Kypha Raises $1.5M Financing

BioGenerator portfolio company Kypha announced the closing of a $1.5M financing with investment from the St. Louis Arch Angels, Billiken Angels, Showme Venture Fund and Holton Capital. Kypha received its first investment from BioGenerator and Missouri Technology Corporation in in early 2011 as part of a relocation package that moved the company from Kentucky. Kypha is located at the BioGenerator Accelerator Labs at CORTEX-1.

Kypha raises $1.5 million from local investors

Confluence Announces $4M Series A

Confluence Life Sciences, a BioGenerator portfolio company launched with BioGenerator Spark Funding in 2010 and Seed Funding in 2011, announced the closing of a $4M financing led by DFJ Mercury of Houston. Confluence was the first recipient of the BioGenerator Spark Fund and the first tenant of the BioGenerator Accelerator Labs. The company received early investment from Missouri Technology Corporation, the Helix Fund and the St. Louis Arch Angels. Confluence has 21 employees and is located at the BioGenerator Accelerator Labs at CORTEX-1.

Confluence raises $4 million to continue cancer drug research

Scientists move forward from massive Pfizer layoff

Photos from the St. Louis Post Dispatch Photo-1, Photo-2, Photo-3, Photo-4

Arch Angels Invest $418,000 in BioGen Companies

The St. Louis Arch Angels announced funding of three medical device startups. Arch Angels provided follow-on financing to Neurolutions, Kypha and CardiaLen. All three companies received their first round of investment from the BioGenerator. Neurolutions and CardiaLen are based on inventions from Washington University.

Arch Angels invest $418,000 in startups

Companion Pharma Receives MTC Funding

BioGenerator portfolio company Companion Pharma has received a 2nd round of financing from Missouri Technology Company and BioGenerator. The new St. Louis company was founded by BioGenerator Entrepreneurs in Residence Harry Arader and Alan MacInnes. Companion Pharma received support from the St. Louis Regional i6 Project and the St. Louis Bioscience Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge. The company also received a St. Louis Arch Grant. Companion Pharma is developing products that expand the range of safe, effective medicines designed for convenient use in dogs and cats under a veterinarian's prescription.

Companion Pharma gets $60,000 from MTC

MediBeacon to Make Real Time Kidney Function Test

New BioGenerator portfolio company MediBeacon will produce a real time renal function test using a combination of patented florescent dyes with an optical sensor attached to a patient's forehead or finger. The company acquired 22 patents from Mallinckrodt and is led by CEO Steve Hanley, who spent 18 years working for Covidien, the last five years as president of company's imaging business. Co-founder Rick Dorshow led the optical diagnostics and therapeutics program at Mallinckrodt. MediBeacon received investment from BioGenerator, Missouri Technology Corporation and a loan from St. Louis Development Corporation.

Hanley buys Mallinckrodt patents for MediBeacon

Tracer agents for real-time measurement of GFR

Mobius Begins Shipping Mitosol

BioGenerator portfolio company Mobius Therapeutics, a 2011 seed stage investment, has initiated distribution of the new glaucoma drug Mitosol. The product consists of sterile kits containing mitomycin-c for use in ophthalmic surgery and will provide physicians with a consistent, sterile and FDA-approved form of this important medicine.

Mobius Therapeutics starts shipping Mitosol

Pulse Therapeutics Nears FIH Studies

BioGenerator portfolio company Pulse Therapeutics, a 2010 seed stage investment, is poised to conduct first in human studies in Australia. The company is developing a new device to improve current acute treatment for stroke and other conditions of obstructed blood flow.

New Facility for Apertus Pharma Nears Completion

Apertus Pharmaceuticals, a new Contract Manufacturing Organization (CMO) launched by the St. Louis Regional i6 Project in 2011, has made steady progress on its new facility in St. Louis County. Apertus is headed by CEO Rick Ryan, the former President of LINCO Research. Follow construction progress at the link below.

Apertus Pharmaceuticals Link to Contruction Updates

Companion Pharma Receives Arch Grant

Companion Pharma, a new BioGenerator portfolio company started by entrepreneurs in residence Harry Arader and Alan MacInnes, has received a $50,000 award from the St. Louis Arch Grants. The company was started in 2012 and will expand the range of safe, effective medicines designed for convenient use in dogs and cats.

