Life Sciences : Innovation + Job News

Seven startups rake in $1.375M in Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA funding

Monday, August 06, 2012

Geothermal, software, medical devices and smart grid technology are among the areas funded by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, which announced $1.375 million in funding for seven Greater Philadelphia companies.

All seven recipients are based in the Philadelphia suburbs, according to a news release issued by BFTP-SEP on Monday:

• ARB Geowell, West Conshohocken ($125,000): The company uses a unique design to promote heat transfer for its geothermal heating/cooling platform, which offers higher energy efficiency and eliminates significant construction costs for commercial buildings, schools and developments.

• Brad’s Raw Chips, Pipersville ($100,000): Founder Brad Gruno wants others to discover the benefits of eating raw food like he did. He uses an advanced dehydration system to keep raw chips crunchy and tasty.

• Drakontas, Glenside ($250,000): The company provides mobile collaboration software solutions for police, military, fire, emergency response and public service teams. Its flagship DragonFroce product utilizes geo-tracking and shared media and files to help those teams act faster and enhance public safety.

• Kerathin, Chester ($200,000): The company previously received $150,000 from Ben Franklin for its PodiaPro nail debridement system for the diabetic population.

• OneTwoSee, Devon ($150,000): Formerly Mobile Reactor, the company targets television broadcasters and producers to help them deliver interactive TV experiences through connected devices.

• S4 Worldwide, Doylestown ($250,000): The company provides a variety of safety, security and regulatory solutions for drilling companies working in the Marcellus Shale.

• Tangent Energy Solutions, Kennett Square ($300,000): Commercial and industrial companies can save up to 20 percent on energy costs thanks to Tangent’s grid optimization technologies.

Source: Jaron Rhodes, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania
Writer: Joe Petrucci

Are Energy Commercialization Institute's investments approaching critical mass?

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Sometimes it's the small things that make a big difference in energy efficiency. The Energy Commercialization Institute awards grants to cleantech startups with a proven track record. Bird droppings on solar panels are a literal barrier to efficiency. Not something you think about, but it makes sense. Shu Yang, PhD., a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania and one of five recent ECI grant recipients, earned to develop a nonstick coating for photovoltaic cells.

ECI also funded Drexel profs Emin Caglan Kumbur, Ph.D and Yury Gogotsi, Ph.D for energy storage technology; Alexander Fridman, Ph.D, leading a Drexel University/Temple University team to create clean energy from biomass, coal and organic wastes; a new electrospinning/electrospraying process for energy fuel cells from Drexel's Yossef Elabd, Ph.D; and a Drexel/Penn initiative to create thin-film solar cells from Andrew Rappe, PhD. Total for the recent round was $500,000.

The ECI is funded by the State of Pennsylvania and created by a consortium that includes Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Drexel, Penn and Penn State.

It's a new focus on commercialization, says Tony Green, PhD., Director of the ECI as well as its forbear, the Nanotechnology Institute. "The NTI model led to the ECI model which led to EEB Hub," explains Green. "The difference is that NTI is based on a platform, while the ECI is an application." Rather than focus on nanotech, the ECI mission is not about any specific technology. "The buzz phrase is alternative and clean energy."

For the first time, says Green, the ECI is now getting metrics on commercialization, licenses and jobs created through ECI grants. While the state-funded NTI has a 10-year track record, Green and company are about to release a semiannual report that credits ECI with the creation of over 50 jobs in the last two years.

"We have already accrued almost 150 intellectual property assets, applications and issued patents," says Green. "We've executed 18 licenses and options. With only 700K project funding, we've created three startups in the last year, and that number is going to grow. Universities are doing a lot better at commercializing technology. ECI projects are not technologies that are basic research. The intellectual property already exists."

Green looks to MIT and UCSD as big names in higher ed tech commercialization. "We can do the same thing, but not through a single institution. It's a consortium." The cumulative capabilities are much greater, says Green. The ECI also works with small institutions like Fox Chase Cancer Research Center and Philadelphia University, where there might be one researcher doing groundbreaking work. "We want all boats to rise," adds Green.

Source: Anthony Green, ECI
Writer: Sue Spolan

Chasing elusive healthcare innovation: IBX Game Changers Challenge applications due soon

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Independence Blue Cross Game Changers Challenge is now accepting applications, and the window to enter closes on July 10. The idea is to link the muscle and financial power of big health care with the energy of startups in an effort to drive change.

