Graduate Clients and MDIC Teams

2020 MDIC Graduate:  Advanced Fetal Monitoring LLC was established in August 2020 to perform further research and development of the medical device co-invented, in collaboration at Syracuse University in 2013, by its Founder, Kimberly Flomerfelt-Puc. Mrs. Flomerfelt-Puc participated in a National Science Foundation Regional and National I-Corp Program to understand the customers' needs, value proposition, and product-market fit. Pending STTR support, Advanced Fetal Monitoring LLC has begun initial prototyping in collaboration with SUNY Binghamton Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing. For more information contact Mrs. Flomerfelt-Puc via LinkedIn.

2018 MDIC Graduate:  Avant Medical Systems, Inc. is a medical device development company that has designed and patented a medical device that it plans to manufacture and market. The medical device will help medical professionals deliver better care that will reduce the number of medical errors and malpractice liability, while improving the quality of patient comfort and care. Avant Medical has been accepted as a Queen’s University, Mechanical and Materials Engineering Capstone Design Project. Queen’s University is a partner with CNYBAC through the Kingston Syracuse Pathway.
Alaska Team Members: Sheridan Heinrichs, CEO; Scott Hilton, Attorney 

2020 MDIC Graduate:  BioFlow is a team initated out of Albany Medical College including founder John T. Moon, now a resident at Emory University.  BioFlow has developed a novel indwelling percutaneous nephrostomy catheter, which aims to reduce the healthcare burden of repeat catheter infections.  Their drainage catheter includes a novel anti-occlusion functionality which would allow for prophylactic removal of a disposable film, atop which biofilm accumulation and encrustation occur.

BioSpherix manufactures the world's most advanced barrier isolators, surrounding and protecting GMP-compliant pre-clinical and clinical cell production processes. The XVIVO barrier isolator is a less expensive and more flexible alternative to cleanrooms that is in use for cell production in FDA-and Health Canada-approved clinical trials. Their Cytocentric technologic platform puts cells first to provide unbroken physiologically-relevant conditions throughout all cell incubation and handling steps. BioSherix also manufactures oxygen control equipment for research laboratories worldwide. BioSpherix brings a Total Quality Approach to cell culture for Stem Cells, Cellular Therapies, and Regenerative Medicine.

For more information contact: Alicia Henn, PhD MBA, Chief Scientific Officer ahenn@biospherix.com.

BioSpherix Barrier Isolator Optimized For Cell Therapy:

Cell Therapy Center in Jordan:

Obesity and associated Type-2 diabetes are epidemic and associated with significant morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. EndObetes’ goal is to bring to market endoscopically placed devices to treat epidemics. Our device mimics the anatomic and physiologic changes of gastric bypass surgery which has shown dramatic weight loss and remission of diabetes. EndObetes has an issued patent, a working animal model, has received and completed work on an SBIR Grant from the NIH, has a strategic partnership with a device manufacturer and recently completed a pre-submission meeting with the FDA. EndObetes offers surgical results without the surgery.


2019 MDIC Graduate:  Halomine, Inc., a Cornell spin-off startup, aims to develop a new category of “hydrogel skin” coated urinary catheter with improved infection control outcome as compared to existing silver hydrophilic products currently on the market. This coating innovation is based on a new composition of hydrogel materials (named “HalaGel”) that combined both antimicrobial and anti-immunoreaction chemistries as invented by a Cornell Biological Engineering researcher Mingyu Qiao, co-founder of Halamine, Inc. Selected as a 2019 FuzeHub Commercialization Competition finalist.   

www.halomine.com

2018 MDIC Graduate:  Hive Refrigeration is a design firm creating technological solutions able to decrease the energy expenditure and monitor your mobile medical refrigeration capabilities. Their line of products is being created to solve issues around energy dependent, immobile and unmonitored temperature systems in current medical refrigeration units.
Rochester, NY Team Members: Adolf Akuffo-Afful, CEO; Khadijah Williams, VP of Design; Jake Wexler, CE; Nick Condello, CDO; O’nell Campbell, CME; Tracy Martini, COO; Mavis Nvodjo, CFO

2018 MDIC Graduate:  In-Spire is a customizable sleek band that has a small inhaler integrated into it. The bracelet can be re-opened and refilled after each use, allowing for a sustainable and reliable product for consumers. Accessing the medication inside is as simple as opening the band and using the Bite Actuation Method, which is a novel process where the user uses their teeth to activate the flow of medication, rather than their hand (which is associated with many issues in receiving proper dosages due to hand to mouth coordination errors). This patent-pending product is entering the market at a time where wearable technology is becoming increasingly present, and adds a valuable medical component to wrist real-estate options to serve a vast market of people who don’t want to or forget to carry around the ubiquitous bulky standardized inhaler. The InSpire team has recently incorporated as an LLC, has won $30k in business plan competitions, and is focusing on product development in compliance with FDA standards to move towards commercialization.
Syracuse, NY Team members: Kayla Simon and Elizabeth Tarangelo

2019 MDIC Graduate:  Megan Thomas is working on an innovative new breast pump that will allow women to engage in work, childcare, or even self-care while pumping. Megan's primary goal is to increase gender equality in the workplace by eliminating the time women must spend solely on pumping. She wants to enable women to pump in the physical workplace without social stigma, rather than being banished to a storage closet or bathroom. This innovation, will give women more freedom by changing pumping from an all-consuming task, to something they can do while effectively engaging in other activities. 

