TMCi HealthTech Accelerator

The six-month, twice annual HealthTech Accelerator — originally launched in 2014 with over 225 alumni companies — focuses on digital health and medical device startups. The spring cohort are addressing solutions across maternal medicine, mental health, diagnostics, patient experience, and artificial intelligence.

"Uniting talented professionals from across the globe provides a unique opportunity for innovation, creativity, and development in diverse areas of expertise," says Devin Dunn, head of the Accelerator for Healthtech at TMCi, in the release. "Our tailored program maximizes participants' experiences while determining the best match between these companies and Texas Medical Center’s network."

The cohort was selected following a November bootcamp that introduced potential startup members to the TMC and the Houston health care community.

The following companies will join the TMC this month:

• Based in Roseville, Minneapolis, Bloom Standard is deploying the first self-driving pediatric ultrasound to earlier diagnose heart and lung conditions in primary care, remote and under-resourced settings.
• San Francisco-based Ejenta automates remote monitoring and care using AI technology exclusively licensed from NASA. “Intelligent agents” learn from connected devices, claims and EMR data to monitor patients, predict health and to provide automated support for patients and automated workflow for clinicians.
• Kintsugi, based in Berkley, California, is on a mission to see mental health more clearly by developing novel voice biomarker infrastructure to detect signs of depression and anxiety from short clips of free-form speech.
• San Francisco-based Lana Health is modernizing patient experiences, across the care continuum with an end-to-end, scalable platform, enabling frictionless care transitions, high patient satisfaction, and better clinical outcomes.
• Liberate Medical, from Crestwood, Kentucky, improves outcomes for mechanically ventilated patients using its breakthrough, non-invasive, respiratory muscle-protective, neurostimulation device, VentFree.
• Limbix, headquartered in Palo Alto, has a mission to improve mental health with accessible technology.
• Nua Surgical, from Galway, Ireland, Nua Surgical is an award-winning Irish start-up dedicated to innovating in women’s health.
• Houston-based Prana Thoracic is developing solutions for the detection and intervention of early-stage lung cancer.

Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics

The TMC has announced the 21 researchers and companies tapped to join the 2023 Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics.

The nine-month program, funded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas in partnership with the Gulf Coast Consortia and the University of Texas Medical Branch, supports investigators and early-stage biotechnology companies with innovative solutions in cancer therapeutics. Participants will be mentored by a group of scientific, business, and innovation leaders to ultimately be positioned to apply for grants and pitch to investors and corporate partners to further the development of their innovative cancer solutions.

“For this third cohort, we focused on a strategic and extensive recruitment process, including the evaluation of 1,679 cancer research projects. From 56 applications, we selected 21 participants that will gain access to valuable resources, integrated training and mentorship to prepare for clinical trials,” says Ahmed AlRawi, program manager of Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics, in the release. “Our 2023 cohort represents our most diverse cohort to date, including eight companies led by women entrepreneurs. We are excited to continue the momentum and build off the successes of our previous years.”

Forty-five participants have gone through the accelerator program since its launch in 2021, and collectively, the entrepreneurs have raised more than $90 million in funding and three projects are in the clinic.

The 2023 cohort participants are focused on a wide range of therapeutic assets, including small molecule, antibody, peptide/protein, cell therapy, and other. The 2023 cohort kicks off their nine-month program in January.

The participants include:

1. Dr. Amit K. Tripathi – UNT-Health Science Center
2. Dr. Darshan Gandhi (ImproveBio, LLC)
3. Dr. Frank McKeon (Tract Pharmaceutical) – University of Houston
4. Dr. Hemanta Baruah (Aakha Biologics)
5. Dr. Joshua Gruber – UT-Southwestern
6. Dr. Kyoji Tsuchikama – UT Health Science Center-Houston
7. Dr. Maralice Conacci Sorrell – UT-Southwestern
8. Dr. Michael Buszczak – UT-Southwestern
9. Dr. Nadezhda (Nadia) German -Texas Tech-Lubbock
10. Dr. Parsa Modareszadeh (HemePro Therapeutics) – UT-Dallas
11. Dr. Robert Kruse (HydroGene Therapeutics)
12. Dr. Xiang Zhang – Baylor College of Medicine
13. Dr. Youngwook Won (Singular Immune, Inc.)
14. Dr. Zhi-Ping Liu (Raphael Pharmaceutical LLC) – UT-Southwestern
15. Dr. Jonathan Arambula (InnovoTEX Inc.)
16. Dr. Isaac Chan – UT-Southwestern
17. Dr. Olga Granaturova (Ruptakine Inc.) – UT Health Science Center-Houston
18. Dr. Jim Song (Tranquility Biodesign) – Texas A&M-College Station
19. Dr. Rosa Selenia Guerra-Resendez (Quetzal Bio, LLC) – Rice University
20. Dr. Cassian Yee (Mongoose Bio, LLC) – UT-MD Anderson Cancer Center
21. Dr. Manjeet Rao (Niragen, Inc.) – UT Health Science Center-San Antonio