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A LOOK BACK AT 2024
2024 was a whirlwind of a year! Funding for our startups was strong with companies launched from Northwestern intellectual property raising over $400M. Our partnerships across campus deepened our pipeline with the growth in our Kellogg-Q Residencies, NM-Q Medical Device Studio, Trienens-Q Accelerator, and Farley-Q Bootcamp. Our first cohort of Q Entrepreneurial Fellows graduated, launching the startups NylaNova, ImmPro, and Cellmend. We welcomed 7 Executives-in-Residence and were thrilled to have 7 new company residents, totaling 19, call The Q home. Looking forward to all that 2025 will bring!
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The InQbation Lab welcomed its 20th resident startup in January. RMD Sciences (Dr. Kazuhiro Shimomura, Feinberg) is a preclinical biotechnology company that is using modified carbohydrates to treat Alzheimer’s Disease through the selective enrichment of gut microbiota.
To learn more about InQbation Lab Resident Startups, visit the Q RESIDENT STARTUP PAGE.
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Innovation + New Ventures had an exhilarating and productive week in San Francisco! On Monday, January 13th, INVO co-hosted a Northwestern Healthcare Startup Reception with the Alumni Relations & Development team in the Northwestern San Francisco space. Over 20 of our pioneering healthcare companies and their visionary leaders were showcased. From cutting-edge genomics and regenerative medicine to next-gen therapeutics, advanced wearables, health data management, and hospital logistics, the startups embodied the innovation and diversity of Northwestern’s ecosystem. A big thank you to all who attended! It was a great chance to catch up with our investor, partner, and alumni network. You can find a list of the participating companies and their contact information HERE. For introductions, connections, just let us know!
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FOUNDHER 3M SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM | | |
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The Q welcomed its first cohort of the FoundHer 3 Minute Spotlight program! This program aims to help early career women research scientists interested in commercialization develop their communication skills. Selected scientists participate in a 3-part series of workshop focused on storytelling and pitch delivery and subsequently receive coaching sessions to refine a 3M Spotlight presentation. The Q identified eight women who will deliver pitches before a live audience on March 5. Top contenders will receive professional headshots, cash, and executive coaching hours.
2025 FoundHer Spotlight Pitchers (front row, left to right Haley McAllister (Prof. Julia Kalow), Sarah Berman (Prof. David Barton), Estella Tsaturyan (Prof. Navdeep Chandel), Chloe Ho (Prof. Kenneth Park); back row, left to right, Lin Liu (Prof. Kevin Lynch), Emily Maloney (Prof. Christian Malapit), Kelly Matuszewski (Prof. Vinayak Dravid), and Gracie Siffer (Prof. Reza Vafabakhsh)
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RCTP-Q PITCH DELIVERY WORKSHOP SERIES | The Q partnered with The Graduate School to offer this workshop series devoted to improving science communication skills. Instructors from TGS’ Research Communication Teaching Program (McC Assoc. Prof. of Instruction Kiki Zissimopoulos, Medill Assoc. Dean & Prof. Beth Bennett and McC Lecturer Byron Stewart) led didactic and interactive sessions to provide participating scientists with tactical guidance in clearly articulating their research to the general audience. To apply, interested applicants submitted video recordings describing their respective areas of research. Twenty-four participants from McCormick, Feinberg, and Weinberg were selected to participate. | | |
