WSU Startup Activity

Pie chart of WSU startups by market

FY 2022 STARTUPS

 

XR Therapeutics, LLC

https://renvcf.com/hotlist_company/xr-therapeutics/ 

Photo of Dr. Arash Javanbakht working with a patient using the ExposXR systemArash Javanbakht, MD, Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, has developed the first augmented reality exposure therapy platform using advanced AR technology. ExposXR provides clinicians with a broad spectrum of realistic digital stimuli (e.g. spiders, snakes, dogs, and humans) that can be placed in patient's physical environment. Exposure therapy is the first line effective treatment for phobias, social phobia, PTSD, and OCD. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of patients are treated with exposure therapy due to lack of access to adequate feared situations/objects in the clinic setting.

In 2017 Dr. Javanbakht, received a state award, with the support of the Technology Commercialization office, to support development of the software and to support the initial validation studies. "The office (OBI/Tech Comm) has helped in navigating local funding mechanisms and special thanks to Scott Olson (Director & Case Manager)  for his help with navigating the commercialization details," said Dr. Javanbakht. This technology has proven to be more effective than conventional and VR therapies for treatment of phobias.

OBI/Technology Commercialization successfully supported the patent submission process resulting in issued patent #10,839,707, in addition, to the execution of the option license to XR Therapeutics, LLC.  

 

Venica Fluid Sciences, LTD

Dr. Greg Auner, PhD, headshot imageGreg Auner, Ph.D, Strauss Endowed Chair and Professor, Department of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, and his team, have developed a portable fluid (blood and urine) analysis device that delivers rapid laboratory standard precision test results at low cost. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC): A technique used to separate the key components in fluids in order to quantify and identify them is the current 'gold-standard' of laboratory testing.Photo of hands hold test tubes containing liquid This technology combines advance sensing with liquid chromatography in a disposable fluidic cartridge provides definitive analyte detection so that real distinction can be achieved. This may also benefit the detection of unknowns while traditional HPLC requires the specific target that is being investigated. "The first application is targeting drug abuse problems providing a point of need (portable) trace detection of opioids from urine at the site and synergistically trace detection of Fentanyl from surfaces", said Dr. Auner.

WSU's Office of Business Innovation & Tech Commercialization has exclusively licensed issued patent #17/512,246 to WSU Spin Out Venica Fluid Sciences, LTD.

 

FY 2021 STARTUPS

 

Repela Tech, LLC

https://www.repela.co/

Repela Tech, LLC, is a Michigan-based cleantech startup. The company was founded by Dr. Zhiqiang Cao, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Wayne State University, and Edward Kim, adjunct professor at the Mike Ilitch School of Business and WSU mentor-in-residence.

Repela is developing a high-performance, eco-friendly, marine anti-fouling solution for image of boat speeding through the waterrecreational boaters and boatyard professionals. Antifoulants are applied to the hull of vessels to prevent biofouling (the unwanted growth of algae and barnacles on underwater surfaces). However, most antifoulants are toxic; they contain copper biocides, which are the cause of 98% of the copper contamination in marinas.  This adds up to 100 tons of copper leaching into the Great Lakes of North America per year. Unlike these conventional antifoulants that indiscriminately kill marine organisms, Repela's hydrogel coating technology contains no biocides.  Instead, its hydrophilic material creates a protective barrier coat that masks the hull of marine vessels from fouling organisms, hence, providing an eco-friendly alternative solution.

Repela's fundamental IP (patent #11,103,588) was developed by Dr. Cao.  The WSU's Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) provided an exclusive option  license to the company and supported the technology development and commercialization. The TCO support led to securing a Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) ADVANCE Proof-of-Concept Grant to validate the technology in the lab and a commercialization mentor engagement.  Repela's business model was incubated in a collaboration with the Mike Ilitch School of Business E&I program.

Since the company launch, Repela has been awarded over 1.3 million dollars from the National Science Foundation Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program and the State of Michigan's Emerging Technology Fund and Business Accelerator Fund.

