melanoma tumors. This novel approach combines chemo- and immunotherapy into an off-the-shelf product suitable for delivery in remote geographic locations.

INVESTORS: Contact the InQbation Lab for more information regarding these investment opportunities.

NU STARTUPS: To share your fundraising/milestone news, email inqbationlab@northwestern.edu.

WELCOME TO THE Q, IMMPRO

Last month The InQbation Lab officially welcomed ImmPro as its newest Q Resident Startup. ImmPro has developed a mass spectrometry platform that directly measures differences between protein forms to advance diagnostics and therapeutics development. [Bonus points if you can spot Jack McGee and Neil Kelleher, co-founders of ImmPro]

Q Founder Series | SBIR/STTR: A Program Supporting Innovation in R&D

Join Kris Parmelee for an introductory overview of the SBIR/STTR program, which represents the largest single source of non-dilutive funding from the government.

REGISTER HERE

Q Founder Series | Project Leadership in Drug Discovery

Join Mike Bishop, veteran medicinal chemist, to hear his insight on the drug discovery-development process and project leadership. He will discuss techniques to consider and learnings from his personal career. REGISTER HERE

FoundHER Stories | A Fireside Chat with Mariana Matus

Learn about Nishita Deka's experience spinning out Sonera in 2018 and how her company is building highi-performance biomagnetic sensors for detecting muscle and brain activity. REGISTER HERE

FOUNDHER FELLOWS COMPETE IN EQUALIZE PITCH COMPETITION

Equalize Startups hosted their 5th Annual Virtual Pitch Competition where two FoundHer Fellows, Rebecca Keate and Ashima Shukla tied for the Therapeutics People's Choice Award. Equalize Startups is a pitch competition and platform for coaching and promoting women academic inventors as they navigate the startup ecosystem and gain valuable connections. Congratulations, Rebecca and Ashima!

SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 2024 CHICAGO BIOCAPITAL SUMMIT ON NOV 7, 2024

The Chicago BioCapital Summit is a full day event showcasing Chicago's extraordinary biotech talent, cutting-edge innovation, and lucrative bioventures. The summit is hosted by the Chicago Biomedical Consortium (CBC) and brings together industry, academia, and investors to showcase the latest innovations in the life sciences and biotech space.

For more details or to register for the event, please click here.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT NORTHWESTERN NEWSLETTER

SUBSCRIBE to the Entrepreneurship at Northwestern Newsletter. This newsletter is a monthly roundup of university-wide news featuring the launches, raises, and milestones of our students, faculty, and alumni! This snapshot celebrates the wide-ranging impact of the Northwestern community and enables us to stay in touch with our Wildcat entrepreneurs.

Please share your own milestones through the newsletter.

Visit the Querrey InQbation Lab to learn more.

Previous Q newsletters may be found HERE.

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