Venture Day Archives

Pranam Chatterjee is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania. His Programmable Biology Group develops new generative models for the de novo design of peptide and protein biologics, spanning from algorithmic theory to pre-clinical validation in vitro and in vivo. The lab specifically develops therapeutic interventions for rare neurodegenerative diseases, pediatric sarcomas, viral infections, infertility, and substance use disorders. Having received his SB, SM, and PhD from MIT, Professor Chatterjee has received the NIH's MIRA Award, the Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award, and multiple NIH and foundation grants for his work. He has also co-founded Gameto, Inc., UbiquiTx, Inc., and AtomBioworks, Inc., which translates his research into fertility-related solutions, cancer therapeutics, and RNA medicines, respectively.

Matthew R. Hayes is the Albert J. Stunkard Professor in Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as the Vice Chair of Basic and Translational Neuroscience in the Department of Psychiatry and directs the Molecular and Neural Basis of Psychiatric Disease Section. Dr. Hayes's research aims to identify and characterize neural signaling pathways that control food intake and body weight regulation, with the goal of developing treatments for obesity and related co-morbidities without the off-target side effects of nausea and vomiting.

Topher Brooke is the CEO of MasterSwitch Bio, a biotech startup based in Ambler, Pennsylvania. The company, co-founded by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr. Drew Weissman, focuses on developing mRNA-based therapies to reverse liver damage caused by metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Under Brooke's leadership, MasterSwitch Bio secured a $250,000 investment from the Hatch Biofund after winning the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center's entrepreneur spotlight pitch competition.

Dr. Kara Spiller is the URBN Endowed Professor of Biomedical Innovation in Drexel University's School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems. Her research focuses on understanding the role of immune cells in tissue repair and regeneration and the design of immunomodulatory biomaterials and drug delivery systems for regenerative medicine. Her team invented a novel approach to macrophage cell therapy that utilizes scalable biomaterials for long-term phenotype control without genetic engineering, with applications in fibrosis and other indications.

Dr. Brenner, MD, PhD is an assistant professor & physician in the University of Pennsylvania's Dept of Medicine, where he takes care of ICU patients and runs a genetic medicine lab. His lab developed the first safe & effective DNA-loaded lipid nanoparticles (DNA-LNPs), which enable expression of any size protein for >1 year per dose, in just the chosen cell type. To commercialize their DNA-LNPs, the lab spun out ClearXpression, which aims to bring gene therapy to common chronic diseases, ranging from osteoarthritis to atherosclerosis. In 2025, the lab's DNA-LNPs received the Controlled Release Society's Gene Therapy Scientific Achievement award and Europe's Falling Walls Foundation listed the lab's DNA-LNPs as a Top 10 Breakthrough of the Year.

Xiaoqiong Xia is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychiatry's Translational Neuroscience Program at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and a postdoctoral fellow in the De La Fuente Lab. Her work focuses on peptide design conditioned on receptor structure and sequence using deep generative models, and on developing host–pathogen protein–protein interaction models to uncover previously unknown interactions and guide drug design against infectious diseases.

Spirovant is revolutionizing gene therapy for respiratory diseases. Our transformative technology addresses potency challenges in gene therapy by administering AAV with Augmenter directly to the lungs. The clinical-stage lead program, SP-101, is the first and only inhaled AAV developed with an inhaled Augmenter (doxorubicin) that enhances transgene expression by 100 - 1,000x. This technology targets the unmet needs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients who do not benefit from small molecule modulators.

We are developing a class of cancer drugs with significant improvements over standard treatments. Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) are one of the fastest-growing drug classes in oncology, combining monoclonal antibodies and cytotoxic drugs. We aim to expedite the development of a first-in-class ALK-directed ADC for pediatric cancers, particularly neuroblastoma, based on ALK protein expression in tumors but not in normal tissues.

Our breakthrough technology isolates rare therapeutically effective lymphocytes, such as B and T cells, using label-free sorting. This platform enables high-throughput purification of B cells and selection of potent T cells for adoptive therapy without the need for additional cell culture. This technology advances the development of monoclonal antibodies and CAR T cell therapies.

Yi Xing, PhD, established the Center for Computational and Genomic Medicine at CHOP in 2018. His lab has pioneered a long-read RNA sequencing platform that comprehensively profiles changes and variations in RNA molecules, aiding in the timely diagnosis of genetic diseases with improved accuracy.