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NM-Q BUSINESS RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP | The Q wrapped up its pilot Northwestern Medicine (NM)-Q Business Research Fellowship this month. Over ten weeks in the fall, 12 NM-Q Fellows performed critical research to vet ‘napkin idea’ submissions from our NM clinicians. They conducted extensive interviews, estimated market sizes, and presented their findings to the Selection Committee. The program concluded with an appreciation dinner where the teaching team listened to feedback on how to improve the program for next year and offering these types of programs for our clinical trainees. The Q is grateful for the financial partnership with Kali Inde (Mansueto Institute), recruitment support with Feinberg's Vice Dean for Education Marianne Green, and the seven dedicated instructors and mentors Kevin Mehta, Carson Thomas, Eric Heinz, Prashanth Somu, Evan Norton, Michael Garrett, and Bhargaavi Ashok. | |
The Q welcomed Material Impact Partner Ben Schlatka back to campus for a whirlwind visit. Ben met with faculty-entrepreneurs, startups, the Cleantech Club, and joined the oversubscribed information session for the spring term KQ Entrepreneurial Residency through the Commercializing Innovations course. | |
EXECUTIVE-IN-RESIDENCE VISIT - STEVEN DEITCHER | |
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The Q recently had the pleasure of hosting Executive-in-Residence Steven Deitcher for a week-long visit. He led our Q CEO Roundtable, met with our Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management Hawryluk Scholars, held more than 20 one-on-one meetings with faculty-entrepreneurs, spent an afternoon workshopping process and projects with the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, presented to the Northwestern University Biotech Club, and led our Chemistry of Life Processes Institute's career development session. As the definition of a serial entrepreneur, Steven brought invaluable insight and advice to our community. He is currently the CEO of BESPOKE BIOTHERAPEUTICS and a stealth, clinical-stage cell therapy company, and has previously led Radimmune Therapeutics, Medeor Therapeutics, Inc., and Talon Therapeutics, Inc. We are incredibly grateful for his time and can’t wait to have him back!
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FEB 12, 12-1PM FOUNDHER SEMINAR – ALLISON ALLEN
Join the Querrey InQbation Lab for an exciting FoundHer series event featuring Allison Allen '10, Founder and Investor at Trail Run Capital! While FoundHer is designed to support women innovators and entrepreneurs, all are welcome to attend. Don’t miss this chance to learn from a seasoned investor with experience at Uber and beyond! REGISTER HERE.
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KELLOGG-Q COURSE – SPRING QUARTER
After two successful runs as an independent study, Kellogg and the Querrey InQbation Lab are now collaborating to offer ENTR-958: Commercializing Innovations, a one-quarter spring course which provides MBA students with the opportunity to be embedded in Northwestern research centers and institutes. The ultimate goal of the course is to develop a business project to the point of potential launch. Visit THIS LINK to learn about the twelve proposed projects and apply to the course. Applications are now closed.
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FARLEY-Q ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101 BOOTCAMP FOR RESEARCH SCIENTISTS
The Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and The Querrey InQbation Lab are co-hosting a second two-day workshop for scientists interested in exposure to entrepreneurship concepts at both a general and more practical level. In this bootcamp, research scientists will focus on introductory topics around the commercialization in the biomedical and healthcare spaces. The schedule can be viewed HERE. This bootcamp provides students the opportunity to think about their own research with a translational lens and, through live workshops, mock customer discovery, and collaborative brainstorming, distill and communicate their technology, the value of it, and the impact of its potential commercial product. The bootcamp runs from February 20-21.
Applications are now CLOSED. If you are interested in learning more about these types of opportunities, please express your interest by completing THIS FORM.