Arch Grants Portfolio

Array Bridge Releases Conformational Array Technology

Array Bridge, a new biotechnology company started by the St. Louis Regional i6 Project, has released the Conformational Array product line. This platform allows "fingerprint" results for biologics and biosimilars. In addition to Conformational Arrays, the company offers kits and services for additional important quality control metrics for biologic drugs. Array Bridge operates out of the BioGenerator Accelerator Labs in CORTEX.

Finger-print-like analysis of biologics by Array Bridge

Governor Nixon Visits BioGenerator Labs

Gov. Jay Nixon toured the St. Louis BioGenerator to meet with entrepreneurs and innovators, and to discuss Missouri's improved rankings as a great state for entrepreneurs to create jobs and grow their business. The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, a leading indicator of new business creation in the United States, ranked Missouri the sixth-best state in the nation for entrepreneurial activity, up from its rank as thirty-fifth the previous year.

Gov. Nixon visits BioGenerator in St. Louis

BioGenerator Announces Four New EIRs

BioGenerator has added four new entrepreneurs-in-residence to its staff to support the 27 companies in its portfolio. The new entrepreneurs are: Tom Brya, who has worked in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry for 20 years, including stints at Monsanto Co. and Pharmacia; Vijay Chauhan, who most recently headed a diabetes and nutrition company; Nandini Kishore, who has worked in drug development for 25 years, and Alan MacInnes, who has 19 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry at Pfizer Inc. The entrepreneur positions are funded by BioGenerator and BioSTL, as well as a federal grant won, in part, by the St. Louis County Economic Council.

BioGenerator Adds Four Entrepreneurs

BioGenerator Announces Four EIRs

BioGenerator Company Kypha Featured

Kypha, a BioGenerator Spark Fund company, is featured in the St. Louis Beacon. The company relocated to St. Louis from Louisville through a collaborative effort between Missouri Technology Corporation, St. Louis Development Corporation, St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Organization (RCGA) and BioGenerator. Kypha conducts operations at the BioGenerator Accelerator Labs at CORTEX.

Startup returns to St. Louis for scientific, business & financial support

Edward Hamati Joins BioGenerator Team

Edward Hamati joined BioGenerator to focus on due diligence activities with an emphasis on the seed fund side. Additionally, Edward provides strategic advisory services to current and potential portfolio companies and opportunities as they enter the due diligence process. Before joining BioGenerator, Edward served at The Chi Rho Group, a private equity firm that functioned as the family investment arm of the Steward family, owners of World Wide Technology Inc. Prior to his role at the Chi Rho Group, Edward worked for The Broadband Group, a management consulting firm focused on the telecom industry. Edward has a BS in Cellular Biology from University of California, Davis. He earned his MBA from California State University, Sacramento in Finance and Business Strategy and attended University of Oxford, United Kingdom as an attachment to his MBA with a focus in business strategy. He also attended the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy, further enhancing his knowledge and experience in providing due diligence, business plan development and start-up models.

BioGenerator Leads Confluence Seed Financing

Confluence Life Sciences, a St. Louis drug discovery company, closed a seed financing with BioGenerator which brings the company's total captial raise to over $1M. Additional investors include Missouri Technology Corporation and the St. Louis Arch Angels. Confluence projects a Series-A financing later in 2012. The company operates out of the BioGenerator Accelerator Labs in CORTEX.

i6 Project Announces 8 New Companies

The St. Louis Regional i6 Project, implemented by BioGenerator, announced the funding of eight new companies in the St. Louis Region. The new St. Louis companies are: RadTargX, Euclises Pharmaceuticals, Confluence Discovery Technologies, X-Tend Energy, Apse, ARTA Bioscience, Apertus Pharmaceuticals and Array Bridge.

Local life science startups get boost

Round 1 & 2 i6 Companies

i6 Project Launches Euclises Pharmaceuticals

John Talley, inventor of Celebrex and seven other approved drugs, has launched a new company that is developing safer COX-2 inhibitors for the treatment of certain cancers and inflammatory diseases. The new company, operating out of the BioGenerator Accelerator Labs in CORTEX, received initial funding from BioGenerator and the St. Louis Regional i6 Project and subsequent financing from the St. Louis Arch Angels.

