LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--XLerateHealth (XLH), a nationally recognized healthcare accelerator headquartered in Louisville, KY, in partnership with the University of Kentucky (UK) through UK Innovate, announced the selection of eight innovators across the Southeast IDeA State region (the XLerator Network), to participate in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded IDeA Regional Entrepreneurship Development (I-RED) Program. Participants were selected through a competitive application process for work on technologies that include Medical Devices and Therapeutics.
Daniel Bonthius, MD/PhD, Co-founder of Apex Orthopaedic, LLC (Clemson University, SC) is developing a novel surgical system called R-FIX that utilizes rib fixation to correct early onset spinal deformities.
Rani Brooks, PhD, Founder of BioPhoundry, LLC (Tulane University, LA) has developed a synthetic biology platform that accelerates drug-discovery for precision antibiotics to combat drug-resistant infections.
Brittany Levy, MD, Founder of TalkiTourni, LLC (University of Kentucky, KY), created an automated emergency tourniquet device aimed to improve rates of adequately applied tourniquets outside of the hospital setting.
Michelle Martinez, PhD, Founder of Dynamiko Pharmaceutics, LLC (Universidad Central del Caribe, Puerto Rico) is developing affordable and selective anticancer compounds that target a predominant pathway in Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
Brad Profitt, DC, DPT, DScPT, Founder of Ortho-HAB, LLC (Marshall University, WV) has developed a medical device, KneeXT, geared towards recovering knee extension post trauma/injury/surgery.
Mark Tseytlin, PhD, Co-founder of BioMap5D, LLC (West Virginia University, WV) is developing molecular imaging medical devices that hold promise for diagnosing/treating cancer, as well as detecting and treating implant infections.
M’Hamed Turki, MD, a gastroenterology and endoscopic fellow (Marshall University, WV) has invented an oropharyngeal cannula that is attached to a bite guard, and allows the passage of endoscopes and helps prevent hypoxia during upper endoscopies.
Ken Webb, PhD, Co-founder of NeuroHope Therapeutics, Inc (Clemson University, SC) is developing a drug-loaded, polymer-based nanotherapeutic to treat central nervous system trauma. Their first indication will be acute spinal cord injury.
“Our team is grateful to the NIH for their continuous support of academic technology commercialization. The resources made available to researchers and clinicians in the IDeA States by this grant are invaluable. The XLerator Network’s External Advisory Committee is excited about the eight innovators selected to participate in the second I-RED cohort, and is delighted to have been part of the selection process,” said Dr. David McLoughlin, Chair, External Advisory Committee, XLerator Network (XLN).
The goal of the I-RED program is to help selected participants acquire the fundamental business and entrepreneurial skills needed to successfully commercialize their technologies. As part of this program, XLN will expand the suite of healthcare focused commercialization modules on the ScholarRx platform. The team will also provide wrap-around commercialization services that include healthcare focused programming, talent access through their Executive-On-Roster® (XOR®) platform, and test a newly created Mentor / Startup Founder “Customer Discovery” matching program.
“This second NIH/NIGMS STTR award will allow us to build on prior work to develop, launch, test, and validate entrepreneurship education and training tools that foster the translation of promising biomedical discoveries and technologies from research laboratories into commercial products,” noted Jackie Willmot, CEO and Co-founder of XLerateHealth.
About XLerateHealth
XLerateHealth’s mission is to cultivate and grow impactful healthcare innovation in the Midwest, Southeast, and other areas of the country where great innovation often goes unrecognized and underfunded. Founded in 2012, XLH supports the development of healthcare innovation through its healthcare accelerator, which helps startup founders commercialize their business and attract funding. XLerateHealth also leads the efforts to build and operate the XLerator Network, an NIH-funded partnership with Academic Lead University of Kentucky along with 24 other academic institutions in the Southeast. The objective of this work is to increase the commercialization of promising life science and healthcare innovations in the NIH-designated Southeast Institutional Development Award (IDeA) states.
About UK Innovate
UK Innovate at the University of Kentucky is the innovation, entrepreneurship and economic enterprise for University of Kentucky Research. Through technology commercialization, corporate partnerships, social innovation, innovation training and economic development initiatives related to UK’s research innovations, talent and community, UK Innovate works to move ideas into the world faster, where they can make the greatest social and economic impact possible.