There are over 300 million people with rare genetic diseases, and many of those diseases are currently untreatable. The Miner laboratory generates model systems, gene therapies, and small molecular inhibitors designed for treating some of the most devastating human autoimmune diseases caused by single-gene mutations. By defining the underlying mechanisms of those diseases, and by developing novel therapeutics, we have created new opportunities for the treatment of autoimmunity, cancer, and premature cellular senescence / aging.

We are developing the first disease-halting therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), which could also apply to other autoimmune diseases. Our strategy utilizes oligodendrocyte-derived extracellular vesicles containing multiple myelin antigens, aiming to induce immune tolerance and treat MS without the severe side effects of current immunosuppressive drugs.

My research focuses on understanding and manipulating immune cells for precision cellular immunotherapies. In particular, we aim to target tissue-resident T cells, which contribute to chronic autoimmune diseases like psoriasis. Using genome engineering and high-throughput screening, we have identified novel therapeutic targets that could dislodge these cells, offering potential cures.

Vellum Biosciences, an UPSTART spin-out from the University of Pennsylvania, has developed iTAG, a patent-protected imaging probe that provides a GPS-like tracking and monitoring of vectors used to deliver cell and gene therapies. These vectors, such as T cells, NK cells and AAVs, which we refer to as "living drug", are unlike traditional biologics in that they expand, contract and persist in various tissues in ways that cannot be comprehensively measured over time by traditional methods. Vellum's iTAG has integrated with virtually any living drug to characterize its cellular trafficking over time using PET imaging, which allows for a non-invasive, whole-body window by which researchers and clinicians can monitor, measure, and ultimately modify cell and gene therapies. Optimizing and characterizing these living drugs before entering the clinic can improve the probability of success of these clinical candidates.

Mechano Therapeutics specializes in microcapsule development using microfluidics to optimize drug performance. Spun out of the University of Pennsylvania, this technology has the potential to revolutionize musculoskeletal health by improving drug delivery through novel encapsulation and release methods. Mechano is investigating new ways to treat musculoskeletal pain, inflammation, infection, and tissue degeneration.

PhylloPharma, founded by Dr. Andreea Serban, is a biotechnology company focused on developing novel treatments for metabolic diseases. They specialize in oral drug delivery using plant-based nanocarriers.

Dr. Ghassemi's research focuses on improving the effectiveness of CAR T cell therapy, a groundbreaking immunotherapy approach for fighting cancer. Her work advances CAR T cell therapy through multiple innovations: reducing ex vivo expansion time to increase potency and effectiveness in pre-clinical models, developing novel manufacturing methods to enhance efficacy, and implementing a multidisciplinary engineering approach to create new tools and technologies for CAR T cell therapy.

OsciFlex, co-founded by John Welsh (PhD) and Mark Kahn (MD) at the University of Pennsylvania, is a medical device company tackling a serious issue: Venous Thromboembolism (VTE), or blood clots in the veins.

Trevarx Biomedical, Inc., is a biotechnology company focused on developing new therapies for fibrotic diseases. These are conditions where excessive scar tissue forms in organs, disrupting their normal function.

Research on a novel glutamate transporter activator as a disease modifying and symptomatic treatment for Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

EpiVario Inc. is an emerging biotechnology company focused on developing innovative epigenetic therapeutics to treat complex memory-related psychiatric disorders. Spun out of the Epigenetics Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, the company is developing small molecule therapeutics that target a newly discovered epigenetic mechanism involved in long-term memory. By targeting this mechanism, Epivario is seeking to treat various alcohol and drug use disorders and anxiety disorders, starting with nicotine addiction.

Nerve coupler device to improve nerve fusion efficacy; breakthrough animal data showing delayed nerve fusion feasibility using exogeneous axons following Wallerian degeneration.

Leveraging research from Dr. Braatz, BioCurie can help biopharma companies and manufacturers improve the time, quality and cost of Cell & Gene Therapy production. Using AI, researchers can predict and optimize settings in real-time, saving time and cost, while improving product quality; proof of concept modeling in AAV has already more than doubled titer and improved the quality with no increase in time or cost.

