Happy New Year!

Thank you for your support of OBI & OTRADI over the past year.
We wish you an abundance of health, happiness, and success in 2022.

2021 OBI Client Company Recap

• OBI & OTRADI alumnus Absci was listed at #8 by the Portland Business Journal ofthe largest bioscience and health tech companies in Oregon and SW Washington.
• Announced completion of $125 million crossover financing to advance AI-powered synthetic biology drug creation platform. Read press release. 
• Absci made its debut on the NASDAQ (ticker symbol ABSI) on Thursday, July 22, and founder Sean McClain and his team rang the closing bell. 
• Announced new and expanded collaboration with Merck, with payments and fees of up to $610 million.

• OBI & OTRADI alumnus Aronora was listed #31 by the Portland Business Journal on their list of the top 37 largest bioscience and health technology companies in Oregon and SW Washington.
• In March upon graduation from the OBI, Aronora relocated their lab and office from OTRADI’s incubator in the Willamette Wharf building, to a brand-new high rise downtown where they have double the office space, a private wet lab, and conference room. 
• Aronora reports positive topline data from their phase 2 clinical trial of recombinant antibody therapeutic AB023 in hemodialysis patients. This data was presented at the XXIX Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasias in July. See Aronora’s press release here.

• Buchanan Science joined the OBI as a client company in 2021.
• Buchanan Science is now in the process of testing approximately 100 blinded serum samples from persons who received vaccination against COVID-19. The sera were previously tested with a CLIA-approved instrumented assay from ProMega that quantitatively measured the antibody levels to SARS-CoV-2 spike.
• The Buchanan Science BeSure Double Check Rapid test is designed to enable home users to check their antibody levels to RBD, the portion of the viral spike that attaches to human ace2 receptors as an initial step in infection. Persons with high antibody levels to RBD are able to avoid infection due to SARS-CoV-2, or if infected have only minimal symptoms and avoid hospitalization or death.
• Preliminary indications are that the rapid test is correlating well with protective antibody levels to RBD, and they are currently seeking increased numbers of sera from non-vaccinated individuals who have also not had COVID-19 infections to quantitate test specificity.

• Caregiven participated in Australian CareFactor Pitch Day 2021 on March 22, part of the Information Technology Across Care virtual summit.
• First public release launched in app stores April 15th.
• Closed pre-seed with a total of $700K raised from Rogue Venture Partners.
• Was a 2021 Oregon Technology Awards finalist.
• Semi-finalist for Aging 2.0’s Global Innovation Search.
• Candice Smith was interviewed by the HITLab for their Women’s Health Tech Wednesday forum.
• Highlighted in an article titled “Looking to the Future of Insurance.”
• Presented “Shark Tank” style to attendees at the ISCPA conference.
• Finalist in Aging 2.0’s Global Innovation Search.
• Finalist in the ACORD InsurTech Innovation Challenge.
• Selected to participate in the American Heart Association of OR/SW Washington’s EmPOWERED to Serve program.
• Awarded the TAO Start-Up of the Year award in the pre-revenue category.
• Candice Smith was a guest on the Aging in Portland podcast.
• Chief Revenue Officer, Anthony Mitchell and Candice had the opportunity to present at the ACORD InsurTech Innovation Challenge NY.
• Anthony also co-hosted a webinar on The Future of Value Adds in Insurance with an insurance luminary, Jason Gross.
• Presented at CareTech presented by the Louisville Healthcare CEO’s Council and Aging 2.0, a global search for innovations that improve the patient or member experience.
• Awarded the second place grant from the American Heart Association’s EmPOWERED to Serve program ($30K), sponsored by the American Heart Association of Oregon & SW Washington.
• Kicked off the first phase of their first pilot with a national palliative care provider. They will be using Caregiven to expedite the health outcomes their nurses already accomplish, and are including Caregiven as a differentiator for their company in proposals to major health systems nationally.
• Had over a dozen calls with insurance carriers about Q1 pilots and are under NDA and working on LOIs with several.
• Attended InsureTech Connect in Las Vegas, sponsored by the Global Insurance Accelerator, and had many wonderful calls with customers and investors alike. Notable conversations occurred with Unum, Northwestern Mutual, MS&AD, Ethos Life, Assurity, and more.  
• Networking at the event resulted in Candice Smith being asked to speak at the Society of Actuaries ElderTech Summit in December and to be interviewed for an upcoming book focused on the future of insurance.  Additionally, 2 podcasts featuring Caregiven were recently released:  Woman to Woman Podcast and The Heart of Hospice.
• Successfully completed Session #1 of the Creative Destruction Lab – an invite only program with the goal of helping start-ups “build something massive.”  Of the 20 initial companies, Caregiven was 1 of 14 asked to return for Session #2 in December. Again were successful in Round #2 of the Creative Destruction Lab and have been invited to participate again in February.  Their lead mentor this round comes from Healthy Minds Innovations.  Candice said is amazing to be selected to collaborate with a team that has a direct connection with the Dalai Lama and is committed to using digital tools and modern neuroscience to improve the human experience.
• Successfully launched their first co-branded experience with Spivey Insurance.

• Circumvent Pharmaceuticals are co-Principle Investigators on a NIH SBIR grant for the study of “Development of N-tert-(Butyl)hydroxylamine (NtBuHA) as a therapeutic agent for treating infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (INCL).” INCL is a form of Batten Disease.

• CytoImage founder Tania Vu presented at the international Innovation Stage at BIO Digital 2021.
• Pitched at an Oregon Venture Fund pitch event at the OBI in October.

• Gamma Therapeutics is now Gamma Diagnostics, Inc.
• David Eastman retired as CEO, they hired Ajay Nair from Perth, Australia as their new CEO, and he hired Chris Venter, also from Perth, as their Chief Finance Officer.
• Discovered that their GammaCoeur diagnostic blood test for cardiovascular disease is extremely elevated in COVID-19 patients and predicts the need for hospitalized patients to need extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in order not to suffocate, and it predicts death from COVID-19. They now have a provisional patent on this I.P. that also protects the use of the test as a companion diagnostic for the administration of dexamethasone in COVID-19 patients.
• Accepted into California’s Expert Dojo accelerator cohort. For companies accepted into the program, Expert Dojo invests $100,000, provides an 8-week training program that trains the members of the company in all aspects of business, and introduces them to investors and mentors.
• The Department of Defense’s Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program has a Technology/Therapeutic Development Award, and invited Gamma Diagnostics to submit a full proposal to develop GammaCoeur as a companion diagnostic to track COVID-19 disease severity. They submitted the grant on Sept. 2.
• One of 8 semi-finalists for the Bend Venture Conference in the Impact category.
• What is Gamma Prime Fibrinogen (GFP)? Dr. David Farrell, Professor of Surgery at OHSU and founder and CSO at Gamma Diagnostics, shared his poster and abstract at the American Heart Association meeting. The results show that their ELISA for GFP shows significantly higher levels in COVID-19 patients who died or required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which has several important clinical implications relative to administration of anticoagulants and steroids. Read more here in the American Heart Association Circulation.

• Hemex Health’s Gazelle device was highlighted in a 360Dx article.
• Hemex reports: “On Saturday, Feb 27, Ruaraka Neema hospital in Nairobi held a public screening event for families to bring their kids in for sickle cell screening using Gazelle. The team was able to run most of the samples they collected on one day, the rest on the following Monday morning. Running almost 50 samples in one day is what Gazelle was designed to do, and we’re so proud to see this helping the kids who need it most now.”
• The Portland Business Journal listed the largest bioscience and health tech companies in Oregon and SW Washington. Hemex Health was listed at #19.
• In a recent clinical study conducted in Brazil and published in the Malaria Journal, Gazelle was shown to outperform current RDTs (Rapid Diagnostic Tests) in detection of P. vivax malaria. P. vivax, the most widely dispersed species of malaria, tends to be more difficult to detect with RDTs due to typically low levels of parasitemia. They are excited to share the results of the study with you in their press release.
• Won a Phase I grant to add multispectral imaging to its Hb Variant test to lower the limit of detection and allow the test to screen newborns for sickle cell and other hemoglobin variants.
• Excited to announce a new partnership with Cureleads for distribution of Gazelle in the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa.
• CEO Patti White, was a keynote speaker in the OHSU Invent-a-thon Post-Hack.
• Released our newborn screening capacity for sickle cell anemia in May.
• Selected as a 2021 TiE50 winner as part of the TiECon program for their Gazelle reader diagnostic device. Press release here.
• Officially launched their newborn release! Gazelle is now able to diagnose newborns for sickle cell disease before they even leave the hospital. Check out the press release.
• With their product design and engineering partner Tata Elxsi, the Gazelle Reader won the Social Impact Solution of the Year award at the 2021 NASSCOM Engineering & Innovation Excellence Awards in India!
• In a recent P. vivax clinical study, Gazelle demonstrated higher sensitivity than the only FDA-approved malaria rapid diagnostic test. Press release here.
• Featured in the Oregon Lottery spotlight.
• Patti White was on the speaker panel of the Oregon Pediatric Innovation Event, Powered by CTIP, on September 1.
• Featured in the September issue of the Elevate Capital newsletter.
• Gazelle was featured in an NIH article: Future of medicine: Lab-on-a-chip devices starting to make an impact.
• Pitched at an Oregon Venture Fund pitch event at the OBI in October.
• A clinical study featuring Gazelle’s sickle cell disease test was featured in Frontiers in Medicine. The researchers found that Gazelle’s speed, accuracy and ease-of-use made it ideal for use in low-resource settings with a high prevalence of the disease.
• In November, Hemex introduced an enhancement to its Hb Variant test that enables testing for beta thalassemia in addition to sickle cell disease. Gazelle is now the only point-of-care test for beta thalassemia on the market. Additionally, they were able to update our installed base automatically over the Cloud. Here is the link to the press release that explains more.
• Hemex Health has been invited to pitch to Inflect Health in January, 2022.

• HTI has announced that Dr. Jeff King has joined their team as Senior Advisor.
• Dr. Craig Yoshioka joined HTI as Senior Advisor for cryo-EM. Read their press release for background information on Dr. Yoshioka and HTI’s innovative cryo-EM technology.
• HTI’s CryoDiscovery™: A Machine Learning Platform for Automated Cryo-EM Class Selection poster was selected by One World Cryo-EM conference on March 10-11.
• CryoDiscovery™: A Machine Learning Platform for Automated Cryo-EM Class Selection for Single Particle Analysis in Structural Biology paper has been accepted by the Microscopy and Microanalysis 2021 conference (M&M), to be presented in August 2021.
• HTI has also been accepted as a Premier Member into the NVIDIA Inception Program for AI and data science startups.
• CryoDiscovery (TM): A Machine Learning Platform for Automated Cryo-electron Microscopy 2D Class Selection paper was presented at the ACA (American Crystallographic Association) conference in Aug 2021.
• Became a member of the Nvidia Inception and Intel AI Builder program.
• Pfizer is beta testing HTI’s CryoDiscovery ™ – A Cryo-EM Automation & Intelligence Platform for Drug Discovery.
• Nimbus Wadget, Inc signed another service agreement to start a cryo-EM 3-D structure determination project.
• Signed MSAs (master service agreement) with Agios, Flare Therapeutics, Atavistik, and IDEAYA Biosciences for cryo-EM services.
• CryoDiscovery ™ was presented at the 4th Annual CryoNET Symposium, October 18-19th 2021.
• Pitched at an Oregon Venture Fund pitch event at the OBI in October.

• Inherent Targeting was awarded a fast-track SBIR grant from the NCI at the NIH worth a total of $2.25M to complete lead selection and preclinical testing for investigational new drug approval of their nerve-specific fluorescence guided surgery contrast agents.
• Awarded a SBIR matching grant from Business Oregon worth $82k to cover IP and business development expenses.
• Presented at the Angel Capital Association Summit Innovation Showcase, sponsored by the Oregon Bioscience Association.
• CEO Connor Barth was awarded OHSU’s Early Career Innovator Award. The Early Career Innovator Award is presented to an OHSU employee such as a student, post-doctoral fellow, medical resident or someone else early in their professional career who possesses a passion for innovation and developing technologies to solve real-world problems. They work closely with the innovation ecosystems within and outside of OHSU to prepare their innovations for commercial success.
• Connor Barth presented at BIO Digital 2021 Innovation Stage.
• Recently awarded an SBIR Phase 1 grant from the NSF.
• Represented OHSU startups and present at the Pacific Northwest Startup Showcase on Oct 12.

• Izon has recently released two new consumables products to the market. These kits will further establish Izon as an industry leader in extracellular vesicle analysis. Please see product pages: qEV RNA Extraction Kit, qEV Concentration Kit
• Henry Scheffer joined as our new Research Associate, Brennan Van Deren joined as a part time Quality Assurance Intern, and Anthony McNeil came onboard as Applications Scientist.
• Izon Science is excited to announce the release of its Gen 2 qEV SEC columns as well as its new column size, the qEV1. Izon is confident these columns will perform better in nearly all performance metrics important to the extracellular vesicle community including higher total EV yields, lower levels of contaminating proteins, and higher EV purity as measured by # of EVs/ug of protein when compared to their legacy columns.

• Madorra participated in the Femtech track of the McKinsey Early Stage Investor Conference and was featured in Avestria’s Under the Microscope blog.
• Selected from a pool of more than 100 applicants to present at Cooley’s Capital Call fundraising event.
• Mentioned in the Femtech Insider interview with Portfolia Founder, Trish Costello.
• Featured in HitLab’s Women’s Health Wednesdays interview.
• Exciting news! The FDA has granted Madorra breakthrough device designation! Read about it here.
• Mentioned in this great piece in Fast Company underlining the huge opportunity in perimenopause.
• Won the FemAging pitch competition in May and were featured in their report on the space.
• Featured in an article about technology for menopause.
• We were a featured panelist in Springboard’s Women’s Health Innovation forum.
• Founder Holly Rockweiler is a Ferolyn Fellow this year. Here’s a write up in the Fogarty Institute newsletter all about her participation in the program so far.
• Featured in the September issue of the Elevate Capital newsletter.
• Proud and excited to be a part of the inaugural class of Series P!
• Madorra’s press release about its FDA Breakthrough Status was picked up by several industry publications (MassDevice, Femtech Insider, and Medtech Dive).
• Featured on an OSHU Future of Femtech panel.
• Interviewed as part of Accenture’s Women in Life Sciences program.

• OmnEcoil Instruments‘s Dr. Fergus Coakley, inventor of the OmnEcoil instrument, was an author of a November 2021 research article in the American Journal of Roentgenology, entitled, “ In-Bore Versus Fusion MRI-Targeted Biopsy of PI-RADS Category 4 and 5 Lesions: A Retrospective Comparative Analysis Using Propensity Score Weighting.“

• OBI & OTRADI alumnus Oncol Drug Discovery Service made substantial progress in developing optimized SOP for generating CART against targeted cancer. Generated two targeted CART lines of high potency and purity (93-96% purity).

• ProMedix, Inc. had abstracts from their clinical trials selected from a national pool of applications for presentation at both the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine and Pediatric Academic Society national meetings in spring 2021.
• Awarded a $30K grant from OHSU Technology Transfer.
• ProMedix has a new publication on “Point-of-Care Capillary Refill Technology Improves Accuracy of Peripheral Perfusion Assessment,” in Frontiers in Medicine.
• Competitively selected for the mHUB MedTech Incubator in Chicago. Read mHub’s press release.
• ProMedix is developing HydraSense to provide a rapid, accurate, and noninvasive assessment at the clinical bedside or remote care setting to help diagnose sepsis and monitor patient decline and response to treatment.

• Qtonics joined the OBI as a client company in 2021.
• Will be moving into a private office within the OBI in February, 2022.

• Learn about mass photometry as a revolutionary new way to analyze molecules in a series of videos on Refeyn’s YouTube channel.

• Rewire Neuro‘s Pipsqueak AI version 5.5.0 has been released. It features new detection models, smoother model customization, and better co-localization analysis.
• Won a Cougar Cage grant from WSU (it is their version of Shark Tank).
• Won Angel Oregon Tech 2021 and received a $125,000 equity investment from AOTech investors. Out of 90 companies who went through the program, nine were selected to pitch at the final AOTech at TechFestNW event on May 21, and Rewire Neuro was the judges’ top pick.
• Received funding from Elevate Capital’s Oregon Gap Fund.
• Pitched at an Oregon Venture Fund pitch event at the OBI in October.
• Awarded a Phase II SBIR from the NIH. This two-year grant will help them develop additional cell detection capabilities and integrate their AI platform into partnering diagnostics devices and applications.
• Rewire Neuro is a finalist in the upcoming Pitch Oregon by TiE Oregon, in the Life Science category. Pitch Oregon will take place February 11, 2022.

• RxHomeTest has been invited to pitch to Inflect Health in January, 2022.

• Senju Pharmaceutical has announced marketing approval for the ophthalmic VEGF inhibitor “Ranibizumab BS Intravitreal Injection Kit 10 mg/mL.
• In December 2021, announced the launch of a new treatment for Ranibizumab. See press release.

• Sirona Dx launched a rapid saliva-based PCR COVID-19 testing service utilizing advanced microfluidics.
• Dr. Nasry Yassa, CEO, and Andrew Brown, Chief Commercial Officer, presented at Fluidigm Virtual Mass Cytometry Investor Day. Listen to the webcast here.

• The Portland Business Journal listed the largest bioscience and health tech companies in Oregon and SW Washington. Sonivate Medical was listed at #33.

• OBI & OTRADI alumnus Sparrow Pharmaceuticals‘ novel approach to the treatment of Cushing’s syndrome was featured by the Endocrine Society in their membership newsletter Endocrine News.
• Sparrow received a May Proceed letter from FDA for a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome, which will open to patients in January. Press release here.

• StoneStable, Inc. had patents issued in Canada and India.
• Successfully demonstrated that silica-treated adenovirus is significantly more resistant to freeze-thaw cycles, which can be a big improvement over current vaccines.
• Currently looking to raise its seed round.

• SUTUREGARD shipped the most HEMIGARD ever before in Q1 2021.
• Teamed with one of the leading foot and ankle surgeons in the world, Dr Mark Myerson. He has now enrolled 8 colleagues across the country and is initiating a clinical trial of HEMIGARD in ankle replacement/fusion surgery.
• Attended the Chicago Lower Extremity Surgery Symposium in April as invited speakers, and we had the HEMIGARD successfully demo’d on live video by the Symposium Chairman, Dr. Edgardo Rodriguez-Collazo.
• Named a Top 10 Innovation by Podiatry Today, a leading trade journal. This is unsolicited, unlike some trade publication lists which are paid for. SUTUREGARD is featured at the end of the article; they saved the best for last!
• The Veteran’s Administration is now ordering HEMIGARD. The U.S. Veteran population has a high incidence of wound problems and they will be making a big impact in reducing wound complications and improving limb salvage efforts. The HEMIGARD is a great tool to not only speed the surgical closure, reduce the need for additional deep sutures, but also to support the healing through the difficult postoperative period when the foot may swell and the wound may open (dehisce).
• Continuing to gain traction with Q2 2021 sales highest ever, and 50% growth in revenue from Q2 to Q3, with a record month to start Q4.
• SUTUREGARD and HEMIGARD products were placed on the MEDLINE catalog and have now been ordered by multiple hospitals through that pathway.
• CEO Dr. Dan Ladizinsky gave two plenary session talks at the American Podiatric Medical Association meeting in Boston in October, highlighting that HEMIGARD closure of diabetic foot amputations has reduced wound dehiscence and subsequent need for above or below knee amputation by over 80%. This improvement in outcomes is especially important since diabetic foot amputations have gone up in frequency post COVID due to poor access to necessary preventative care and to vascular complications of COVID increasing the risk of wound complications.

• Synergic Medical Technologies is enrolling in clinical trials for Parkinson’s Disease through Oregon Neurology in Springfield, Oregon. The trial is for a non-invasive vibrotactile stimulator whose purpose is to address some of the motor issues associated with Parkinson’s disease.

• Thaena, Inc. joined the OBI as a client company in 2021.
• Joined the OBI mentoring cohort in Summer-Fall 2021 and renewed for the Winter-Spring 2022 cohort.
• Held a microbiome symposium in December, 2021 about microbial ecosystems, metabolites, and their impact on human health.

• Veana Therapeutics was awarded a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute to conduct proof-of concept studies of its lead product, VIMO in combination with the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (an equivalent of Herceptin).
• Closed a seed round with a total of $1.25M raised.
• Veana is pleased to report that the first patient in the Phase Ib clinical trial of the company’s oral drug, VIMO in combination with Herceptin has been dosed!

