UT Health San Antonio Archives - StartupsSanAntonio.com

VelocityTX TechNovum accelerator graduates 5 new life science startups

11May

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

VelocityTX TechNovum accelerator graduates 5 new life science startups

The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio hosted a demo day Tuesday showcasing life science researchers who participated in UT Health’s six-week TechNovum accelerator program. VelocityTX, a San Antonio-based nonprofit innovation center, signed an agreement with UT Health San Antonio in February to run TechNovum. The TechNovum accelerator program was first launched in 2019 to support UT Health investigators interested in learning entrepreneurship to commercialize their inventions. Read: VelocityTX signs UT Health San Antonio agreement to run TechNovum accelerator The cohort included six UT Health San Antonio researchers from five new companies developing advances for the market. Jeremy Davis is an associate professor in UT’s Department of Neurology and Glenn Biggs Ins...

VelocityTX signs UT Health San Antonio agreement to run TechNovum accelerator

21Feb

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

VelocityTX signs UT Health San Antonio agreement to run TechNovum accelerator

VelocityTX, a San Antonio-based nonprofit innovation center, has signed an agreement with UT Health San Antonio (UTHSA) to run UT Health's TechNovum accelerator program. The TechNovum accelerator program launched in 2019 to support UT Health investigator entrepreneurs interested in commercializing their inventions. Read: UT Health San Antonio Launches New Accelerator for Researchers The contractual agreement outlines VelocityTX's compensation and responsibilities for executing UT Health's program. UT Health will help VelocityTX source program participants with continued support from John Fritz and Sean Thompson of UT Health's Office of Technology Commercialization. TechNovum's second cohort will run from March 20 to April 28 at VelocityTX. Demo Day will be held on April 26 on UT Health'...

Vitanova Biomedical Develops Light-Activated Cancer Therapy Pioneered by UTSA Researcher

23Oct

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Vitanova Biomedical Develops Light-Activated Cancer Therapy Pioneered by UTSA Researcher

The San Antonio-based biotech startup Vitanova Biomedical is developing a new way to treat cancer called photodynamic therapy that causes no side effects and can kill many types of cancers.The preclinical stage biotech company is commercializing a novel technique that uses a specific wavelength of light combined with a chemical. The new cancer treatment approach is based on research first done at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) by Matthew Gdovin when he was an associate professor in UTSA’s biology department.Gdovin pioneered using the photosensitizing agent o-nitrobenzaldehyde (o-NBA) in combination with a specific wavelength of light that activates the drug. This photodynamic therapy triggers the cancer cell to become too acidic and die, a process known as apoptosis....

New Venture Mentoring Service Connects UTSA, UT Health SA Entrepreneurs to Commercialization Expertise

31Aug

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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New Venture Mentoring Service Connects UTSA, UT Health SA Entrepreneurs to Commercialization Expertise

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and UT Health San Antonio (UT Health SA) have joined forces to launch the Venture Mentoring Service San Antonio (VMS-SA), a program that matches experienced mentors with aspiring entrepreneurs. The San Antonio chapter of the Venture Mentoring Service is a sister program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Venture Mentoring Service (MITVMS), which launched in 2000.The VMS-SA network is available for startups spinning out from either UTSA or UT Health SA. UTSA's Office of Commercialization and Innovation and UT Health SA's Office of Technology Commercialization will manage the new joint program.VMS-SA is open to all disciplines, with a focus on the biosciences. While in its initial launch phase, the program will focus on compan...

Olifant Medical Device Protecting Healthcare Providers from COVID-19 Wins $1M Air Force Contract

10Aug

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Olifant Medical Device Protecting Healthcare Providers from COVID-19 Wins $1M Air Force Contract

As more healthcare providers are exposed to COVID-19 while treating patients, innovators like Dr. Steven Venticinque are developing critically needed solutions. His startup company Olifant Medical won a $1 million Air Force award in mid-July to adapt a protective barrier device that can protect healthcare providers from COVID-19 exposure during medical procedures.This device is not the first invention that has garnered Air Force funding for Venticinque, a UT Health San Antonio anesthesiologist and former Air Force physician. He co-founded Olifant (one of the San Antonio startups to watch in 2019) in 2018 with engineer Justin Rice and scientist Christopher Carroll to bring an improved airway device to market.Carroll is Olifant's chief executive officer, Venticinque is the chief...