"This is a huge opportunity," says Tom Olenzak, who, as a full-time consultant, is helping to run the Game Changers Challenge, which draws on the partnership of IBX, Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, the Department of Public Health of the City of Philadelphia, Venturef0rth, and ?What If! Innovation Partners.

Applicants have until July to submit proposals aimed at improving the overall health and wellness of the Greater Philadelphia region. New companies, applications, technology, products, programs, and services that promote health and wellness are all welcome to enter. The prize is $50,000 for up to three winners, who will be notified by the end of July.

"Health care legislation has forced people to think about change," says Olenzak. "We've been stuck in an employer based sales model."

While most individuals consider themselves insured by a particular company, insurers are actually built on a B2B model, selling to employers, not employees. That's why customer service at an insurer can be quite frustrating. It's not a detail most people consider while on hold trying to get information about a claim.

Making change in healthcare is daunting, even to a seasoned professional like Olenzak, who's been in healthcare IT for 20 years, and reports that innovation in healthcare has always been the next big market.

Olenzak sees the regulatory process as a barrier to innovation. "There's been a ton of innovation on the care side," but not on the business side, adds Olenzak. "The challenge in health care is that open and transparent transactions are almost unheard of."

With an economy that continues to struggle, and cuts in reimbursement, Olenzak says healthcare focused acclerators are on the rise around the country, and points to Blueprint Health in New York, Rock Health in San Francisco, and Chicago Health Tech.

Here in Philadelphia, Venturef0rth hosted the first ever Startup Weekend Health at the beginning of this month, and there are plans in the works for a Philadelphia based health care accelerator, details of which cannot yet be disclosed.

"Once you start pulling on one thread, you find it's attached to 16 more," says Olenzak of the complicated field of health care innovation. "We're at a stage where we need a larger platform like an insurer or a health system to get involved to make a difference."

Source: Tom Olenzak, IBX Game Changers Challenge
Writer: Sue Spolan

QuickSee MD wins Health Startup Weekend with on-demand care platform

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, June 05, 2012

The first-ever Startup Weekend Health yielded solid business ideas, most of which addressed the gap in communication between patients and care providers. The weekend's winner, QuickSee MD, was no exception.

Helping users choose appropriate on-demand medical care, the QuickSee team was an early pick by judge Kimberly Eberbach, VP of Wellness and Community Health at Independence Blue Cross. IBX, incidentally, was one of the sponsors of the weekend, held at Venturef0rth at 8th and Callowhill.

Also on the judging panel was Philly Startup Leaders President Bob Moul, a veteran of Startup Weekend judging, who reported that more so than normal, fledgling companies were very tightly clustered and the final debate to choose the winner got intense.

QuickSee MD is an obvious choice for IBX as a potential white label solution, and the startup will take part in the upcoming IBX Game Changers Challenge. QuickSee MD has many parallels to iTriage, a Denver-based startup formed in 2008, and purchased by Aetna. QuickSee also won the honor of audience favorite, as determined by the decibel level of cheers on an iPhone app. QuickSee has set up a twitter account but has not yet tweeted, and has no active website as of this writing.

"There is almost a religious feeling here," said Jarrett Bauer, CEO of Basic Health, a soon to be launched startup. This was Bauer's first Startup Weekend. While he ultimately decided to remain a spectator, he was impressed with the fervor of the teams.

Second place went to HealthHereNow, a smartphone app that sends health oriented location based alerts, and Food Mood, an easy way to log mood before and after eating, took third. A total of 85 attendees teamed up to present ideas for 12 health care-related startups.

Other standouts included Stump The MD, a social website to crowdsource medical education with parallels to the legal education platform ApprenNet (out of Drexel Law); Beverage Buddy, aimed at curbing sugary drink intake and obesity, and CareProsper, which incentivizes patient data sharing.

On a related note, Venturef0rth continues to increase its ranks, and will soon announce the arrival of several recently funded, high-profile startups.

Source: Bob Moul, Elliot Menschik, Jarrett Bauer, Startup Weekend Health Philadelphia
Writer: Sue Spolan

RightCare wins Wharton Business Plan Competition

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Life sciences ruled at this year's Wharton Business Plan Competition, held April 25. RightCare Solutions won first place and will receive the $30,000 grand prize. Competing against seven other finalists, RightCare created D2S2, a discharge planning and readmission decision support system. The evidence-based tool was developed by Dr. Kathy Bowles, Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, and the business plan was written by Eric Heil, who graduates from the Executive Wharton MBA program this year.