• Velanidi Technologies closed a pre-seed round of funding.

• Vir Biotechnology and partner GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced a joint collaboration to produce an investigational monoclonal antibody for the treatment of COVID-19. The treatment, called sotrovimab, is an FDA EUA-authorized monoclonal antibody which is administered by infusion in the early stages of a COVID-19 infection in eligible patients.
• Vir and GSK recently announced a $1 billion U.S. government contract to purchase sotrovimab, delivered mid-December. Vir Bio and GSK also have other governmental purchase agreements through the European Commission.
• Preclinical studies indicate that sotrovimab retains activity against the full combination of spike proteins on the recently discovered Omicron variant. Read press release here.

• Virogenomics Bio Development (VBD) was listed at #35 by the Portland Business Journal for the largest bioscience and health tech companies in Oregon and SW Washington.

Congratulations to our amazing OBI Client Companies!

OBI Welcomed New Startups in 2021

Click here to learn more about our new companies

New OBI Mentoring Cohort Begins

We are pleased to announce that January 3, 2021 was the start date for OBI’s newest Mentoring Program cohort. Seventeen mentees and fourteen mentors will work together in pairs and threes for 6 months. 

MENTORS
Lynn Sheehan, Guillaume Lenormand, Daren Connor, Mel Ellis, Katie Rubino, Sheila Ramerman, Michael Phillips, Anoop Pal, Shannon Heizenrader, Shelly Sweeney, Scott Filer, Keith Daellenbach, Josh Ellison, and Mark Bloom.

MENTEES
Priscilla Cheng, Alan Kadish, Alexander Honkala, Sandhiprakash Bhide, Christine Tataru, Mohammad Hissourou III, Alex Tataru, Cory Szybala, Vickie Driver, Manreet Brar, Marco Barcella, Andrea Sommer, Daniel Forbes, Jessy Imdieke, Alison Carrigg, Sydney Quinton-Cox Forbes, and Gus Lawrence. 

Best of luck to the Winter-Spring OBI Mentoring Program cohort! Learn more about the OBI Mentoring Program.

Johnson & Johnson QuickFire Challenges

Johnson & Johnson Innovations/JLABS has some exciting opportunities coming up soon:

• Immunology Innovations QuickFire Challenge: Precision Medicine in Immune-Mediated Disease
• Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge: Healthcare Transformation through Nurse-Led Tech
• Food Allergy Prevention QuickFire Challenge
• Improving Detection of Neurotoxicity in Immunotherapies

Learn more about these QuickFire Challenges here.

New Year, New Job?

Or perhaps a new employee for your Oregon company or organization. If you are hiring or looking for a new role, check out the current listings, and post your open position or resume to the OBI Job Board. It’s easy and free to use.

New Year, New Ideas…
We’d Love to Hear from You in ’22!

Do you have an idea for an OBI Lunch & Learn topic, Happy Hour theme, or Workshop suggestion? Or maybe you know of an awesome speaker (maybe even yourself!). We have a new button at the top of our Events Calendar for you to submit your program ideas and speaker suggestions. And as always, if you have an event you would like us to promote on our calendar, there’s a button for that, too. We’d love to hear from you in ’22!

Missed a Lunch & Learn?

No worries! We have video recordings of most of our Lunch & Learns available in two places: on our website and on our OBI YouTube channel. Now you have 24/7 access to the OBI programs you may have missed. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for notification of new videos uploaded (about once per month).

OHSU Innovation and Commercialization Internship Program

Applications for this real-world educational experience learning technology transfer, business development, or patent law are being accepted until January 16, 2022. Learn more and apply now!

Upcoming Events

OBI Events

Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health
Virtual Happy Hour
January 13, 2022
5:00-6:30 PM
Register here

OBI Virtual Lunch & Learn:
OHSU Center for Experimental Therapeutics
January 19, 2022
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

Community Events

TAO 2022 Legislative Session Preview
January 18, 2022
9:00-10:30 AM
Register here

TiE Oregon Presents: Pitch Oregon 2021
February 11, 2022
12:30-4:00 PM
Register here

Seasons Greetings from OBI & OTRADI

All the best to you and yours this holiday season and in the new year!

Vir Biotechnology Tackles COVID-19

Big news in the treatment of COVID-19! Earlier this year, OBI client company Vir Biotechnology and partner GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced a joint collaboration to produce an investigational monoclonal antibody for the treatment of COVID-19. The treatment, called sotrovimab, is an FDA EUA-authorized monoclonal antibody which is administered by infusion in the early stages of a COVID-19 infection in eligible patients. Last month, they announced a $1 billion U.S. government contract to purchase sotrovimab, to be delivered this week. Vir Bio and GSK also have other governmental purchase agreements through the European Commission. Preclinical studies indicate that sotrovimab retains activity against the full combination of spike proteins on the recently discovered Omicron variant.

Press releases for these announcements can be found here and here.

Congratulations Vir Bio!

More Exciting OBI Client Company Wins

Rewire Neuro

• Rewire Neuro is a finalist in the upcoming Pitch Oregon by TiE Oregon, in the Life Science category.
• Pitch Oregon will take place February 11, 2022.

Hemex Health

• In November, Hemex introduced an enhancement to its Hb Variant test that enables testing for beta thalassemia in addition to sickle cell disease. Gazelle is now the only point-of-care test for beta thalassemia on the market.
• Additionally, we were able to update our installed base automatically over the Cloud.
• Here is the link to our press release that explains more.

ProMedix, Inc.

• ProMedix was recently accepted into Chicago’s mHub accelerator. Read mHub’s press release.
• ProMedix is developing HydraSense to provide a rapid, accurate, and noninvasive assessment at the clinical bedside or remote care setting to help diagnose sepsis and monitor patient decline and response to treatment.

Gamma Diagnostics, Inc.

• What is Gamma Prime Fibrinogen? Dr. David Farrell, Professor of Surgery at OHSU and founder and CSO at Gamma Diagnostics, Inc., shared his poster and abstract at the American Heart Association meeting.
• COVID-19 patients can develop extremely high levels of gamma prime fibrinogen (GPF), which has several important clinical implications relative to administration of anticoagulants and steroids.
• Read more here in the American Heart Association Circulation.

SUTUREGARD Medical, Inc.

• We noted 50% growth in revenue from Q2 to Q3, with a record month to start Q4.   
• Our SUTUREGARD and HEMIGARD products were placed on the MEDLINE catalog and have now been ordered by multiple hospitals through that pathway. 
• CEO Dr. Dan Ladizinsky gave two plenary session talks at the American Podiatric Medical Association meeting in Boston in October, highlighting that HEMIGARD closure of diabetic foot amputations has reduced wound dehiscence and subsequent need for above or below knee amputation by over 80%. This improvement in outcomes is especially important since diabetic foot amputations have gone up in frequency post COVID due to poor access to necessary preventative care and to vascular complications of COVID increasing the risk of wound complications.

Congratulations on all of your achievements!

OBI’s Mentor of the Month:
Sheila Ramerman

Sheila Ramerman is one of OBI’s helpful volunteer mentors. With a background and education in Medical Laboratory and Hospital Administration, Sheila is a wealth of knowledge for our OBI mentees. Her primary areas of expertise are in FDA regulatory requirements and quality system basics. Sheila has extensive experience in designing and performing IVD clinical studies. She has worked in multiple start ups, and as a consultant to start ups. Sheila started in product development for an IVD company (point of care diagnostic) and worked into clinical studies, then in regulatory affairs, and into quality systems. Since then she has worked in regulatory/quality/clinical roles in other start ups. Her colleagues describe her as having a practical, pragmatic approach – what is needed now, and what’s needed in the future. They also appreciate her ability to understand the requirements and apply them and adapt as needed to the specific situation.

Thank you Sheila, for helping OBI mentees navigate the complex world of FDA regulation in the OBI Mentoring Program.

Hiring or Seeking?
Post it on OBI’s Job Board 

OBI has launched a Job Board where you can easily list your organization’s open positions. Click here to post your open positions. We’ll approve it on our end, and it will be posted for 30 days (and it’s renewable too).

And, if you’re a job seeker and would like to have your resume reviewed by recruiters in the community, please upload your resume to the “submit resume” section of our job board.

PCC Bioscience Technology Information Sessions

Spread the word to interested persons to attend a Portland Community College info session to learn about the bioscience industry, the BIT program, and the admissions process.

Please review the info slides on this page and RSVP for an upcoming session. (An RSVP is required in order to provide you with the information to join the online session in Zoom.)

Questions? Contact a program advisor.

Life Sciences Trend Report

CBRE’s most recent U.S. Life Sciences Trend Report now available. A couple of key takeaways:

• The market has never been stronger – All-time highs reached in funding, job growth, demand for lab space and new construction.
• The near-term outlook remains bright – Data trends and sentiment from the field suggest continued active market conditions over the next year. 

Download the full PDF report here, compliments of our friends at CBRE.

Pitch Oregon 2021

“In its 6th year, Pitch Oregon is TiE Oregon’s marquee event, attracting hundreds of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors each year. New this year, we are welcoming companies from around the Pacific Northwest to apply and applicants will compete for an equitable investment!

Applicants in the following categories will have the opportunity to receive an equitable investment. These applicants generate TTM of at least $250,000 or have raised external capital of at least $250,000:

Software / Tech Enabled:  Companies with services or products related to electronics, software, hardware, artificial intelligence, cloud services, etc.
Life Science:  Companies with services or products related to pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, biomedical, telehealth, etc.
Clean Technology:  Companies that aim to improve environmental sustainability with products or services related to renewable energy, recycling, green transportation, sustainable manufacturing, etc.”

OBI client company Rewire Neuro is a finalist in the Life Science category.

Additionally, Pitch Oregon has an Early-Stage category.

You won’t want to miss these fun events – pitches take place on February 11, 2022 from 1:00-4:00, and the winners will be announced at the TiE Oregon Annual Awards Dinner that evening.

More information and registration at TiE Oregon.

OHSU Innovates 2021 Impact Report

Oregon Health & Science University has just published their OHSU Innovates 2021 Impact Report. They highlight some of the innovations to come out of OHSU, showing resilience and strength during a particularly challenging time. Special shout-outs to OBI graduate Aronora, and current OBI client companies ProMedix, Inherent Targeting, and Vir Biotechnology, all OHSU spinouts featured in this comprehensive report.

Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health
Virtual Happy Hour
January 13, 2022
5:00-6:30 PM
Register now!

Lunch & Learn: Center for Experimental Therapeutics –
Translating Discoveries from Lab to Clinic
January 19, 2022
12:00-1:00 PM
Register now!

Other Great Community Events

OSU Advantage Accelerator Webinar:
Intellectual Property Essentials for Startups
December 16, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

Zapproved Seminar: Turning Awareness
into Action with Dr. Dana Crawford
January 12, 2022
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

OBI Client Company Wins

Madorra

• Our press release about our FDA Breakthrough Status was picked up by several industry publications (MassDevice, Femtech Insider, and Medtech Dive).
• We were featured on an OSHU Future of Femtech panel.
• We were also interviewed as part of Accenture’s Women in Life Sciences program.

Caregiven

• We attended InsureTech Connect in Las Vegas, sponsored by the Global Insurance Accelerator, and had many wonderful calls with customers and investors alike.  Notable conversations occurred with Unum, Northwestern Mutual, MS&AD, Ethos Life, Assurity, and more.  
• Networking at the event resulted in Candice Smith being asked to speak at the Society of Actuaries ElderTech Summit in December and to be interviewed for an upcoming book focused on the future of insurance.  Additionally, 2 podcasts featuring Caregiven were released last month:  Woman to Woman Podcast and The Heart of Hospice.
• We successfully completed Session #1 of the Creative Destruction Lab – an invite only program with the goal of helping start-ups “build something massive”.  Of the 20 initial companies, Caregiven was 1 of 14 asked to return for Session #2 in December.

Hemex Health

• Gazelle was featured in an NIH article: Future of medicine: Lab-on-a-chip devices starting to make an impact.
• A clinical study featuring Gazelle’s sickle cell disease test was featured in Frontiers in Medicine. The researchers found that Gazelle’s speed, accuracy and ease-of-use made it ideal for use in low-resource settings with a high prevalence of the disease.

ProMedix

• We were competitively selected for the mHUB MedTech Incubator in Chicago.

Izon

• Izon Science is excited to announce the release of our Gen 2 qEV SEC columns as well as our new column size, the qEV1.
• Izon is confident these columns will perform better in nearly all performance metrics important to the extracellular vesicle community including higher total EV yields, lower levels of contaminating proteins, and higher EV purity as measured by # of EVs/ug of protein when compared to our legacy columns.

HTI

• Master Service Agreement (MSA) signed with Flare Therapeutics, Atavistik, and IDEAYA Biosciences for Cryo-EM services.

Congratulations on all of your achievements!

OBI’s Mentor of the Month:
Tanya Leavy

Tanya Leavy, JD, is one of our wonderful volunteer mentors. She is experienced in the field of intellectual property law, with a specialty in patent law, practicing in the patent space for over a decade. Her law degree is from the Fordham Law school.

Tanya also has a Ph.D. in chemical biology, with a specialty in organic chemistry, from the University of California at Berkeley. She has worked with a number of startup companies in the biotechnology area to provide strategic patent guidance to help them to develop and protect their innovations.

Her colleagues describe Tanya as hardworking, with attention to detail, a collaborative work style, and a creative problem solver.

Thank you, Tanya, for contributing to the success of our mentees!

Hiring or Seeking?
Post it on OBI’s Job Board 

We’re excited to announce that OBI has launched a Job Board, and we’d love to list your organization’s open positions. Click here to post your open positions.

And, if you’re a job seeker and would like to have your resume reviewed by recruiters in the community, please upload your resume to the “submit resume” section of our job board.

2021 Tech Pay Data Now Available

Milliman recently released the results of the 30th annual Northwest Technology Compensation Survey featuring updated pay data on more than 200 technology positions, objectively and confidentially compiled from 92 major Northwest Technology employers. The survey results include expanded data on salary trends, turnover, benefit costs, telecommuting, sign-on bonus, hot skills, compensation program elements, and more.

• Salaries for tech roles have risen between 3-8% based on title and seniority
• Two of the top six roles at technology companies/within technology organizations are for HR leaders
• In the 25 years since the NW Tech Compensation Survey started, the entry level salary for a software engineer has gone from $35K to 76K+

To access the full survey results, click here. TAO members get a $50 discount if they use the code TAO2021.

Medication Adherence Saves Medicare up to $46.6B

A recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) study found that medication use is improving among seniors and vulnerable beneficiary populations. Better adherence to medicines used to treat common chronic conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes is estimated to have saved the Medicare program between $27B and $46.6B in avoided health care costs between 2013 and 2018.

Virtual Lunch & Learn: The Three Sectors
Where Digital is Transforming Patient Care
November 17, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register now!

Virtual Lunch & Learn: Utilizing Value Assessments
to Determine Clinical & Cost Effectiveness
December 1, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register now!

Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health
Virtual Happy Hour
December 9, 2021
5:00-6:30 PM
Register now!

Other Great Community Events

Keiretsu Forum Investor Capital Expo
November 10-11 and 17-18, 2021
Registration details here

Biotech Summit 2021
Biomarker and the Promise of Precision Medicine
November 12, 2021
1:30-3:30 PM
Register here

Partners in Diversity Say Hey!~Virtual
November 16, 2021
4:30-6:30 PM
Register here

Technology Association of Oregon:
Health Tech Summit
November 15-16, 2021
8:30 AM-1:00 PM
More information here

Oregon Entrepreneurs Network:
OEN Awards 2021 – FUTUREPROOF
November 18, 2021
5:00-8:00 PM
More information here

Hiring or Seeking? OBI has a Job Board!

We’re excited to announce that OBI has launched a Job Board, and we’d love to list any open positions your respective organizations may have. Click here to post your open positions.

And, if you’re a job seeker and would like to have your resume reviewed by recruiters in the community, please upload your resume to the “submit resume” section of our job board.

OBI Client Company Wins

Inherent Targeting

• We have been selected to represent OHSU startups and present at the Pacific Northwest Startup Showcase on Oct 12.

HTI

• Pfizer is beta testing HTI’s CryoDiscovery ™ – A cryo-EM Automation & Intelligence Platform for Drug Discovery.
• Nimbus Wadget, Inc signed another service agreement to start a cryo-em 3-D structure determination project.
• HTI is looking for machine learning software developers.
• HTI signed MSA (master service agreement) with Flare Therapeutics.
• CryoDiscovery ™ will be presented at the 4th Annual CryoNET Symposium, October 18-19th 2021.

Izon

• Izon had two new team members join our Portland office at OBI this month.  Henry Scheffer joined as our new Research Associate and Brennan Van Deren joined as a part time Quality Assurance Intern.

Gamma Diagnostics

• The Department of Defense’s Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program has a Technology/Therapeutic Development Award, and invited us to submit a full proposal to develop GammaCoeur as a companion diagnostic to track COVID-19 disease severity. We submitted the grant on Sept. 2.
• We were one of 8 semi-finalists for the Bend Venture Conference in the Impact category.

Veana Therapeutics

• Veana was awarded a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute to conduct proof-of concept studies of its lead product, VIMO in combination with the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (an equivalent of Herceptin).
• Veana closed a seed round with a total of  $1.25M raised.
• Veana is pleased to report that the first patient in the Phase Ib clinical trial of the company’s oral drug, VIMO in combination with Herceptin has been dosed!

Endosound

• Our EndoSound Vision System received a Breakthrough Device Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Madorra

• Proud and excited to be a part of the inaugural class of Series P! 

Caregiven

• When you search for Caregiven in Google, our company webpage is the first result! Then below it, our blogs, news, and social. A year of steady content creation, of learning algorithms and key words and pure doggedness by Michele Houck our marketing manager to learn the right way to “rank” while honoring our commitment to only produce content that lifts up the caregiving experience.
• We were awarded the TAO Start-Up of the Year award in the pre-revenue category.
• Candice Smith was a guest on the Aging in Portland podcast.
• Our Chief Revenue Officer, Anthony Mitchell and Candice had the opportunity to present at the ACORD InsurTech Innovation Challenge NY.
• Anthony also co-hosted a webinar on The Future of Value Adds in Insurance with an insurance luminary, Jason Gross.
• We also presented at CareTech presented by the Louisville Healthcare CEO’s Council and Aging 2.0. This was a global search for innovations that improve the patient or member experience.
• We were awarded the second place grant from the American Heart Association’s EmPOWERED to Serve program ($30K), sponsored by the American Heart Association of Oregon & SW Washington.
• We kicked off the first phase of our first pilot with a national palliative care provider. They will be using Caregiven to expedite the health outcomes their nurses already accomplish, and are including Caregiven as a differentiator for their company in proposals to major health systems nationally.
• We had over a dozen calls with insurance carriers about Q1 pilots and are under NDA and working on LOIs with several.
• And lastly, we are moving forward with our seed round and have been speaking with investors.

Congratulations to all our client companies – way to go! Keep the wins coming!

OBI Mentoring Program
Applications Now Open

Mentor and mentee applications are now open for the structured 6-month mentoring program which begins January 3, 2022 and runs through the end of June. Now is the time for YOU to get involved! 

Would You Like to be a Mentor?
If you have experience working with startups in the bioscience or digital health industry, consider applying to become a mentor. Benefits of mentoring include:

• Free mentor training
• Exclusive access to handpicked startups
• Exclusive network of mentors
• Ability to earn mentor certification
• Give back to your community
• OBI highlights its mentors in the monthly newsletter

Growing Your Business? Become a Mentee!
We are looking for entrepreneurs who are already in business but would like guidance, accountability, and support from a mentor to help set and reach business goals. Benefits and time commitments for mentees include:

• Mentoring helps you grow your business! A recent survey from Kabbage found that 92% of businesses who have a mentor say mentoring has directly impacted their business growth and survival
• Mentee meets with mentor 2 hours a month for 6 months
• Mentee checks in with OBI once per month and completes a survey at the end of the program  

Applications are Open from October 1-31
For more important dates, details, and link to the applications: www.otradi.org/mentoring

Business Oregon Matching Grants

News Release from Business Oregon:

“Business Oregon and the Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC) have opened a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Oregon matching grants to recipients of the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant programs. This RFP seeks applications for matching grants of either Phase I, Phase II, or Fast-Track federal SBIR/STTR awards. The SBIR and STTR grant programs are designed to stimulate technological innovation and provide new opportunities for small businesses to conduct research and development with commercial potential. The RFP opened on September 8, 2021, and will close on October 14, 2021.

