Livestream
Agenda
—
8:30 – 9:00 a.m.: Registration
9:00 – 9:20 a.m.: Welcome & Opening Remarks
- Jay Schrankler, Associate Vice President and Head of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- Ozge Guney Altay, Director, Investment Strategy, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
9:20 – 11:00 a.m.: Finalist Startup Pitches and Q&A from the GSIF Advisory Committee
- 9:20 – 9:45 a.m.: Decimal Code Pitch
- 9:45 – 10:10 a.m.: PersonaDx
- 10:10 – 10:35 a.m.: Blackcurrant
- 10:35 – 11:00 a.m.: NovaXS
Team Descriptions
// PersonaDx has discovered the first biomarker for identifying patients with potentially curative metastasis in individuals with liver metastasis from colorectal cancer. The PersonaDx mission is to apply its patented computational artificial intelligence methods to all solid human tumors thereby completely revolutionizing the predictive and therapeutic landscape in cancer therapy.
The testing platform benefits are three-fold: identification of patients who are potentially curable with ablative interventions; delineation of which patients benefit from immediate chemotherapy and can be spared a dangerous surgery; and discovery of potential therapeutic targets to treat adverse risk patients.
The startup has validated its findings in patients treated in a randomized clinical trial and published the results in major medical journals. The testing platform will launch in 2023.
Founders:
- Kevin Donnelly, CEO
- Sean Pitroda, CMO, assistant professor of radiation and cellular oncology, UChicago
- Ralph Weichselbaum, CSO, Daniel K. Ludwig Distinguished Service Professor of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, Chair, Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, UChicago
// Blackcurrant is a groundbreaking startup addressing the hydrogen market’s challenges, including limited price visibility, time-consuming contracts, unmet hydrogen demand, inadequate buyer adoption tools, and fragmented demand visibility for producers. Its smart marketplace streamlines hydrogen transactions, reducing costs and time for all parties involved.
The unique platform brings hydrogen producers, transporters, and buyers together, offering a price and volume discovery tool that provides accurate market pricing and introduces the world’s first hydrogen index. This increased transparency enables well-informed decision-making and enhances market efficiency.
Blackcurrant’s platform also incorporates payment processing and a transportation portal, reducing the burden on procurement teams for buyers and sales and business development teams for sellers. This integrated approach significantly shortens contract negotiation and logistics coordination time. A standout feature of our platform is the publication of carbon intensity for each trade, allowing customers to capitalize on the $3 per kg credit from the Inflation Reduction Act for trading green hydrogen.
Founders:
- Akshay Thakur, MBA ’24, CEO
- Yaroslav Kharkov, CTO
- Oleg Ryzhkov, MBA ’12, COO
// Decimal Code helps healthcare providers capture underbilled revenue through their patented machine learning and natural language processing algorithm that automates automated CPT coding.
Using a natural language processing machine learning algorithm, Decimal Code reads operative notes to determine the correct procedural billing codes. The core technology is built on over 15 million procedural cases spanning 50 hospital systems. Decimal Code is currently focused on CPT coding for prior authorizations, surgery, and anesthesiology.
Founders:
- Joey Panella, MBA ’24, CEO
- Michael Burns, CMO
- John Vandervest, CTO
// NovaXS Biotech is a medical device startup developing a smart needle-free drug delivery platform that helps patients optimize the medication self-administration process and improve medication adherence.
Over 40% of patients are not adherent to their chronic disease treatment, especially for injectable drugs due to fear of needles, negative side effects, high administration errors, and poor management. Backed by Baxter, Techstars, and institutional VCs, NovaXS Biotech is disrupting the drug delivery industry and providing patients with a better tool to manage their daily injectables.
Our patent-pending smart needle-free drug delivery platform allows patients to self-administer medications subcutaneously or intramuscularly without a needle and tracks long-term treatment progress.
Founders:
- Alina Su, CEO
- Jonathan Xing, MBA ’23, COO
- Alex Zou, CTO
Advisory Committee
—
A full description of the Advisory Committee is available here.
ROBERT ALTMAN, MBA ’88, PHD
Member of the Board of Directors, Toltec Pharmaceuticals
KEN BRADLEY
President and CEO, PixelEXX Systems, Inc.
MUS CHAGAL, MBA ’97
Executive Chair, Great Lakes Crystal Technologies
COLEMAN COLLINS
Product, Design and Strategy, IonQ
NII DODOO-AMOO, MBA, PHD
Investor, Osage University Partners
DOUG GIVEN, MD, PHD
CEO, Health2047; Managing Partner, G5 Partners
STEVE GOULD, MD
Founder and Principal, The Gould Consulting Group
FRANK GRECO
Executive IT Architect, AI and Machine Learning, IBM
ANIA LABNO, PHD
Operating Executive, KKR
SCOTT MEADOW, MBA
Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship, Chicago Booth School of Business
BELA MEHTA, MBA
Managing Partner, CITG Capital
ALEX MUNNS, MBA
Assistant Portfolio Management, Driehaus Capital Management
ARMANDO PAUKER, MBA
Managing Director and Co-founder, Tensility Venture Partners
CHARLES POLSKY, MD ’96
Vice President and Director, William Harris Investors
MARTIN SANDERS, MD
Life Sciences Entrepreneur
BRIAN TOLLIVER, MBA
Founder and Principal, Triple Edge Consulting
SCOTT WALBRUN, MBA ’19
Principal, BMW iVentures