LifeUnit, Inc., a recent Grants for Growth Awardee, is a privately held biotechnology company focused on the development of novel therapeutics and chemical agents for treating and controlling biofilm formation and other bacterial activities.
Biofilm is a multicellular organism formed by bacteria transforming from living in solution to multiple phenotypes living in a structured, wet organic film. Biofilms contribute to drug resistance, persistent infections and health conditions including Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and Acne Vulgaris (acne), and many others. LifeUnit's product development efforts are currently focused on optimizing a novel class of small organic molecules, and on elucidating the new biological mechanism, that have unprecedented efficacy for preventing and reducing biofilm formation. This line of chemical innovation has immediate applications for Cystic Fibrosis and Skin Cares.
For more information contact: lifeunit08@gmail.com

2019 MDIC Graduate:  MedUX is a medical product design and research firm creating innovative solutions for inpatient, at home, and mobile care. Our first product is L-IV (Liberating Intravenous) a Shoulder mounted/portable IV system that allows people in hospital settings or disaster situations to get IV treatment comfortably and efficiently without keeping them tethered to the constant reminder of their sickness being their IV Pole.   

Website Being Redesigned: Coming Soon! 

MindTrace is on a mission to protect the minds of neurosurgery patients. Unfortunately, 4 in 5 neurosurgical patients self-report a cognitive deficit after surgery that negatively impacts their quality of life. This challenge is what motivated MindTrace’s team to develop software tools that can help 500,000 focal brain injury patients each year in the US. The challenge for the neurosurgeon is to find the best route and remove as much damaged brain tissue as possible versus damaging nearby healthy brain tissue that could lead to cognitive deficits like being unable to walk or talk. MindTrace leverages machine learning to enable neurosurgical teams to simulate a resection plan and predict that patient’s cognitive outcome – all before the very first incision, or in real-time during surgery. Put simply, MindTrace helps neurosurgeons visualize and understand why some surgical routes are better for certain patients than others, and where you would have an accident before the accident ever happens…all to ensure that patients do not take a ‘hit’ to an important cognitive domain after surgery. MindTrace’s founding team includes Dr. Brad Mahon (Chief Science Officer), Hugo Angulo (Chief Technical Officer), and Max Sims (Chief Executive Officer). Together, they are working to create surgical planning software that facilitates personalized, precision medicine for every focal brain injury patient.

Endometriosis affects over 10% of girls and women of reproductive age globally, who are likely to experience severe pelvic pain and infertility. The economic costs in the US alone are over $25 billion/year. The average time from symptom onset to diagnosis is 7 years, due in part, to the need for surgical visualization to confirm endometriosis. Oratel Diagnostics is focused on affecting this delay by designing a sensitive and specific non-invasive test to detect endometriosis to dramatically decrease health care costs and improve the health and wellbeing of girls and women with the disease. Estrogen sensitive plant pigments test saliva for a color response, that is analyzed by algorithms to identify for the presence or absence of endometriosis. Protected by four issued patents, this New York- based company has formed a collaborative team with over 30 years’ experience in bio-engineering, computation biology, and reproductive epidemiology. Oratel Diagnostics has now joined in a joint venture with Diagnostrix AS and Biolink Group to make instant, non-invasive endometriosis diagnosis affordable for women and girls worldwide.

A CNY start up company moving forward ( RCT in the News) 8/2/2016

Rapid Cure Technologies, located in East Syracuse, NY is the first of hopefully many successful graduates of the Central New York Biotech Accelerator (CNYBAC). Rapid Cure Technologies occupied wet lab spaces at the CNYBAC in 2012 and spun out into their own research & manufacturing facility in 2014 after receiving a Commercialization Assistance Program (CAP) grant to support innovation in green technologies. Rapid Cure Technologies started its business in 2011 at the Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse, NY.