“An Oregon company that has received a Phase I SBIR/STTR award may submit a proposal for projects up to $50,000. A company with a Phase II or Fast-Track award may submit a proposal for projects up to $100,000. Business Oregon intends to make multiple awards under this program and will likely issue another matching grant RFP in 2022.

“A detailed overview of the RFP, selection process, application and supporting resources are on Business Oregon’s SBIR Support Program webpage. Completed applications are due by 11:59 pm PST on Thursday, October 14, 2021.”

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Understanding the Investor Mindset
October 14, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
FREE – Register here

November Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health
Virtual Happy Hour
November 4, 2021
5:00-6:30 PM
FREE – Register here

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Past, Present, and Future of Digital Health
November 17, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Save the date!

Other Great Community Events

2021 Bend Venture Conference
October 21-22, 2021
More information here

Black Women in STEM 2.0 Summit:
Making HERstory
October 22-23, 2021
More information here

TAO Professional Development Program:
A Conversation About Cybersecurity Hygiene
October 27, 2021
11:00 AM-12:00 PM
Register here

PhRMA Pathways to Success in Biopharma
Virtual Graduate Summit & Career Expo
October 27-28, 2021
More information here

OCTRI Seminar: Demystify the Regulatory Environment
A Roadmap for Healthcare Technologies
October 28, 2021
2:00-3:00 PM
Register here

OregonBio Virtual Life Science Career Fair
November 10, 2021
10:00 AM-1:00 PM
Register here

Technology Association of Oregon:
Health Tech Summit
November 15-16, 2021
8:30 AM-1:00 PM
More information here

Oregon Entrepreneurs Network:
OEN Awards 2021 – FUTUREPROOF
November 18, 2021
5:00-8:00 PM
More information here

OBI Client Company Wins

Aronora

• Aronora reports positive topline data from their phase 2 clinical trial of recombinant antibody therapeutic AB023 in hemodialysis patients.
• This data was presented at the XXIX Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasias in July.
• See Aronora’s press release here.
• Aronora graduated from the OBI earlier this year, after joining the incubator in 2013.

Madorra

• Exciting news! The FDA has granted Madorra breakthrough device designation! Read about it here.
• We were mentioned in this great piece in Fast Company underlining the huge opportunity in perimenopause.
• We won the FemAging pitch competition in May and were featured in their report on the space.
• We were featured in an article about technology for menopause.
• We were a featured panelist in Springboard’s Women’s Health Innovation forum.
• Holly is a Ferolyn Fellow this year. Here’s a write up in the Fogarty Institute newsletter all about her participation in the program so far.
• We were featured in the September issue of the Elevate Capital newsletter.

Hemex Health

• We were featured in the Oregon Lottery spotlight.
• We were on the speaker panel of the Oregon Pediatric Innovation Event, Powered by CTIP, on September 1.
• We were also featured in the September issue of the Elevate Capital newsletter.

Caregiven

• We are a finalist in Aging 2.0’s Global Innovation Search, announcement attached.
• We are a finalist in the ACORD InsurTech Innovation Challenge.
• We were selected to participate in the American Heart Association of OR/SW Washington’s EmPOWERED to Serve program.
• The Caregiven team (5 employees and 3 contractors) met in-person for the first time (ever) in August for an on-site retreat that corresponded with our Q3 meeting of the Board of Directors.  Our team is fully remote with employees in North Carolina and Florida, and a contractor who lives in Arizona.  See team photo below.
• 

Oncol Drug Discovery Service

• Made substantial progress in developing optimized SOP for generating CART against targeted cancer.
  • Generated two targeted CART lines of high potency and purity (93-96% purity).
  • Will verify the performance and universality of the optimized SOP by generating another three targeted CART lines by October.

Gamma Diagnostics

• We’ve been accepted into Expert Dojo’s International Healthcare Startup Accelerator.
  • For companies accepted into the program, Expert Dojo invests $100,000, provides an 8-week training program that trains the members of the company in all aspects of business, and introduces them to investors and mentors.

Rewire Neuro

• Rewire was awarded our Phase II SBIR from the NIH! This two-year grant will help us develop additional cell detection capabilities and integrate our AI platform into partnering diagnostics devices and applications.

Thank You to our New Corporate Partner

We appreciate your support, Ajay Malhotra and Kristin Hammond!

Applications for OBI Mentoring Cohort
Opening Soon

Mentor and mentee applications open on October 1 for this structured, 6-month mentoring program, so save the date for your opportunity to get involved! 

Would You Like to be a Mentor?
If you have experience working with startups in the bioscience or digital health industry, consider applying to become a mentor. Benefits of mentoring include:

• Free mentor training
• Exclusive access to handpicked startups
• Exclusive network of mentors
• Ability to earn mentor certification
• Give back to your community
• OBI highlights its mentors in the monthly newsletter

Growing Your Business? Become a Mentee!
We are looking for entrepreneurs who are already in business but would like guidance, accountability, and support from a mentor to help set and reach business goals. Benefits and time commitments for mentees include:

• Mentoring helps you grow your business! A recent survey from Kabbage found that 92% of businesses who have a mentor say mentoring has directly impacted their business growth and survival
• Mentee meets with mentor 2 hours a month for 6 months
• Mentee checks in with OBI once per month and completes a survey at the end of the program  

Applications Open October 1-31
For more important dates, details, and link to the applications: www.otradi.org/mentoring

OBI is Launching a Job Board

We’re excited to announce that OBI will be launching our Job Board in the next two weeks and we’d love to list any open positions your organization may have. This will help us pre-populate the job board when we go live. If you are interested, please email info@otradi.org requesting the link to post your open positions.

If you are a job seeker and would like to have your resume reviewed by recruiters in the community, please email info@otradi.org requesting the link to upload your resume.

Thanks for helping us make this job board a success!

Black Women in STEM 2.0 Summit:
Making HERstory

Beaverton Startup Challenge

Apply now for the OTBC, City of Beaverton, and West Side Startup Fund Beaverton Startup Challenge. Five winners each receive a $25,000 convertible note investment; introductions to legal, accounting, HR, and marketing services; OTBC’s top-rated mentoring services, entrepreneur workshops, and more! Applications are accepted through September 30.

More information and application here. 

Pitch Oregon – Apply Today!

In its 6th year, Pitch Oregon is TiE Oregon’s marquee event, attracting hundreds of entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors each year. New this year, we are welcoming companies from around the Pacific Northwest to apply and applicants will compete for an equitable investment! Application deadline September 30.

Click here for more information.

Free SBIR/STTR Training Events

The BBC Entrepreneurial Training & Consulting is offering free training events. September 14, 15, and 16 are packed full of free SBIR/STTR training sessions featuring program managers from varying granting and contracting agencies, such as NIH, DOD, NSF, and many others.

Full schedule, details, and registration here.

Technology Association of Oregon’s Founders Investing in Founders Program

Technology Association of Oregon recently announced their Founders Investing in Founders (FIIF) program. Led by six inaugural founders, this program helps increase diversity and create economic growth by providing support to underrepresented early-stage startups for up to three years. 

Learn more about this innovative program here.

PDUFA VII for Biopharma Innovation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its performance goals letter for the seventh installment of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). PDUFA was first enacted in 1992 as a bipartisan solution to the then long FDA regulatory review timelines for new drugs and biologics. PDUFA allows the FDA to collect fees from biopharmaceutical companies to speed and enhance the review process to help ensure patients have timely access to life-saving treatments.

Read more about how critical PDUFA VII is for future biopharmaceutical innovation and for patients.

Columbia Business School’s Executive Education

Are you looking to gain a competitive edge in digital health?

Columbia Business School’s 6-day Executive Education Model in Digital Health Strategy [Sept 21-23 & 28-30] is exclusively tailored for healthcare executives like you.

A unique first, the program combines Columbia Business School’s renowned leadership with HITLAB’s expertise in digital health research and education.

As a participant, you will learn about the necessary skills and resources required to successfully find, verify and diffuse these digital health solutions – allowing you to truly embed digital health into the core of your organization. 
 
Learn more about the Digital Health Strategy: Leveraging Emerging Technologies in Healthcare program.

Here is a snapshot of the speaker line-up consisting of industry leaders: 

• Peter Pfeiffer, Senior Partner, Mckinsey & Company 
• Stacy Lloyd, Director of Digital Health Strategy, American Medical Association 
• Robin Roberts, Cofounder, Novartis Biome 
• Shwen Gwee, VP, Bristol Myers Squibb 

View the complete agenda, speaker line-up and session topics for the program here.

Ask about a special OTRADI & OBI tuition rate of $999.

Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health
Virtual Happy Hour
September 9, 2021 – TONIGHT!
5:00-6:30 PM
FREE – Register in advance here

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Managing Stress & Performance
September 15, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
FREE – Register here

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Understanding the Investor Mindset
October 14, 2021
FREE – Register here

October Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health
Virtual Happy Hour
October 7, 2021
Save the date

Other Great Community Events

VertueLab Fuel 2021:
Catalyzing CleanTech Solutions Summit
September 13-15, 2021
Register here

OregonBio Mini BioPro Lunch & Learn:
Making Your Innovations Shine –
The Magic of Good Data Presentation
September 14, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

2021 Oregon Technology Awards
(Our own Caregiven is a finalist in the pre-revenue category!)
September 17, 2021
5:00-9:00 PM
View the livestream here

OSU Advantage Accelerator Speaker Series:
What a CPA Does for your Startup
September 22, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

The MedTech Conference,
Powered by AdvaMed
September 27-30, 2021
More information here

OHSU Invent-a-thon Social Hour:
Future of Femtech
September 28, 2021
4:00-5:00 PM
Register here

2021 Bend Venture Conference
October 21-22, 2021
More information here

Absci Goes Public!

OBI graduate Absci made its debut on the NASDAQ (ticker symbol ABSI) on Thursday, July 22, and founder Sean McClain and his team rang the closing bell. GeekWire has a great article about how Sean founded the company at age 22. Absci was an OTRADI resident client company from 2013 to 2016 – see photos below of their lab space with us. We are happy to be a part of Absci’s journey to success.

Thank You to our New Corporate Partner

OBI/OTRADI Receives High Impact Opportunity Program Award

The Oregon Innovation Council and Business Oregon have approved OBI/OTRADI for a High Impact Opportunity Project Award to support bioscience companies’ ability to stay and grow in Oregon by adding 6 wet labs and offices to our incubator facilities. Completion expected in Fall 2021. Questions about space availability? Inquire here.

OBI Client Company Wins

• ProMedix
  • We were awarded a $30K grant from OHSU Technology Transfer.
  • We also have a new publication that recently went live.
• Gamma Diagnostics
  • We were accepted into California’s Expert Dojo accelerator cohort.
• Inherent Targeting
  • We were recently awarded an SBIR Phase 1 grant from the NSF.
• SUTUREGARD
  • We are continuing to gain traction with Q2 2021 sales highest ever.

Biomedical Innovation: Commercialization Readiness Program is Open for Enrollment

The Biomedical Innovation: Commercialization Readiness Program (BIP Corp) is a 5-week course for life science innovators to advance their technology to clinical practice. We’ve made some improvements over the last year, including engaging a national NIH and NSF I-Corps instructor to lead the lectures. The course is ideal for teams, appropriate for clinical and research scientists, engineers, and life science entrepreneurs. Early-stage ideas welcome!

We’re enrolling projects for the Sept 10 – Oct 15 virtual cohort. Learn more and enroll.

Creative Destruction Lab Mentoring

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) – Seattle Computational Health is an annual program for seed-stage startups working in the areas of digital and computational health. The program brings together world-class entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, and health professionals to mentor participating founders on prioritizing objectives to increase their probability of success. Participating startups work with CDL Mentors to prioritize key milestones, raise capital, and engage with experts working on the frontiers of research in related fields.

The program consists of four in-person objective-setting sessions held once every two months at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business in Seattle between November 2021 and June 2022. CDL is a non-profit organization. There are no fees for participation and CDL does not take any equity or affect ownership of intellectual property. The deadline to apply for the 2021/22 cohort is August 23, 2021. 

For more information: https://www.creativedestructionlab.com/locations/seattle/

COVID-19 Dose Sharing Part of Global Vaccine Equity Strategy

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been met with the most efficient vaccine development process in history. Dose sharing entails working with governments that have directly purchased COVID-19 vaccine doses to contribute to the global supply through COVAX or other efficient, established distribution mechanisms. Collaboration to increase dose sharing has been one of the most immediate steps to close the vaccine coverage gap, redirecting doses to low- and middle-income countries that did not secure agreements with vaccine manufacturers earlier in the pandemic.

Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health
Virtual Happy Hour
September 9, 2021
5:00-6:30 PM
Register here

Other Great Community Events

Zapproved Event: Talking to Kids About Racism
August 11, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

AvaMed MedInvest Life Sciences Conference
September 8-10, 2021
More information

2021 Oregon Technology Awards
(Caregiven is a finalist in the pre-revenue category!)
September 17, 2021
5:00-9:00 PM
Register here

Absci Files for IPO

Big news for OBI graduate Absci! Last week they filed paperwork with the SEC for an initial public offering. Absci, a biotech company whose technology enables “better, faster, smarter” biologic drug discovery and cell lines, graduated from the OBI in 2016. They’ve grown substantially over the past several years, acquiring other companies, most recently Totient, and expanding their operations and workforce. GeekWire just featured them in an article about biotech in the Pacific Northwest.

We at the OBI & OTRADI are cheering on Absci for many years of continued success and growth.

OBI Client Company Wins

• Hemex Health
  • We’ve officially launched our newborn release! Gazelle is now able to diagnose newborns for sickle cell disease before they even leave the hospital. Check out the press release. 
  • With our product design and engineering partner Tata Elxsi, the Gazelle Reader won the Social Impact Solution of the Year award at the 2021 NASSCOM Engineering & Innovation Excellence Awards in India!
  • In a recent P. vivax clinical study, Gazelle demonstrated higher sensitivity than the only FDA-approved malaria rapid diagnostic test. Press release here.
• Izon
  • Izon has recently released two new consumables products to the market! We hope these kits will further establish Izon as an industry leader in extracellular vesicle analysis. Please see product pages below:
    • qEV RNA Extraction Kit
    • qEV Concentration Kit
  • Izon is seeking a Lab Technician/Research Associate for its Portland office. Please see job description and share with interested applicants.
• Gamma Diagnostics
  • We have a new name – Gamma Therapeutics is now Gamma Diagnostics!
  • David Eastman retired as CEO, we hired Ajay Nair from Perth, Australia as our new CEO, and he hired Chris Venter, also from Perth, as our Chief Finance Officer.
  • We also discovered that our GammaCoeur diagnostic blood test for cardiovascular disease is extremely elevated in COVID-19 patients and predicts the need for hospitalized patients to need extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in order not to suffocate, and it predicts death from COVID-19. We now have a provisional patent on this I.P. that also protects the use of the test as a companion diagnostic for the administration of dexamethasone in COVID-19 patients.
• Rewire Neuro
  • Rewire secured additional investment from Angel Oregon Tech, and received funding from Elevate Capital’s Oregon Gap Fund. We are excited to have these investors supporting Rewire’s growth and are thankful for Business Oregon and Oregon InC’s funding of early-stage Oregon startups.
• Caregiven
  • We were delighted to learn that we are a semi-finalist for Aging 2.0’s Global Innovation Search.
  • Candice Smith was interviewed by the HITLab for their Women’s Health Tech Wednesday forum.
  • Caregiven was highlighted in an article titled “Looking to the Future of Insurance.”
  • Caregiven was presented “Shark Tank” style to attendees at the ISCPA conference.
• CytoImage
  • Founder Tania Vu presented at the international Innovation Stage at BIO Digital 2021.
• Inherent Targeting
  • CEO Connor Barth also presented at BIO Digital 2021 Innovation Stage.
• SUTUREGARD
  • We were named a Top 10 Innovation by Podiatry Today, a leading trade journal. This is unsolicited, unlike some trade publication lists which are paid for. We are at the end of the article; they saved the best for last!
  • The Veteran’s Administration is now ordering HEMIGARD. Our Veteran population has a high incidence of wound problems and we will be making a big impact here, reducing wound complications and improving limb salvage efforts. The HEMIGARD is a great tool to not only speed the surgical closure, reduce the need for additional deep sutures, but also to support the healing through the difficult postoperative period when the foot may swell and the wound may open (dehisce).  We are excited to improve outcomes for our veterans! 

Meet our Administrative Assistant,
Sarah Vivian

Sarah joined OTRADI in July of 2021. She is a seasoned office specialist with over a decade of administrative experience. In her role, Sarah helps facilitate the everyday administrativia of the office and is the point person for OBI client companies.

Having a background as a technical writer and a passion for nonprofit and social justice work, Sarah served as a committee head and then Board Director of Communications for Pride Northwest, the nonprofit organization that plans and implements the Portland LGBTQ+ Pride Festival and Parade, until 2017.

In her personal time, Sarah is an avid crafter, permaculture gardener, home cook, and true crime fanatic. We are thrilled to have her on the OBI team!

ScienceDocs Interview with
Inherent Targeting’s Connor Barth

Inherent Targeting co-founder and CEO Connor Barth, PhD recently sat down with Claire Sykes for an enjoyable ScienceDocs interview after winning a $2.25 million SBIR grant for their fluorescence-guided nerve detection technology. Watch the 30-minute video and read the transcript here.

Summer-Fall Mentoring Kicks Off

July 1 was the start date for the Summer-Fall 2021 cohort of the OBI Mentoring Program. This 6-month cohort includes mentors and mentees listed below; some are new pairings and triples, and some returning pairings. We are pleased to welcome these participants and wish them much success in making progress toward their goals.

We will have a new cohort of mentors and mentees in January, 2022. Keep an eye on the mentoring page on our website and newsletter for more information in the fall on how you can participate in our mentoring program.

Kamino App Has Launched

TeleHeath and wellness company, Kamino Care provides nutrition and health coaching for Latin X clients via video appointment. Bilingual providers assist families and caregivers with the latest nutrition and fitness advice, from a preventative mindset, all from the comfort of home.

Their story begins when a young boy named Heber is asked to translate from English to Spanish for his mother once she was diagnosed with Type-2 Diabetes. She was advised to eat whole grains, whole foods, potatoes, and tofu. Due to cultural differences, the provider failed to recognize the family’s pantry was filled with arroz, frijoles, and tortillas. Kamino Care helps people like Heber’s mom get the health and wellness they need with a provider who understands both their culture and language.

As a young boy, Nick watched his father’s diabetes worsen due to improper nutrition and fitness management, ultimately leading to a stroke and heart attack. He has made it one of his life’s goals to stay fit, healthy and informed on how to best prevent diabetes as much as possible. Kamino Care was an obvious choice for Nick to provide families the tools they need to hopefully avoid the tragedies of Diabetes.

Kamino Care’s mobile appointment app, Kamino, is available for both iOS and Android devices and offers a free 30 minutes appointment with a Nutrition or Fitness provider.

OTBC is Hiring an Executive Director

OTBC‘s long-serving Executive Director is preparing to retire, and we are looking for the next leader for this small but ambitious not-for-profit. The Executive Director is responsible for the management of the OTBC facility, staff and programs and for performing diverse tasks ranging from mentoring of entrepreneurs to office operations. This position is full-time and reports to the OTBC Board of Directors.

The position is full-time, based in Beaverton, and offers a wide range of exposure to the Oregon entrepreneurial and funding communities. Highlights of the position include:

• Develop and oversee OTBC entrepreneur support programs including entrepreneur mentoring, workshops, the Beaverton Startup Challenge, the Rural Oregon
• Startup Challenge which includes the Virtual Incubation Program, and future programs of the organization.
• Offer superior startup business coaching to participating entrepreneurs
• Create the OTBC annual operational plan and execute the plan after approval by the Board
• Oversee OTBC marketing and outreach programs, including social media marketing
• Raise funds for OTBC operations
• Represent OTBC and its client businesses to the community, to investors, and to partner agencies and funding organizations

Apply no later than August 1, 2021. More information here.

Other Great Community Events

TAO Leader Launchpad: Career Mapping
July 15, 2021
4:00-5:30 PM
More information

ULP: International Clinical Trial Negotiation and Management
July 28, 2021
9:00-10:00 AM
Register here

Zapproved Event: Talking to Kids About Racism
August 11, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

Rewire Neuro Wins Angel Oregon Tech 2021!

