| Name | Title | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|
Charles Marra |
Vice President of Technology | Profile |
Nick Gianadda |
Chief Technology Officer | Profile |
EdiGENE Corporation is an emerging biotech company focusing on developing transformative therapeutics for unmet medical needs using its proprietary technologies on CRISPR and protein engineering platforms. The company has a strong foundation on intellectual property licensed from the University of Tokyo.
Madeira Therapeutics is a Overland Park, KS-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.
Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is a chronic, life-threatening disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In the United States, 30,000 new cases are estimated every year with half of those cases diagnosed in young children. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the patient`s immune system goes awry and attacks and destroys the pancreatic beta cells. Beta cells are responsible for regulating blood sugar (glucose) levels by producing precise amounts of the essential hormone insulin. The discovery of injectable insulin in the 1920s changed T1D from a uniformly fatal disease with a life expectancy of months to one that could be carefully managed for decades through multiple daily blood glucose measurements and insulin injections. However, insulin injections are not a cure and patients face a lifetime of difficult disease management and serious complications including kidney failure, blindness and nerve damage. Despite nearly a century passing since the discovery of insulin, insulin injection remains the only treatment available to patients. Semma Therapeutics was founded to develop transformative therapies for patients who currently depend on insulin injections. Recent work in the laboratory of Professor Douglas Melton led to the discovery of a method to generate billions of functional, insulin-producing beta cells in the laboratory. These cells develop in islet-like clusters grown from stem cells. Initial preclinical work in animal models of diabetes has shown that transplantation of these cells are sufficient to control blood glucose levels. This breakthrough technology has been exclusively licensed to Semma Therapeutics for the development of a cell-based therapy for diabetes. Ongoing research at Semma Therapeutics is focused on combining these proprietary cells with a state-of-the-art cell delivery and immune protection strategy that can protect these cells from the patient`s immune system and allow the beta cells to function as they do in non-diabetic individuals. Implantation of the beta cell-filled device has the potential to provide a true replacement for the missing beta cells in a diabetic patient and would not require patient immunosuppression. Semma Therapeutics is working to bring this new therapeutic option to the clinic and improve the lives of patients with diabetes.
Genpathway, Inc. is a San Diego, CA-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.
Headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado, Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies is a global leader in blood component, therapeutic apheresis and cellular technologies serving customers in more than 130 countries. As the only company with the unique combination of apheresis collections, manual and automated whole blood processing and pathogen reduction, we believe in the potential of blood to do even more for patients than it does today. This belief unites our organization, inspires our innovation and strengthens our collaboration with customers. Originally established in 1964 as COBE Laboratories, today, nearly 7,000 associates around the world are deeply committed to our vision of working together for better lives and our promise to unlock the potential of blood and cells. One way we back these words is through our pledge to be a conscientious corporate citizen and conduct our business in a way that provides social, environmental and economic benefit. At Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies, discovery never stops. We share a passion for thinking in new and different ways and we are proud to support education and research through a variety of community involvement activities as well as by providing grants to advance treatment options for patients. We know the work we do matters and has the potential to fundamentally improve health care. We remain dedicated to ensuring the lifesaving gift of blood is available around the world and to meeting and exceeding the needs of our customers and the patients we ultimately serve.