Enventure San Antonio To Connect Bioscience Students to Entrepreneurial Opportunities

16Dec

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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Enventure San Antonio To Connect Bioscience Students to Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Bioscience graduate students face daunting odds at landing a tenure-track faculty position in academia. In popular fields like biomedicine, fewer than one in six has a chance at a faculty job researching at a university.What options does an early-career bioscience professional have?A new nonprofit organization, launched by biomedical students facing these challenges themselves, want to help enterprising scientists find career options so they can pursue medical innovation in San Antonio’s private sector.Enventure San Antonio (Enventure SA) is a biomedical entrepreneurial community designed to help students and young professionals become leaders in the biomedical and health technology space.Students and young professionals often lack the education and experience to commercia...

UT Health San Antonio TechNovum Accelerator for Researchers Graduates 8 New Companies

6Nov

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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UT Health San Antonio TechNovum Accelerator for Researchers Graduates 8 New Companies

A new accelerator program designed for aspiring life science entrepreneurs has helped in the formation of eight new biomedical startups.Earlier this year, UT Health San Antonio launched TechNovum, a new technology commercialization accelerator for faculty researchers interested in developing their inventions for the market. John Fritz and Sean Thompson of the Office of Technology Commercialization at UT Health are co-directors and mentors for the new program.The first cohort graduated two therapeutics companies, spurred the development of four new medical devices, and included two digital health startups. The companies are:Atomic Therapeutics, developing novel anticancer therapeutics for leukemia Protectum Oncology, introducing low-dose arsenic for reducing cancer therapy ...

UT Health San Antonio Launches New Accelerator for Researchers

9Apr

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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UT Health San Antonio Launches New Accelerator for Researchers

A new accelerator program designed for aspiring life science entrepreneurs has joined San Antonio's entrepreneurial ecosystem.Biomedical research institution UT Health San Antonio is launching TechNovum, a new technology commercialization accelerator for faculty researchers interested in developing their inventions for the market. John Fritz and Sean Thompson of the Office of Technology Commercialization at UT Health are co-directors and mentors for the new program and will lead the educational coaching sessions. Each cohort will run annually from June through October. Plans for the first cohort are to invite five to eight teams of founder-inventors to join the program to develop medical devices for the market. The teams will meet weekly, typically in the evening, for two- to three-ho...

BioAffinity Lung Cancer Diagnostic Test Gets Closer to Market with Canadian Patent

4Feb

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

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BioAffinity Lung Cancer Diagnostic Test Gets Closer to Market with Canadian Patent

The San Antonio-based privately held biotech company bioAffinity Technologies announced Monday the Canadian Intellectual Property Office had awarded a patent for its proprietary CyPath© technology used in the early detection of cancer.The patent, titled “System and Method for Analyzing Samples Labeled with 5, 10, 15, 20 Tetrakis (4-Carboxyphenyl) Porphine (TCPP),” is bioAffinity’s third Canadian patent. bioAffinity’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio now consists of 51 awarded patents in 21 countries, with three additional patent applications filed in the U.S.The test is bioAffinity’s solution for the unusually high rate of false positives from computed tomography or CT scans used in early testing of suspected lung cancer. CyPath® Lung’s test uses flow cytometry and proprietary ...

UT Health SA Clinician-Entrepreneur Invents Next-Generation Airway Device

4Feb

By Iris Gonzalez1 Comment

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UT Health SA Clinician-Entrepreneur Invents Next-Generation Airway Device

However easy it might look in movies or television shows, intubating or inserting a breathing tube into an unconscious person can be quite difficult, especially under stressful emergency conditions. When a patient is not breathing, every second counts until that person can receive oxygen again.San Antonio-based anesthesiologist and critical care physician Steven Venticinque, M.D., knows well the challenges in intubating patients both in the operating room and beyond. During his career in the U.S. Air Force, Venticinque led critical care air transport teams flying in Iraq and Afghanistan.Venticinque has been at UT Health San Antonio since 2007 and is a professor and interim chair of the anesthesiology department at the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine. He now car...