November 1, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Harvard is opening its Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab, a 15,000-square-foot life science laboratory space in Allston, Massachusetts. It is named after Steve Pagliuca, a Bain Capital executive and co-owner of the Boston Celtics. The space has a fully equipped wet lab, collaborative co-working space, and educational resources. It will eventually have 20 companies, but is launching with 17 startups.
The new center is the latest addition to the Harvard Innovation Labs. Here are the 17 companies.
1. Akous
The company is working to develop therapies and delivery system to prevent hearing loss and restore hearing in specific populations.
2. Aldatu Biosciences
Aldatu has a lead product, a low-cost HIV drug resistance genotyping diagnostic test.
3. Beacon Genomics
This company is focused on safe and effective therapeutic applications of genome editing nucleases.
4. BiomaRx
The company plans to focus on developing the first non-invasive early-stage pancreatic cancer diagnostic.
5. Change:WATER
This company plans to leverage a super-hydrophilic polymer to develop solutions that can minimize the volume of off-grid residential, commercial and industrial wastewater. Its first product is a portable, evaporative toilet for homes with no power or plumbing. The target is refugee camps and low-income communities in developing countries.
6. DayZero Diagnostics
This company is focused on developing a rapid diagnostic test to identify drug-resistant pathogens. It will utilize next-generation genome sequencing and algorithms to identify the germs and predict drug resistance in hours.
7. Gel4Med
Gel4Med plans to work on improving outcomes in regenerative medicine by designing and engineering smart biomaterials that leverage the body’s own ability to heal.
8. GRO Biosciences
The company plans to develop microbes with additional genetic codes that can churn out therapeutic proteins that have stabilizing bonds that can be used in fermentation, fast production times, and longer half-lives.
9. Nix
Nix plans to create a single-use consumer diagnostic platform with an initial focus on hydration for athletes, soldiers, and laborers.
10. PathoVax
PathoVax hopes to develop RGVax to target all cancer-causing HPV viruses not currently covered by vaccines.
11. Piper Therapeutics
Piper’s focus is on modifying the immune system signaling in oncology, essentially an immuno-oncology startup.
12. Riparian Pharmaceuticals
Riparian is focused on identifying and developing drugs that promote vascular health. It will use attempt to modulate the biology inside the blood vessel wall.
13. Suono Bio
Suono is focused on enabling ultra-rapid delivery of drugs across tissues, such as the gastrointestinal tract.
14. UnNamed
It’s not clear if UnNamed is the actual name, or the company has yet to create a name, but UnNamed plans to engineer proteins to increase their dependency on binding to specific target molecules. This would allow for biosensors that could improve bioproduction of useful chemicals, environmental toxin detection, or drug discovery.
15. UrSure Inc.
This company is focused on HIV prevention. It is developing patient and physician friendly urine tests that will improve patient adherence to PreEP HIV preventive medications.
16. Vaxess Technologies, Inc.
This company is utilizing silk to create a next-generation of vaccines that will combine high temperature stability with novel delivery formats like oral films and sustained release microneedles.
17. XGenomes
This company is developing DNA sequencing technologies.
The Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab’s opening ceremonies are on November 3 at 3:00pm. Distinguished guests will include Harvard’s President Drew Gilpin Faust, Dean Nitin Nohria, Judy and Stephen Pagliuca and others. After the ceremony, there will be a reception in the Harvard i-lab lobby and self-guided tours of the new facility.