Talley seeks funding for Euclises

Euclises lands investment from Arch Angels

Nawgan Drinks Up Investment

Nawgan Products, a St. Louis startup that received BioGenerator Seed Funding in 2010, announced that Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings is buying a minority interest in the company. The $3 million investment will allow Nawgan to enter new markets. This is the startup's Series A round of funding, making it the largest outside investment so far. Nawgan is sold at more than 300 stores in St. Louis, including Walgreeens, Straub's Fine Grocers, Dierbergs Markets and Shop 'n Save. Robert Paul, a neuropsychologist, developed Nawgan, which was recently honored by Beverage Innovation Magazine as Best Concept Drink and Best Alertness Drink at the seventh annual InnoBev Global Beverages Summit in Washington, D.C. It was launched in 2010 with seed funding provided in part by the St. Louis-based BioGenerator and angel investors, including beverage veterans from the St. Louis area.

Full Story

First i6 Companies Launched

BioGenerator and the St. Louis Regional i6 Project announce the creation of two new bioscience companies. Former Monsanto scientist Juan Arhancet, Ph.D., is using proof of concept funding from the i6 Project to start Apse, LLC, which will develop a manufacturing process to make new generation drugs, like Macugen and Enbrel, more affordable to patients. "Over the last 20 years, I worked for large companies. Then, I decided to do on my own what I had successfully done working for others. The support I received from the i6 Project and the BED Program gave me the confidence and resources to venture out and create my own company," stated Juan Arhancet, Ph.D., Founder of Apse, LLC. Washington University researcher Marc Diamond, M.D., is a neurologist, but when a family member was struck by prostate cancer he used knowledge from his early academic work to develop a potential cure for the deadly cancer and to launch ARTA Bioscience. Despite high profile scientific publications and efforts to market the technology to existing companies over several years, this potential cure might still be in the research lab without a connection to former Pfizer scientist Lakshman Rajagopalan, Ph.D., and support from the i6 Project to provide critical translational research funding. "Support from the i6 Project is enabling us to prove the commercial application of our science and to seek additional funding to bring our potential drugs to patients," stated Marc Diamond, M.D., Founder of ARTA Bioscience, Inc. Both companies have established operations in the BioGenerator Accelerator Labs at CORTEX, which provides no cost laboratory space to early stage bioscience ventures. In recent years, BioGenerator has invested in 26 companies including 17 in the last 24 months alone, often nurturing the new ventures in their first steps toward commercialization.

2nd Round of i6 & BED Announced

The BioGenerator and the Center for Emerging Technologies (CET) jointly announce the opening of a second application round for the i6 Project to provide early-stage funding to seed new businesses in the biosciences and a second session of the Bio Entrepreneur Development (BED) Program to support first-time entrepreneurs in the bioscience sector. The BioGenerator's i6 Project provides $25,000 - $125,000 of funding to support commercialization of bioscience technologies or business concepts, including service-based companies, from universities or other research institutions, entrepreneurs, or individuals throughout the St. Louis region. Primary uses of the funds might include market assessments, lab experiments, and/or prototype development. The BED Program is a 10-week training course dealing with topics appropriate for creating and managing a bioscience company, with content delivered by subject experts. The program includes a training component plus individualized counseling and mentoring of participants through technology selection, market assessment, company creation, initial funding and early company development.

News Release

BioGenerator Starts 4th CRO

Balancing a portfolio rich in technology-based companies, BioGenerator has invested pre-seed financing in Ionic Transport Assays, a service-based company that will offer novel testing methods to the drug development industry. Ionic Transport Assays is led by Drs. J. Ken Gibson and Randy Numann, former Pfizer scientists with significant experience in cardiovascular safety and ion channel biology. The company's new screening platform will identify safety risks earlier in the drug development process, and may one day be standard tests for all new drug candidates. Drs. Numann and Gibson are graduates of the Bio Entrepreneur Development program at the Center for Emerging Technologies. The company has established laboratory operations at the BioGenerator Accelerator Labs.