Big congratulations to OBI client company Rewire Neuro for winning Angel Oregon Tech 2021 and receiving a $125,000 equity investment from AOTech investors. Out of 90 companies who went through the program, nine were selected to pitch at the final AOTech at TechFestNW event on May 21, and Rewire Neuro was the judges’ top pick. Kudos!

OBI Client Company Wins

• Inherent Targeting
  • Presented at the Angel Capital Association Summit Innovation Showcase, sponsored by the Oregon Bioscience Association.
  • CEO Connor Barth was awarded OHSU’s Early Career Innovator Award. The Early Career Innovator Award is presented to an OHSU employee such as a student, post-doctoral fellow, medical resident or someone else early in their professional career who possesses a passion for innovation and developing technologies to solve real-world problems. They work closely with the innovation ecosystems within and outside of OHSU to prepare their innovations for commercial success.
  • Selected to present a company presentation at the BIO Digital 2021 conference.
• Hemex Health
  • Selected as a 2021 TiE50 winner as part of the TiECon program for our Gazelle reader diagnostic device! Press release here.
• Vir Biotechnology
  • Just received EUA for Vir’s Covid antibody. Please read their press release.
• HTI
  • CryoDiscovery (TM): A Machine Learning Platform for Automated Cryo-electron Microscopy 2D Class Selection paper will be presented at the ACA (American Crystallographic Association) conference in Aug 2021.
  • Is now a member of the Nvidia Inception and Intel AI Builder program.
  • Recently signed a Master Service Agreement (MSA) with Agios.

Welcome New OBI Client Companies

Founder Thomas Buchanan, MD and his company, Buchanan Science, joined the OBI in May. Buchanan Science is developing a rapid COVID-19 immunity test using whole blood or saliva. 

In June, we welcomed Oncol Drug Discovery Service, with founder Franklin Yu, PhD. Oncol DD Service is focused on CAR-T immunotherapy research and reagent development, CAR-T cell generation, and T cell activation and proliferation assays for IO drug discovery, among other things.

Mentor of the Month:
Keith Daellenbach

Keith Daellenbach is one of our current OBI mentors. He has a BSME from Oregon State University and a MSME from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Keith’s experience with startups includes working with startups as part of Principles of Entrepreneurship course while in graduate school, working at the startup Ora Innovations, Inc. developing a high speed dental drill as a Product Development Engineer, serving on the BioPro Workforce Training Steering Committee with Oregon Bioscience Association to create a workforce training program, and serving as an Advisor with the OBI/OTRADI.

Keith is enjoying monthly meetings with his mentees to help them reach their goals, and plans to participate once again in next January’s mentoring cohort. Thank you, Keith, for all you do!

Sparrow Pharmaceuticals

OBI graduate Sparrow Pharmaceuticals recently secured $50 million in Series A financing led by OrbiMed with participation from RiverVest Venture Partners and U.S. Venture Partners.

Funds from this investment will be used to further develop Sparrow’s proprietary HSD-1 inhibitor, SPI-62, for treatment of disorders of corticosteroid excess.

Congratulations to Sparrow Pharmaceuticals!

FDA Office of Minority Health and Health Equity

The FDA’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity (OMHHE) was established in 2010 with the mission of protecting and promoting the health of racial and ethnic minority and other diverse populations through research, outreach, and communication of science that addresses health disparities. The office’s dedicated staff in the Research and Collaboration and Outreach and Communication programs work with a wide variety of public and private stakeholders to address the needs and concerns of diverse communities through developing tailored educational, outreach, training, and scientific initiatives that advance health equity. Please read Richardae Araojo, Pharm.D., MS, the Associate Commissioner for Minority Health Director, Office of Minority Health and Health Equity, U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s guest post on The Catalyst. 

Events

Join Us For These Upcoming OBI Events

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Accelerating Global Pharma Licensing & Financing
June 22, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health
Virtual Happy Hour
July 8, 2021
5:00-6:30 PM
Save the date

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Biotech and Biomed Patents by USPTO
July 14, 2021
12:00-1:30 PM
Save the date

More Community & Partner Events

BIO Digital International Convention
June 10-11 & 14-18, 2021
More information here

TAO Member Mix: June
June 16, 2021
4:30-5:30 PM
Register here

Techlandia Summit ’21
June 21 through June 24, 2021
9:00 AM-12:00 PM
Register now

Invent-a-Thon Social Hour – FemTech,
Featuring Holly Rockweiler from Madorra
July 13, 2021
4:00-5:00 PM
Register here

OBI Client Company Wins

• Hemex
  • We are excited to announce our new partnership with Cureleads for distribution of Gazelle in the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa.
  • Our CEO, Patti White, was a keynote speaker in the OHSU Invent-a-thon Post-Hack!
  • We are also releasing our newborn screening capacity for sickle cell anemia in May. 
• Caregiven
  • Our big news is that we launched our app on April 15th! 
  • And we closed our pre-seed with a total of $700K raised.
  • We are also a 2021 Oregon Technology Awards finalist!
• SUTUREGARD Medical
  • We shipped the most HEMIGARD ever in Q1 2021
  • We have teamed with one of the leading foot and ankle surgeons in the world, Dr Mark Myerson. He has now enrolled 8 colleagues across the country and is initiating a clinical trial of HEMIGARD in ankle replacement/fusion surgery. 
  • We just attended the Chicago Lower Extremity Surgery Symposium in April as invited speakers, and we had the HEMIGARD successfully demo’ed on live video by the Symposium Chairman, Dr. Edgardo Rodriguez-Collazo. 
• Gamma Therapeutics
  • David Eastman has retired as CEO of Gamma Therapeutics, and Ajay Nair has signed on as CEO.
  • We are re-branding Gamma Therapeutics to Gamma Diagnostics, since our focus going forward will be on diagnostics.
• Rewire Neuro
  • We won a Cougar Cage grant from WSU (it is their version of Shark Tank).
  • And we have advanced to the finals round of the Angel Oregon Tech TechFestNW competition. 
• Madorra
  • We were selected from a pool of more than 100 applicants to present at Cooley’s Capital Call fundraising event.
  • We were mentioned in the Femtech Insider interview with Portfolia Founder, Trish Costello.
  • We were featured in HitLab’s Women’s Health Wednesdays interview.
• Izon
  • Grazia Abou Ezzi, Ph.D has joined Izon Science at OBI as our Senior R&D Support Scientist. 
• Consano
  • We had our first Consano Speaker Series virtual event featuring one of our crowdfunding researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute on 4/15 utilizing local tech platform Brandlive. It was a great success, raising over $10K for the project which is working to increase health equity for cancer patients by connecting them directly with community resources. Watch recording of the 45 minute event here.
• OBI graduate AbSci announces completion of $125 million crossover financing to advance AI-powered synthetic biology drug creation platform. Read press release. 

Mentor of the Month:
Peter Schuerman

Peter Schuerman is CEO of Open Clearing, LLC and is one of our valuable mentors. With a PhD in Genetics, and experience in ideation, business strategy, and intentional networking, Peter works with start ups in the role of coach, mentor, and advisor. He focuses on customer discovery, team formation and dynamics, business model innovation, and strategy; he enjoys creating environments and partnerships that foster success.

Each month, Peter’s mentee through the OBI Mentoring Program has glowing comments about working with Peter and his help in setting goals and concrete steps, brainstorming, and pivoting when needed.

Thank you Peter, for all you do!

SBIR/STTR Workshop May 25

The Federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are a critical source of non-dilutive financing for early-stage companies. On May 25 from 10-11:30 a.m., NIH National Cancer Institute SBIR program directors Monique Pond and Jonathan Franca-Koh will deliver a virtual seminar covering eligibility, resources, and investor initiatives. Pre-selected companies will also be speaking with the program directors afterward for 1:1 meetings.

This event is a collaboration between the National Cancer Institute, Oregon Bioscience Incubator, OHSU’s Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center, and Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute.

Caregiven is Hosting an App Jam Focus Group
June 10 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Register in advance to enjoy delicious provisions and participate in Caregiven‘s App Jam!

Portland State Business Accelerator
is Hiring a Director

The Director will oversee and execute a suite of support services for resident companies, including workshops, boot camps, mentors, software tools and programs, and shared resource management. The Director will create and execute the operational plans for the PSBA and contribute to strategic direction for Propel PSU within Research and Graduate Studies, and be accountable for achievement of short-term operational objectives at the PSBA. The tasks for the position require interpretation and application of the PSBA’s strategy to set objectives, and ultimately impacts the achievement of results within the PSBA and Propel PSU. The position includes coordination of the PSBA’s wet-lab facilities, managing the PSBA budget, and seeking additional resources for the PBSA through sponsorships and grant applications.

For more information and how to apply, see the full job posting.

Americans are Relying on Vaccines
to get through the Pandemic

Data shows Americans are relying on vaccines to get us through the pandemic. As we continue to combat the pandemic, America’s biopharmaceutical industry is working around the clock in unprecedented partnerships to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, reaching billions of doses by the end of the year. Vaccination rates and willingness to receive a vaccine among Americans are also at a high, where half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

New Pre-Seed Venture Fund:
Startup Haven

Silicon Florist recently blogged about a new venture fund: the Startup Haven Ventures Fund is a new pre-seed venture fund, investing in North-America-based pre-seed companies with capital-efficient business models and early signs of commercialization. The Startup Haven Ventures Fund also invests in all of the companies who participate in the Startup Haven Accelerator. 

Read more about this new fund and how you might get involved here. 

Events

OBI EVENTS

SBIR/STTR Workshop
May 25, 2021
10:00-11:30 AM
Register here

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Employees Returning to the Workplace
June 9, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Save the date

Caregiven App Jam Focus Group
June 10, 2021
5:30-6:30 PM
Register in advance

MORE COMMUNITY & PARTNER EVENTS

VertueLab: The ABCs of SBIR/STTR Funding
May 13, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register now

TAO: Oregon STEM Week
May 14, 2021
9:00-10:00 AM
Register here

Oregon Bio Virtual Career Fair
May 20, 2021
9:00 AM-1:00 PM
More information here

Angel Oregon Tech TechFest NW
May 21, 2021
9:00 AM-4:30 PM
Tickets here

Tech Oregon Careers: Spring Job Fair
May 24, 2021
11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Details here

The OBI Welcomes Thaena, Inc.

In April, Thaena, Inc. joined the OBI as its newest client company. Thaena’s four-person team describes their company’s mission and vision:

“Thaena Inc. is a women-led early stage biotech company. Our mission is to reduce suffering by restoring balance to the microbial ecosystems.

“At Thaena we achieve our mission through research and development of all natural pre and postbiotic products derived containing hundreds of compounds and metabolites that work together to balance and restore native microbial ecosystems. Our main focus is to produce and manufacture effective, safe, and reproducible (cGMP) products that are scientifically proven to support health via the microbial ecosystems of the gut and/or skin.

“Thaena’s vision is to be the leading and trusted manufacturer and supplier of naturally derived pre and postbiotic active ingredient products. We are working towards this goal with a data-driven approach researching the molecules (postbiotics) that are found in healthy human stool. This work is based on the pioneering work of our founders in Fecal Microbiota Transplant as well as an experienced research team. We are pioneers in advancing our understanding of microbiome science by providing a research and development platform that will allow for exploration and discovery of what it means to be ‘healthy’ from the lens of the microbes.”

We are thrilled to have Thaena onboard!

Thank you, Autodesk!

Thank you, Autodesk and Greg Fallon, VP of Platforms and Technology at Autodesk’s Portland site, for becoming an OBI corporate partner and for your support of OBI’s mission to provide resources for health innovation companies that impact human well-being and create jobs for Oregon!

Upward Growth

Two of OBI’s client companies are moving on up! Inherent Targeting is moving from an OBI membership to a spot in our co-working space in Suite 200, and Izon is moving from the co-working space to private office suite and lab space, also in Suite 200. We wish them much success on their continued growth and expansion within the OBI.

OBI Client Company Wins

• Rewire Neuro‘s Pipsqueak AI version 5.5.0 has been released. It features new detection models, smoother model customization, and better co-localization analysis.
• Health Technology Innovations, Inc. (HTI)‘s CryoDiscovery™: A Machine Learning Platform for Automated Cryo-EM Class Selection for Single Particle Analysis in Structural Biology paper has been accepted by the Microscopy and Microanalysis 2021 conference (M&M), to be presented in August 2021. HTI has also been accepted as a Premier Member into the NVIDIA Inception Program for AI and data science start up.
• Caregiven crossed another threshold earlier this month when Rogue Venture Partners finalized their pre-seed investment becoming a true partner to our vision and catalyst for the next stage of our company’s growth. Our app is set to launch on April 15.
• Hemex has two great wins to report:
  • In a recent clinical study conducted in Brazil and published in the Malaria Journal, Gazelle was shown to outperform current RDTs (Rapid Diagnostic Tests) in detection of P. vivax malaria. P. vivax, the most widely dispersed species of malaria, tends to be more difficult to detect with RDTs due to typically low levels of parasitemia. We are excited to share the results of the study with you in our press release.
  • We also won a Phase I grant to add multispectral imaging to our Hb Variant test to lower the limit of detection and allow the test to screen newborns for sickle cell and other hemoglobin variants.

Join the OBI Mentoring Program:
Applications Open Through April 30

Mentor and mentee applications are open until April 30 for this structured, 6-month mentoring program, so now is your opportunity to get involved! 

Would You Like to be a Mentor?
If you have experience working with startups in the bioscience or digital health industry, consider applying to become a mentor. Benefits of mentoring include:

• Free mentor training
• Exclusive access to handpicked startups
• Exclusive network of mentors
• Ability to earn mentor certification
• Give back to your community
• OBI highlights its mentors in the monthly newsletter

Growing Your Business? Become a Mentee!
We are looking for entrepreneurs who are already in business but would like guidance, accountability, and support from a mentor to help set and reach business goals. Benefits and time commitments for mentees include:

• Mentoring helps you grow your business! A recent survey from Kabbage found that 92% of businesses who have a mentor say mentoring has directly impacted their business growth and survival
• Mentee meets with mentor 2 hours a month for 6 months
• Mentee checks in with OBI once per month and completes a survey at the end of the program  

Apply by April 30
For more important dates, details, and link to the applications: www.otradi.org/mentoring

Mentor of the Month
Douglas Kawahara

Douglas Kawahara is the President & CEO of Elex Biotech and has over 25 years of biotechnology industry experience in business development, M&A, in-/out-licensing, technology assessment, strategic marketing/market analysis, patent portfolio management, and R&D management. His work has spanned the spectrum of the life sciences industry: multiple therapeutic areas, discovery to late-stage development, a range of therapeutic classes, therapeutic and preventive vaccines, platform technologies, diagnostics, and research products. In addition, he has an extensive international network in pharma, biotech, and venture capital communities.

Dr. Kawahara holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California, San Diego, an MBA in finance from California State University, Long Beach, and a Ph.D. in microbiology (immunology) from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

His mentee is very pleased with the mentoring and notes that Dr. Kawahara’s experience in negotiating licensing agreements has been extremely helpful.

OHSU Invent-a-thon Post-Hack

Wednesday, April 21 from 3:00-6:00 PM Pacific

Come cheer on the most promising teams from October’s Invent-a-thon, addressing topics ranging from Alzheimer’s to asthma, aging-in-place to efficient trial recruiting. They’ll pitch live to compete for a share of $40k in prizes plus in-kind investor support. Get inspired by brief keynotes from OBI client company Hemex Health, as well as Kiddo and Xploro. Then enjoy some genuinely fun virtual networking and poster session with healthcare entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers while the judges deliberate.

This is an exciting opportunity to connect and catch a glimpse of the future of digital health and med-tech first-hand. Free, learn more and register at inventathon.org

SBIR/STTR Workshop May 25

The Federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are a critical source of non-dilutive financing for early-stage companies. On May 25, NIH National Cancer Institute SBIR program directors Monique Pond and Jonathan Franca-Koh will cover eligibility, resources, investor initiatives and meet 1:1 with pre-selected companies.

• 10-11:30 a.m. virtual seminar
• 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. 1:1 meetings
• Register by May 7 to be considered for a 1:1 meeting

This event is a collaboration between the National Cancer Institute, Oregon Bioscience Incubator, OHSU’s Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center, and Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute.

Biopharma Collaboration is Crucial

As we mark a full year since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, it’s impossible to overstate the significance of collaborations. The coronavirus outbreak has brought new attention to the importance of these innovative cross-stakeholder partnerships. A new report from PhRMA looks broadly at the collaborative ecosystem and illustrates biopharmaceutical industry’s long history and vast experience with a diverse breadth of collaborative efforts.

OHSU Research Week 2021

On May 6, learn more about research and innovation at OHSU, hosted by Technology Transfer and Collaborations & Entrepreneurship.

Agenda:

10-11am: Innovation and Commercialization Keynote

11:30am-12:30pm: A Researcher’s Guide to Partnering with Industry

1:00-2:00pm: OHSU Innovation Showcase

2:30-3:30pm: OHSU Startup Company Showcase

More details and registration here!

Events

OBI EVENTS

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Funding Your Early Stage Bioscience Business
April 22, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health
Virtual Happy Hour
May 6, 2021
5:00-6:30 PM
Register in advance

Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Counterfeit Medicines & Drug Importation’s
Impact on Bioscience Innovation
May 11, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
More information

MORE COMMUNITY & PARTNER EVENTS

TAO Event: Founders Talk Fundraising
April 15, 2021
11:00 AM-12:00 PM
Registration link

Zapproved Event: Colonialism in the Workplace
April 15, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

PSBA Lunch & Learn:
Difficult Conversations and Working Through Tensions
April 27, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register now

TAO Event: Resilience Shapes Reputation
April 28, 2021
11:00 AM-12:00 PM
Registration link

VertueLab and Women in Science PDX Event:
Badass Women Entrepreneurs
April 29, 2021
12:00-1:30 PM
Register now

Congratulations to Aronora on their Graduation from OBI!

Aronora is graduating from the OBI March 31, 2021, after joining the incubator in March 2013. Oregon‐based Aronora is a privately held, early clinical stage translational biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, and commercial development of proprietary biological therapeutics.

Upon graduation, Aronora will relocate their lab and office from OTRADI’s incubator in the Willamette Wharf building, to a brand-new high rise downtown where they will have double the office space, a private wet lab, and conference room. In February, 2021, the Portland Business Journal listed Aronora 31st on their list of the top 37 largest bioscience and health technology companies in Oregon and SW Washington.

OBI Client Company Wins

• Health Technology Innovations, Inc. (HTI) announced:
  • Dr. Craig Yoshioka is joining HTI as Senior Advisor for Cryo-EM. Read their press release for background information on Dr. Yoshioka and HTI’s innovative Cryo-EM technology.
  • HTI’s CryoDiscovery™: A Machine Learning Platform for Automated cryo-EM Class Selection poster was selected by One World Cryo-EM conference on March 10-11.
• Promedix had abstracts from their clinical trials selected from a national pool of applications for presentation at both the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine and Pediatric Academic Society national meetings this spring.
• Inherent Targeting has some big wins to report:
  • They were awarded a fast-track SBIR grant from the NCI at the NIH worth a total of $2.25M to complete lead selection and preclinical testing for investigational new drug approval of their nerve-specific fluorescence guided surgery contrast agents.
  • They were awarded a SBIR matching grant from Business Oregon worth $82k to cover IP and business development expenses.
• Caregiven is participating in Australian CareFactor Pitch Day 2021 on March 22, part of the Information Technology Across Care virtual summit.
• Hemex reports: “On Saturday, Feb 27, Ruaraka Neema hospital in Nairobi held a public screening event for families to bring their kids in for sickle cell screening using Gazelle. The team was able to run most of the samples they collected on one day, the rest on the following Monday morning. Running almost 50 samples in one day is what Gazelle was designed to do, and we’re so proud to see this helping the kids who need it most now.”
• The Portland Business Journal listed the largest bioscience and health tech companies in Oregon and SW Washington. Five OBI client companies made the list:
  • AbSci (graduated OBI company) at #8
  • Hemex Health at #19
  • Aronora at #31
  • Sonivate Medical at #33
  • Virogenomics BioDevelopment at #35

Mentor of the Month:
Shannon Heizenrader

Shannon Heizenrader joined the OBI Mentoring Program as a Mentor in January, 2021. Shannon has a BA in Communications from Pacific Lutheran University and an MBA from Concordia University in Portland. She brings her experience in project management, as well as marketing and communications, to the mentoring relationship. Her consistency, reliability, patience, and love of learning has been a positive experience for her Mentee, who says her depth of knowledge is amazing and really helpful.

