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INQBATION LAB & INVO UPDATES
March 2024
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Congratulations to Sonia Kim!
It is with great pleasure that we announce
Sonia Kim as the Executive Director of the
Querrey InQbation Lab!
Sonia's vision and energy have shaped The Q into what it is today. From designing the space, to creating and overseeing an enabling home for our early-stage startups, to launching and leading innumerable programs, Sonia has propelled our pilot into a thriving ecosystem.
Please join us in congratulating Sonia!
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We're excited to see The Q community to continue to grow! To become a Q Startup Resident, an active IP option/license must be in place with Northwestern. To express interest, please complete this SPACE FORM. | | |
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Moonlight Bio (Prof. Jaehyuk Choi, Feinberg) recently came out of stealth. Moonlight is developing a revolutionary platform that produces human T-cells with 100 times greater potency in targeting cancer cells. This breakthrough empowers T-cells to effectively kill various types of cancer, broadening the impact of immunotherapy. Moonlight Bio raised $14M in 2023 with lead investors Venrock and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Nature Publication. Feinberg Video | | |
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Lilac Solutions (Prof. Christopher Wolverton, McCormick) announced that they raised $145M from investors, including Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, and Mitsubishi, to help fund their mineral extraction of the Great Salt Lake! Read More. WSJ Article | | |
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Sibel Health (Prof. John Rogers, McCormick) secured their fourth 510(k) clearance from the FDA for the ANNE® One platform, marking another significant achievement within just three years! The enhanced ANNE® One platform now supports continuous ambulatory ECG monitoring, SpO2, temperature, and non-invasive blood pressure measurements. Notably, this latest clearance expands the population to include individuals aged 12 years and above, enabling monitoring in both home and hospital settings. Read More | | |
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Numat (Prof. Omar Farha, Weinberg) announced their expansion investment to build their second U.S.-based, high-volume MOF manufacturing facility in Wisconsin, following the construction of their Chicago campus in 2023. Read More | | |
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Nanograf (Prof. Harold Kung, McCormick) opens a new R&D facility in Chicago's West Loop to develop more powerful batteries. Read More | | |
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Volexion Founder and McCormick Prof. Mark Hersam was elected one of the 114 members of the National Academy of Engineering’s Class of 2024! He will be formally inducted with his class during the NAE's annual meeting on Sept. 29, 2024. Read More | |
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NU STARTUPS: To share your fundraising/milestone news, email inqbationlab@northwestern.edu.
INVESTORS: Contact InQbation Lab for more information regarding these investment opportunities.
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CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY | | |
Join the InQbation community today in celebrating the remarkable innovations of female entrepreneurs worldwide on International Women's Day, March 8th, 2024! | |
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Congratulations to the 2024 FoundHer Cohort! We are thrilled to announce that the 2024 Founder Fellows have been selected: Jacqueline Burke (SNC Therapeutics), Rebecca Keate (CellMend) and Ashima Shukla (Varchas Biotechnologies). These three female founders are focused on the commercialization of work out of the labs of Professors Evan Scott (McCormick), Guillermo Ameer (McCormick) and Vipul Shukla (Feinberg).
The FoundHer Fellowship is an annual fellowship program designed to cultivate first-time women scientist entrepreneurs at Northwestern. Through one-on-one mentoring, the three-month program focuses on the commercial strategy of the Fellows’ scientific discoveries, professional development, and pitch presentation coaching.
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2024 SCIENCE-TO-STARTUP FINALIST | |
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EQUALIZE 2024 FINALISTS
Rebecca Keate and Ashima Shukla have been selected to participate in Equalize 2024, a yearly pitch competition and symposium to empower academic women entrepreneurs. Osage University Partners established this program in 2020.
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2024 KELLOGG-Q ENTREPRENEURIAL RESIDENCY | |
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For the second year, Kellogg and the Querrey InQbation Lab have joined forces to offer Kellogg students and Northwestern research scientists a unique opportunity to work together in an intentional way through the KQ Entrepreneurial Residency. Over 130 MBA students attended the information sessions to learn about 10 research projects. As Independent Studies this spring quarter, 9 Kellogg students will partner with 7 research opportunities in sustainability, medical devices, diagnostics and therapeutics. The Q welcomes Kellogg students Christopher Chang, Max Engle, Arpith Gattu, Brendan Hastings, Minji Kim, Samantha Lee, Jorge Solis, Robert Song, and Karl Wang.
Selected projects are based on research projects out of Trienens Institute of Sustainability & Energy (Profs. Tobin Marks/Yosi Kratish; Profs. Bin Chen/Ted Sargent and Samuel Pennell/Prof. David Dunand), Querrey Simpson Institute of Bioelectronics (Matthew Flavin/Prof. John Rogers), Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (Prof. Matty Major); Institute of Nanotechnology (Prof. Nathan Gianneschi/Dr. Kurt Lu) and Center for Proteomics (Jack McGee/Prof. Neil Kelleher).
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2024 N.XT FUND
We’d like to congratulate Northwestern startup MFNS Tech on being selected as a 2024 N.XT Awardee!
MFNS Tech (Prof. Vinayak Dravid, McCormick) has developed an oleophilic, hydrophobic, and multi-functional (OHM) nanostructure coating for economic, efficient, and eco-friendly removal of oil and other contaminants from water. MFNS Tech will be leveraging N.XT funding to scale up their operations and optimize the form factor and design of their OHM products.