"It was the topic of my senior thesis as an undergrad at Penn engineering in 2005. Kathy and I worked on it then, and she continued her research in the field and perfected the algorithms," says Heil. "We stayed in touch over the years, and given some of the changes in the reimbursement and regulatory landscape, we decided to create the tool to commercialize her research."

RightCare addresses a $30 billion problem in the United States: preventing readmission. Working with hospitals, insurers, and homecare agencies to identify patients at high risk for readmission, the tool was developed from a study led by Dr. Bowles using referral decisions made by discharge planning experts for 355 hospitalized older adults.

Used at the beginning of a hospital stay, D2S2 can help care coordinators identify high-risk patients quickly, and provide them enough time to coordinate the right care for high-need patients post-discharge to facilities such as home-care, skilled nursing, rehab, or a nursing home. Beta testing is now underway at three hospital systems, according to Heil, and D2S2 is scheduled for national implementation this summer.

Second prize at the Business Plan Competition went to 1DocWay, an online doctor’s office connecting hospitals with underserved patient populations, including the rural, elderly and disabled, via a secure video chat platform. Samir Malik, who graduates from Wharton next year, was the lead on the business plan development team.

In third place was Calcula which is developing urological medical devices for the removal of kidney stones without anesthesia. The People's Choice Award winner was ChondroPro, which is developing therapeutic technology to treat osteoarthritis. By the way, Heil says the health care focus of the finalists and winners was happenstance.

Previous winners of the Wharton Business Plan Competition include Warby-Parker and Stylitics.

Source: Eric Heil, RightCare
Writer: Sue Spolan

Announcing the world's first Healthcare Startup Weekend, to take place in Philadelphia on June 1

Flying Kite Media Thursday, April 05, 2012

While Philadelphia Startup Weekend prepares for the sold out 3.0 edition, organizers have just announced Startup Weekend Health Philadelphia.

The first of its kind in the world, the June 1 event will take place at Venturef0rth and is co-organized by Elliot Menschik, who already possesses a background that blends entrepreneurship and medicine.

Menschik gets an increasing number of calls from healthcare colleagues seeking tech solutions. He says, "Healthcare so lags behind the pace of change in mobile and analytics. As soon as you step into the healthcare domain all that efficiency and convenience goes out the window. Both practitioners and consumers experience this on a daily basis."

Menschik, who founded and sold the startup HxTechnologies, says this lag is the reason he got into healthcare IT in the first place. "There's so much opportunity and it's why it deserves its own weekend."

Philadelphia is just the place for the specialty startup weekend due to its position in both the medical past and present. He writes in the event blog, "From the biopharma corridor to world-class hospitals, medical schools, research institutions, health plans, associations and non-profits, you’d be hard pressed to find another city so immersed in all things medical. So it’s only fitting that Startup Weekend hold its first-ever Healthcare-only Startup Weekend in the same place as the nation’s first hospital (1751), first medical school (1765), and many other firsts."

Also, Menschik is hoping that potential sponsors, which would include providers, hospitals, insurance providers, and CROs, would not just kick in money, but would send a rep to present a problem. "Ultimately we would like to have sponsors who will alpha or beta test products. The hardest thing is getting a place to test in a field where customers are so conservative," says Menschik.

Meanwhile, the already sold out Philly Startup Weekend 3.0, the general all purpose edition, will take place April 20-22 at The University of the Arts. Says co-organizer Brad Oyler of this year's improvements, "We are switching from mentors to coaches as an experiment to get coaches more involved with Startup Weekend teams, and we are going for a more social version this time, with a nightly team bonding event outside of the venue." Oyler thinks PHLSW 3.0 will be orders of magnitude better than 2.0 in October, 2011.

Source: Elliot Menschik, Brad Oyler, Philadelphia Startup Weekend
Writer: Sue Spolan

Drexel engineers music, 3D technology innovations with separate Philly institutions

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Drexel University looks at the entire region as an extension of its campus. Ideas flow like steam beneath Philadelphia's streets. Two professors in different departments are heading multidisciplinary teams that merge new technology with Philadelphia traditions.

In collaboration with the Academy of Natural Sciences, the plan to print 3D dinosaurs has already gained national attention. In the area of music technology, Professor Youngmoo Kim is developing the first app to do real time annotation of Philadelphia Orchestra performances. The Drexel-generated iOS orchestra app will be the first of its kind in the world.