Rapid Cure Technologies develops and manufactures products that uses an environmentally friendly method of curing a material from a liquid to a solid in just seconds. It uses a combination of ultraviolet (UV) light and electron beam (EB) technologies as the curing mechanism. The energy-curable system delivers faster drying time, less energy consumption, 100% solid material and VOC free. Their chemistries can be tailored to increase manufacturing efficiencies and meet an unmet technical challenge with current technologies in the market. The main focus is on resins, coatings, adhesives, and inks for the UV curing markets. Some of their applications includes coatings for automotive application, electrical industry, corrosion protection, sealing compound for fiber optics, fiber reinforced composites, laminating adhesives, wood preservation, concrete coating, etc.

Rapid Cure Technologies also supports SUNY Environmental Sciences and Forestry (ESF), Rapid Cure Technologies has an activate part in teaching the Radiation Curing Program at the college which is available to students and industry professionals.

Rapid Cure Technologies is owned by Tim Shaughnessy and Dan Montoney, both of them have spent years in this technology and adjacent technologies which brings years of business and science experience to this industry.

Tim is also a new CNYBAC Advisory Board Member who will be particularly helpful in providing the perspective of a prior occupant and graduate.

2019 MDIC Graduate:  Revital Therapeutics is a tissue engineering company dedicated to creating off-the-shelf tissue grafts for a wide range of conditions and surgical procedures. Like donated tissues, Revital's tissues are composed of 100% native human extracellular matrix, meaning complete biocompatibility and high activity of the growth factors they contain. Unlike donated tissues, our products are produced exclusively in a GMP environment, ensuring strict reproducibility and safety, while at the same time drastically reducing costs. Revital's tissues are optimized for wound healing, able to control inflammation, while at the same time stimulating regrowth at sites of damage and disease.   

Rubitection’s chronic skin health assessment and care management system, the Rubitect™ Assessment System (RAS), improves the early assessment and management of wounds (e.g. bedsores, diabetic foot ulcers, etc), dermatological conditions (e.g. psoriasis, eczema, acne, etc), and vascular conditions with an initial application to bedsore prevention, an $11 billion healthcare problem. The RAS provides a measurement device and care management platform to monitor the signs of inflammation in the skin to support early detection, prevention, and personalized care management. A low risk FDA path provides a fast path to a $36 billion total US market, where our initial market is a largely untapped $4.1 billion market focused on early bedsore detection and prevention. Bedsores, also known, as pressure injuries are a common expensive preventable health condition in hospitals, nursing homes, and home care that are penalizable by Medicare. The RAS can help facilities improve quality of care through early detection and prevention reducing costs and yielding a huge ROI for health systems. Within 5 years of product launch a hybrid sales approach with corporate distribution and sales partners (e.g. HillRom) will generate $100 million in sales.  Rubitection team includes Dr. Sanna Gaspard, CEO and inventor, and Dr. Yannick Heintz, Data Science Manager. They are surrounded by a team of advisors with expertise ranging from FDA, sales, product development, and corporate leadership. Our vision is to make our solution globally available to improve quality of life and save lives.

2018 MDIC Graduate:  Sea Legs has designed a waterproof AFO with specialized features in response to patient needs to increase mobility for individuals with bone abnormalities by improving the Anklefoot orthosis (AFO). Children and adults with certain medical concerns wear AFOs which can correct the way individuals walk or prevent bones from breaking and most must wear the AFOs at all times. The problem, especially for children, is that exercising in water is recommended as a safer alternative for patients and the current use AFO is time-consuming to apply and is a bulky, heavy solution. Sea Legs has been recently been accepted as a Queen’s University, Mechanical and Materials Engineering Capstone Design Project. Queen’s University is a partner with CNYBAC through the Kingston Syracuse Pathway.
Massachusetts Team Members: Mary-Kate Reid, Mike Reid, Jimmy McNamara 

At SurgiVance, we aim to bring rapid diagnosis to the point of care by developing diagnostic imaging technologies using advanced optics. SurgiVance is advanced surgical pathology to digitize the pathologist at the point of care with advanced imaging hardware and new AI insights.  Our core value as a company: to honor tomorrow's doctors who want to work differently and better today, and to provide the technology they need to do it.

2020 MDIC Graduate:  Vital Innovations wants to create a smart mask for the emergency department waiting room that can monitor patients' vitals and detect issues even before they arise. Essentially, we hope to play a role in saving lives for patients all around the United States, and eventually all around the world.  By the time the epidemic had become a pandemic, four of the VitalMask creators had launched Vita Innovations, recruiting on board four other Cornell undergraduates to fill gaps in necessary experiences and knowledge. As a company, we have fully and officially dedicated our time to bringing VitalMask into the market and making an impact as soon as possible.  
Cornell Student Business of the Year, 2021
1st Place Business Today International Impact Challenge, 2020
Winners of 7th Annual AI Hackathon, 2020
1st Place, Cornell Entrepreneurship Kickoff 2020
3rd Place IBM Call for Code Global Challenge, 2020
To connect:  vitainnovations.inc@gmail.com