Lahari is part of Prof. Ming Xiao's group at Drexel University and is a finishing up her Ph.D. soon. Her lab has been developing a suite of CRISPR Cas9 based chemical workflows for applications like Structural Variations (SVs) detection, de novo genome assembly, long-range haplotyping, genetic diagnostics, etc. These methods integrate well into current commercially available long-read sequencing platforms (PacBio and Oxford) or optical mapping platforms as well as our new Megabase sequencing platform centered around long single molecules.

ACE Genomics is discovering and engineering DNA modifying enzymes, enabling the next generation of tools to read the epigenome for maximal clinical impact, including the early diagnosis of cancer. Foundational technologies include novel enzyme variants and sequencing pipelines that permit the non-destructive and highly specific decoding of epigenetic modifications from sparse samples of circulating cell-free DNA.

Dr. Yarmarkovich's research has enabled the discovery and immunotherapeutic targeting of intracellular cancer drivers through the use of peptide-centric chimeric antigen receptors (PC-CARs). PC-CARs were developed using a counter panning strategy with predicted potentially cross-reactive peptides to target unmutated peptide derived from the essential oncoprotein PHOX2B. Furthermore, informed by immunopeptidomics, they showed that PHOX2B PC-CARs also recognize PHOX2B presented by other HLA types, breaking conventional HLA restriction and significantly expanding the addressable patient population. Finally, they demonstrated potent and specific killing of neuroblastoma cells expressing these HLA-A2 and complete tumor regression in mice.

Dr. Ping Wang is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and Founder of Instanosis. Dr Wang and her team have developed a point-of-care diagnostic device for femtomolar biomarker detection and quantitation, using novel and robust sensors, computer vision and smartphone imaging. Clinical data demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity, and competitive advantages over existing diagnostic technologies. The device has broad applicability wherever high sensitivity biomarker measurement is needed. A robust pipeline has been developed including pathogen detection, cancer, neurology and cardiovascular biomarkers.

Dr. Karamanian is CEO at Eliksa, which is leveraging IP from the University of Utah. The company is utilizing amniotic stem/progenitor cells from donated C-sections for several therapeutics that are in the clinic, including: Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) [eye drops]; Chronic Ocular Graft v Host disease; and photorefractive keratectomy.

Dr. Chari is the CEO of Manzara Therapeutics. Manzara is a drug discovery platform based on the Complete Search (COBS) discovery platform. It is tailor-designed AI for characterizing and optimizing biopolymer interactions for peptide therapeutics. Manzara can explore the entire peptide sequence space with unprecedented efficiency. Applicable to any situation where sequence-activity data can be obtained, Manzara is leveraging core algorithms developed by Dr. Herschel Rabitz at Princeton University (Founding Chair of Applied Mathematics). The near term pipeline is considering the KISS1R GPCR target.

Dr. Black is a Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics at UPenn and one of the scientific co-founders of an early stage entity, Hysplex. He gave a presentation on how Hysplex came to focus on developing new forms of PARP1 that take advantage of the Hysplex team's breakthroughs in understanding how to use them to tune the balance between their target, PARP-1, and DNA. This tuning permits Hysplex to generate DNA pro-trapping PARP1 designed to kill tumor cells in specific cancer patients, as well as DNA anti-trapping PARP1 that are designed to restrain hyperactive PARP-1 in Parkinson's disease and preserve neurons.

Dr. de la Fuente's Machine Biology Lab highlighted two core platforms: One platform is applied AI to find antimicrobial molecules with unprecedented speed and "fitness" using novel genetic algorithms and search algorithms. Dr. de la Fuente gave a high-level overview of an "autonomous molecular discovery" engine. His lab has also developed novel biosensors derived from pencil graphite that have competitive speed and accuracy. The diagnostic platforms were dubbed LEAD (Low-cost Electrochemical Advanced Diagnostic) and COLOR (Covid-19 Low-cost Corodiagnostic for Rapid testing).

Dr. Kmiec manages the Gene Editing Institute at ChristianaCare. Dr. Kmiec gave a presentation on the current standard of care in gene editing and highlighted some of the near term commercial projects form his lab including an AAV therapy targeting the NRF2-KEAP1 pathway for chemo-resistant lung cancer patients.

Neil Inala is CEO of Nobias, a next generation drug discovery platform leveraging unique access to pediatric data from CHOP. Nobias is applying data science and machine learning to previously time-intensive human processes for drug screening and development, factoring complex biological interactions.