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INQBATION LAB UPDATES
SUMMER 2025
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The Querrey InQbation Lab had a busy spring and anticipates continued growth of its community in the coming months, welcoming Executives-in-Residence, Entrepreneurial Fellows, Kellogg Summer Fellows, undergraduate Q Summer Scholars, and new startups.
As a hub for research translation and entrepreneurial activity, The Q supports innovators at every stage—empowering scientists, building founder readiness, and accelerating commercialization. This summer's updates highlight the momentum across our community: from innovation breakthroughs and impactful programming to startup funding wins and new translational partnerships.
Read more to explore how The Q, in collaboration with INVO and partners across campus, is helping to bring Northwestern innovations to life.
| | 2025 Q ENTREPRENEURIAL FELLOW | | |
In April, The Q welcomed Lucas Shores, former CBC Entrepreneurial Fellow, as its first 2025 Q Entrepreneurial Fellow. Lucas and Prof. William Muller (Feinberg) are co-founders of Laborecom Therapeutics, a Northwestern startup advancing their pioneering therapeutic which targets the endothelial cell in inflammation and cancer metastasis.
The Q looks forward to supporting Lucas in the upcoming year. Congratulations, Lucas!
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The Querrey InQbation Lab is proud to host the Q Summer Scholars Program for a third year! Through this 8-week internship, Northwestern startups offer Northwestern undergraduates the opportunity to join their entrepreneurial team. Competition grew this year with over 40 applications for 8 spots.
Congratulations to this year's 8 Q Summer Scholars (pictured to the right)!
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UPCOMING Q OPPORTUNITIES
We are planning our upcoming summer programming. If you are interested in receiving information as program details become available, please complete THIS INTEREST FORM.
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FARLEY-Q ENTREPRENEURIAL BOOTCAMP: A 2-day bootcamp introducing entrepreneurial principles to NU research scientists, including graduate students and postdocs.
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HEALTHTECH PITCH COMPETITION: An opportunity for NU faculty and clinician innovators to pitch their AI-driven clinical technologies for funding focused on derisking commercialization.
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Q MEDICAL DEVICE STUDIO BUSINESS FELLOWSHIP: A 2-month program geared towards early-career clinicians (FSM M3 and M4 students, Clinical Residents and Fellows) who are interested in learning how to derisk medical devices and digital health technologies.
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2025 KQ ENTREPREURIAL RESIDENCY
In its 3rd year, the KQ Entrepreneurial Residency became an official Kellogg course, ENTR-958 “Commercializing Innovations” taught by Kellogg Profs. Birju Shah and James Conley. After two oversubscribed information sessions each attracting over 95 students, 24 Kellogg MBA students were selected to work with 10 Northwestern research teams to explore the commercial potential of emerging technologies. The teams tackled innovations in areas such as rubber upcycling, regenerative skincare, carbon capture, AI manufacturing, advanced metrology, wastewater remediation, top-down proteomics, novel 3D printing, smart surgical screws, and edge-computing neurochips.
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Q CEO PITCH FEEDBACK SESSION
The Q held its 2nd CEO Pitch Feedback session, focused in the biomedical industry. Kellogg students Ignacio Gajer (KSM'25) and Nikhil Misra (KSM'25) spearheaded the recruitment of friendly investors and entrepreneurs and recruited fellow MBA students to provide coaching and refinement of CEO pitches. A curated audience of nine investors provided constructive feedback to early-stage teams to strengthen their investor-readiness. The event concluded with a networking social.
We’re excited to continue building on this momentum and hosting future sessions in partnership with Kellogg students!
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T^3: TARGET-THE-TARGET BOOTCAMP
The inaugural T^3: Target-the-Target Bootcamp was a 2-day diligence sprint to optimally position promising biological targets from Northwestern faculty labs, considering the target landscape, competitive intelligence, and key challenges. Academic drug discovery excels in the biology – finding exciting new targets, unraveling complex pathways, and uncovering new mechanisms - but is often stymied in advancing these discoveries to viable therapeutic candidates. This program is designed to quickly analyze potential drug targets and create actionable recommendations. Entrepreneurial Fellows from the Chicago Biomedical Consortium (CBC) heroically conducted due diligence, advised by leaders from the CBC, Feinberg Corporate Relations, and NUCATS.
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RECENT Q FOUNDER SEMINARS
The Q hosted a dynamic lineup of seminars designed to support its community. The webinars and seminars—reaching over 270 participants across five events. They included:
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Designing Your Slides Workshop by Prof. Steven Franconeri (Weinberg and Kellogg);
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Techno-Economic Modeling for Tough-Tech Innovations with Chris Burk;
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Perspectives and Tactical Advice on Startup-Industry Partnerships with Dr. Gami Maislin;
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Navigating Regulatory Hurdles for Medical Device Innovators with Elyse Kemmerer White; and
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Master the Financial Model series with Scott Walbrun.
Thank you to all our speakers for sharing their insights and expertise!
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**INVESTORS & INDUSTRY PARTNERS**
The Q launched a new Startup Pipeline Dashboard that provides external investors and industry players with curated insights into startup ventures built on Northwestern-owned intellectual property.
If you are interested in viewing which startups are currently fundraising, REQUEST ACCESS to this password protected tool.
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| Epicore Biosystems (Prof. John Rogers, McCormick) has raised an additional $6M to expand its Series B funding to a total of $32M. The company plans to utilize the funds to accelerate global adoption of its personalized hydration and cloud analytics platform while expanding into new biomarker targets related to kidney health, women’s health, malnutrition, and exposure to environmental toxins. READ MORE | | | |
Opera Bioscience (Prof. Julius Lucks, McCormick) were awarded a $1.25M Phase 2 SBIR grant from the NSF to scale their bacterial secretion platform for low-cost recombinant protein manufacturing. | | |
Prof. Thomas Meade (Weinberg) and Stanford collaborators have developed a groundbreaking MRI technique that illuminates senescent cells in animal joints, often associated with aging and diseases like arthritis. This technology, being developed by Northwestern startup PreDx, offers a highly specific and non-invasive tool for diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment.
READ MORE | npj Imaging Publication
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Through their Northwestern startup Go-Eco, Prof. SonBinh Nguyen (Weinberg) and Adjunct Prof. Timothy Wei have developed a new, non-toxic, compostable, and recyclable material derived from graphene oxide that provides strong resistance to water, oil, and grease—offering a sustainable alternative to harmful plastics and PFAS in food packaging.
READ MORE | Forbes Article
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Prof. John Rogers (McCormick) was featured in CNN's Sanjay Gupta's "Chasing Life" podcast series. In "What Sweat Could Reveal About Your Health," they discuss the amazing work of Northwestern startup Epicore Biosystems and their deployed products with Gatorade (for sports) and Chevron (for worker safety)
CNN Podcast | CNN Video Link
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NORTHWESTERN ALUMNI ANGELS EVENT
Thursday, June 12, 2025 6:00 PM (Virtual)
Join the first Northwestern Alumni Angels event where 8 startups with Northwestern students, alumni or faculty will be presenting. If you are interested in attending and joining our vibrant community of alumni entrepreneurs and investors REGISTER HERE.
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QUALITY SYSTEMS FOR REGULATORY COMPLIANCE SEMINAR
Wednesday, June 18, 2025 12:00 - 1:00 PM (Virtual)
Join The Q and NU’s Master of Science in Regulatory Compliance program for a webinar designed to provide healthcare innovators with essential insights into FDA, ISO, and GxP standards to help navigate regulatory pathways and strengthen compliance strategies. REGISTER HERE
| | OTHER NEWS & OPPORTUNITIES | | |
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.
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