Paleontologist Ken Lacovara is in the process of reanimating dinosaurs. Before you jump to the obvious Jurassic Park conclusion, there are a lot of steps in between. Lacovara, a paleontologist, has teamed up with Dr. James Tangorra in Drexel's College of Engineering to scan and print out 3D dinosaur bones.

Also on board is Drexel Mechanical Engineering prof Sorin Siegler, whose focus is biomechanics. "We don’t really know exactly how dinosaurs moved," says Lacovara, who wonders how a creature weighing 60 to 80 tons could move and trot. Not to mention lay an egg.

With a birth canal opening at two and a half stories in the air, and an egg the size of a volleyball, Lacovara wonders how the massive dino would withstand the stress of squatting and getting up. With the help of his colleagues, creating 3D models and working out the biomechanics will answer literally tons of questions.

Over in Drexel's METLab, whch stands for Music, Entertainment and Technology, Youngmoo Kim takes a break from a robotics demonstration to talk about his collaboration with The Philadelphia Orchestra. It started a few years ago, when Kim made his students sit through a classical concert. "Those without classical training said, yeah, that was nice, but I didn't get it," recalls Kim. It was around the same time the iPhone came out, so he and students undertook a project to create an app that would tell listeners about the performance in real time.

It was such a hit that Kim and students applied for and won the Knight Arts Challenge. While Kim cannot be specific about the date of the public rollout, he says it will be within the year. Perhaps the launch will coincide with the orchestra's 2012-2013 season opener this fall, but Kim remains mum.

Kim also says that not every concert will have an accompanying app, so concertgoers who find smartphone use distasteful can choose performances without the tech overlay.

"There used to be a brouhaha over supertitles at the opera," says Kim, who has dual training in music and engineering. "Ten to twenty years later no one cares. If you go to an opera now and there are no subtitles, something seems wrong. Likewise, 10 to 20 years from now, no one will care if someone uses a phone at the symphony."

Source: Ken Lacovara, Youngmoo Kim, Drexel University
Writer: Sue Spolan

Vascular Magnetics' $7M Series A round shows impact of Science Center's QED program, company's team

Richard Woodward Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Fresh off a $7 million round of Series A financing, Richard Woodward says without hesitation that the company he co-founded, Vascular Magnetics, would not exist without the first-of-its-kind QED Proof of Concept Funding Program at the University City Science Center.

A veteran executive from the biotech sector with extensive startup and early stage experience, Woodward was semi-retired and consulting in 2009 when he learned about the QED program, which assesses white papers on promising technologies and links the best with a business advisor and the possibility of funding. In the case of Vascular Magnetics, Woodward was paired with Dr. Robert J. Levy of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and they were awarded $200,000 by the QED program in 2010. The result was CHOP’s first spin-out company, focused on developing its proprietary, magnetically targeted drug delivery system for the treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD).

“I was joking with my wife that this would have been a whole lot easier when I was 40,” Woodward says. “She said that when I was 40, I wouldn’t have had any idea what to do.”

In one respect, Woodward has come full circle with CHOP. His daughter had a medical condition that incapacitated her for her a couple years and a physician from CHOP helped contain the ailment, allowing Woodward’s daughter to pursue a career working for another children’s hospital.

“Dr. Levy, I have so much respect for that man,” says Woodward, the COO, of the company’s founding scientist. “He’s brilliant and a very prolific inventor, with something on the order of 31 issued patents. He probably has another 30 in various stages of the application process.

“It’s fairly rare to find an academic like that.”

The entire Series A round was funded by Wayne-based Devon Park Bioventures, whose general partners Christopher Moller and Marc Ostro will join the Vascular Magnetics board and rounds out a compelling case study of the potential of Greater Philadelphia's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Funds will allow the company to complete clinical trials, which are expected to begin in 2014. While the company will stay “aggressively virtual,” according to Woodward, there’s a good chance it will hire up to two more individuals. Also, the company is planning on maintaining workspace in the Science Center’s Port Business Incubator.

PAD effects about 30 million in Europe and North America, including 10 million in the U.S. Vascular Magnetics’ system aims to provide a more durable and effective treatment than angioplasty, grafts and drug eluting stents. It does this by combining biodegradeable, magnetic drug-loaded particles, a magnetic targeting catheter and an external device for creating a uniform magnetic field.