$50K Award Goes to Pulse Therapeutics

Pulse Therapeutics has won this year's $50,000 Edward Jones business plan prize as part of the $100,000 St. Louis Regional Business Plan Competition. Pulse, founded in 2009 by Francis "Duke" Creighton and Rogers Ritter and having received first funding led by BioGenerator, is developing a magnet-based technology to dissolve blood clots from strokes. Current approaches to remove clot material from the endovascular system rely on high doses of clot-busting drugs.

St Louis Business Journal story

Broadview Ventures Invests in CardiaLen

BioGenerator portfolio company CardiaLen, Inc., a medical device company focused on providing pain-free internal cardioversion therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF) with a low-energy implantable atrial cardioverter plus pacing device received $735,000 in funding from Broadview Ventures, Inc. The funds will not only help the company complete its current studies, but help develop the complete protocol for its First-In-Man studies. CardiaLen also received a future commitment from Broadview Ventures for additional dollars upon achievement of certain research milestones. These additional funds will allow the company to begin and complete much of its First-in Man studies. CardiaLen is developing implantable low-energy (low voltage) pain-free atrial cardioverters to help address the major unmet needs of this condition. Pain-free operation is essential since AF patients typically remain conscious during episodes and since the condition is not immediately life threatening.

Confluence Life Sciences Receives Helix Funds

Confluence Life Sciences, launched with BioGenerator's Spark Fund in October of 2010, has received matching capital from the pre-seed component of St. Louis County's new Helix Fund. The company was founded by five experienced drug discovery scientists, four of whom were formally senior members of Pfizer's Inflammation Research Unit, including CLS President Dr. Joseph Monahan, an Executive Director who led a team of 150 scientists and was responsible for eight candidates reaching human clinical trials. Working closely with BioGenerator and having attracted strong technical talent and business management, the company is building a pipeline of novel assets within the inflammation and oncology therapeutic areas, with clinical proof of concept studies for the lead program planned for later in 2011.

St Louis County News Release

Pulse Therapeutics Closes $2M Series A

BioGenerator portfolio company Pulse Therapeutics closed a $2M Series A financing. Led by former Stereotaxis executives Drs. Rogers Ritter and Duke Creighton, the company is developing novel technology to more rapidly and safely lyse clots associated with stroke. Joined by Missouri Technology Corporation and additional sources of investment, BioGenerator previously led the company's $600K Series 1 financing.

St Louis Business Journal Story

Helix Fund Invests in Six Convert

Six Convert, LLC, which received first financing from BioGenerator's Spark Fund, has landed $50,000 in matching funding from St. Louis County Economic Council's Helix Fund. The funding was made in two tranches with the first in March 2011 and the second and final tranche in May 2011. Funds are being used by the company for laboratory validation, market assessment and intellectual property development work. The Helix Fund is a program of St. Louis County's Economic Council to support entrepreneurship by providing early stage capital and financial support for advancing the commercialization of technology and innovation.

Mobius Closes $150K From BioGenerator

Mobius Therapeutics, an early-stage St. Louis venture specializing in glaucoma treatments, closed $150,000 in financing from BioGenerator. Mobius said it would use the money to hire additional employees to execute the commercial launch of its Mitosol drug, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved as a glaucoma treatment for preventing the recurrence of eye growths after they are surgically removed. Mobius, led by President Ed Timm, projects revenue of more than $7 million in 2011. In 2010, the company had one full-time employee and grew to five. Mobius has hopes to double to 10 employees by the end of 2011.

Nidus, BioGenerator Launch Six Convert

BioGenerator has joined forces with Nidus Investment Partners to start Six Convert, a new company implementing environmentally sustainable wastewater treatment practices. BioGenerator's Spark Fund has provided the first cash in the new company. Nidus Entrepreneur in Residence Jeff Fornero, Ph.D. and Cornell Professor Lars Angenent, Ph.D. founded the company in 2009. Six Convert will be headquartered in BRDG Park, while research operations under the direction of Nidus Entrepreneur in Training and ex-Pfizer researcher Michael Davies will be at BioGenerator's Accelerator Labs.