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Epicore Biosystems (Prof. John Rogers, McCormick) was named to Fast Company’s fourth annual “Next Big Things in Tech” list. The list aims to honor emerging technology that has a profound impact on a certain industry. READ MORE | |
Moonlight Bio (Dr. Jaehyuk Choi, Feinberg) was awarded a G-Rex® Grant by ScaleReady. The grant will help to expedite process development and IND-enabling studies of Moonlight’s lead CAR T cell therapy for the treatment of solid tumors. READ MORE | | |
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Acumen Pharmaceuticals (Prof. William Klein, Weinberg, and Prof. Grant Kraft, Feinberg) announced that the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease published the results of a Phase 1 clinical trial, which demonstrated that sabirnetug (ACU193) was well-tolerated, with evidence of target engagement and reduction in amyloid plaques. READ MORE | | |
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COUR Pharmaceuticals (Prof. Steven Miller, Feinberg) announced a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, for the development and commercialization of COUR’s proprietary tolerogenic nanoparticle treatments for an autoimmune disease. Under the terms of the agreement, COUR is eligible for upfront and near-term milestones of $40 million, plus additional development, commercial and net sales milestone payments that could exceed $900 million, as well as tiered royalties on net sales. READ MORE. COUR also secured Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for CNP-104, which aims to treat primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). The designation emphasizes the drug’s potential to be the first disease-modifying treatment for PBC, and it follows the presentation of positive clinical data from a successful Phase 2a trial. READ MORE | | |
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NanoGraf (Prof. Harold Kung, McCormick) released Onyx™, a silicon anode material designed for EVs that significantly enhances lithium-ion battery performance while maintaining cost parity with synthetic graphite anodes. Onyx™ is suitable for a variety of applications, such as military, medical devices, consumer electronics, drones, and more. READ MORE | | |
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Nuclein (Prof. David Kelso, McCormick) has announced that it has obtained FDA 510(k) clearance and a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waiver for its DASH® SARS-CoV-2 & Flu A/B, which is designed for use on the DASH® Rapid PCR System. READ MORE | | |
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Sibel Health (Prof. John Rogers, McCormick, and Dr. Steve Xu, Feinberg) has been selected by the Capital Region of Denmark to provide continuous wireless monitoring to multiple leading Copenhagen area hospitals. The collaboration aims to address staffing shortages, an increase in patient load, and the move to single rooms. Sibel’s systems enhance patient care through advanced wearable sensors that offer real-time health data, facilitating improved clinical decision-making and patient outcomes. READ MORE | | |
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Syenex (Prof. Josh Leonard, McCormick) has announced a collaboration with CellFE®, a leader in the gene editing space, to create a hybrid workflow that integrates non-viral and viral approaches to cell therapy engineering. This process looks to streamline workflows of complex edited cells for both biotech and pharmaceutical applications. READ MORE. Syenex has also launched a partnership with CTMC, a joint venture between MD Anderson Cancer Center and Resilience, to advance the scalability and efficiency of engineered T cell therapies. READ MORE | | |
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Flashpoint Therapeutics (Prof. Chad Mirkin, Weinberg) has announced a $50M partnership with The King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC) in Saudi Arabia. The goal of the KAIMRC partnership is to conduct clinical trials on structural nanomedicine candidates and advance structural nanomedicine drug discovery programs. READ MORE | | |
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Stemloop (Prof. Julius Lucks, McCormick, and Prof. Michael Jewett, McCormick) has been awarded funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Biological Technologies Office. The funding is part of DARPA’s Artificial Intelligence Biotechnology initiative and supports Stemloop’s work to generate training data for machine learning models of biosensors. This directly addresses DARPA’s mission to make significant investments in breakthrough technologies for national security. READ MORE | |
OTHER NEWS & OPPORTUNITIES | | |
*NEW* CURATED LISTS OF
ACCELERATORS, INCUBATORS, AND COMPETITIONS | Explore The Q's curated lists of external accelerators, incubators, and competitions designed to help early-stage companies scale. A huge shout out to The Q's Sarah Stein and Nico Garcia-Ippolito for their incredible work! For questions about a specific opportunity, please visit the program’s website for more information. SEE LIST | |  |
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Applications for the NSF I-Corps Spring cohort are due February 10 for scientists and researchers with early-stage technology or research discoveries.
For more details click the application link here.
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT NORTHWESTERN NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE to the Entrepreneurship at Northwestern Newsletter. This newsletter is a monthly roundup of university-wide news featuring the launches, raises, and milestones of our students, faculty, and alumni! This snapshot celebrates the wide-ranging impact of the Northwestern community and enables us to stay in touch with our Wildcat entrepreneurs.
Please share your own milestones through the newsletter.
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