Thank you, Shannon, for being a part of the OBI Mentoring Program!

OTBC Virtual Incubation Program

Date change! OTBC‘s Virtual Incubation Program (VIP) for rural-Oregon entrepreneurs starts its next 8 week series on April 1, 2021. VIP is for early-stage entrepreneurs who need information and advice on how to test, develop and fund their idea so they can take it from concept to the launch of a successful company. The VIP is entrepreneur education and group mentoring in an 8-week program that walks you through the process of testing your idea, starting and funding a company.  Learn more about VIP and register here. 

OHSU Invent-a-thon Post-Hack

Come see the future of digital health and med-tech first hand on Wednesday, April 21 from 3-6 PM. Watch the top teams from the last fall’s OHSU Invent-a-thon make their pitch for $40,000 in funding and in-kind investor support. Network with other healthcare innovation enthusiasts in the field while the judges deliberate, and celebrate the winners. Attendance is free and open to all. Register now! 

Announcing Angel Oregon Tech at TechFestNW

Angel Oregon Tech offers an integrated program of education on growing and financing your tech startup, peer-to-peer and investor networking, as well as the opportunity to pitch for a direct angel investment of ~$125K.

Virtual workshops will run on Thursday mornings from 9-11 AM from March 11 through April 1, 2021. Each session will feature active local investors, entrepreneurs and experts, and offer plenty of time for Q&A and community-building. 

Investment-ready startups can also pitch for investment from a pool of PNW angel investors. Ten finalists will be selected to pitch at the AOTech Finale at TechFestNW on May 21, 2021.

Learn more at www.oen.org. 

ScienceTalk ’21 Conference

The challenges of 2020 have shown more than ever how important science communication is to the functioning of society. But, beyond that, it has highlighted our resilience as communicators, and the passion that we share to educate, inform, and entertain. March 24-26, 2021, connect with your community of professional science communicators at SCIENCE TALK ’21 over three days of workshops, panel discussions, presentations, and networking opportunities. Learn, explore, and share with other Science Talkers!

Stanford Drug Discovery Symposium 2021

Stanford Drug Discovery Symposium, founded by Dr. Sanjay Malhotra from OHSU Center for Experimental Therapeutics, has become one of the highest attended events at Stanford. Every year the SDDS has the participation of leaders in the field of biomedical sciences. The speakers in this year’s symposium will include two Nobel Laureates, scientific leaders from NIH, FDA, big pharmaceutical industries and Venture Capitalist groups.

Register here for the April 19-20, 2021 symposium, free of charge.

Biopharmaceutical Industry Leads the Way in Developing Vaccines and Treatments for COVID-19

One year after identifying the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, biopharmaceutical researchers have made tremendous progress toward developing safe and effective vaccines. Check out the latest on manufacturing, clinical trials and more.

Strong and reliable IP protections – including patents – have supported America’s robust innovation ecosystem by promoting discovery, development, affordability and access to new treatments and cures. As our industry continues to expand vaccine production and deliver medicines to patients in need, reliable IP protections have been critical in supporting multiple research and development and manufacturing ramp-ups on COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. Read why intellectual property protections are vital to research.

Events

OBI EVENTS

Virtual Lunch & Learn: Licensing and Technology Transfer
March 18, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Registration Link

Virtual Lunch & Learn: From the Lab to the State House
Building Trust in Bioscience
March 30, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register Here

Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health PDX
Virtual Happy Hour
April 1, 2021
5:00-6:30 PM
Registration Page

MORE COMMUNITY & PARTNER EVENTS

TiE Oregon: Entrepreneurship and the Economy
March 16, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register Here

TAO Coffee & Connection: Share Your Skills With Students
March 18, 2021
11:00 AM-12:00 PM
Registration Page

PSBA Lunch & Learn: Early Stage Marketing
March 24, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Registration Link

OBI Client Company Wins

• Hemex Health‘s Gazelle device was recently highlighted in a 360Dx article
• Health Technology Innovations (HTI) announced that Dr. Jeff King has joined their team as Senior Advisor
• Madorra participated in the Femtech track of the McKinsey Early Stage Investor Conference and was featured in Avestria’s Under the Microscope blog
• Caregiven’s first public release will be in app stores April 15th. (Now you have something to look forward to beyond taxes!)
• Velanidi Technologies recently closed a pre-seed round of funding

Congratulations on your hard work!

AbSci Collaborates with Xyphos Biosciences

OBI graduate company AbSci has announced an exciting partnership with Xyphos, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Astellas. This collaboration will utilize AbSci’s trademarked Protein Printing technology in the development of Xyphos Biosciences’ cell line, essential for Xyphos’ immuno-oncology program. AbSci specializes in next generation biologics built on complex protein scaffolds. For more information, see full press release here.

BIP Corp Program Begins March 5

Moving your idea or technology beyond the lab or clinic can be challenging. BIP Corp is a five-week experiential course designed to help you and your team assess and validate your biomedical technology. You’ll gain the basic knowledge and tools to initiate innovation and commercialization of your technology, and a competitive business case to secure funding, partnerships and further research opportunities.

Oregon Clinical & Translational Research Institute‘s BIP Corp runs March 5 – April 9, is entirely virtual, and offered at no-cost. Click here for more information and registration.

Mentor of the Month:
Pete Murray

Pete Murray began mentoring in the OBI Mentoring Program last month. He and his mentee have already begun making progress in the mentee’s company goals. Pete has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of California Santa Barbara, and MS in Engineering from Boston University, and an MBA also from Boston University. Pete founded Skender Manufacturing in 2018 as President and COO. He is part of Murray Consultants, advising several early stage/start up companies in the Portland area and Western US. Pete’s focus is in commercialization and scaling of products/services/organizational development.

Thank you, Pete, for all you do for our community!

New Data Show Retail Medicine Prices Fell in 2019

In 2019, retail prescription medicine prices declined by 0.4%, on average, according to National Health Expenditures (NHE) data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published recently in Health Affairs. While retail prescription medicine spending grew 5.7% that same year, this increase was due to more patients getting the medicines they need, not higher prices. More information here.

Oregon Bio Professional Development

Did you know that Oregon Bioscience Association has several BioPro professional development courses? The Project Management: Foundations and Best Practices online course introduces students to the foundations of successful project management, especially in a technology environment. Students will learn key project management concepts, then immediately apply them in a hands-on team simulation. This course approaches project management from the standpoint of managing a single, stand-alone project that is small to medium in size. It takes students through the project life cycle in the same sequence they would face when managing a real project in the workplace.

Upcoming training dates are February 15, 16, 22, and 23 – four half-days – from 8:00 AM-12:30 PM each day. For more details and registration, as well as information about their other BioPro offerings, see their course page.  

OTBC Virtual Incubation Program

OTBC‘s Virtual Incubation Program (VIP) for rural-Oregon entrepreneurs starts its next 8 week series in February. VIP is for early-stage entrepreneurs who need information and advice on how to test, develop and fund their idea so they can take it from concept to the launch of a successful company. The VIP is entrepreneur education and group mentoring in an 8-week program that walks you through the process of testing your idea, starting and funding a company.  Learn more about VIP and register here. 

Ensuring Vaccine Safety and Distribution

Less than a year after identifying the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, biopharmaceutical researchers have made tremendous progress toward developing safe and effective vaccines. As we enter the next phase of our fight against COVID-19, ensuring sufficient manufacturing capacity, maintaining our commitment to safety, and supporting the effective, equitable distribution of treatments and vaccines is paramount to continued success. Link to full article.

Zoom in on STEM Education
Happy Hour

Support Saturday Academy and have some fun at their annual fundraiser on March 11, 2021, where you’ll Zoom in on STEM education. Use a “foldoscope” with samples, and try desserts and a signature Discovery cocktail during this exciting event.

Tickets are on sale now until March 1. See all the details for Saturday Academy Happy Hour.  

Lonza’s Virtual Roadshow

Lonza Pharma & Biotech helps support early development services to prepare a successful transition to the clinic. They have upcoming virtual roadshow dates where you can schedule a tailored discussion with their experts, to help provide benefit to your company’s early stage biologic therapies. See their flyer with additional information and to schedule a time to discuss your project in more detail. Dedicated dates and times are February 8–12 and March 15–19, 2021, from 8:00 AM–1:00 PM PST.

WSU MAP Opportunity

Have you heard about the Business Growth Mentor & Analysis Program (MAP) at WSU Vancouver? Seniors who are majoring in business administration can provide no-cost student consulting for your small business or nonprofit organization. Whether you are looking for suggestions on how to address core challenges or are looking to grow and take your business to the next level, consider letting a MAP team help your organization.

Participating MAP clients receive approximately 500 hours of pro bono student consulting conducted under mentor and faculty supervision. Each MAP team works through proven process that helps them develop detailed recommendations and an implementation plan to help their client address a variety of challenges and goals. Each MAP project can be completed remotely and the time commitment for business owners is around 15 total hours over the course of a 16-week semester. 

To learn more about the program from 3 former MAP clients, please watch: https://youtu.be/Dzqf_zd_kZA.

Have questions? Interested in becoming a MAP client this Fall? Contact Nolan Yaws-Gonzalez at nolan.yaws@wsu.edu.

ScienceTalk ’21 Conference
March 24-26, 2021

The challenges of 2020 have shown more than ever how important science communication is to the functioning of society. But, beyond that, it has highlighted our resilience as communicators, and the passion that we share to educate, inform, and entertain. Connect with your community of professional science communicators at SCIENCE TALK ’21 over three days of workshops, panel discussions, presentations, and networking opportunities. Learn, explore, and share with other Science Talkers!

Stanford Drug Discovery Symposium 2021

Dr. Sanjay Malhotra recently joined OHSU and started the Center for Experimental Therapeutics in the summer of 2020. Prior to that, he was at Stanford University and started the Stanford Drug Discovery Symposium, which has become one of the highest attended events at Stanford. Every year the SDDS has the participation of leaders in the field of biomedical sciences. The speakers in this year’s symposium will include two Nobel Laureates, scientific leaders from NIH, FDA, big pharmaceutical industries and Venture Capitalist groups.

Usually this event has a registration fee, but considering its educational importance and networking benefit, the organizers decided to make registration for SDDS 2021 free of charge. Their hope is that people interested in life sciences (business, academia, research, policy, philanthropy, etc.) from across the world will be able to participate and benefit from this event. As such, Dr. Malhotra invites all members and affiliates of the Oregon Bioscience Incubator and OTRADI to attend this event and have an opportunity to network with the wider community. Register here for the April 19-20 symposium.

PCC Bioscience Program Internships

Students in the Bioscience Technology program at Portland Community College are working towards completion of the bioscience technician certificate or degree and are seeking internship opportunities through the college’s cooperative education program. This is a credit‐for‐work experience program in which PCC students earn credit while gaining work experience and/or training, and laboratories and employers gain motivated, skilled workers for part‐time or short term positions. Many find that hiring an intern through the cooperative education program is an excellent way to get acquainted with potential employees.

For more information, visit pcc.edu/bio or contact Bioscience Technology faculty chair Josh Cary at josh.cary@pcc.edu.

Thank you to PhRMA for sponsoring OBI’s new biosafety cabinet!

Events

OBI EVENTS

Accelerate Biotech + Digital Health Virtual Happy Hour
March 4, 2021
5:00-6:30 PM
Register Here

Virtual Lunch & Learn: Licensing Deals
March 18, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Registration Open Soon

COMMUNITY & PARTNER EVENTS

University Lab Partners Presents:
How to Write a Great NSF Project Pitch
February 16, 2021
1:00-2:00 PM
Register Here

Cambia and PDXWIT:
Black Futures & Black History Month Happy Hour
February 17, 2021
5:00-6:15 PM
More Info

TAO Leader Launchpad: 
Revamp, Reignite, ReLaunch 2021
February 18, 2021
4:00-5:30 PM
Details Here

TAO: Support Equitable Funding with Black Founders Matter
February 19, 2021
9:00-10:00 AM
Register Here

PSBA Lunch & Learn: Steward Ownership
February 23, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Registration Page

PDXWIT Presents: Public Speaking
Tips for Empowering Yourself and Others
March 2, 2021
5:00-6:15 PM
Register here

Thank you for your support of
OBI & OTRADI over the past year!

OBI/OTRADI Receives High Impact Opportunity Program Award

The Oregon Innovation Council and Business Oregon have approved OBI/OTRADI for a High Impact Opportunity Project Award to support bioscience companies’ ability to stay and grow in Oregon by adding 6 wet labs and offices to our incubator facilities. Space availability inquiries can be made here.

2020 OBI Client Company Wins

• Aronora’s new antithrombotic, AB002 is featured in this Blood Podcast from the American Society of Hematology.
• Aronora announces clinical data presented at the 62nd American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting. For more information, see the December 2, 2020 Newswire press release.
• Aronora wraps up their cardiovascular drug Phase 2 clinical trial and prepares for Phase 3 – and graduation from OBI into their new space! Portland Business Journal story.

• Bates Medical Systems participated in the Oregon Venture Fund Slow Pitch in April.
• Bates Medical Systems participated in the Oregon Bioscience Association Digital Conference in November.

• Caregiven‘s Candice Smith shared her story to over 400 live participants at the Global Insurance Accelerator’s Startup Showcase, which also resulted in several introductions to individuals and funds. You can watch the 6-minute pitch here.
• Rebecca Campbell joined as Caregiven’s Co-Founder & CTO in March.
• Caregiven was featured in the AIMed March 5, 2020 special report entitled “Women in AI – DeathTech.” 
• Caregiven was profiled by HITLab and their Women’s Health Tech Initiative.
• Caregiven‘s mobile app was “born!” The alpha version of the Caregiven mobile app is now live on over a dozen devices. The alpha testers are using the app to help care for their loved ones, while also giving valuable feedback and ideas for new features.
• Caregiven filmed two promotional videos, including a 90-second company overview and a 60-second version tailored for insurance carriers, financial services, and health & benefits plan provider audiences for the InsurTech Connect (ITC) Conference September 21-23, 2020.
• Caregiven was awarded a scholarship to participate in AchieveUnite’s Channel Acceleration Bootcamp. They were a semi-finalist for the Bend Venture Conference Impact competition. Caregiven was reviewed by New York Angels in October; they were a finalist for Springboard’s Digital Health Innovation Hub and presented to a subset of their members; and they were selected to present to CareFactor located in Australia, a program focused on changing aged care in Australia. 
• Caregiven has been selected to participate in CareFactor for the program that commenced in November and concludes in March, 2021. CareFactor was developed by its partners to rapidly scale innovations that improve the aged-care sector nationally (Australia) and globally.
• Candice Smith of Caregiven was featured in the newest edition of Techlandia, as The Faces of  Healthcare Innovation. You can read her story on page 44.
• Candice Smith, Caregiven Founder & CEO, spoke at the DIGIN Conference 2020 on the topic of “Evolving the Home Health and Insurance Paradigm in a Post-Pandemic World.” She also spoke on a panel at the Society of Actuaries Eldertech Summit on the topic of Care for the Caregiver and was also one of five companies who pitched at the Changing Tides Wave Tour.
• Caregiven has raised $125,000 in funding so far. They have a signed term-sheet for the remainder of their pre-seed capital raise with the strategic partner they’d been searching for (and couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with).
• Over 70 users are on the Caregiven platform participating in their private beta offering invaluable suggestions and refinements; they will begin pushing out opportunities for public beta participation after the holidays.

• Consano held an event called Consano PDX at the Portland Art Museum, to honor and raise funds for their 2020 Ripples of Hope Winner, Dr. Alexandra Butler.

• Floragenex graduated from the OBI in 2020, after joining the incubator in July, 2013. Oregon‐based Floragenex is a privately-owned biotechnology company providing innovative solutions for genomic analysis in the life sciences.
• The Portland Business Journal listed Floragenex in its list of the top 41 largest bioscience and health technology companies in Oregon and SW Washington.

• Dr. David Farrell from Gamma Therapeutics gave a TEDxMcMinnville talk in January, titled “Can We More Accurately Predict Heart Attacks and Strokes? The Clot Thickens….” Read full OHSU article here.  

• HTI received the NSF Phase1 STTR award for CryoDiscovery ™ : An integrated cryo-EM intelligence solution. Final report approved and Outcome report posted on NSF website.
• HTI received the Oregon Business Enhanced Innovation and SBIR Phase1 Matching grant awards.
• HTI presented poster sessions on CryoDiscovery at the ACA 2020 (American Crystallographic Association) and M&M 2020 (Microscopy & Microanalysis) events.
• HTI announced that Dr. Justin M. Kollman, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington, is joining HTI to Chair its Science and Technology Advisory Board. More information on the announcement can be found here.
• HTI is listed on @Science Exchange to provide Cryo EM services and automating data processing to help Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies accelerate their structure-based drug discovery workflows to reduce time to market.
• HTI signed the Master Services Agreement (MSA) with a leading drug development vendor for Cryo EM workflow processing.

• In spite of the challenges presented by COVID-19, Hemex Health had a very productive year.
• Hemex Health‘s Gazelle platform was formally launched in June, and they are selling the Hb Variant test (for sickle cell and other hemoglobin variants) in India, Ghana, Kenya, and Haiti. They are receiving good press on the product. The Devex Media Platform listed Hemex/Gazelle as one of the top non-COVID global health stories for 2020. Link to full article here.  A study comparing Gazelle Malaria to other malaria testing protocols was published in the Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine. Gazelle was found to be a valuable diagnostic tool, and a fast and cost-effective way to test for malaria in field settings. Read the full text article here.
• Hemex Health participated in three virtual global health conferences. Hemex was one of 53 companies chosen to participate at the TechEmerge Conference in East Africa. They presented 5 posters at the American Society for Tropical Medicine, and their research partners at Case Western Reserve University delivered a presentation to the American Society of Hematology on new Gazelle technology for diagnosing anemia.
• Hemex Health won several grants/prizes, including a Phase I SBIR for anemia research, a Phase II SBIR to further develop their malaria diagnostic, and a Business Oregon grant for COVID testing. Hemex and partners won third prize in the NIH Technology Accelerator Challenge for non-invasive finger cuff technology to detect malaria, anemia, and sickle cell disease.

• Inherent Targeting won the Judges’ and People’s Choice awards at the early-stage startup pitch contest at Oregon Bio Digital Conference.
• Inherent Targeting presented at the McKinsey & Co. Early Stage Investor Conference on Monday, December 7th.
• Inherent Targeting received a Business Oregon Matching SBIR Grant award in December for IP protection and further testing and commercialization of nerve-specific fluorescent compound to avoid nerve damage in surgeries.

• Madorra‘s first patent was issued. This is the original patent they submitted while in the Stanford Biodesign Fellowship program. It has broad coverage of the use of ultrasound for treating vaginal dryness.
• Madorra also presented during Avestria’s women’s health breakfast at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference in January.
• Madorra was featured in the Fogarty Institute’s February Newsletter. 
• The Portland Tribune wrote an article about how Madorra is leading a revolution in women’s healthcare.
• Madorra was featured in the May issue of Oprah Magazine, as a rising star in women’s health technology, improving the quality of women’s lives after breast cancer or menopause with their non-hormonal medical device to reduce vaginal dryness.
• The NIH sponsored Madorra’s pitch at the ACA innovation showcase where they won the Best Pitch and Most Venture Taps awards.
• Madorra was featured in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) SBIR Peer Learning and Networking Webinar: How to Prepare and Perfect Your Pitch, where they gave tips to fellow NCI awardees.
• Madorra was mentioned in Forbes article about one of their favorite menopause telehealth companies, Gennev.
• Madorra presented an oral abstract presentation at the North American Menopause Society Annual Meeting. The topic of their research is “A novel, non-hormonal, non-invasive ultrasound device is effective in treating the symptoms of vaginal dryness associated with genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM).” Madorra’s abstract was also published in the December 2020 issue of Menopause.
• Madorra was a keynote presenter at Springboard Enterprise’s Women’s Health Innovation Coalition Menopause Round Table. 

• Nelson Bio Lab is providing a wide selection of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant antigens and serological antibodies to support the IVD test manufacturers in COVID-19 related assay development. 

• OmnEcoil Instruments recently received an NSF SBIR Phase 1 grant that will enable the company to begin a Proof-of-Concept Clinical Trial at OHSU for OmnEcoil’s MRI imaging/biopsy device. 