BioGenerator Invests in Midway Food Animal Sciences

Midway Food Animal Sciences (MFAS), is a start-up company with rights under exclusive worldwide licenses to patents and patent applications protecting a revolutionary class of polymer-based drugs. These drugs could be effective replacements for the antibiotics used in food animal production for protection against gastrointestinal microbes. The Company believes that with the successful completion of the proof of concept studies and other work described in the proposal, that it can then raise the funds necessary to develop its products through FDA approval and marketing within five years. BioGenerator Seed funding will be used to conduct proof of concept studies in two food animal species.

Coalition and BioGenerator Receive $1M Federal Grant

Efforts to create businesses around scientific innovations in the St. Louis region got an important boost through a $1 million government grant. The grant was awarded to a collective of area research and business entities headed by the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences and BioGenerator — area organizations working to help the region capitalize on the scientific innovation taking place here. The grant, known as the i6 Challenge Grant, aims to push science-based entrepreneurship and business on a regional level and is administered by the federal Economic Development Administration in partnership with the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Vasculox Receives BioGenerator Pre-Seed Funding

BioGenerator is the first investor in Vasculox, a new drug development company. Vasculox is developing novel therapeutics based on a previously unknown mode of vascular regulation to prevent tissue ischemia as a result of trauma, surgery or vascular disease. The company is led by CEO Robert Karr, M.D. and is based on research by founder Dr. William Frazier of Washington University. Vasculox is located at the BioGenerator Accelerator Labs.

SARmont Closes BioGenerator Spark Fund Investment

BioGenerator has invested pre-seed funding to help start SARmont. The new company provides unique medicinal chemistry services capable of advancing a drug discovery program from pre-company formation through selection of an IND candidate. Dr. John Talley, inventor of Celebrex® and seven other NCEs that successfully entered the market, leads SARmont's scientific team. Randy Weiss, Ph.D., M.B.A., is president and CEO. SARmont has established operations at BioGenerator's Accelerator Labs. See Press Release for additional details.

BioGenerator Opens Accelerator Labs

With funding provided by the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences, Life Sciences Research Trust Fund, CORTEX and BioGenerator, the 5400 sq ft pre-equipped Accelerator Labs are located in the CORTEX BioScience District and is made available to individuals and early companies who are working with BioGenerator either before or after company formation. The labs have equipment for medicinal chemistry, cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology.

BioGenerator Company CardiaLen Secures 2nd Financing

CardiaLen, Inc is pleased to advise that on September 2, 2010, it completed an initial close of its second private equity financing. St. Louis Arch Angels and BioGenerator, key investors from the company's first financing in July 2009, were joined in this round by a number of new angel investors. CardiaLen expects this financing will enable it to complete its current preclinical animal studies in atrial fibrillation. It expects to raise additional financing in the fall enabling the completion of third-party preclinical animal studies in atrial and ventricular fibrillation. It also anticipates a Phase 1 SBIR grant in late 2010 for preparatory work in connection with first-in-humans trials planned for 2011.

Confluence Life Sciences Closes BioGenerator Spark Deal

Confluence Life Sciences, Inc., is a drug discovery company founded by Joseph Monahan, Ph.D., John Schindler, Ph.D., and Gabriel Mbalaviele, Ph.D., former Pfizer researchers now at Washington University School of Medicine, and Michael Kuo, M.D. of UCLA. Barry Burnette, Ph.D., Balekrudu Devadas, Ph.D. and Susan Hockerman, M.S., also displaced by Pfizer's recent shuttering of St. Louis research operations, have been hired to conduct cell biology and medicinal chemistry experiments. Veteran biotechnology executive Cathy Matthes has been named Chief Business Officer. Pre-seed funds will be used to demonstrate proof of concept and establish laboratory and business operations. The new company has established operations at BioGenerator's Accelerator Labs.

BioGenerator Invests in Washington University Technology

Washington University researchers Eric Leuthardt, M.D. and Daniel Moran, Ph.D. have received BioGenerator Spark funding to further translational research efforts around a new device that may hold promise for various medical and retail applications. BioGenerator funding will be used to build, test and refine prototypes over a 6 month period. If successful, the project may trigger formation of a St. Louis-based technology company. BioGenerator previously teamed with Drs. Leuthardt and Moran to form Neurolutions, a startup company focused on Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technologies. The Washington University Office of Technology Management (OTM) and NSF funded Innovation Acceleration Partnership Fellows program are additional contributors to the new project.