Woodward says some of Levy’s team at CHOP will be involved as consultants.

“These are some of the people that have developed the whole system. It’s important to have them around.”

Writer: Joe Petrucci
Source: Richard Woodward, Vascular Magnetics

Photos courtesy of Vascular Magnetics
Richard Woodward
Dr. Robert Levy

From ashes to microbes in Glen Mills: Organic lawn nutrient maker Holganix projects $3M in revenue

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 21, 2012

It's not Texas tea, but it's worth its weight in gold. Holganix, based in Glen Mills, Delaware County, has developed a sustainable and organic turf nutrient system derived from compost tea with a secret living ingredient: microbes. Holganix just received $200,000 in funding from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, following a previous $250,000 funding round in February 2011 for its environmentally safe holistic and organic lawn fertilizer.

Today, Holganix, which employs 17, celebrates its second anniversary. Founded in 2010, the company made $200,000 its first year, and projects revenues of $3 million in 2012, according to founder and CEO Barrett Ersek.

Those lush green campus lawns and rolling golf courses come at a high price to the environment, sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides which then run off into local waterways.

Ersek says his environmentally benign product dramatically reduces a major source of runoff pollution by eliminating the need for conventional pesticides and herbicides. He points to a dead zone the size of New Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico, which was brought about by chemical runoff from the Mississippi River.

The secret in the Holganix formula is life. The lawn care spray actually contains beneficial microorganisms made without animal or human by-products. Right now, the liquid product requires refrigeration prior to application, and Ersek says his team is also working on a granulated formula, which will capture the other 50% of the lawn care market.

Ersek says the first round of Ben Franklin funding went to a validation study conducted at three universities. North Carolina State, Penn State and Purdue University all reported dramatic reduction, up to 88%, in the need to add nitrogen as a fertilizer following Holganix treatment. The Holganix formula also attacks weeds, drastically reducing the need for pesticides.

Ersek reports that his primary customer base is in the mid-Atlantic, with a rapidly growing clientele among the Amish and Mennonite communities, who appreciate the all natural formula. Holganix is also making its way south, now negotiating with companies in Florida. Holganix is primarily a B2B distributor, but also deals directly with large institutions.

The potential market for an organic lawn care product is huge. According to Ersek, there are 44 million acres of manicured turf in the US, and over a million acres of golf courses. The Holganix formula may also be applied to shrubs and crops.

The idea for the business literally rose from the ashes. Ersek, who had built and sold two lawn care companies, had stockpiled fertilizer in 2008, anticipating a 60% price spike. The warehouse went up in flames. "One of our core values is gratitude," says Ersek. "Look for greater potential in every situation. You can't control what happens to you. If you respond with gratitude, you'll be OK. The loss forced me to find a better alternative."

Source: Barrett Ersek, Holganix
Writer: Sue Spolan

Got entrepreneurial pain? Wharton provides soothing relief at upcoming conference

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, February 07, 2012

There are a couple of phrases that accompany just about every entrepreneurial gathering, and "pain point" is a biggie. On February 17, The Wharton School will host the all day conference, Turning Pain Points into Opportunity. Miriam Raisner, conference VP and a Wharton MBA candidate herself, says the gathering is meant to broaden the idea of entrepreneurship.

It's not all about the app. While most people these days equate start ups with high tech, Raisner says brick and mortar is still an avenue for entrepreneurs, and she cites recent efforts in the world of fashion (like Kembrel, created by Wharton students), as well as in health and wellness. Each of those topics will have its own panel of experts at the conference, and Veeral Rathod, co-founder and president of men's apparel company J. Hilburn will be one of the keynote speakers.

Raisner is also excited by a panel that teaches people to monetize their expertise, either as a speaker, a consultant, or by creating a business. "It's really helpful for people to have a frame of reference as to how different types of businesses grow," says Raisner, who says participants in the conference's shark tank will get critical feedback from venture capitalists, and possibly even get funding. There's also a startup fair, with fifty companies signed up so far.

Raisner expects around 400 attendees to the 16th annual conference which will be held in Center City at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, with reduced rates for members of the Entrepreneurship Club, students and Penn alumni.

Source: Miriam Raisner, Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania
Writer: Sue Spolan

DreamIt startup accelerator in Israel to be first-of-its-kind hybrid program

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, January 24, 2012

It is now time to look toward the land of milk and honey for the latest in tech. "Israel is famous for its technology innovation, though many companies have difficulty expanding into the US and global markets," says Mitchell Golner, Managing Partner of DreamIt Israel, the latest expansion of the Philadelphia based startup accelerator. After adding a New York City program in 2011, DreamIt Ventures goes global in 2012.