• ProMedix, Inc. was awarded a 2021 Pediatric Medical Device Funding Grant from the Consortium for Technology and Innovation in Pediatrics, an FDA pediatric device consortium. This funding will further develop regulatory strategy and a recently launched clinical trial at OHSU in the intensive care unit.
• ProMedix, Inc. was selected from a large group of startup company applicants to join the Creative Destruction Lab Accelerator. This will significantly help business development and achieving high level milestones to further commercialization and fundraising efforts. ProMedix was also one of five projects selected as winners for CTIP’s Catalyzing Pediatric Grant (CPI) competition.
• ProMedix, Inc. has an ongoing clinical trial in the ICU and launching a trial in the ED to study their technology’s ability to both improve detection and monitoring of sepsis.
• PProMedix, Inc. had an abstract accepted and presented at the American Heart Association National Conference on their technology and patient data.
• ProMedix, Inc. had a manuscript accepted in a peer-reviewed journal. 

• Refeyn closed Series A financing, which will support the introduction of Refeyn’s next-generation instruments, building on the rapid market adoption of the OneMP Mass Photometer by both academic and industrial institutions.

• Rewire Neuro was recently featured in a Portland Business Journal article about how artificial intelligence is changing the way humans and machines work.
• Rewire Neuro was a semi-finalist in the 2020 Bend Venture Conference Growth competition. 
• Rewire Neuro received a Business Oregon SBIR Phase I Matching Grant.
• Rewire Neuro filed a patent for their ML web services and transitioned to a C-Corp.
• Rewire Neuro joined the OBI Mentoring Program.

• RxHomeTest launched a COVID-19 PCR test kit that can be ordered by clinicians for their patients with symptoms. 

• Senju Pharmaceutical published two papers in 2020:

1. Activation of Cytosolic Calpain, Not Caspase, Is Underlying Mechanism for Hypoxic RGC Damage in Human Retinal Explants.
   Kobayashi-Otsugu M, Orihara K, Nakajima E, Shearer TR, Azuma M.
   Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2020 Nov 2;61(13):13. doi: 10.1167/iovs.61.13.13.
   PMID: 33156340
2. Segmenting OCT for detecting drug efficacy in CRAO.
   Shearer TR, Hwang TS, Steinkamp PN, Azuma M.
   PLoS One. 2020 Dec 11;15(12):e0242920. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242920. eCollection 2020.
   PMID: 33306701

• Sirona Dx can accelerate your COVID-19 studies. Their expert team offers the industry’s most comprehensive immune profiling of blood samples using state-of-the-art CyTOF technology. 

• Sonivate Medical, Inc. is part of a group of institutions (including Duke University Medical School) which submitted a White Paper on 3/21 regarding detection of COVID-19 using artificial intelligence (AI) and Sonivate’s SonicEye Dual-Array Ultrasound System.

• StoneStable, Inc. received a $100K grant from the Portland State University Venture Capital Fund, and its first institutional dilutive funding from Elevate Capital. 

• SUTUREGARD published a journal article in JAAD Case Reports about their HEMIGARD device for wound closure. They also recently received orders for devices from Kenya, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, and Zimbabwe after participating in Arab Health in Dubai.
• SUTUREGARD and their product HEMIGARD was featured in a video on Dermatologist Dr. Dustin Portel’s Tik Tok page. The video received over 10,000 views in the first hour it was posted.
• SUTUREGARD recently completed 2nd round fundraising.
• SUTUREGARD signed a distribution agreement with Federated Healthcare Supply.
• SUTUREGARD sales have returned to pre-COVID19 levels.
• SUTUREGARD‘s multispecialty use has expanded to include podiatry and emergency medicine.
• SUTUREGARD has its highest revenue month achieved in October 2020, extending their runway.
• SUTUREGARD completed Clinical Evaluation Reports for CE mark submission, applications for SUTUREGARD ISR and HEMIGARD devices will be filed this month to Notified Body in Germany for CE mark approval.
• SUTUREGARD has official approval as vendor for in hospital sales at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida – national leader in melanoma treatment and research.
• SUTUREGARD has expanded clinical use by podiatry, dermatology, surgical oncology, cardiovascular surgery.
• SUTUREGARD had its first sales in Australia.

• Veana Therapeutics presented a poster at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, May 29-31. The poster abstract titled “A phase I dose escalation trial of alpha-tocopheryloxyacetic acid and concurrent trastuzumab in patients with treatment refractory HER2+ metastatic breast cancer” was presented by William Gwin, MD from the University of Washington, who is overseeing the clinical trial as its lead physician.
• Veana Therapeutics is pleased to share a joint Veana Therapeutics-University of Washington press release of a Phase 1 trial in HER2+ breast cancer patients at the University of Washington. The trial is now open and is enrolling patients.
• Veana Therapeutics and University of Washington Medicine are conducting a phase 1 clinical trial of a new oral therapy for advanced HER2 positive breast cancer patients. See press release for all the details.
• Dr. Emmanuel Akporiaye of Veana Therapeutics was featured in the newest edition of Techlandia, as The Faces of  Healthcare Innovation. You can read his story on page 45.
• Veana Therapeutics, Inc. Founder and CEO, Emmanuel Akporiaye, Ph.D won the Judges’ Award at the Oregon Bio Digital 2020 Conference held from November 17 -19. 

• Vir Biotechnology announced that “. . . laboratory testing showed two of its antibody drugs appeared to neutralize the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 and that it would pursue testing them in people.” Read full STAT article here.
• Vir Biotechnology announced a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline for research and development of coronavirus solutions. GSK’s investment and genomics expertise, combined with Vir Bio’s proprietary technology, will work to develop therapies and prevention for coronaviruses. Read their full press release. 
• Vir Biotechnology announced the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial of VIR-3434, an investigational monoclonal antibody that neutralizes hepatitis B virus (HBV) and has been engineered to potentially also act as a therapeutic vaccine. They have also finalized a process development and manufacturing agreement with Biogen Inc. Under the agreement Biogen will perform process development activities and specified manufacturing and process transfer services to enable commercial supply of Vir’s SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies for potential COVID-19 treatment.
• Vir Biotechnology is one of the ARCH Venture Partners companies fighting COVID-19. See ARCH’s news about two new venture funds with $1.46 billion in funding, to assist in these efforts. Vir is focused on combining immunologic insights with cutting-edge technologies to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases.
• Vir Biotechnology announced the presentation of preclinical and Phase 1 data demonstrating the broad neutralizing ability, high-level effector function, extended half-life and tolerability of VIR-2482 in the prevention of influenza A. Read full press release here.
• Vir Biotechnology announced the clinical trial for the first product using the HCMV vector platform originally conceived and developed at OHSU in Portland, Oregon. This vaccine is an investigational HIV T-cell vaccine with the potential to fight against HIV and other serious diseases. See press release for all the exciting details.
• Vir Biotechnology’s CEO George Scangos, Ph.D will virtually present at the J.P. Morgan Health Conference on January 12, 2021. The presentation will be live-streamed and archived on Vir’s website.

• Virogenomics Bio Development (VBD) had a big win in April. In collaboration with Arthur Vandenbark at OHSU and the VA, VBD was awarded a three year, $3M Phase IIB SBIR. This project will advance a recombinant protein, DRhQ, that has the potential to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) and other conditions with neuro inflammatory components. The aims of this project are to transfer production of DRhQ to a GMP manufacturer, determine its potential toxicity in two species and develop assays for evaluating its safety and efficacy after administration. These aims will provide preclinical data for an IND submission, a critical step in creating an FDA approved drug.
• Virogenomics Bio Development (VBD) is developing an oral rinse – the HyperHex rinse – that is composed of a hypertonic solution with a safe and effective microbicide. The HyperHex rinse would be an easier, safer and more effective way to collect samples to screen millions of people to monitor transmission and to evaluate immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. 
• Virogenomics Bio Development (VBD) presented at the Oregon Bioscience Association Digital Conference in November.
• Virogenomics Bio Development (VBD) was awarded a Business Oregon SBIR matching grant to support the development of an in vitro diagnostic for the detection and monitoring of aortic aneurysms.  

Congratulations to our amazing OBI Client Companies!

OBI Welcomed Three New Startups in 2020

Click here to learn more about our new companies

3D Virtual Tours of OBI Spaces

We have exciting news! We now have interactive, virtual 3D tours of Suites 130 and 200, our largest spaces. Check them out on our Facilities page. And if you have any lab or office space needs, fill out the Facilities Request form for more information.

New OBI Mentoring Cohort Begins

We are pleased to announce that January 4, 2021 was the start date for OBI’s newest Mentoring Program cohort. Twelve mentees and thirteen mentors will work together in pairs and threes for 6 months. 

MENTORS: Joseph Volpi, Sandra Shotwell, Keith Daellenbach, Nathan Lillegard, Andrew Owen, Pete Murray, Christa Nicholas, Shannon Heizenrader, Peter Schuerman, Kabir Bhatia, Will Marshall, Douglas Kawahara, and Curt Jennewine.

MENTEES: Jeremy Hammer, Carin Berg, Gabriella Kiss, John Harkness, Claude Goodman, Paul ReFalo, Heber Michaels, Smriti Zaneveld, Megan Meinel, Carl Ruby, Daniel Freed, and Ray Browning.

Best of luck to the Winter-Spring OBI Mentoring Program cohort. Find out more about our Mentoring Program.

Portland Area Bioscience is Growing

Twist Bioscience Corp. is planning to lease a 111,000 square foot site to be a “factory of the future” in Wilsonville and employ up to 400 people, starting in 2022. Twist Bioscience makes synthetic DNA on silicon chips, used in healthcare and other industries.

The Portland Business Journal has a story about this exciting development for the Portland area, reflecting its prominence as an up-and-coming bioscience nerve center in the country.

Business Oregon and Oregon Innovation Council’s Innovation Awards

In addition to the High Impact Opportunity Project (HIOP) Award to OBI/OTRADI listed above, Business Oregon and Oregon InC granted several other HIOP awards to Oregon organizations, including Portland State Business Accelerator.

They also awarded 17 companies a Matching SBIR Grant Award, including three OBI Client Companies: Health Technology Innovations (HTI), Inherent Targeting, and Virogenomics Bio Development.

Congratulations to all awardees!

MedTech Innovator Applications Due January 25

MedTech Innovator is looking for outstanding early- to mid-stage medical device, diagnostic, and digital health companies who are transforming healthcare to apply for their 2021 program.

MedTech Innovator is a highly selective and unique opportunity for start-ups and emerging growth companies to gain access to stakeholders across the healthcare industry including investors and industry leaders such as Johnson & Johnson, Baxter, Olympus, W.L. Gore, Fujikura, Nipro, Edwards Lifesciences, Maxim, and Asahi Intecc. Additionally, in 2021, they will give out $500,000 in non-dilutive cash prizes. More information about the strategic interests of their stakeholders can be found here.

MedTech Innovator does not charge or take equity for participation, and there is no application fee. Deadline to apply is January 25. Link to application.

Upcoming Events

OBI Events

OBI Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Best Practices in Medical Device Software & Firmware Design
January 14, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here

OBI Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Is Your Brand Story Due for a Tune Up?
February 10, 2021
12:00-1:00 PM
Registration open

Community Events

PSBA’s DEI Training with Christine Slattery
January 21, 2021
1:30-3:00 PM
Register here

TAO Event: I Am Tech Oregon
January 14, 2021
11:00-11:30 AM
Registration page

TAO Panel Discussion: Data Privacy in 2021
January 28, 2021
9:00-10:00 AM
Register here

TAO Event: Strategic Plan for Exit
January 28, 2021
11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Registration

ULP Event: Market Access and Life Cycle
Aspects of Medical Technology Products
January 20, 2021
3:00-4:00 PM
Register here

ULP Event: Lifesciences Innovators Forum
January 27, 2021
3:00-4:30 PM
Registration

Cambia Grove: Incentivizing Health Hackathon
February 4-5, 2021
9:00 AM-2:00 PM
Register/apply here

Happy Holidays from the OBI

What a year 2020 has been! We have been through a lot together, and we at the OBI are celebrating the holiday season and the end of a most unusual year. Look for a 2020 OBI recap in next month’s newsletter. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

2021 is almost here. Stay healthy and safe and we hope to see you in person in the new year!

OBI Client Company Wins

SUTUREGARD Medical has some great recent wins: 

• Highest revenue month achieved in October 2020, extending our runway
• Completed Clinical Evaluation Reports for CE mark submission, applications for SUTUREGARD ISR and HEMIGARD devices will be filed this month to Notified Body in Germany for CE mark approval
• Official approval as vendor for in hospital sales at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida – national leader in melanoma treatment and research
• Expanded clinical use by podiatry, dermatology, surgical oncology, cardiovascular surgery 
• First sales in Australia

Veana Therapeutics, Inc. Founder and CEO, Emmanuel Akporiaye, Ph.D won the Judges’ Award at the Oregon Bio Digital 2020 Conference held from November 17 -19.

Caregiven is on a roll! Their wins include:

• The humbleness and excitement that came with two new investments from extraordinary women
• Seeing our expaning team coalesce as we refine our business model together (special thanks to CareFactor for providing access to Strategyzer)
• Receiving feedback from The Wave Pitch Showcase judges (Canaan, GingerBread Capital, Outlines Venture Group) that “with the right business model, nothing will stop you!”
• Since the end of October, we have been inviting 25 new beta testers each week onto the Caregiven platform
• We’ve received two new investments and have raised $150,000 on our convertible note
• Support me (Candice Smith, Founder & CEO) as I speak at the DIGIN Conference 2020 on the topic of “Evolving the Home Health and Insurance Paradigm in a Post-Pandemic World.”

Inherent Targeting won the Judges’ and People’s Choice awards at the early-stage startup pitch contest at Oregon Bio Digital Conference. Additionally, Inherent Targeting has been invited to present at the McKinsey & Co. Early Stage Investor Conference taking place Monday, December 7th.

Aronora announces clinical data to be presented at the 62nd American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting. For more information, see the December 2, 2020 Newswire press release.

Promedix has had 3 large wins that have accelerated clinical adoption and validation:

• We have an ongoing clinical trial in the ICU and launching a trial in the ED to study our technology’s ability to both improve detection and monitoring of sepsis
• We had an abstract accepted and presented at the American Heart Association National Conference on our technology and patient data
• We had a manuscript accepted in a peer-reviewed journal

Keep the wins coming. We love to celebrate your successes!

Program Recordings on Demand

Great news! You now have the ability to view all of our Lunch and Learns from October, 2019 to the most recent program. These closed caption-enabled videos are available on our website and on our YouTube channel. Subscribe to the Oregon Bioscience Incubator YouTube channel to be notified when new videos are posted, approximately once per month. 

Welcome to Our Newest Client Company

Izon Science is the world leading manufacturer of nano-biological separation and characterization tools. Its TRPS measurement system is the most accurate, standardizable and practical method of measuring complex nano-bio particles, while its qEV platform has rapidly become the gold standard in extracellular vesicle separation.

Izon Science joined the OBI on December 1. Welcome, Izon!

Mentor of the Month:
Michael McGarry

Michael McGarry is one of our helpful and engaging mentors in our current Mentoring Program cohort. He is the Founder and President of Forvida, a customer-focused consulting firm passionate about developing health solutions that engage individuals and make health and every day event. Before founding Forvida, Michael had more than 20 years experience in the health care industry, developing innovative programs and medical devices from prototype through FDA approval within small start-up organizations as well as Fortune 500 medical companies.

Michael has been very supportive of the OBI and the larger health sciences ecosystem through his mentoring with OBI, assistance with last spring’s MIT COVID-19 Challenge, the OHSU Invent-a-Thon, and more recently as the presenter for an OBI Virtual Lunch and Learn.

Thank you, Michael, for all you to do to support the community!

Congratulations to Pitch Winners at Oregon Bio’s Digital Conference 2020

Two of OBI’s client companies were winners in the Oregon Bioscience Association’s Digital Conference 2020 pitch event:

• Connor Barth, PhD from Inherent Targeting won the Judges’ award and People’s Choice award for the Early-Stage Startup category
• Emmanuel Akporiaye, PhD from Veana Therapeutics won the Judges’ award for the Later-Stage Startup category

Ken Bates, PhD from Bates Medical Systems and Jeff King, PhD from Virogenomics Bio Development also pitched in this fantastic event.

Congratulations to all – you did a great job!

Events

OBI EVENTS

Virtual Lunch & Learn: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in R&D
December 9, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Register Now – It’s Almost Full!

COMMUNITY & PARTNER EVENTS

University Lab Partners Presents:
Getting Your Tech Out of the Lab and Onto the Market
December 10, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Register Here

PDXWIT Event: From Vision to Game Plan
December 10, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Registration Page

TAO CEO Leadership Exchange: 
Strengthening Oregon’s Innovation Economy
December 15, 2020
4:00-5:15 PM
Details Here

PDXWIT: Annual Celebration + Awards Ceremony
December 15, 2020
5:00-6:15 PM
Register Here

Oregon Bio’s Holly Jolly Finale
December 17, 2020
4:00-5:30 PM
Happy Hour Registration Page

AbSci Receives Series E Funding

Congratulations to OBI graduate AbSci for raising $65 million Series E equity financing. AbSci is a synthetic biology company focused on their Protein Printing™ technology for protein biomanufacturing. This financing round will enable AbSci to increase production, expand their facility, and fund research and development.

For more information on AbSci and their exciting news, please read the recent press release.

OBI Client Company Wins

Caregiven has been selected to participate in CareFactor. This represents a significant opportunity for us and we are very excited for the program that commences in November and concludes in March, 2021. CareFactor was developed by its partners to rapidly scale innovations that improve the aged-care sector nationally (Australia) and globally.

Vir Biotechnology announced the presentation of preclinical and Phase 1 data demonstrating the broad neutralizing ability, high-level effector function, extended half-life and tolerability of VIR-2482 in the prevention of influenza A. Read full press release here.

Candice Smith of Caregiven and Emmanuel Akporiaye of Veana Thereapeutics and were featured in the newest edition of Techlandia, as The Faces of  Healthcare Innovation. You can read their stories on pages 44 and 45.

Madorra was a keynote presenter at Springboard Enterprise’s Women’s Health Innovation Coalition Menopause Round Table. 

Welcome New Client Companies

Inherent Targeting is developing nerve targeted fluorescent contrast agents to improve surgical outcomes. Nerve injury is a feared surgical complication affecting 50 million patients and incurring a $5 billion cost to the healthcare system annually. Currently, surgeons are entirely unassisted in nerve identification and preservation, relying solely on naked eye visualization or anatomical knowledge. Our technology provides direct highlighting of nerves during surgery in real time and is currently under clinical translation. 

Forbie, Inc. is developing an AI & NLP enabled solution that helps connect patients and providers in real-time offering full visibility into patient state and changing needs, thereby improving quality of care and enabling better outcomes.

Inherent Targeting and Forbie joined the OBI on November 1. Let’s give them a warm welcome!

Mentor of the Month: Sandra Shotwell

Sandra Shotwell has co-founded three startup companies: Alta Biomedical, DesignMedix, and Elex Biotech, and played a leadership role in all three. Her life sciences experience includes technology transfer, early-stage commercialization, and company startup operations and leadership. Sandy and her mentee are making great progress in their mentoring program, and her mentee always has glowing feedback. Sandy is also an OTRADI & OBI Board Member.

Of the OBI Mentoring Program, Sandy says, “The program has been great. It is rewarding to work with an early-stage entrepreneur and watch them spread their wings. I’d highly recommend it for both the entrepreneurs and the mentors.”

Thank you, Sandy, for all you do for the bioscience community!

Business Oregon SBIR Phase 0/00 Application Support Grants

From Business Oregon:
“Because the SBIR/STTR programs are very competitive, Business Oregon also provides application support grants to help businesses prepare better applications to give companies a better chance to receive federal funding. These grants are called Phase 0 and 00 grants. Phase 0 grants go to businesses that are pursuing federal Phase I SBIR/STTR grant funds, while Phase 00 grants help businesses pursuing federal Phase II or Fast-Track grants. Phase 0 or 00 grants can be for up to $5,000. Business Oregon has provided approximately $280,000 of these grants to companies that have then won approximately $10M in federal grant awards.

