Science Commercialization Advisors (SCA) is a program that provides the opportunity for industry experts and leaders to engage with UChicago researchers and ventures to help them determine their next step to commercialization or go to market. Members of SCA will participate in six meetings throughout the calendar year where four of these meetings will focus on early-stage technologies and two will highlight new ventures being supported by the Polsky Center.
During these meetings, the advisors will have the opportunity to provide feedback to the teams on their critical assumptions, technical and business development milestones, help connect teams with potential business leads or CEO candidates and identify possible future investment opportunities. There is no other commitment beyond attending the meeting and sharing their perspective. The advisors are welcomed to work with the presenters after the meeting, and the Polsky Center can help facilitate that relationship.
April 2021 Presenters:
- Vineeth Gattu (Argonne) – ElectroCorr is developing a toolkit that evaluates and qualifies corrosion of materials in a variety of substrates. Applications of this technology range from medical implants to the automotive and oil and gas industries.
- Jeff Hubbell – Phlaxis is developing a vaccine to treat and prevent peanut allergies in children. He also presented on HeioThera, which is developing a therapeutic platform technology to treat autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
- Ming Xu and Xiaoyang Wu – AddGraft Therapeutics is developing a CRISPR-based therapeutic technology using skin cells to treat cocaine addiction.
February 2021 Presenters:
- Maryellen Giger – Hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HIBI) is a common injury suffered by patients that survive cardiac arrest. The proposed technology is a method for the early diagnosis of HIBI, which can inform treatment decisions and potentially improve patient outcomes.
- Sean Pitroda – A validated 31 feature molecular signature classifying patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRCLM) into three molecular subtypes. By using this signature, clinicians can personalize potentially curable treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
- Ming Xu and Xiaoyang Wu – The proposed technology is a novel skin-based gene delivery platform for treating cocaine abuse. Patients receive an autologous skin graft of genetically modified skin-stem cells which produce an enzyme to effectively break down cocaine to prevent addictive effects including frequent use, relapse, and lethal overdose.
Questions?
For more information on SCA, please contact Omkar Bhave.