On January 17, applications opened up for Israeli entrepreneurs. Noelle McHugh, DreamIt's office manager, says companies have already started applying, and DreamIt expects to choose five Israeli startups to accompany 10 US-based entrepreneurs this summer in Manhattan.

Golner, who has been living in Israel, says DreamIt has been interested in developing a program in the Israel market for a while. "We are focused on helping Israeli startups expand in the US and in global markets. We will consider a wide array of companies that can fit the lean startup model. Most are in the Internet and mobile space and include B2B an B2C businesses." According to Golner, the new program is a hybrid and the first of its kind in Israel. DreamIt Israel will be based in the environs of Tel Aviv. A specific location has not yet been announced.

Companies will spend one month in Israel and then travel to the US to spend three months in New York. "After the NYC program, when the companies return to Israel, they are offered a workspace for up to 2 months," adds Golner. "The curriculum, coaching, community, and other fundamental aspects of the DreamIt program are consistent across the Israeli program and the NYC program, with specific curriculum elements for the Israeli startups in the first month."

The deadline to apply to the program is early March. The Israel program begins April 15, and participants start the New York segment on May 14, returning home in mid August. There will be two demo days for the overseas participants: one in New York and one back home. The Israel program wraps up in October.

Source: Mitchell Golner, Noelle McHugh, DreamIt Ventures
Writer: Sue Spolan

Disaster plan: Philly startup Near-Miss Management is a guaranteed hit

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, January 24, 2012

It would be incredibly useful to predict disasters before they happen. That's the goal of Near-Miss Management, a new company co-founded by Ulku Oktem and Ankur Pariyani, who met at the University of Pennsylvania, where Oktem taught and Pariyani received his PhD.

Suppose the BP Gulf oil spill could have been prevented. Or the disaster in Bhopal. Oktem and Pariyani have created the remarkable, patent pending, Dynamic Risk Predictor Suite, comprised of three software programs and four add-ons that are able to predict major problems before they happen, saving billions of dollars annually.

"It's an area I started to work on more than 10 years ago," recalls Oktem, who is a senior research fellow at the Wharton School in the Risk Management and Decision Processes Center. "We started out focusing on personal near misses." For example, if a worker slips, but doesn't fall down, that's considered a near miss and an indicator of future problems.

Oktem says the science of close calls has been gaining momentum. It was her work with the chemical industry that sparked an interest in practical applications of a problem that was previously in the realm of academic theory. "Near misses are a leading indicator of accidents," says Oktem. If you look back at unfolding events in the aftermath, adds Pariyani, there will always be several near misses leading up to any major accident.

The software suite Near-Miss Management has developed is designed initially to address issues in the chemical industry, and will easily apply to a wide range of businesses, including airlines, pharmaceuticals, energy, defense, finance and insurance.

"We expect that once our software is running in a few plants, it will catch on very fast," says Oktem, who cites an annual loss of about $10 billion in the chemical industry due to accidents and unexpected shutdowns. "People who are responsible for risk management of chemical plants are a close knit group. The key is getting the first few companies, and we expect to do that this year."

The bootstrapped Near-Miss Management, based in Center City, includes three on the management team and five programmers. Near-Miss Management will demonstrate its software tomorrow at the upcoming Philly Tech Meetup at the Quorum of the University City Science Center.

Source: Ulku Oktem, Ankur Pariyani, Near-Miss Management
Writer: Sue Spolan

Science Center-housed biotech startup Ossianix a shark of innovation, hiring 10

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The shark, it turns out, has an immune system worthy of human envy. Biotech startup Ossianix, located at the University City Science Center, is developing groundbreaking immune system treatments based on antibodies found specifically in the shark. "In terms of evolutionary biology, the shark has one of the the simplest immune systems. It is a much smaller antibody structure than in humans, but still very potent," says Ossianix founder and CEO Frank Walsh. "You can engineer that structure to attack a whole variety of pathologies."

Ossianix just announced a strategic investment by global pharmaceutical giant H. Lundbeck A/S in the form of a Convertible Promissory Note. While the exact dollar amount has not been disclosed, Walsh says the investment will cover the next three years in the life of his very early stage research company. Ossianix hopes to grow to 10 employees by the end of 2012. Walsh is also seeking standard funding from several pharmaceuticals.