“Phase 0 Grants Can Be Used For:

• Professional fees to develop the SBIR/STTR Phase I application (e.g., technical consultants, writer, reviewer)
• Other professional fees (e.g., legal, accounting) directly related to preparing the SBIR/STTR Phase I application
• Other out-of-pocket costs directly related to preparing the SBIR/STTR Phase I application (e.g., market research, technical database research or statistical analyses)

“Phase 00 Grants Can Be Used For:

• Professional fees to develop the SBIR/STTR Phase II application (e.g., technical consultants, writer, reviewer)
• Other professional fees (e.g., legal, accounting) directly related to preparing the SBIR/STTR Phase II application
• Other out-of-pocket costs directly related to preparing the SBIR/STTR Phase II application (e.g., market research, technical database research or statistical analyses)

“How To Apply
Business Oregon is now offering application support grants as long as funding is available. To apply for a grant, please review the program guidelines document, complete an application form, gather the supporting documentation, and submit the materials. Details are in the guidelines.”

Technology Association of Oregon 
Digital Health Week

What an informative and interesting line up of topics at TAO’s Digital Health Week. Dates and topics include:

• AI & Data – Monday, November 16 9-10 a.m.
• International Digital Health Roundtable – Tuesday, November 17, 9-10 a.m.
• Human Centered Design – Tuesday, November 17, 11 a.m. to noon
• Innovation in Healthcare Delivery Models – Wednesday, November 18, 9-10 a.m.
• Policy & Innovation – Thursday, November 19, 9-10 a.m.

Speakers include OBI client company founders John Harkness from Rewire Neuroscience and Anil Kumar from RxHomeTest.

Register soon!
OTRADI & OBI is a proud sponsor of Digital Health Week.

Oregon Bioscience Association
Digital Conference 2020

Registration is now open for one of OregonBio’s biggest events of the year! Keynote, networking, Pitch & Partner event, and a Career event are the highlights of this multi-day program.

Four of OBI’s client companies are participating in the pitch event: Emmanuel Akporiaye, PhD from Veana Therapeutics, Ken Bates, PhD from Bates Medical Systems, Connor Barth, PhD from Inherent Targeting, and Jeff King, PhD from Virogenomics Bio Development.

OTRADI & OBI is a proud sponsor of the OregonBio Digital Conference 2020, and we hope to see you there!

Oregonian Cares Grant Program

To help local area businesses during these uncertain times, the Oregonian and Oregon Live is pledging up to $2.5 million in a matching marketing grant program called Oregonian Cares. Individual grants range from $500-1500 per month. Businesses are encouraged to fill out the application form now, for a quick turnaround.

Events

OBI EVENTS

Virtual Lunch & Learn: Market Research Deep Dive
November 10, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Free to Attend – Register Here

Virtual Lunch & Learn: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in R&D
December 9, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Registration Now Open

COMMUNITY & PARTNER EVENTS

PSU Event: The Cube Demo Day
November 6, 2020
11:00 AM-1:00 PM
Free – Tickets Still Available

OEN Entrepreneurship Awards 2020: Disruption Edition
November 19, 2020
5:15-8:00 PM
Register Now

OTBC Event: SBIR-STTR Success Panel – the Inside Story
November 20, 2020
12:00-1:30 PM
Register Here

TechFest NW + PitchFest NW
December 2-4, 2020
$15 Early Bird Tickets Here

McKinsey & Co Early Stage Investor Conference
December 7-11, 2020
Information Here

OBI Companies Working on COVID-19

Virogenomics BioDevelopment (VBD) is developing an oral rinse – the HyperHex rinse – that is composed of a hypertonic solution with a safe and effective microbicide. The HyperHex rinse would be an easier, safer and more effective way to collect samples to screen millions of people to monitor transmission and to evaluate immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.  Optimal sample collection is one that is safe and simple for health care workers and those being tested as well as being more comfortable than nasal swabs or blood draws.  Hypertonic oral rinse solutions increase the yield of analytes such as immunoglobulins that can be used to detect exposure and immunity to coronaviruses.  To develop the HyperHex rinse, VBD is working with Andrew Goldstein, a founding officer and director of Epitope, Inc. (now OraSure Technologies, Inc.), and was intimately involved in developing FDA approved saliva-based diagnostic assays for HIV antibodies, HIV and HCV point of care tests.

Vir Biotechnology has published an article which will appear in the November 12, 2020 print issue of Cell, focusing on differing antibody responses based upon COVID-19 disease severity, as well as structural characteristics of six different neutralizing antibodies. This study, conducted in the US, Switzerland, and Italy, was the largest of its kind with serum samples from nearly 650 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, will aid in the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and other strategies. In addition, Vir and GlaxoSmithKline have announced Phase 3 of the COMET-ICE (COVID-19 Monoclonal antibody Efficacy Trial – Intent to Care Early) study for treatment of COVID-19 patients who are at high risk for hospitalization. For more information on their research, please see Vir Biotechnology’s September 24, 2020 press release and October 6, 2020 press release.

OBI Client Company Wins

Caregiven was awarded a scholarship to participate in AchieveUnite’s Channel Acceleration Bootcamp. They were a semi-finalist for the Bend Venture Conference Impact competition. Caregiven will also be reviewed by New York Angels in October; they are a finalist for Springboard’s Digital Health Innovation Hub and presented to a subset of their members; and they were selected to present to CareFactor located in Australia, a program focused on changing aged care in Australia.  

ProMedix, Inc. was selected from a large group of startup company applicants to join the Creative Destruction Lab Accelerator. This will significantly help business development and achieving high level milestones to further commercialization and fundraising efforts. ProMedix was also one of five projects selected as winners for CTIP’s Catalyzing Pediatric Grant (CPI) competition. ProMedix is a medical device company aiming to develop technology to simplify diagnostic home healthcare as well as ER/Critical Care.

Rewire Neuroscience was a semi-finalist in the 2020 Bend Venture Conference Growth competition. Rewire Neuroscience offers artificial intelligence services for biomedical image analysis in clinical, veterinary and research applications. Rewire has a machine learning platform, Sightologist.ai as well as a consumer-facing analysis software, called Pipsqueak AI, which is used by thousands of researchers around the world to quantify tissue samples.

Madorra will be presenting an oral abstract presentation at the North American Menopause Society Annual Meeting this month. The topic of their research is “A novel, non-hormonal, non-invasive ultrasound device is effective in treating the symptoms of vaginal dryness associated with genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM).” Madorra’s abstract will also be published in the December 2020 issue of Menopause.

Congratulations to Hemex Health and Medtronic for winning third prize at the NIH Technology Accelerator Challenge. They won $100K for their finger cuff technology to detect malaria, anemia, and Sickle Cell Disease.

Mentor of the Month: Lynn Sheehan

Lynn Sheehan, Business Strategist from Evolve Strategic Ventures, joined our Mentoring Program in June and hit the ground running with his mentee. Lynn is a consultant working with startups and fortune 500 companies globally. He has a special focus on the startup community in the Portland/Vancouver area. He’s a member of the MAPS Program at WSU Vancouver Carson College of Business both as a mentor and a board member. Lynn has been a guest lecturer at PSU’s business programs, and is an Executive in Residence with Technology Association of Oregon, supporting members through mentorship.

Lynn says, “The OBI Mentoring Program is a great way for entrepreneurs to receive guidance from industry veterans. The complex areas these companies work in really benefits from mentor experience. In the end this accelerates them to revenue and team growth.”

Thank you, Lynn, for all you do for the startup community!

Applications Now Open for Mentoring

We are now accepting Mentee applications for OBI’s structured, 6-month program. Are you an entrepreneur who has a company (or are seriously considering starting one) and need guidance, accountability, and support from a Mentor to help you set and reach your goals? This program is free for Oregon entrepreneurs and runs from January – June, 2021. Take your business to the next level by joining OBI’s Mentoring Program.

Here is what some of our current Mentees are saying:

• “[My Mentor] worked with me to hone my pitch, participated in pitch presentations to three investment groups, one of which has now expressed an interest in investing in [my company]!”
• “Obtained very helpful advice and guidance on the strategy from a business and clinical perspective going forward.”
• “[My Mentor] introduced me to a potential collaborator.”
• “Exceeded my expectations. We are on track to meet the goals I set.”

Applications are being accepted until October 31, so apply now! 
See important details here

OBI’s Advising Program

Did you know? 

We have a network of more than 90 Advisors who are available to provide short-term free advice and assistance to promising life science and digital health entrepreneurs across the state of Oregon. Our Advisors have valuable expertise in a wide range of business topics that are integral to the success of early-stage life science companies, including:

• Accounting
• Business Plans
• Digital Health
• Government Funding
• Health IT
• Legal/IP
• Licensing
• Machine Learning/AI
• Management, including HR/Talent
• Manufacturing
• Market Analysis
• Marketing
• Private Funding
• Product Development
• Regulatory/FDA

To request assistance, please fill out this entrepreneur registration form and we’ll match you with an Advisor who can help. This service is free of charge.

Business Oregon Launching Funding Opportunities

From the October 7, 2020 press release: “The Business Oregon Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) Matching Grants are intended to help Oregon companies that have received a federal award be successful as they move forward. Companies can use matching funds to fill gaps in the federal award or further commercialize or scale their technology. Oregon-based businesses with more than half of employees based in Oregon who have been awarded a federal SBIR or STTR grant on or after Jan. 1, 2019 are eligible to apply.

“The application will be open through November 8, 2020. Awards can range up to $100,000 depending on eligibility and other parameters, with a total of approximately $1,000,000 available for funding.

“The High Impact Opportunity Project (HIOP) program looks for proposals that support the growth of emerging industries that individual businesses cannot address on their own. Projects could support these industries by addressing barriers to commercialization or support product development and testing. Projects must directly support the growth of an industry sector, not an individual business or its proprietary technology.

“Oregon-based organizations with at least half its employees based in Oregon are eligible, and the application period will be open through November 4. There is approximately $1,500,000 available for funding in this round of the HIOP program.”

OHSU Invent-a-Thon

Applications open for OHSU Invent-a-thon 
Online event, October 23–25, 2020

Make Healthcare Better. From anywhere. 

Grab your virtual raincoat and apply for our first Pacific Northwest-focused event, in partnership with Oregon Health Sciences University.

Building on MIT Hacking Medicine’s successful model, this weekend convenes teams and a wide range academic and industry partners to address problems in the medtech tracks of surgical care and early disease detection, and digital health/health IT tracks of rural and low resource setting health care and management of chronic conditions.

$40,000 in prizes will be awarded to the most promising teams, with a special emphasis on reducing health disparities and addressing COVID-19. Anyone with an interest in improving healthcare is invited to join the clinicians, researchers, designers, investors, and many others joining this dynamic weekend event.

Propel an idea into action!

Learn more and apply by October 14 at inventathon.org. #OHSUInventathon

Pitch Oregon 2020

In its fifth year, Pitch Oregon is TiE Oregon’s marquee event, attracting hundreds of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors each year. Entrepreneurs from all around Oregon pitch for free services and a cash prize of $2,500! We are looking for traded sector businesses in technology, new market innovation, and CPG in two categories – Concept and Seed.

Concept – you either have an idea or you’ve just started working on your product
Seed – you have a product and have taken some funding or are bootstrapping
 
Timeline
October 16, 2020 —  Application Deadline
October 30, 2020 — Finalist Announcement
December 1, 2020 — Pitch Oregon
 
Details
When: Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Time: 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Where: Zoom Webinar (login available after registration)
Cost: Application Fee – $10 members | $25 Nonmembers; Registration Fee – $15 members | $30 Nonmembers

McKinsey & Company Early Stage Investor Conference

December 7-11, 2020

Grow. Connect. Expand.

Early Stage Investor Conference (ESIC) is an annual flagship event designed to inspire and advance innovation across industries. Each year, we bring together an ecosystem of entrepreneurs in emerging technology, established industry-leaders, researchers from top universities, and individual and corporate investors looking for the next big idea.

Building off our 2019 success with more than 300 attendees and 50 presenting startups, in 2020 we are raising our ambitions even further by introducing new investor tracks that include biotech, medtech, healthtech, fintech, femtech, and sustainability. We are also holding a virtual forum to create a truly global community of ideas, expertise, and investors.

Applications accepted through October 31. For more information on applying or attending, see Overview page.

Upcoming Events

TiE Women: Functional Working Session on Marketing
October 13, 2020
2:00-3:30 PM
Register here

Oregon Bio, Business and Good Beans:
Latest Updates on PPP Loans and COVID Paid Leave Tax Credits
October 14, 2020
9:15-10:00 AM
Free – register here

TAO Leadership Exchange Fall Series:
Liability & Returning to Work
October 15, 2020
9:00-10:00 AM
All the details here

Bend Venture Conference
October 15-16, 2020
8:00 AM-5:30 PM
Register now

Under the Boughs with Dr. Thomas Lynch Jr., Fred Hutch
October 21, 2020
9:30-10:45 AM
Free to attend

Women in Science Lunch and Learn:
BIPOC Imposter Syndrome in STEM
October 21, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Free to attend

TiE Event: Confessions of an Entrepreneur
October 27, 2020
5:30-7:30 PM
Details and registration

TAO PDX Lunch & Learn: Strategic Plan for Exit
October 28, 2020
11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Register here

TAO Resilient Leadership Workshop Series: Gathering Well
October 29, 2020
4:00-5:30 PM
Series and registration information

Oregon Bio Digital 2020 Annual Conference
November 17-19, 2020
Read all about it and register

Alpha Version of the Caregiven App is Launched

OBI client company Caregiven has some very exciting news: their mobile app has been “born!” The alpha version of the Caregiven mobile app is now live on over a dozen devices. The alpha testers are using the app to help care for their loved ones, while also giving valuable feedback and ideas for new features. Caregiven is also seeking private beta testers: people who are currently giving care or who have recently lost a loved one. Contact candice@caregiven.co for more information about the beta testing program.

Caregiven recently filmed two promotional videos, including a 90-second company overview and a 60-second version tailored for insurance carriers, financial services, and health & benefits plan provider audiences. To visit with Caregiven in a virtual kiosk, see the promotional videos, and maybe even get a sneak peek at the beta version of their new mobile app, register for the InsurTech Connect (ITC) Conference September 21-23, 2020. 

OBI Client Company Wins

RAW Molecular Systems finished recruiting for their GWAS study of microbiomes and genetics in recovered COVID-19 patients, received ICorp funding from UW, and hired new engineers to work on detection devices.

Veana Therapeutics and University of Washington Medicine are conducting a phase 1 clinical trial of a new oral therapy for advanced HER2 positive breast cancer patients. See press release for all the details.

Health Technology Innovations, Inc. (HTI) announced that Dr. Justin M. Kollman, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington, is joining HTI to Chair its Science and Technology Advisory Board. More information on the announcement can be found here.

Mentor of the Month: Curt Jennewine

OBI launched its revamped Mentoring Program this summer and is proud to give a September Mentor of the Month shoutout to Curt Jennewine. Curt is the President of Asia MedPartners, which provides consulting services for a variety of medical start-ups looking to introduce their technologies into the US market.

Curt’s background in consulting for many different medical fields combined with his insightful input, creative problem-solving, good understanding of the customer, systems-approach, strong understanding of business strategy, and excellent communication makes Curt an ideal mentor. Curt is currently mentoring two mentees in OBI’s 6-month structured mentoring program. He’s receiving high praise from his mentees, too. As one of his mentees, Anil Kumar of RxHomeTest states, “We went through our business in more detail, brainstormed ideas that needed help, and came up with strategies for further growth. We specifically planned few action items for me to follow. This mentoring program has been extremely helpful for my business, thanks to OBI and my mentor!” 

Thank you Curt, for volunteering as a mentor. We appreciate you!

Mentoring Program Seeks Applicants

OBI is gearing up for our January, 2021 mentoring cohort. We will begin accepting Mentor and Mentee applications for this structured, 6-month program next month, so now is your opportunity! If you have experience working with startups in the bioscience and digital health industry, please consider applying to become a Mentor. We are also looking for entrepreneurs who already have a company but could use guidance, accountability, and support from a Mentor to help you set and reach your goals.

Here is some nice feedback we’ve received from Mentees in the program:

• “[My Mentor] worked with me to hone my pitch, participated in pitch presentations to three investment groups, one of which has now expressed an interest in investing in [my company]!”
• “Obtained very helpful advice and guidance on the strategy from a business and clinical perspective going forward.”
• “[My Mentor] introduced me to a potential collaborator.”
• “Exceeded my expectations. We are on track to meet the goals I set.”

Applications accepted in October. Details about the OBI Mentoring Program here!

OHSU Invent-a-Thon Applications Open Now

Applications open for OHSU Invent-a-thon 
Held online, Oct. 23–25

Make Healthcare Better. From anywhere. 

Grab your virtual raincoat and apply for our first Pacific Northwest-focused event, in partnership with Oregon Health Sciences University.

Building on MIT Hacking Medicine’s successful model, this weekend convenes teams and a wide range academic and industry partners to address problems in the medtech tracks of surgical care and early disease detection, and digital health/health IT tracks of rural and low resource setting health care and management of chronic conditions.

$40,000 in prizes will be awarded to the most promising teams, with a special emphasis on reducing health disparities and addressing COVID-19. Anyone with an interest in improving healthcare is invited to join the clinicians, researchers, designers, investors, and many others joining this dynamic weekend event.

Propel an idea into action!

Learn more and apply by October 7 at inventathon.org. #OHSUInventathon

OMSI’s New Fall Programs and Fundraising Goals

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is answering the call to help during the COVID-19 pandemic, by providing new programming to support K-8 students, teachers, and caregivers. Their OMSI Homeroom program will serve 120 students per week with hands-on learning and STEAM enrichment education.

Any financial assistance you can give toward their fundraising goals for families in need will be much appreciated. See the link to their flyer describing OMSI Homeroom and their other virtual programs, and the financial support needed to bring this important education to those who need it most. 

Upcoming Events

OBI Virtual Lunch & Learn: Bioscience Career Panel
Join us for this interactive event
September 23, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Register now!

OBI Virtual Lunch & Learn: Cultivating High-Performance Teams
October 6, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Free – register here

VertueLab Cleantech Innovation Summit FUEL 2020
September 9-25, 2020
All the details here

Oregon Bioscience Association Biotech Summit
September 16, 2020
9:00 AM-1:30 PM
More information

Technology Association of Oregon 2020 Technology Awards
September 23, 2020
3:00-5:00 PM
Register here

Oregon Bio Coffee Talk: Retirement Benefits
September 24, 2020
9:15-10:00 AM
Link to registration

Founders Live PDX Virtual Experience
September 24, 2020
5:30-8:00 PM
Free – more information here

Oregon Bioscience Association has converted their
BioPro classes to a new virtual format!
Link to full class schedule

OBI Appoints Two New Members to Its Board of Directors

Aditi Martin was recently elected as an OBI/OTRADI Board Director. She is the Senior Director of Collaborations and Entrepreneurship at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). Aditi is a strategy and innovation professional with extensive experience in building partnership and negotiating a variety of commercialization agreements. She was also a recipient of Portland Business Journal’s 2018 Forty under 40.

Ken Wilson was recently elected as an OBI/OTRADI Board Director. He is the Vice President of Campus Development at Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). Ken is a multifaceted real estate executive with expertise in transactions, project management, portfolio management, sourcing and managing outside vendors, managing in house real estate departments as well as third party providers. In his role at OMSI he is responsible for leading the organization’s development of 11 riverfront acres around the museum’s primary facilities.

Welcome RAW Molecular Systems to the OBI!

Our newest client company is RAW Molecular Systems. Their services include biological pathogen monitoring to tackle untreatable antibiotic/antifungal resistant diseases or diseases without current therapy for plants, animals, and people. We are excited to have them join us, and they have hit the ground running with some great wins last month:

• Successfully filed an IRB for a COVID19 study and got it approved
• Acquired lab space at OBI
• $36,000 contract with a private sponsor
• $15,000 award from Jones Milestone Accelerator
• $2500 from iCORE at UW
• 450% RAW team expansion

Congratulations to the team at RAW!

More OBI Client Company Wins

Veana Therapeutics is pleased to share a joint Veana Therapeutics-University of Washington press release of a Phase 1 trial in HER2+ breast cancer patients at the University of Washington. The trial is now open and is enrolling patients. 

Promedix, Inc. was awarded a 2021 Pediatric Medical Device Funding Grant from the Consortium for Technology and Innovation in Pediatrics, an FDA pediatric device consortium. This funding will further develop regulatory strategy and a recently launched clinical trial at OHSU in the intensive care unit. 

