Digital Health, Therapeutics Startups Selected for George Shultz Innovation Fund Finals

The George Shultz Innovation Fund invests up to $250,000 in promising startups. (Image credit: iStock.com/smshoot)

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago has announced the companies selected for the 2022 fall cohort of the George Shultz Innovation Fund.

Managed by the Polsky Center, the George Shultz Innovation Fund provides up to $250,000 in co-investment funding for early-stage tech ventures coming out of the University of ChicagoArgonne National LaboratoryFermilab, and the Marine Biological Laboratory.

“Venture creation and support inherently demands passion,” said Ozge Guney Altay, director, of investment strategy at the Polsky Center, “and it is passion that drives our programmatic efforts and enables us to position our deep tech ventures for success.”

The mission is to help researchers turn their innovations into ventures that advance cutting-edge technologies, generate significant financial returns, and create lasting impact for humankind.

The four participating teams will receive guidance and dedicated support from the Polsky Center, business experts, an advisory committee, and student Innovation Fund Associates who are training in venture capitalism.

The 2022 fall cohort includes:

Alnair Therapeutics // Alnair Therapeutics is developing a highly specific lactate-targeted drug delivery platform for precision oncology.

  • Team: Xiaoyang Wu, CEO and CSO (associate professor in the Ben May Department of Cancer Research); Emily Chen, CFO (Booth MBA)

INOFFA Therapeutics // INOFFA Therapeutics is developing a technology based on human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells to restore the natural ovarian function for women with Primary Ovarian Insufficiency.

  • Team: Ayman Al-Hendy, CEO and science lead (professor of obstetrics and gynecology); Mohammad Ghasroldasht, COO (postdoctoral research scholar at Al-Hendy Lab); Farzana Begum Liakath Ali, CSO (postdoctoral research scholar at Al-Hendy Lab); Hiba Alkelani, CMO (clinical research coordinator at Al-Hendy Lab).

Riptide Therapeutics // Riptide Therapeutics is developing a novel therapeutic that targets telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) as a therapy sensitizer for cancer treatments.

  • Team: Stephen Kron, science lead (professor of molecular genetics and cell biology; Grant Frost, business lead and lead chemist (postdoctoral fellow at Kron Lab); Karl Scheidt, science lead (professor, Department of Chemistry and Department of Pharmacology at Northwestern University)

Adiona // Adiona is a digital health startup that uses novel algorithms developed at UChicago to translate wearable data into insights on symptoms that can help family members more easily care for someone with dementia at home.

  • Team: Jim Mastrianni, chief medical officer and science lead (professor of neurology at UChicago Hospital and director of UChicago Memory Center); Josh Kim, CEO and business lead (student, UChicago Economics, Dougan Scholar at Booth); Varun Patel, COO (alumni, UChicago Molecular Engineering and Neuroscience; MS student, UCSF/Berkeley Translational Medicine); Katherine Sylvester, CTO (student, Yale Statistics and Data Science)

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