2016 FiReStarters
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Aromyx has designed a cost-effective and stable way to put the human olfactory receptors on a bioassay, avoiding the use of live cell lines, and in a disposable bioassay format customers can use on their own premises. Unlike chemical sensors or mass spectrometry, the Aromyx EssenceChip system shows the biochemical signals that a cup of coffee, a sniff of perfume, or a glass of wine send to the brain, as mediated by the human nose and tongue.
The bioassay reveals the same biochemical signals that the nose and tongue send to the brain in response to a flavor or fragrance. It scientifically records flavors and fragrances, with reproducible results. The output of Aromyx’s bioassay has a direct correlation to what a person smells and what the brain experiences.
The Aromyx approach maintains both the sensitivity and specificity – the ability to discriminate – of the human nose and tongue. The collection of biochemical signals is represented by a digital aromagraph.
Participating at FiRe 2016
Chris Hanson, Founder & CEO (Speaker)
David Hartford, Board MemberVisit Aromyx online at: https://www.aromyx.com/
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Atrin Pharmaceuticals is a dynamic biopharmaceutical firm focused on the discovery and development of proprietary medications. Using groundbreaking technology developed and licensed in association with the University of Pennsylvania, Atrin’s bioresearch has led to the development of a portfolio of drug candidates with multiple mechanisms of action. Its lead program is a novel series of water-soluble, orally bioavailable, highly potent small-molecule inhibitors of ATR for clinical application.
Two pilot in vivo studies have been performed with oral administration of the lead drug: one with human colon cancer, and a second in which patient-derived BRCA2 mutant ovarian tumor samples were orthotopically transplanted into mice to provide a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumor model. Both in vivo models demonstrated that mono-therapy is able to significantly suppress tumor growth, while combinational therapy with standard of care showed tumor growth regression. Atrin is governed by an experienced board of directors; led by a savvy, strategically minded management team; and counseled by an active scientific advisory board composed of highly respected research scientists and physicians in the field of oncology. Atrin Pharmaceuticals has offices and research facilities in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
FiReSpotter: Nathan McDonald: President, Keiretsu Forum Northwest
Participating at FiRe 2016
Oren Gilad, President & CEO (Speaker)
Bernie Rudnick, CFO & Board DirectorVisit Atrin Pharmaceuticals online at: https://atrinpharma.com/
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First Light Biosciences is developing breakthrough automated medical diagnostic products for rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective detection of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI). The products determine the correct antibiotic to cure life-threatening infections in just hours rather than the days required by today’s tests. Based on its proprietary MultiPath™ detection technology, First Light’s products combine the performance of the most advanced commercial laboratory tests with unprecedented affordability, application scope, and ease-of-use.
FiReSpotter: Nathan McDonald: President, Keiretsu Forum Northwest
Participating at FiRe 2016
Don Straus , Founder, CEO, and CSO (Speaker)
Jeffrey Arnold, Executive ChairmanVisit First Light Biosciences online at: https://www.firstlightbio.com
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Founded in 2013, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. (HTT) is a global team focused on removing barriers of speed and congestion in travel. HTT leverages technology, open innovation, and a passionate community of global experts to bring disruptive innovation to the transportation industry. Hyperloop first gained public interest when entrepreneur Elon Musk published a detailed whitepaper describing a futuristic mode of transport that would move people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in about 36 minutes. Musk handed the concept to the public, asking for entrepreneurs to take over its development while he focused on his existing projects. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies was the first to rise to the challenge and is pursuing a transportation vision that pairs a reduced carbon footprint with an increased sense of connection across the planet.
Participating at FiRe 2016
Bibop Gresta, Chairman & COO (Speaker)
R Jeremy Ornan-Stone, Chief Financial Officer
Rob Miller, Head of Marketing
Shelby Phillips,Head of Executive StaffVisit HTT online at: https://hyperlooptransp.com/
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HZO is a leading technology innovator whose solutions provide the highest levels of protection of electronic devices and components – inoculating them to damage from sweat, water, salt-water, oil, bleach, chlorine, other liquids, humidity, corrosives, & debris.
HZO provides OEMs and manufacturers with the technology, equipment and expertise to enable OEMs and manufacturers to protect everything from small IoT sensors, to consumer electronics and large industrial LED boards. Electronics with HZO Protection™ applied can be used anywhere, offering users and consumers the freedom to use devices wherever and whenever they choose without fear of damage.
FiReSpotter: Steve Waite: Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Graphene Stakeholders Assoc.
Participating at FiRe 2016
Michael Bartholomeusz, CEO (Speaker)
Steven Sherman, Chief Marketing and Strategy OfficerVisit HZO online at: www.hzo.com
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Kineta is an emerging and sustainable biotech company that fills a void in the biopharmaceutical industry by efficiently advancing therapies from discovery to clinical proof of concept. Kineta actively collaborates with a broad array of private, government, and industry partners to advance its innovative research. Its unique funding model was designed to mitigate risk and may provide an attractive and earlier return for investors. Kineta has established, and is expanding on, a diverse pipeline of novel life-improving therapies that address critical unmet patient needs.
FiReSpotter: Nathan McDonald: President, Keiretsu Forum Northwest
Participating at FiRe 2016
Rob Hedequist, President & COO (Speaker)
Shawn Iadonato, CEO/CSOVisit Kineta online at: https://www.kinetabio.com/
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Metabolon Inc. is the world’s leading health technology company focused on the use of metabolomics in precision medicine. This powerful tool for assessing health is based on proprietary platforms and informatics that deliver biomarker discoveries, innovative diagnostic tests, and ground-breaking partnerships in genomics-based health initiatives. Metabolon’s expertise is also accelerating research and product development across the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer products, agriculture, and nutrition industries, as well as academic and government organizations.
Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, the company has conducted more than 5,000 independent and collaborative studies, resulting in over 550 peer-reviewed publications.
FiReSpotter: Steve Waite: Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Graphene Stakeholders Assoc.
Participating at FiRe 2016
John Ryals, President and CEO (Speaker)
Robin Fastenau, VP Corporate Communications & Investor RelationsVisit Metabolon online at: https://www.metabolon.com/
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NanoXplore is a Montreal-based advanced materials company, the largest Canadian producer of graphene and one of the largest graphene producers in the world. It provides customers with graphene-enhanced polymers, including master batches in pellet form, few layer graphene powders, and custom graphene solutions. NanoXplore’s high-quality graphene (i.e., high purity, with low defects) is very dispersible, enabling significant improvements with very small amounts of added graphene, typically less than 1% by weight. Its core technology is a unique, low-cost manufacturing process which produces industrial volumes of high-quality graphene from graphite flake using a one-step and environmentally friendly method.
NanoXplore’s ability to tailor the final properties of polymers by adding trace amounts of graphene paves the way for engineering plastics in real-world products such as electric motors, electronic packaging, and thermal management solutions. Today, NanoXplore is supporting innovators in the plastic, rubber, performance clothing, paint, coating, and energy storage industries, helping to enhance the thermal, electrical, and physical characteristics of customers’ products while replacing existing harmful and expensive additives. NanoXplore brings together a team of seasoned business leaders and material scientists with the broad industrial experience required to enable customer-specific solutions.
FiReSpotter: Steve Waite: Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Graphene Stakeholders Assoc.
Participating at FiRe 2016
Soroush Nazarpour, President and CEO
Paul Higgins, COO, TechnologyVisit NanoXplore online at: nanoxplore.ca
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NovaWurks is an innovative company that can build a custom spacecraft around any payload, for any commercial entity, in a timely, efficient, and cost-effective manner. In less than five years, the team at NovaWurks has delivered its first home-grown, self-funded satellite to the International Space Station, and it is scheduled to launch its DARPA-funded eXCITe satellite from Vandenberg AFB in the fall of 2016. NovaWurks is pushing the boundaries of the NewSpace sector with its Hyper-Integrated Satlet (HISat™) technology.
NovaWurks’ HISats are biologically inspired, cellular building blocks, capable of aggregating and conforming to payloads of any size or shape. HISat technology is revolutionizing the space industry by providing flexible, customized spacecraft solutions based on the mass-produced HISat platform, which drastically decreases the time and costs associated with traditional monolithic spacecraft solutions. This disruptive technology opens up the commercial space market to all industries, entrepreneurs, and academic institutions, as well as to multiple commercial entities seeking access to space previously precluded by the traditional barriers to entry associated with the space industry.
Inspiring this forward-thinking company is its CTO and founder, Talbot Jaeger – a highly regarded visionary in the space community who left Northrop Grumman and assembled an eclectic team with some of the brightest millennials and the most progressive “grey-beards” from the industry. The result is an amalgam of hundreds of years of traditional space know-how with a NewSpace “why not” attitude.
FiReSpotter: Nathanael Miller: Aerospace Engineer, NASA Langley Research Center
Participating at FiRe 2016
Talbot Jaeger, Founder and Chief Technologist (Speaker)
Bill Crandall, Chief of Advanced ProjectsVisit NovaWurks online at: https://www.novawurks.com
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ORIG3N Inc. is leading a transformation in the understanding and treatment of rare, genetically inherited diseases. It has established the world’s largest uniformly consented cell repository to better understand the cellular and molecular foundations of disease. The cells are ever-renewing and give rise to a living database of humanity ORIG3N calls LifeCapsule™. Thousands of people have already contributed to advancing the future of healthcare – and to safeguarding their own future health. The company’s founders are serial entrepreneurs whose previous venture, ArtusLabs, was acquired by PerkinElmer in 2011.
FiReSpotter: Steve Waite: Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Graphene Stakeholders Assoc.
Participating at FiRe 2016
Robin Y. Smith, CEO (Speaker)
Marcie Glicksman, Chief Scientific OfficerVisit ORIG3N online at: https://www.orig3n.com/
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OtoNexus Medical Technologies Inc. is developing the world’s first medical device to instantly and accurately diagnose middle-ear infections, or Otitis Media, in children and adults. A simple and elegant solution, the device applies a well-known medical technology – ultrasound – in a completely novel way to achieve a key advance in differentiating not only the presence of infection but also the type of infection, and differentiating when and when not to prescribe antibiotics.
Otitis Media is the #1 reason for antibiotic prescriptions in children and the #1 cause for surgery in children, yet clinical studies consistently show error rates in diagnosis averaging 50%, particularly in the key differentiation between viral and bacterial infections and the determination of whether an antibiotic is appropriate. The device will provide data in seconds and will be easy to use by physicians or non-physician personnel (NPs, PAs).OtoNexus’ handheld device is simple and easy to use, highly accurate, and inexpensive. It will provide, for the first time, definitive, objective diagnostic data, leading to increased accuracy, expedited diagnoses, earlier and better treatment, better patient outcomes, reduced antibiotic use, and significantly reduced healthcare costs.
FiReSpotter: Nathan McDonald: President, Keiretsu Forum Northwest
Participating at FiRe 2016
Caitlin Cameron, Chair & CEO
Marc Fine, Vice President, Marketing and Business ManagementVisit OtoNexus Medical Technologies online at: https://www.otonexus.com