What if there’s a drug that already exists that could treat a disease with no known therapies, but we just haven’t made the connection? Finding that connection by exhaustively analyzing complex biomechanics within the body — with the help of machine learning, naturally — is the goal of ReviveMed, a new biotech startup out of MIT that just raised $1.5 million in seed funding.
View More ReviveMed turns drug discovery into a big data problem and raises $1.5M to solve itCategory: Biotech
Watch IndieBio Accelerator’s Demo Day today
Today, April 17th at 2:00 PT, TechCrunch is bringing you IndieBio‘s Demo Day. IndieBio is a four-month accelerator focusing on biotech companies. Early-stage companies are given mentorship, 24/7 access to biosafety level 1 and 2 labs on-site, insights from industry experts and $250,000 in funding. The 2018 batch of 14 companies range from innovations in […]
View More Watch IndieBio Accelerator’s Demo Day todayMIT cuts ties with brain preservation startup Nectome
MIT is disassociating itself from Nectome, the Y Combinator-backed startup promising to preserve customers’ brains for the possibility of future digital upload. Co-founder Robert McIntyre described the procedure as “100 percent fatal” — it involves connecting terminally ill patients to a machine that pumps embalming fluids into their arteries. The company has collected (refundable) $10,000 […]
View More MIT cuts ties with brain preservation startup NectomeOur 8 favorite startups from Y Combinator W18 Demo Day 2
Microbiome pills, gambling for one-on-one video games and potential cancer cures were the highlights from legendary startup accelerator Y Combinator’s Winter 2018 Demo Day 2. You can read about all 64 startups that launched on Day 1 in verticals like biotech and robotics, our picks for the top 7 companies from Day 1 and our full coverage of […]
View More Our 8 favorite startups from Y Combinator W18 Demo Day 2One of the youngest fund managers in the U.S. just launched her own accelerator, too
Last August, we told you about Laura Deming, a New Zealand native who was home schooled before moving halfway around the world as a 12-year-old to work alongside Cynthia Kenyon, a renowned molecular biologist who specializes in the genetics of aging. She didn’t stay long. At age 14, Deming began her college career at MIT. When she […]
View More One of the youngest fund managers in the U.S. just launched her own accelerator, tooThese are the 64 startups unveiled at Y Combinator W18 Demo Day 2
Microbiome therapeutics, Photoshop for augmented reality, and cancer treatments were some of the ideas presented at Day 2 of startup accelerator Y Combinator’s Winter 2018 Demo Day. YC is increasingly using its massive class size (141 startups this time around) to fund especially risky frontier technology and biotech moonshots, while tempering the portfolio with more […]
View More These are the 64 startups unveiled at Y Combinator W18 Demo Day 2Biomedical startup AesculaTech is creating a new, more patient-friendly drug delivery system
“Reverse chocolate” — that’s how AesculaTech co-founder and chief science officer Niki Bayat describes the material created by its proprietary technology. Chocolate is solid until heated, when it melts deliciously into liquid. AesculaTech’s material, on the other hand, is a liquid at low temperatures, turns into a gel when heated and then reaches its final, […]
View More Biomedical startup AesculaTech is creating a new, more patient-friendly drug delivery systemReverie Labs uses new machine learning algorithms to fix drug development bottlenecks
Developing new medicines can take years of research and cost millions of dollars before they are even ready for clinical trials. Several biotech startups are using machine learning to revolutionize the process and get drugs into pharmacies more quickly. One of the newest is called Reverie Labs, which is part of Y Combinator’s latest batch. […]
View More Reverie Labs uses new machine learning algorithms to fix drug development bottlenecksMIT gadget puts multiple artificial organs into a paperback-sized connected system
If you want to see how a proposed drug affects human physiology, your options are limited — and usually you end up using mice, which are in many ways poor analogues. What’s a pharmacologist to do? MIT researchers have a solution: a “body on a chip” that simulates up to 10 interconnected human organs at once using millions of living cells.
View More MIT gadget puts multiple artificial organs into a paperback-sized connected systemCorporate bio VCs are backing more rounds and making bigger bets
Biotech is a lot like venture capital. Vast amounts of research, testing and marketing go into a wide range of therapies. But in the end, it’s just a tiny fraction that deliver most returns.
That similarity may be why most of the biggest biotech and pharmaceutical companies have a long history of engaging in the venture business as startup investors, spin-out creators and strategic partners. Read More
BrainQ aims to cure stroke and spinal cord injuries through mind-reader tech
Israel-based BrainQ is a new neurotech startup hoping to take on brain-computer interface (BCI) companies Kernel and Neuralink. But it’s early days in this industry, including for BrainQ, which plans to use a non-surgically embedded EEG machine to gather data and help improve outcomes for stroke and spinal cord patients. Read More
Life sciences startup Avro aims to deliver drugs to children and the elderly through skin patches
Avro, a life sciences startup in Y Combinator’s current batch, is banking on a method to deliver medications to populations unable to swallow or chew — It will administer them through the skin. Starting with allergy medications, the startup is developing skin patches that release drugs commonly used in seasonal allergies for children. The patches act much like nicotine patches,… Read More