Spring Cohort Finalists Selected for the UChicago Innovation Fund

The University of Chicago Innovation Fund has announced the five companies moving on to the spring finals. Each of the finalists will present their ventures to the Innovation Fund advisory committee and audience at the Polsky Exchange on Wednesday, May 31. The Innovation Fund is a $20 million fund that invests in proof-of-concept and early business development work for viable new startups created by faculty and students.

Learn more about the spring cohort companies that will present:

ClostraBio is a preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to ending the burden and anxiety of living with food allergies. ClostraBio leverages recent discoveries in the microbiome – the trillions of bacteria and other microbes living in and on people – to create new drugs that prevent allergic reactions to food. ClostraBio is led by a world-renowned team of researchers and business experts from the University of Chicago, and has been featured in premier scientific journals.

Switched Source provides advanced hardware solutions to electrical utilities that make their operations more efficient and reliable, while increasing their capability to host more renewable energy on the grid. Switched Source is led by a team that has deep domain experience in the electricity and power electronics space.

Eysa is a platform which uses nanotechnology for improved disease diagnoses. Esya’s breakthrough imaging technology scans live cells, simultaneously measuring key chemicals in specific regions, to rapidly distinguish whether cells are healthy or diseased. By applying it to regions called lysosomes in cells, they can diagnose a whole range of lysosomal disorders from a blood draw and dramatically speed up testing.

O2M Technologies is a preclinical stage medical device company developing novel magnetic resonance oxygen imaging instrumentation and methodologies for cancer radiation treatment targeting. The O2M team uses oxygen information to specifically attack radiation resistant cancer tissues and avoid unnecessary damage to other areas which reduces post-treatment complications and improves cancer treatment success. The O2M team is a mix of practicing oncologists and imaging professionals with expertise in cancer biology, instrumentation and software development.

AVnovum is developing a new class of antimicrobial peptides that maintains healthy fungal microbiomes by preventing virulence and infection.  AVnovum works through mechanisms that specifically target virulent but not health-promoting microbes. AVnovum is driven by a diverse team of research scientists and advisors with scientific, entrepreneurial, and business backgrounds, who are dedicated to improving patient outcomes in those with diabetes, immunodeficiencies, and immunosuppression.

*The UChicago Innovation Fund was renamed the George Shultz Innovation Fund in recognition of the honorable George P. Shultz.