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The Q SUMMER SCHOLARS PROGRAM provides summer entrepreneurial fellowship opportunities to Northwestern undergraduates at Northwestern startups. The program will provide a $4K stipend to help cover living expenses for 8 weeks of full-time work and will conclude with a Demo Day where students will present their summer projects to their peers. Northwestern students may find summer project description on the Summer Scholars website.
Applications are being reviewed currently. If you have not yet applied, please submit your application via the website as soon as possible.
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The Q SUMMER EF PROGRAM provides summer entrepreneurial fellowship to Northwestern graduate students in PhD, MD or MBA programs. Students are expected to identify a summer project that has Northwestern intellectual property but has not yet been licensed. The student will be tasked with identifying business milestones and resources needed. The program will provide a weekly $800 stipend per full-time commitment. Interested candidates should email inqbationlab@northwestern.edu. | |
Q EXECUTIVES-IN-RESIDENCE | |
Edwin Moore (President, BioPhia Consulting) spent two days at Northwestern last month as a Therapeutics EIR meeting 5 faculty and 4 startups. He also gave an interactive seminar where he focused on aspects of building a successful life science startup providing insight into why companies fail and answering questions posed by faculty. | |
Micah Litow KSM'11 (former President, Kalderos) is currently a Medical Device EIR, meeting with faculty and startups in the medical device and diagnostics space. His feedback offers helpful insight into the industry and actionable recommendations. | |
NM-Q MEDICAL DEVICE STUDIO | |
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In 2023, Northwestern Medicine's Mansueto Innovation Institute and the Querrey InQbation Lab partnered to pilot the NM-Q Medical Device Studio. This program seeks to identify medical device concepts from clinicians and devote $50k to four programs to bring these 'napkin ideas' to the initial prototype stage. This year, product designer, Michael Garrett of Garrett Technologies, is shepherding projects working with clinical teams and 4 product design firms.
The first team to achieve the prototype stage are OB-GYN residents (Nicolas Francone and Ali Borazjani) and their attending physician (Dr. C. Emi Bretschneider). In spite of their busy schedules, they worked through the design process with the design firm Beyond Design for over 8 weeks. The innovators hope the device revolutionizes how gynecologists are able to provide better care for women's health. We anticipate the reveal of remaining 3 NM-Q Medical Devices Studio devices.
NM and The Q are committed to repeating the program. Stay tuned for an announcement this summer. To learn more, visit the NM-Q Medical Device Studio website.
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In February, we hosted another insightful CEO Roundtable with guest Samir Mayekar, Co-Founder & Former CEO of Northwestern startup NanoGraf, formerly SiNode Systems. We extend our special thanks to Samir for leading such an engaging dialogue with our CEOs and Q Entrepreneurial Fellows, including (from left to right) Rebecca Keate, Jesse Gordon-Blake, Jack McGee, Samir Mayekar, Yosi Kratish, Gerry Sapienza (Opera), Randa Dumanian (MSi) and Jay Rosanelli (Syenex).
The CEO Roundtables Program, established in Fall 2023, serves as a platform for Northwestern startup CEOs to delve into various leadership topics alongside industry experts. These monthly roundtables provide an open forum for emerging CEOs of Northwestern startups to connect and glean wisdom from seasoned guest CEOs. EF Rountables aim to help entrepreneurial scientific founders talk through topics related to spinning out university technologies.
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BUSINESS OF SCIENCE SEMINAR SERIES | |
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In collaboration with The Graduate School and the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, the Querrey InQbation Lab supported an effort to introduce business management concepts and methods for research scientists in the postdoctoral community in the Chicagoland area. Now that we've concluded, we'd like to express our gratitude to the primary faculty lead James Conley (Kellogg) and our numerous guest lecturers Adam Goodman (Center for Leadership), Mark Finn (Kellogg), David Snyder (Coya Therapeutics), Michelle Hoffman (CBC), Liz McMath (CBC) and Eric Schiffhauer (Deerfield Management). We are also grateful for the 40 PhD and MD participants who consistently joined the classes over 10 weeks to gain exposure to topics outside of the lab, typical classroom, and clinic.
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WARF Therapeutics: A Lean Academic Biotech Model
Learn how WARF Therapeutics (WT), launched in 2018, is translating scientific discoveries at University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) into therapeutics through a unique and innovative model. Jonathan Young, who helped bring WARF’s vision to life, structured this initiative to offer a flexible, cost-effective drug discovery model while maintaining the high standards found in the pharmaceutical industry. This event is open to Northwestern faculty, post-docs, and students. REGISTER HERE
Sponsored by Lurie Cancer Center and Querrey InQbation Lab
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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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MEET WITH NCI SBIR EXPERTS IN CHICAGO
On March 20 from 8:45-11AM, join a multi-sponsored event by the CBC, CBC-HITES, NCI and Portal Innovations, focused on federal funding opportunities and commercialziation assistance to support the next generation of biotech innovation. THe event will take place at Portal Innovations (400 N. Aberdeen, Chicago). REGISTER TODAY
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HOPKINS BIOTECH NETWORKS MENTORSHIP MATCH
The Hopkins Biotech Network is offering a 3-month trainee-run virtual mentorship program. This program aims to support Biomedical Post-Docs, PhD students, and Masters students in learning about non-academic science careers through focused, one-on-one mentoring with an industry professional. The Spring 2024 Cohort runs from the end of March 2024 through the end of June 2024.
Applications for the Spring 2024 Cohort are due April 1st, 2024. Open to Northwestern graduate students, PhD students, postdoctoral trainees, and more. Apply today!
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