Ikaika Therapeutics is exploiting genetic modifiers to identify novel targets associated with fibrotic diseases.  The company was founded by Dr. Elizabeth McNally, a prominent KOL in the muscular dystrophy (MD) space and is leveraging years of expertise with first-in-class biologics (therapeutic antibodies) to treat MD and other fibrotic conditions.

Dr. McNally and her collaborator Dr. Alexis Demonbrun out of Northwestern University have developed specifically generated animal models including MD and LGMD (limb girdle muscular dystrophy), as well as human derived organoids and have access to an extensive population of MD patients.

They are currently working in collaboration with their development partner Adimab, to select a novel clinical candidate for DMD (Duchenne muscular dystrophy). They are looking for preclinical development partners and CROs to support them with their IND ready data collection and package and subsequent clinical development plan.

GENEIUS Biotechnology was founded by Alfred Slanetz, former President and CEO of bluebird bio (NASDAQ: BLUE). The company is focused on the development and commercialization of innovative autologous, adoptive T-cell therapies. GENEIUS is developing a platform for transformative personalized targeted T cell therapies for cancers to unleash the patient’s immune response, and deliver a more robust response compared to current treatments. GENEIUS’s Targeted DiversiTy™ platform is designed to re-educate the patient’s natural T cells to become more responsive to multiple tumor specific antigens that were previously overlooked by  their immune system. This process delivers a specific and durable immune response that is less susceptible to tumor immune evasion. This re-education of the patient’s T cells without genetic engineering is more effectively done outside of the patient’s body in a lab process designed by GENEIUS.

Grove Biopharma is a biotech company, pioneering a new drug modality platform at the interface of precision polymer science, protein engineering, and medicinal chemistry. Grove’s proprietary Protein-Like Polymers™ (PLPs) are synthetic biologics that can be customized in terms of peptide sequence, valency, functionality, and molecular weight to engage intracellular targets with large, disordered interaction domains. PLPs designed to engage targets in neurodegenerative disease (KEAP1-NRF2) and oncology (MYC) demonstrate up to 1000-fold improvement in binding vs. native peptide building blocks, penetrate cells and the blood-brain barrier, and exhibit 4-7 day elimination half-life with no signs of in vivo toxicity or acute immunogenicity.

Floreo is the leading research-backed virtual reality behavioral therapy system, with a vision for a world that is open and accessible for every neurodiverse person. Inspired by the founder’s son who is on the autism spectrum, Floreo aims to deliver affordable access to an ever-growing catalog of science-backed virtual reality (VR) content  for neurodiverse Learners to enterprise customers and families across a wide variety of developmental delays including autism, ADHD, and anxiety. The company’s mission is to create the first behavioral therapy metaverse, a virtual world that is safe for learners, equipping them with skills and tools they can apply in their everyday lives. Floreo has developed a VR platform that teaches social, behavioral, communication and life skills for Learners with many neurodiverse conditions, equipping them with skills and tools they can apply in their day-to-day lives.

Winterlight Labs was founded in Toronto, Canada by an experienced team that specializes in computational linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and machine learning. The team have developed a proprietary, tablet-based technology that assesses cognitive health (including memory, thinking, and reasoning) by analyzing hundreds of language markers from short snippets of speech. Winterlight’s technology, features and algorithms can be used in health research to help identify disease, track change over time, monitor disease severity, and detect response to treatment. The technology has been used to study neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases and disorders, including Alzheimer’s Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Frontotemporal Dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, Depression, Schizophrenia and more. These biomarkers are currently being used by 5 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies and increasingly by digital health companies like Pear Therapeutics.

mHUB’s Product Impact Fund I is a $15M Venture Fund investing in seed and early-stage physical product and hardware startups. The fund also supports an annual, 6-month program that fast-tracks high potential startups through hands-on product development in state-of-the-art prototyping facility supported by world-class corporate and venture investors. mHUB Chicago is a leading independent hardware innovation and entrepreneurial center, where people come to build the physical technologies that will change the physical world. Through prototyping labs, industry partnerships, and a commitment to US manufacturing, the mHUB ecosystem is changing the landscape of HardTech development.