Editor's note:Let's roundup the most-read Houston innovation news from the week. Trending Houston tech and startup articles from InnovationMap and its daily newsletter included nominations opening for the Houston Innovation Awards, a therapeutics company looking into a weight-loss drug for neurodegenerative disease treatment, and more.
Submit now: Nominations launch, tickets open for annual Houston Innovation Awards
Do you think you know the best of Houston's innovation community? Now's your chance to shine the spotlight on a deserving innovator. Photo by Emily Jaschke/InnovationMap
Calling all Houston innovators — InnovationMap needs your help identifying the best and brightest in the Houston innovation ecosystem.
For the fourth year, InnovationMap is hosting its signiture awards program that will recognize the top startups and innovators in Houston. The awards program will be on Thursday, November 14, at the Texas Medical Center's Helix Park. Tickets and tables are on sale now.
The nomination period — which includes submitting nominations on behalf of yourself or others — will close September 10. Continue reading.
Houston therapeutics innovator looks into GLP-1 drugs for Alzheimer’s treatment
Coya Therapeutics is looking into how a trendy weight loss drug could complement its Alzheimer’s disease treatment. Photo via Getty Images
Glucagon-like peptide 1, or GLP-1, agonists are all the rage right now thanks to drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Though they’re currently being prescribed for diabetes and weight loss, a Houston company reports that it may have found another use for GLP-1s.
Coya Therapeutics, a publicly traded clinical-stage biotechnology company, has filed intellectual property protection for a combination of its proprietary COYA 301 and GLP-1. Coya’s team believes that combining COYA 301, a low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2) intended to enhance the anti-inflammatory function of regulatory T cells (Tregs), with GLP-1 could be a game-changer in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. Continue reading.
Houston boasts impressive presence on annual list of fastest-growing businesses
The Inc. 5000 list is out — here's how Houston faired this year. Photo by Natalie Harms
One hundred businesses in the Houston area — including the top-ranked company in Texas — have been named to the 2024 Inc. 5000 list of the country’s fastest-growing private companies.
The 2024 Inc. 5000 ranks companies based on their percentage growth in revenue from 2020 to 2023.
Topping the list of Houston-area companies on the list is The Woodlands-based Segment HR, which notched revenue growth of 7,353 percent. That growth rate earned Segment HR the No. 32 spot on the national list and the No. 1 ranking in Texas. Continue reading.
Promising Houston cancer research project wins $18M grant
AccessPath is a novel, affordable, slide-free pathology system that helps surgeons determine if they have completely removed tumors during surgery. Photo via Getty Images
The Biden-Harris administration is deploying $150 million as a part of its Cancer Moonshot initiative, and a research team led by Rice University is getting a slice of that pie.
AccessPath is a novel, affordable, slide-free pathology system that helps surgeons determine if they have completely removed tumors during surgery. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, a Rice bioengineering professor and director of the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies, is the lead PI on the project that is receiving up to $18 million over five years from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).
“Because of its low cost, high speed, and automated analysis, we believe AccessPath can revolutionize real-time surgical guidance, greatly expanding the range of hospitals able to provide accurate intraoperative tumor margin assessment and improving outcomes for all cancer surgery patients,” Richards-Kortum says. Continue reading.
Texas tumbles to No. 36 in new 2024 ranking of best states to live
Living in Texas is not all rainbows and sunshine, according to WalletHub. Photo via Getty Images
Texas is being ruled out as one of the top states to live in the country, according to a new livability study by WalletHub. The Lone Star State ranked No. 36 out of all 50 states.
WalletHub ranked every state based on 51 metrics in five major categories: Affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety. Factors that were considered include a state's housing affordability, the share of the population living in poverty, wealth gaps, the quality of the public school system, road quality, among others.
Texas' not-so-stellar ranking has now branded the state as the 15th worst state to live in the nation. For comparison, Massachusetts ranked as the No. 1 best state to live in, followed by Florida (No. 2), New Jersey (No. 3), Utah (No. 4), and New Hampshire (No. 5). Continue reading.