News

MEDC-Funded ADVANCE Program Launched

4/21/2017
A new “Gap” or “Proof of Concept” fund is being launched to provide resources to assess market needs and the potential for promising new university inventions, thanks to $1 million of funding support from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The University Early Stage Proof-of-Concept Fund program known as ADVANCE...

A New Path Forward for HistoSonics

4/21/2017
On March 13, 2017 University of Michigan startup HistoSonics Inc. announced the hiring of a new CEO, the closing of an $8.2 million Series B funding round, and a shift in focus toward the treatment of solid tumor cancers. According to the Ann Arbor based company, which launched in 2010...

Don Chaffin’s Groundbreaking Work in Ergonomics

4/21/2017
As part of his PhD thesis at the University of Michigan in 1967, Don Chaffin developed a 2D mechanical model of the human body. Little did he realize that what he created would be the basis for a powerful tool that would change the approach to ergonomics for decades to...

Nynex Therapeutics Launches in Cleveland

4/21/2017
In March, the Cleveland-based drug development accelerator BioMotiv, and the University of Michigan, announced the launch of the new startup Nynex Therapeutics. The company, which will be based in Cleveland, will develop first-in-class therapeutics to inhibit deubiquitinases, which are a class of proteases upregulated in cancer and associated with tumor...

Nynex Therapeutics, a new oncology startup, launches to target oncogenic proteins

3/16/2017
BioMotiv, a drug development accelerator associated with The Harrington Project, and the University of Michigan have launched a new startup, Nynex Therapeutics, to develop breakthrough drugs that inhibit deubiquitinases as a novel mechanism for therapeutic intervention in multiple difficult-to-treat cancers. Nynex’s innovative work builds on the substantial progress over the...

New Products Launched: FlexDex and Mastermind

3/3/2017
Two new products entering the market illustrate the continuing impact of U-M innovation. The FlexDex Needle Driver FlexDex Surgical, a Brighton, Michigan-based developer of surgical tools, has begun shipping its first product, a simple, ergonomic and intuitive “needle driver” for stitching inside the body. The commercial launch of the device...

Rubicon Genomics Acquired by Takara Bio USA

3/3/2017
U-M start-up Rubicon Genomics , a producer of genomic analysis kits, was sold in January to Mountain View, California-based Takara Bio USA Holdings, a subsidiary of the Japanese company Takara Bio, for a reported $75 million. “This acquisition builds on Takara Bio’s commitment to provide our customers with a broader...

U-M Startup Ripple Addresses Clinical Trial Bottleneck

3/3/2017
Created from technology developed at the University of Michigan, Ripple Science Corporation is focused on addressing a common pain point in research labs: recruiting and managing participants for clinical trials and translational research. Ripple co-founder Jacob Bonenberger explained, “Ripple isn’t tackling an uncommon problem — all researchers struggle with poor...

Venture Accelerator: Mekanistic Therapeutics

3/3/2017
Mekanistic Therapeutics, a startup company focused on the development of cancer therapeutics, will soon move into the U-M Innovation Partnerships Venture Accelerator, where company founders Drs. Judith Sebolt-Leopold and Christopher Whitehead will progress with their clinical trial development and fundraising efforts. In their University of Michigan lab, Sebolt-Leopold and Whitehead,...

3-D Printed Orthotics

3/3/2017
Researchers at the U-M Orthotics and Prosthetics Center have developed a new cyber manufacturing system to design and produce custom orthotics and prosthetics. The system, which incorporates both optical scanners and 3D printers, has been shown to produce better-fitting, lighter assistive devices in a fraction of the time it takes...

FlexDex begins shipping low-cost surgical tool designed to replace robotic system

3/1/2017
New applications for robots seem to be in the news every day, but Ann Arbor-based FlexDex Surgical’s new surgical tool increases surgeons’ flexibility and reduces costs by taking a robot out of the equation. The mechanical platform, which allows surgeons to more easily make sutures inside the body during minimally...

Intelligent Vision Systems: State-of-the-Art Ice Detection Technology

2/13/2017
Climate and Space Science Professor Nilton Renno loves solving problems. And as he readily admits, “I’m always looking for problems related to my research interests that are fun to work on and can have a significant impact on society.” Renno’s first startup, Electric Field Solutions, was based on electric eld...