Over the past two years, Repela has gained significant traction.  The company has received a number of accolades and -- in the U.S. and internationally -- industry recognition as a leader in the development of a first-of-its-type highly effective, environmentally friendly, antifouling coating product.  The recognitions include:

  • Techstars Eastern Pacific Shipping Accelerator Finalist, Singapore (2021)
  • AkzoNobel Global Startup Challenge Finalist (Amsterdam, Netherlands):  AkzoNobel, one of the world's largest chemical OEMs, selected Repela for their Paint the Future innovation bootcamp. Repela was 1 of only 10 startups selected out of over 240 applications from 63 countries (2022)
  • Selected by international venture accelerator Creative Destruction Lab Atlantic / Ocean Stream Program (2022)
  • The Ocean Opportunity Lab: Invited as 1 of 10 biofouling solution innovators for the World Ocean Council Sustainable Ocean Week and Biofouling Challenge Pitch Fest, Barcelona, Spain (2022)

 

Alelopharma, INC.

https://alelo-pharma.com/

Dr. Rodrigo Fernandez-Valdivia headshot photoThe Fernandez-Valdivia laboratory of Biosystems Dynamics at WSU Pathology Department has developed a novel breakthrough and best-in-class molecular detection technology for ultra-precision genetic diagnostics with superiority criteria over current conventional methods. The novel platform is universally compatible with any and all qPCR instrumentation, and has been clinically and analytically validated in SARS-CoV-2 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) molecular detection with an unprecedented 1-absolute copy per reacting assay LOD (limit-of-detection) and effective elimination of false positive/negative results.Image of DNA double helix

The technology has been recognized as one of the best technological innovations worldwide at the 2021 TechConnect's Covid-19 Sprint, was awarded a TDI-Advance Award from MEDC (Michigan Economic Development Corporation), selected recipient of a 2021 TechConnect Innovation Award and was key for the selection of Dr. Fernandez-Valdivia as one of TOP10 Hispanic Leaders changing the course of future medicine by the prestigious Newsweek enEspanol magazine.

WSU's Office of Business Innovation & Tech Commercialization has been very closely and diligently working with this innovation and have made possible the successful submission of a full patent application #17/512,246 to USPTO and its option licensing to WSU Spin Out AleloPharma, Inc. 

Case manager contact:  Ken Massey, Sr Director

 

Featured Startups

 

RetroSense Tech, LLC

In 2011, RetroSense Therapeutics, LLC, a Michigan-based company, announced that it has executed its exclusive, worldwide optionClose-up image of an eye and signed a license agreement for novel gene-therapy approaches (issued patent #'s 8,470,790 and 9,730,981) for treating blindness developed at Wayne State University's School of Medicine by Zhuo-Hua Pan, Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology in the School of Medicine, along with colleagues at Salus University in Pennsylvania. They developed the breakthrough therapy and follow-on approaches that offer promise to people suffering with incurable blindness caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) - retinal degenerative disorders that are currently incurable.

In 2016, Global pharma company Allergan plc acquired RetroSense Therapeutics LLC for 60 million dollars and is developing a novel gene therapy approach to restore vision in blind patients. The acquisition is a clear signal that the first-in-class therapy is seen as likely to reach the marketplace.

 

Ashvattha Therapeutics

https://avttx.com/

Ashvattha Therapeutics logoAshvattha Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech company developing novel hydroxyl dendrimer therapeuticsPhoto of Sujatha Kannan, M.B.B.S. (left) and Rangaramanujam M. Kannan, PhD, MS (right) (HDTs) targeting unmet medical needs in ophthalmology, neurology, inflammation and neuro-oncology. The hydroxyl dendrimer platform technology and the associated dendrimer-drug conjugates that formed the basis of Ashvattha (issued patent #9,526,794) were discovered and developed through the collaborative work of Rangaramanujam M Kannan, PhD, MS (previously Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science at WSU and currently Co-Director, Center for Nanomedicine Professor of Ophthalmology at John Hopkins University) and Sujatha Kannan's, M.B.B.S. (Co-Director, Center for Nanomedicine Professor of Ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins, research groups at Wayne State University and Johns Hopkins.) A joint exclusive license to the spin out, Ashvattha Therapeutics, was executed in 2016.

image of a moleculeHDs chemically conjugated to disease modifying drugs create novel proprietary HD therapeutics (HDTs) selectively targeting reactive inflammatory cells in disease tissue with localized sustained effects. Ashvattha has initiated multiple programs with HDTs focused on neurology, ocular neovascular disease including neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME), and hyperinflammation in diseases such as COVID-19.  In April of 2022, Ashvattha Therapeutics announced it has secured 69 million dollars in a Series B financing and in a separate agreement entered an exclusive licensing deal with Huadong Medicine.