SUTUREGARD Medical, Inc. shares their wins:

• Recently completed 2nd round fundraising
• Signed a distribution agreement with Federated Healthcare Supply
• Sales have returned to pre-COVID19 levels
• Multispecialty use has expanded to include podiatry and emergency medicine

Health Technology Innovations, Inc. presented poster sessions on CryoDiscovery at the ACA 2020 (American Crystallographic Association) and M&M 2020 (Microscopy & Microanalysis) events August 2nd-7th. CryoDiscovery is a machine learning platform for cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) image processing, currently in Alpha stage testing at OHSU and University of Washington, showing strong results.

Caregiven was recently profiled by HITLab and their Women’s Health Tech Initiative. This profile includes the creation of a case study they are planning to share with their stakeholders in the coming weeks. Caregiven is also making great strides in their platform content following their research with Particle Design.

Last month we reported on Hemex Health‘s release of their Gazelle Diagnostic platform for malaria and sickle cell disease. Hemex Health also has a strong collaboration with Novartis, which is focused on Sickle Cell Disease treatment in Ghana. Novartis recently featured Hemex in their company’s World Sickle Cell Day video.

Madorra‘s recent wins: 

• The NIH sponsored our pitch at the ACA innovation showcase where we won the Best Pitch and Most Venture Taps awards
• We were featured in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) SBIR Peer Learning and Networking Webinar: How to Prepare and Perfect Your Pitch, where we gave tips to our fellow NCI awardees  
• We were mentioned in Forbes article about one of our favorite menopause telehealth companies, Gennev

Bend Venture Conference Applications Open Until August 13

One of the features of the Bend Venture Conference (BVC) is an Early Stage competition. Companies applying in the early stage competition typically:

• Have a great idea, and are close to “proof of concept”
• Are pre, or very early, revenue
• Are in the process of testing their product in the market

All applicants, regardless of whether or not they are a finalist, have the opportunity to receive feedback from the investor group. The winner of this category could be awarded a minimum $30,000* investment, courtesy of Portland Seed Fund. Applications must be received by August 13, 2020. See details and apply here.

In addition, Portland Seed Fund is also offering limited Early Stage Access Scholarships and coaching. To be considered for a scholarship, at least one company founder should identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and have a financial barrier to the company’s ability to participate in the conference. For more detailed information and how to apply, please see the BVC Early Stage Competition and Scholarship page.

Apply Now for the 2021 Beaverton Startup Challenge

In its 6th year, the Beaverton Startup Challenge is a collaboration of the City of Beaverton, the Westside Startup Fund, and the Oregon Technology Business Center (OTBC). Each year, they select five Startup Challenge companies who receive:

• A $25,000 convertible note investment
• Introductions to Legal, Accounting, HR and marketing services
• OTBC’s top-rated mentoring services
• OTBC entrepreneur workshops
• … and more!

For more information, see the Beaverton Startup Challenge FAQ. To apply, use this link.

Need Seed Funding? Deadlines Approaching Soon

National Science Foundation’s America’s Seed Fund (SBIR-STTR) invests up to $1.75 million in seed funding for early-stage research and development, and takes no equity in your company. Submit a project pitch now, before September 3, 2020. Details here.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) SBIR/STTR funding application proposal dates are September 5, 2020; January 5 and April 5, 2021. For more information on what the NIH funding entails, see this link.

Upcoming Events

OBI Virtual Lunch & Learn: Valuation of Life Science Companies 
August 11, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Register soon – nearly sold out!

TIE Women Pitch Competition
Applications due August 14, 2020
Pitch Competition September 2, 2020
Details here

TAO Virtual Cybersecurity Meetup
August 20, 2020
11:00 AM-12:00 PM
More information and registration

Badass Womxn Entrepreneurs
August 25, 2020
4:00-5:30 PM
Free to attend

TRAILS Competition Launch: Bringing Solutions to Palliative Care
Kicks off September 9, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
More information here

VertueLab Cleantech Innovation Summit FUEL 2020
September 9-25, 2020
All the details here

Oregon Bioscience Association Biotech Summit
September 16, 2020
9:00 AM-1:30 PM
More information

Technology Association of Oregon 2020 Technology Awards
September 23, 2020
3:00-5:00 PM
Register here

Oregon Bioscience Association has converted their
BioPro classes to a new virtual format!
Link to full class schedule

Congratulations to Floragenex!

Floragenex graduated from the OBI last month, after joining the incubator in July, 2013. Oregon‐based Floragenex is a privately-owned biotechnology company providing innovative solutions for genomic analysis in the life sciences. Since 2007, Floragenex has been a leader in genomics and next-generation DNA sequencing. From the early days when generating a million sequence reads was considered impossible to the 200M read runs of today, they have been helping scientists by providing expert guidance and support in genomics research.

Upon graduation, Floragenex relocated their lab and offices from OTRADI’s incubator in the Willamette Wharf building, to Nimbus Corporate Center in Beaverton where their parent company, Sedia Biosciences has a presence. In February, 2020, the Portland Business Journal listed both Floragenex and Sedia Biosciences on the list of the top 41 largest bioscience and health technology companies in Oregon and SW Washington, at rankings 38 and 10, respectively.

Hemex Health and HTI Awarded Business Oregon Enhanced Innovation Grants

OBI companies Hemex Health and Health Technology Innovations (HTI) have some great news! Out of 66 proposals Business Oregon received for their Enhanced Innovation Grant, they were two of the six awardees. Congratulations!

From the Business Oregon press release:
“Hemex Health is a medical diagnostic device company making tests for malaria and sickle cell disease. Enhanced Innovation Grant funds will be used for developing and validating a rapid test to detect COVID-related infection that targets viral proteins.

“HTI is developing digital imaging technologies to capture high-resolution 3D images from the molecular level up to the tissue level. Enhanced Innovation Grant funds will be used to integrate their CryoDiscovery product (Cryo-electron microscope that uses machine learning) with the CryoSPARCTM, a commercial grade software product.”

More OBI Client Company Wins

SUTUREGARD and their product HEMIGARD has been featured in a video on Dermatologist Dr. Dustin Portel’s Tik Tok page. The video received over 10,000 views in the first hour it was posted! Check out the video and feel free to share it with others:

Vir Biotechnology is one of the ARCH Venture Partners companies fighting COVID-19. See ARCH’s news about two new venture funds with $1.46 billion in funding, to assist in these efforts. Vir is focused on combining immunologic insights with cutting-edge technologies to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases.

Hemex Health announced the launch of their Gazelle diagnostic platform. Gazelle is a multi-test platform to test for malaria and sickle cell disease. Its affordability and portability makes it an important tool for use in low resource, remote areas of the world, and it was featured in this Devex article as well as this article in Lancet eClinicalMedicine. Watch the Gazelle video to see it in action. #GazelleTakesOff

OBI Alumni Sparrow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. won the Start-Up Stadium pitch competition that was held during BIO Digital in June. Out of the 30 finalists who submitted a pitch presentation, Sparrow was one of five winners. Here’s a link to BIO’s press release. Sparrow Pharmaceuticals is developing novel, proprietary new standards of care for Cushing’s syndrome.

Congrats to all!

New Mentoring Program Begins

July 1 marked the start of our new and improved mentoring program at OBI. This 6-month cohort consists of 7 mentors and 6 mentees. Mentor-mentee pairings are one-to-one or two-to-one. They are all excited to begin working together to set and reach the mentees’ business goals.

We will have a new cohort of mentors and mentees in January, 2021. Keep an eye on the mentoring page on our website and newsletter for more information in the fall on how you can participate in our mentoring program.

OBI’s Advisors Help Entrepreneurs

In addition to mentoring, OBI has a list of over 80 Advisors who are ready and willing to help entrepreneurs seeking assistance. If you are an entrepreneur with a question or needing advice in the areas of…

• Accounting
• Legal/IP
• Licensing/Partnering
• Private Investment Funding
• Government Funding
• Product Development
• Regulatory/FDA
• Manufacturing
• Market Analysis
• Marketing
• Management
• Business Plan/Strategy

… simply fill out this form and we will match you with an Advisor with expertise in the areas you need assistance in. This service is free of charge, and designed to help entrepreneurs build thriving businesses in Oregon! 

Looking for Seed Capital for Early-Stage Product Development?

NSF’s America’s Seed Fund (SBIR-STTR) invests up to $1.75 million in seed funding for early-stage research and development, and takes no equity in your company. Submit a project pitch now, before September 3, 2020.

Details here.

Upcoming Events

OBI Events

Virtual Lunch & Learn: They Said it Couldn’t be Done!
De-Risk Your Projects 
July 22, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Free – register here

Virtual Lunch & Learn: Valuation of Life Science Companies 
August 11, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Free – more information

Other Community Events

Bio, Business and Good Beans: Virtual Facilitation with Finesse
July 15, 2020
9:15-10:00 AM
Free to attend – more info here

Oregon Bioscience Association has converted their
BioPro classes to a new virtual format!
The next class begins July 21, 2020
Link to full class schedule

TAO Virtual Lunch & Learn: Marketing in Times of Crisis
July 23, 2020
11:00 AM-12:00 PM
More information here

PSBA Virtual Lunch & Learn: Allyship and Confronting Prejudices in the Workplace
July 23, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Free to attend

TAO and Catalyte Webinar: Process Resiliency | Keeping Everything
from Hitting the Fan
July 28, 2020
11:00 AM-12:00 PM
More information and registrationSciEducate Webinar: Business Plans are a Research Endeavor
July 28, 2020
1:00-2:00 PM
More info here

Oregon Bio Event: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dialogue
July 30, 2020
11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Registration is free

PSBA Virtual Lunch & Learn: Conflict to Conversation
August 4, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Registration is free

Founders Live PDX
August 5, 2020
5:30 PM-8:00 PM
Free to attend – register here

Heather Ellis Named as Executive Director

OTRADI/OBI’s board of directors has promoted Interim Director Heather Ellis to the position of full-time Executive Director for OTRADI and OBI.

“During my time at OTRADI and OBI, I have gained an even greater appreciation for the potential for innovation in healthcare – and Oregon’s opportunity to play a part in that innovation. OTRADI has been the forefront of healthcare innovation in the state of Oregon for more than a decade. I am honored and excited to leverage that history of work as we continue to support Oregon entrepreneurs in improving healthcare for people everywhere. I am incredibly excited to step into this role and continue supporting OBI and Oregon health innovation companies in my new position,” said Ellis. Read full press release here.

Big congratulations to Heather!

OBI Client Company Wins

Veana Therapeutics presented a poster at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, which was held virtually May 29-31. The poster abstract titled “A phase I dose escalation trial of alpha-tocopheryloxyacetic acid and concurrent trastuzumab in patients with treatment refractory HER2+ metastatic breast cancer” was presented by William Gwin, MD from the University of Washington, who is overseeing the clinical trial as its lead physician.

Madorra was featured in the May issue of Oprah Magazine, as a rising star in women’s health technology, improving the quality of women’s lives after breast cancer or menopause with their non-hormonal medical device to reduce vaginal dryness.

Caregiven‘s Candice Smith recently shared her story to over 400 live participants at the Global Insurance Accelerator’s Startup Showcase, which also resulted in several introductions to individuals and funds. You can watch the 6-minute pitch here.

Vir Bio announced the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial of VIR-3434, an investigational monoclonal antibody that neutralizes hepatitis B virus (HBV) and has been engineered to potentially also act as a therapeutic vaccine. They have also finalized a process development and manufacturing agreement with Biogen Inc. Under the agreement Biogen will perform process development activities and specified manufacturing and process transfer services to enable commercial supply of Vir’s SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies for potential COVID-19 treatment.

Hemex Health‘s medical diagnostic device, Gazelle, was tested in the field alongside other malaria testing protocols, as published in the Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine. Gazelle was found to be a valuable diagnostic tool, and a fast and cost-effective way to test for malaria in field settings. Read the full text article here.

COVID-19 Resources for our Business Community

Business Oregon, alongside the Oregon Employment Department, the Oregon Secretary of State, and the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services compiled the information on this page to assist Oregon small business owners, employees, and others dealing with the impacts of COVID-19.

Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership (OMEP) has a COVID-19 Workplace Preparedness Assessment. The purpose of this assessment is to recommend/suggest ideas you may wish to consider as Oregon moves toward reopening in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Take the assessment here.

Upcoming Events

OBI Events

Virtual Lunch & Learn: Pivot with Purpose –
Build Your Business Around Your Greatest Strength 
June 17, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Register here – Free to attend

Virtual Lunch & Learn: They Said it Couldn’t be Done!
De-Risk Your Projects 
July 22, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
Free – Register here

Other Community Events

Cooley Healthtech Talks: Funding for Your Early Stage Startup:
A Roadmap to Seed + Series A Financing
 June 11, 2020
9:00-10:00 AM
Register to attend – Free

Current Trends in Venture Funding:
Perspective on Investments Post-Pandemic
June 16, 2020
10:00-11:00 AM
Register now – Free to attend

FAN BASE: Competitive Edge
 [PREGAME] Summer Business Coaching Series
 June 16, 2020
12:00-1:30 PM
More information

PDXWIT and PIE June Happy Hour
June 16, 2020
5:00-6:30 PM
Registration – Free to attend

University Lab Partners: 3 Steps to Make Your Boardroom
Team a Competitive Weapon
June 18, 2020
3:00-4:30 PM
Register here – Free

Founders Live PDX Virtual Experience
June 18, 2020
5:30-8:00 PM
Free to attend – Register here

Oregon Science Startup Forum
June 20, 2020
8:00 AM-7:00 PM
More information here

Bio, Business and Good Beans – Data Security and Privacy:
Managing Risks of Remote Work
June 24, 2020
9:15-10:00 AM
Free to attend – Registration link

NOW CFO Roadmap to Recovery Weekly Webinars
Wednesdays at 2 PM, Fridays at 12 noon
Learn more here

SciEducate Webinars
Series of upcoming webinars
More info here

Business Oregon Announces Enhanced Innovation Grant Program

The May 6, 2020 memo from Business Oregon states: “The Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC) supports companies with high-growth potential emerging from science and research. In 2018-2019, Oregon InC invested in 27 companies through the Enhanced Phase 0 program, providing critical gap funding between very early research and development funding sources and larger federal grants and/or private investment. These early investments supported innovative companies to scale up in Oregon, develop new technologies and products, create or retain jobs, and move products and services closer to market.

“Given the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, continuing this support of innovation-based entrepreneurship is vital for Oregon’s economic recovery. In recognition of this crisis, Oregon InC is re-launching the Enhanced Phase 0 program, now named the Enhanced Innovation Grant program. The Enhanced Innovation Grants will be awarded to early-stage Oregon companies that:

• are advancing innovation-based solutions related to the resolution or the management of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic or
• have received previous Oregon InC funding and has made progress toward commercialization since that funding

“Proposals will be accepted until Wednesday, May 20th and will go through a formal review process. Full details can be found in the RFP document on Business Oregon’s website.”

OBI Client Company Wins

Health Technology Innovations, HTI, received the NSF Phase1 STTR award for CryoDiscovery ™ : An integrated cryo-EM intelligence solution. CryoDiscoveryTM: A Machine Learning Platform for Automated Cryo-electron Microscopy Particle Classification paper has been accepted to the Microscopy & Microanalysis August 2020 Conference. CryoDiscovery ™ Alpha released and being tested at OHSU. HTI LLC is now HTI Inc. Dr. Gershon Wolfe joined HTI as Director of R&D. HTI is looking for a machine learning development engineer and computer science interns.

On April 6, 2020, Vir Biotechnology announced a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline for research and development of coronavirus solutions. GSK’s investment and genomics expertise, combined with Vir Bio’s proprietary technology, will work to develop therapies and prevention for coronaviruses. Read their full press release. 

Hemex Health is partnering with PAI Life Sciences in Seattle to create a rapid COVID-19 test on Hemex’s Gazelle Diagnostic platform. The test is designed for affordable use in remote locations with limited resources. The Portland Business Journal recently reported on this important collaboration. Link to full article here.

Virogenomics Bio Development, VBD, had a big win in April. In collaboration with Arthur Vandenbark at OHSU and the VA, VBD was awarded a three year, $3M Phase IIB SBIR. This project will advance a recombinant protein, DRhQ, that has the potential to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) and other conditions with neuro inflammatory components. The aims of this project are to transfer production of DRhQ to a GMP manufacturer, determine its potential toxicity in two species and develop assays for evaluating its safety and efficacy after administration. These aims will provide preclinical data for an IND submission, a critical step in creating an FDA approved drug.

Madorra‘s first patent has issued. This is the original patent they submitted while in the Stanford Biodesign Fellowship program. It has broad coverage of the use of ultrasound for treating vaginal dryness. They also presented during Avestria’s women’s health breakfast at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference in January. Madorra was featured in the Fogarty Institute’s February Newsletter. And later that month, the Portland Tribune wrote an article about how they are leading a revoluation in women’s healthcare.

OBI’s Mentoring Program Now Accepting Mentee Applications

Last month we told you about our newly expanded Mentoring Program. We are pleased to announce that we’re now accepting applications to become a mentee.

Are you an entrepreneur with an early-stage or developing company in the bioscience or digital health industry? Did you know that mentoring helps you grow your business? A recent survey from Kabbage found that only 22% of businesses had mentors when they started their company, and 92% of business who have a mentor say mentoring has directly impacted their business growth and survival.

OBI’s mentoring program is a 6-month structured program, with our next cohort beginning July 1, 2020.

Apply now to become a Mentee! But act quickly – mentee applications are only open until May 15. Note: This program is open to all; however, priority will be given to OBI client companies.

Please see our Mentoring page for Fast Facts about mentoring, and a link to the application.

Welcome to our new Administrative Assistant, Kaci Garcia!

Ms. Garcia joined OBI in March 2020 as an Administrative Assistant. She is responsible for daily operations, the main point of contact for the companies in the incubator, and will be the office receptionist when we’re back in the office after Governor Brown’s Stay Home order is lifted.

Ms. Garcia graduated summa cum laude in 2019 from Portland State University with a B.A. in Arts and Letters and a minor in Art History. She also has an AAS in paralegal studies and an AGS from Portland Community College. Her professional background includes general office administration and work as a legal assistant in the field of business immigration law.

Upcoming Events

TAO Event: Virtual Lunch & Learn: Preventing Burnout
May 13, 2020
11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Details here

VertueLab/BBC Webinar: ABCs of SBIR/STTR Funding
 May 13, 2020
12:00-1:30 PM
Register to attend – Free

OEN Event: BYOB May Pubtalk – It’s Time to Build
May 13, 2020
5:30-7:00 PM
Information here

PSBA Virtual Lunch & Learn: What Leaders Need to Know About Negotiation
May 20, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
More information here

PSBA Virtual Lunch & Learn: Conflict to Conversation
June 3, 2020
12:00-1:00 PM
More information here

NOW CFO Webinars: Roadmap to Recovery Weekly Webinars
Wednesdays at 2 PM, Fridays at 12 noon
Learn more here

SciEducate Webinars: SBIR Miniseries
Series of 4 webinars
More info here

Stay Home. Save Lives.

OBI staff is complying with Governor Kate Brown’s directive to Stay Home, Save Lives. The employees in the administrative office of OBI/OTRADI is teleworking during this time, but please know that we are still here for you. Some of our client companies have staff working from home, while their staff working on essential research may continue working in their offices and laboratories, utilizing safe distancing and hygiene practices. We’re all working diligently to take steps to reduce the spread of Coronavirus and avoid getting sick with COVID-19.

Oregon and Federal Resources for Business

This pandemic is affecting businesses large and small. Here are some resources that we hope you find helpful during this time:

• Portland area small business resources
• COVID-19 emergency response resources and information
• Oregon Secretary of State business information
• Oregon Secretary of State Coronavirus resources for business
• Business Oregon Coronavirus resources for business
• Oregon Health Authority COVID-19 updates (updated daily)
• Johns Hopkins Coronavirus map
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation press release
• BARDA Coronavirus partnership opportunities
• DRIVE with information on accelerators
• InfoEd Global COVID-19/Coronavirus resources
• FDA Emergency Use Authorization information
• NSF request for SBIR/STTR Phase 1 proposals addressing COVID-19
• Small Business Administration COVID-19 small business guidance and loan resources
• SBA Paycheck Protection Program

Caregiven Featured in Artificial Intelligence in Medicine 

Caregiven, one of OBI’s digital health startup companies, was featured in the AIMed March 5, 2020 special report entitled “Women in AI – DeathTech.” Caregiven’s digital health platform guides families to the appropriate end-of-life support and services so they can spend less time overwhelmed by administrative tasks and more meaningful time with their loved one. If you are unable to view the entire article, please email candice@caregiven.co (not .com) for a PDF copy.