WESTCHESTER COUNTY LIFE SCIENCES UPDATE

Westchester County Office of Economic Development and Westchester County Association Highlight County’s Life Sciences Ecosystem, Regional Trends in Panel Discussion

On Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, the Westchester County Office of Economic Development (OED) and the Westchester County Association (WCA) hosted All Access Healthcare: Regional Life Sciences Outlook. Approximately 100 people attended the in-person panel presentation, which was held at the Auditorium at 360 Hamilton Avenue in White Plains.

The panel was moderated by Mary Howard, Executive Director of FirstXFounder, and OED partner leading the Westchester County Biosciences Accelerator. Participants included Teresa Leste, Principal, Deloitte Consulting; Rajiv R. Ratan, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Director, Burke Neurological Institute; George Santo, Executive Director, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Commercial Banking; and Deborah Viola, MBA, Ph.D., Vice President, Office of Research and Grants Administration, Westchester Medical Center. The program also featured remarks from Westchester County Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins and Deborah Novick, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Westchester County.



You can watch the event here. 

Photo caption: L-R: Mary Howard, Executive Director of FirstXFounder, and OED partner leading the Westchester County Biosciences Accelerator; Deborah Novick, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Westchester County; Teresa Leste, Principal, Deloitte Consulting; George Santo, Executive Director, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Commercial Banking; Rajiv R. Ratan, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Director, Burke Neurological Institute; Deborah Viola, MBA, Ph.D., Vice President, Office of Research and Grants Administration, Westchester Medical Center; and Amy Allen, Vice President of WCA.

Clarapath Acquires Crosscope and Combines

Tissue Processing Robotics with AI Powered

Digital Pathology for Building the Lab of the Future

Hawthorne-based Clarapath, a robotics company aimed at catalyzing change in the way pathology laboratories process human and animal tissue, today announced the acquisition of Mountain View, CA-based Crosscope. Crosscope is a digital pathology company with a turnkey imaging solution providing best-in-class workflow tools and slide management along with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology to assist pathologists with better and faster decision-making.

The enhanced and integrated technologies add a new dimension for laboratory leaders and clinicians. The acquisition combines Clarapath’s SectionStar, the first, fully automated, all-in-one tissue sectioning and transfer system with Crosscope’s workflow and computational pathology tools enabling labs to deliver care faster, more cost effectively, and at higher quality.

Dosing of healthy adults begins in Phase 1 trial of Alzheimer’s therapy

Dosing has begun in a first group of healthy adults in a Phase 1a clinical trial of OLX-07010, Oligomerix’s lead treatment candidate for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

OLX-07010 is an oral small molecule inhibitor of tau self-association — one of the initial steps leading to tau aggregation, a process thought to be implicated in the development of Alzheimer’s and similar disorders.

While the exact causes of Alzheimer’s disease elude scientists, its symptoms are attributed to the toxic accumulation of beta-amyloid and tau protein aggregates inside nerve cells in the brain, resulting in their premature death.

By targeting tau self-association, OLX-07010 is expected to help mitigate the effects of tau aggregation.

Use of the investigational therapy effectively prevented tau aggregation in early studies involving mouse models of neurodegeneration, the White Plains headquartered biotech company reported.

Time is Running Out: Apply Today for Element 46!

Deadline to Apply: March 6

Are you a tech startup in Westchester County? You have until March 6 to apply for the Spring 2023 cohort of the Element 46 Tech Accelerator Powered by Cela. The program offers a 12-week virtual curriculum, pitch and networking events for founders, access to a mentor network of investors and successful technology entrepreneurs, corporate and technology partnerships, and cutting edge technology and business skills. Apply today.

Upcoming Info Sessions:

Monday, February 27 (5 PM) - for founders interested in learning more about the accelerator

Tuesday, February 28 (5 PM) / IN PERSON - for investors interested in becoming mentors only

Submit a Project Pitch to America's Seed Fund

America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF funds startups to create the next game-changing technologies — often based on fundamental science or engineering — in need of research and development to create new products, services, and other scalable solutions. Each year, they award $200+ million in R&D funding to about 400 startups across the US.

Click here to learn more and get started on your Project Pitch. Chosen startups can get up to $2 million to develop deep technologies. The projects they fund must have the potential to positively benefit society and to lead to significant outcomes in the commercial market. Most of the startups they fund have fewer than five employees, are recently formed and haven't received funding from the government before.

America's Seed Fund is a program within the National Science Foundation and housed within the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships.

UPCOMING EVENTS

NY Ventures - New Funding Programs

Empire State Development

Date: March 2, 2023

Time: 3:00 PM

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Westchester’s life sciences ecosystem?

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Email lifesciences@westchestergov.com.