After leaving Wyeth following its takeover by Pfizer, Walsh decided to start his own company, naming it after Ossian, a mythological Celtic figure. Says Walsh, "When you start a company, you can come up with a name aligned with the technology, or something unaligned so if you change strategic direction, you don't have to change the name."

The product Ossianix hopes to generate will be made entirely of synthetic compounds based on the naturally occurring structures in the shark. Walsh reports that while there have been a number of academic studies focusing on shark antibodies, Ossianix is the only biotech pursuing the application from a therapeutic point of view.

The shark based antibody is applicable to a variety of diseases, says Walsh, and initial research is two areas. "The first is being able to deliver antibodies to the brain in much higher concentrations than can be achieved by current technologies. There's a lot of interest in the pharmaceutical industry to attack the processes in Alzheimer's, MS and Parkinson's disease. Central nervous system disorders are a major area of focus," says Walsh. The second area is in ALS research, creating a strategy to build muscle to combat the loss of power associated with the ailment also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

As far as larger trends in pharmaceutical research, Walsh says that for the first time in decades, R&D spending at pharmaceuticals like Pfizer is on the decrease. As a result, the big players are becoming much more dependent on outside companies for early innovation. "For me, that's one of the exciting things about starting Ossianix, building a credible small company in that early space."

Source: Frank Walsh, Ossianix
Writer: Sue Spolan

Better patient, better treatment with launch of Wilmington's Kurbi

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Wes Garnett knows all about multiple sclerosis. "My mom was diagnosed eight years ago, then my great uncle was diagnosed a year later, and his daughter a year after that." Garnett has created Kurbi, a web-based & mobile optimized personal health record that allows users to record daily symptoms and share data with healthcare providers.

Currently, Kurbi is in the prototype phase, and will officially launch at this month's Philly Tech Meetup. Garnett saw a need for the standardization of symptom reporting. "Time with the doctor is really short. Patients have to recall all of what happened since their last visit. They don't always have the words to describe their symptoms."

Kurbi, instead, provides a detailed daily account of illness. "One of the main reasons we started with MS is that it is really unpredictable. It's a multi-system disrupter. It can affect cognition, vision, and balance at same time. The next day the patient has no problems, then the day after, there are problems with the bladder, hearing, and vertigo. Symptoms can last a day, a week, or two weeks."

In this early version, Kurbi offers patients daily notification and a symptom questionnaire to complete, which is then scored. Symptoms and their severity can be tracked over time, and compiled data is presented to the physician at scheduled visits.

At the moment, Garnett wants to offer Kurbi free to patients, and says the company plans on a fee-based recommendation engine. The obvious funding channel for Kurbi is the pharmaceuticals that manufacture medications for chronic conditions, but Garnett approaches the possibility of advertising and partnerships with care. "People like my mom are spending a thousand dollars a year on medicine. Before we enter into relationships with pharmaceuticals, we want to give a fair shake to our users."

Kurbi, adapted from the name of a talking parrot, came out of a Startup Weekend in Delaware. Garnett and partners live and work in Wilmington.

Source: Wes Garnett, Kurbi
Writer: Sue Spolan

Startup activity gains momentum in 2011

Flying Kite Media Tuesday, December 20, 2011

It's the classic impulse: make lemonade out of economic lemons. 2011 was the year of the startup. When the job market slumped, ingenuity kicked in, and entrepreneurs had places to gather. The Quorum at the University City Science Center opened to provide a common space for entrepreneurs, hosting events like Philly Tech Meetup, which drew increasing crowds to its monthly demos of startups.

Along with the Science Center's continued support of entrepreneurs, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania provided funding for many local companies including AboutOne. BFTP's Navy Yard neighbor GPIC has stepped in to centralize the future of energy efficiency.

Bob Moul, of Dell Boomi, took the helm at Philly Startup Leaders, which is re-tooling its mission while putting together a pair of fruitful Philly Startup Weekends.

DreamIt Ventures 2011 gave a boost to 14 fledgling companies, including frontrunners Cloudmine, ElectNext, SnipSnap, Metalayer, and Spling, all to remain in Philadelphia. Yasmine Mustafa, a past DreamIt participant, and most recently a Philadev Ventures member, recently sold her startup 123LinkIt to national content syndication network Netline.

Writer: Sue Spolan