BioGenerator Spark Funds Invested in Traxxsson

BioGenerator has invested critical pre-seed Spark funding to Traxxsson, a startup company located in the Center for Emerging Technologies. Traxxsson is developing proprietary molecular tests to track diseases after diagnosis. Spark funds will be used for proof of concept studies where the novel technology is tested using clinical samples of human disease. Traxxsson was founded by Robert Puskas, PhD., previously CEO of Singulex, and Department Head at Sigma Aldrich Biotechnology.

New Pre-Seed Spark Fund Announced by BioGenerator

To stimulate commercialization of early stage technologies and increase our ability to assist entrepreneurs within the St. Louis region, BioGenerator has launched a new pre-seed Spark Fund.  Our new fund shares the same overall mission of regional economic development in plant and life sciences as our traditional Seed fund, but is applied to earlier stage business and technology ideas.  Maximum Spark Fund investments are $50,000 and are open to all university faculty and staff as well as entrepreneurs and scientists in the community. 

BioGenerator Leads Series 1 Financing for Pulse Therapeutics

BioGenerator, a non-profit, seed-stage economic development funding group, announced that it has led a round of early-stage financing for Pulse Therapeutics, Inc., a St. Louis company headquartered at the Center for Emerging Technologies. Pulse Therapeutics develops innovative magnetism-based technology to safely destroy blood clots related to ischemic stroke and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Other investors who participated in the round were Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC), Washington University's Olin School of Business Skandalaris Student Venture Fund, and Integrated Magnetics, of Culver City, California. The funds will be used for further pre-clinical development. Pulse Therapeutics' founders, Francis Creighton, Ph.D., and Rogers Ritter, Ph.D., were former scientists at Stereotaxis, Inc.

UMSL Startup Nawgan Secures BioGenerator Investment

Nawgan, the world’s first brain health beverage supplement developed by a neuropsychologist, can now be found on shelves at 23 St. Louis area Walgreens stores. Startup company is developing products that support optimal brain function and is based on research conducted by Dr. Robert Paul from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

BioGenerator Leads Galera Therapeutics Seed Round

Galera Therapeutics, a drug development company focused on novel therapeutics to protect against the side effects and increase the effectiveness of cancer treatment, today announced it has completed a Series 1 financing led by BioGenerator. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance Galera’s lead program targeting the prevention of oral mucositis, and to further the platform for other cancer therapy side effects.

Veteran Venture Capitalist Dan Broderick Joins BioGenerator

Dan Broderick has joined the BioGenerator staff and will focus on business development and investor networking. Dan has over 22 years of experience in the life sciences and venture capital industry. Prior to joining Prolog Ventures in 2007, Dan spent 7 years with Mason Wells Biomedical Fund as a Managing Director where he was responsible for all aspects of investment activities. Prior to Mason Wells, Dan spent 18 years at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where for 12 years he served as Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization. He has personally evaluated the commercial potential of hundreds of technologies in virtually every medical specialty. Dan played a key role in the launch of Mayo Clinic’s $25 million venture investing program. Dan is actively involved in the venture capital community on a regional and national level. He has served on the Board of Directors of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Dan is the founder of the Mid-America Healthcare Investor Network (MHIN) and Global Agriculture Investor Network (GAIN).

BioGenerator Expands Staff and Moves Offices to CET

BioGenerator has moved to new offices in the Center of Emerging Technologies (CET) , located in the CORTEX life sciences district in St. Louis, Missouri.    Due to business expansion, additional staff and a return of the Nidus Center to Monsanto, BioGenerator has relocated their offices effective July 15, 2009. BioGenerator's new address is Center for Emerging Technologies, 4041 Forest Park Avenue, Ste 116, St. Louis, MO 63108.

Charlie Bolten Joins BioGenerator Team

Charlie Bolten has joined BioGenerator as a Principal. At the time of his recruitment to BioGenerator, Charlie held the position of Principal Scientist and Project Leader in the Pfizer Exploratory Immunobiology Group, where he led a reverse pharmacology collaboration with PTC Therapeutics focusing on post-transcriptional regulation of T cell cytokines and was the Research Project Leader for small molecule discovery program targeting an effector T cell subtype-selective receptor. Charlie spent 10 years in R&D at Pfizer and legacy companies, working in Cardiovascular and Inflammation research. At BioGenerator, Charlie will focus on due diligence, business development and programs to expand BioGenerator's early pipeline of investments.

WU Startup Cardialen Receives BioGenerator Financing

CardiaLen low-energy cardioversion technology is based on breakthrough work by Professor Igor Efimov, PhD, a world leader in cardiac arrhythmia research, currently at Washington University in St. Louis Biomedical Engineering school. The new company raised $700K in seed financing and is located at the Center for Emerging Technologies.

Eric Gulve Named President of BioGenerator

Eric Gulve, Ph.D. will lead BioGenerator operations. Prior to joining BioGenerator, Eric spent 14 years in the pharmaceutical industry focused on drug discovery research. From 2003-2007 he held various roles in local and global leadership teams in Cardiovascular research at Pfizer, and led laboratories working in the areas of thrombosis, hypertension, and metabolic disease. From 2000-2003, Eric was Associate Director of the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases research group at Pharmacia Corporation. From 1994-2000 he directed laboratory groups and served on leadership teams within G.D. Searle's Cardiovascular drug discovery research group, where he played a key role in initiating and leading the company's first diabetes research program. Eric received an A.B. in Chemistry from Occidental College and a Ph.D. in Physiology from Harvard University. He served as a post-doctoral fellow and subsequently on the research faculty at Washington University School of Medicine.

BioGenerator Funds Neurolutions

Neurolutions is developing a brain-computer interface (BCI) to allow control of a computer using thought alone. The BCI technology platform is based upon a novel, breakthrough method of analyzing data from the brain. It is envisioned that a wireless, implantable device (wireless telemetry) would link patients directly to biomechanical devices such as prosthetic limbs, thus enabling the patient to activate and control those devices using thought alone.

Amy Boyet Joins BioGenerator Team

Amy L. Boyet, M.S., M.B.A., has joined BioGenerator as a Principal and will focus on business development and deal closing. Prior to joining BioGenerator, Amy worked for Washington University in St. Louis for nine years. She spent the majority of her time employing flow cytometry while conducting research for the Department of Pathology and Immunology as a Senior Research Associate, then in the Technology Transfer Office as a Licensing Associate. Amy received a B.S., cum laude, in Biology from Culver-Stockton College in 1998. She received an M.S. in Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2000. She also received an M.B.A. with an emphasis in marketing, communications, and strategy from Washington University in St. Louis in 2005.

Washington University and BioGenerator Launch PixelEXX

Nanotechnology company PixelEXX Systems has been launched by researchers from Washington University in St. Louis to bring nanoarrays to market. The founders are Dr. Samuel Wickline and Stuart Solin, who are co-presidents, and Kirk Wallace and Mike Hughes. One product the PixelEXX founders envision is an easy-to-use and inexpensive solid-state device that would look much like a USB flash drive, but with a specimen well built in to the top. Using the device and a PC, a researcher can generate accurate images of the physical features of the cell and simultaneously measure changes in the cell's biochemistry, electrical charges, and electromagnetic fields. Thus, the technology combines the features and capabilities of much larger more expensive tools such as the confocal microscope, the electron microscope, and the scanning ultrasound microscope. Other products could be arrays of nanosensors for use in high throughput screening for drug candidates.

Washington University and BioGenerator Launch Medros

Washington University School of Medicine and BioGenerator will partner on launching Medros Inc., a new drug discovery company focusing on cancer and diabetes. Medros, founded by Dr. Thomas Baranski and Ross Cagan, both professors and research scientists at Washington University School of Medicine, will be located in the Center for Emerging Technologies (CET). Medros will devote a portion of BioGenerator's initial investment to ongoing research and will initially target cancer and diabetes.

BioGenerator and Prolog Invest in APT Therapeutics

APT Therapeutics Inc., a Creve Coeur drug development company that closed its doors last year, is being revived through the persistence of founder Ridong Chen, two local investors and a federal grant. Chen, a biochemist who is president and chief scientific officer, said APT is receiving a two-year, $790,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant. It will fund preclinical trials of an anti-clotting agent that could be used to treat stroke. BioGenerator and Prolog Ventures have invested in the company, allowing it to reach its current funding goals.