Skip to content
Hero Swoop Purple 02

MassNextGen Awardees

Awardees from the Massachusetts Next Generation (MassNextGen) Initiative receive a year-long customized package of support, which includes non-dilutive grant funding, lab bench at a sponsoring incubator, and access to a network of seasoned professionals from the life sciences ecosystem helping them to refine their business strategies and effectively raise capital. Learn more about past cohorts below.
InnovationEntrepreneurship scaled 1

Connect with us to learn more

If you have further questions regarding the application process, please email: MassNextGen@masslifesciences.com.

Other Programs

Solid Swoop 01 scaled 1

Hear from the Heart of the Hub

Sign up The Beat for our weekly newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Elizabeth O'Day

CEO, Olaris Therapeutics

About the company:

Olaris is a precision diagnostics company that is on a mission to revolutionize how diseases are diagnosed and treated. By leveraging their CEREBRO platform (Comprehensive Early Responsive Evaluation of Biomarkers Related to Outcomes), which combines metabolomics and machine learning, they are able to harness the power of the body’s own communication system to discover and develop their pipeline of myOLARIS precision diagnostics.

Links:

Vera Hoffman

CEO, Reveal Pharmaceuticals

About the company:

Hoffman and her company are working to develop a manganese based contrast agent that improves upon the safety of gadoliniumbased agents without compromising efficacy. Reveal Pharmaceuticals has been able to make additional hires through the money they received as part of MassNextGen. Beyond this funding, the company was awarded a supplemental NIH grant. The field itself has also progressed during MassNextGen and multiple papers and articles supporting the basis for Reveal’s technology, that Gadolinium based imaging agents are retained in the cerebrospinal fluid and the brain.

Links:

Laura Indolfi

President and CEO, PanTher Therapeutics

About the company:

PanTher Therapeutics is a clinical-stage oncology company revolutionizing cancer care by harnessing sustained treatments engineered for localized applications. We are Attacking Cancer at The Source™ by providing therapeutics on target. PanTher mission is to redefine cancer treatment with therapeutics designed to act precisely at the tumor site for enhanced clinical outcomes and minimal side effects. We empower oncologists to better treat cancer patients by unlocking a drug’s full potential through direct, sustained treatment at the tumor site. Our innovative Sagittari™ platform enables to engineer optimized therapeutic solutions to address the specific challenges dictated by tumor type, location, and ideal therapeutic regimen. PanTher lead candidate, PTM-101, is a minimally invasive, implantable treatment for pancreatic cancer currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial as first line therapy for localized non-metastatic pancreatic cancers.

Links:

Yue Shao

President, Buy Time Medical

About the company:

Developing a method of therapeutic hypothermia or medical protective cooling for hospital cardiac arrest and minimally invasive surgeries to prevent warm ischemia and surgical trauma.

Links:

Akshaya Shanmugam

CEO, Lumme Labs

About the company:

Treatment of addictions to smoking, alcohol, and diet through behavioral monitoring via wearable device and app platform.

Links:

Azadeh Khanicheh

President and Founder, Envision Endoscopy

About the company:

Khanicheh brings 15 years of experience in the medical device innovation and research space. After receiving her PhD in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering from Northeastern she worked throughout Massachusetts, including 15 issued and pending patents. EnVision Endoscopy is working on a suturing adjunct that can be used with any endoscope. By decreasing the number of steps and procedure time, the cost is decreased and this allows for access to a greater number of gastroenterologists and surgeons.

Links:

Minmin Yen

CEO and Co-Founder, PhagePro

About the company:

Yen is a recent PhD graduate from Tufts University. During her tenure there, she worked on developing a bacteriophage product to combat household transmission of cholera. PhagePro was founded to not only continue this work but also develop phage products for emerging markets. Their initial target is cholera and by offering an oral product that offers immediate protection, families of patients infected with cholera will be able to take care of their loved ones without fear while also curbing outbreaks in the community.

Links:

Carmela Mascio

President and CSO, LivOnyx

About the company:

Developer of a rapid hand disinfection system to reduce healthcare associated infections.

This company has closed.

Links:

Amy Ripka

CEO and Founder, Lucy Therapeutics

About the company:

Ripka brings 23 years of drug discovery experience and expertise to her role at Lucy Therapeutics. She has over 30 issued chemical patents and has worked in drug discovery from screening through IND. Ripka has also led international research conferences and served as a scientific advisor to multiple biotechs. She is applying this experience to LucyTx’s goal of generating a new mitochondrial platform for the discovery of neurological therapies, first focusing on Rett Syndrome and Parkinson’s Disease. LucyTx targets mitochondrial nexus points, which can address both the genetic and environmental factors in these diseases.

Links:

Suzanne Mitchell

CEO and Founder, See Yourself Health

About the company:

Mitchell is a physician researcher that designs and studies the impact of digital health for improved health service delivery for chronic and serious illness. She has 20 years of clinical and research experience on implementation science. Mitchell leverages her experience through See Yourself Health to develop a digital health platform to empower and prepare people to reverse the course of diabetes in their lives. The technology uses virtual reality and innovative programming to generate a comprehensive toolkit for chronic disease and population health management.

Links:

Camille Martin

CEO and Co-Founder, Seaspire

About the company:

Pioneering a new category of multifunctional materials utilizing the bio-inspired, patent-pending, natural ingredient Xanthochrome® to combat negative health implications associated with environmental pollution.

Johnson & Johnson awardee

Links:

Joanna Stackina

CEO and Co-founder, Axonis

About the company:

Advancing breakthrough drug discoveries to develop groundbreaking therapies for spinal cord injury and other currently incurable neurological disorders, making a real difference for patients, their families, and the global healthcare system.

Links:

Virginia Burger

Co-Founder and CEO, New Equilibrium Biosciences

About the company:

New Equilibrium Bioscience’s mission is to discover new medicines for life-threatening diseases with a focus on extending the health span of patients. We leverage our computational-experimental platform to discover lead drug candidates that regulate intrinsically disordered proteins implicated in cancers and neurodegenerative disorders.

This company has closed.

Links:

Nele van Dessel

CEO and Co-Founder, Ernest Pharmaceuticals

About the company:

The vision of Ernest Pharmaceuticals is to create a new bacterial toolbox for cancer therapies that will increase translation of cutting-edge discoveries in fundamental cancer research into clinical treatments. Ernest Pharmaceuticals’ focus will be on tumors with low survival rates, such as liver, pancreas, ovarian and metastatic breast cancer. For these patients, very few therapeutic possibilities exist that greatly improve overall survival time. Bacterial cancer therapies have the potential to change these high mortality rates and to make a significant impact in the lives of patients that have exhausted all treatment options.

Links:

Ida Pavlichenko

CEO, President, and Co-founder, PionEar

About the company:

Developing a new generation of fluid-guiding, and biocontamination-resistant medical conduits (e.g. tubes and shunts) that can be customized to address the need for more efficacious drug delivery or drainage of biological fluids in different parts of the human body. PionEar’s first product is a bioinspired tympanostomy tube (also known as an ear tube) that allows antibiotic drops to penetrate the middle ear more efficiently than existing tubes for a more effective resolution of infection and reduces the risk of unnecessary revision surgeries and complications.

This company has closed.

Links:

Natalie Artzi

Co-Founder and CEO, BioDevek

About the company:

Aiming to transform the field of surgical and topical adhesive materials with a family of proprietary internal, external and reversible adhesive materials that reacts in a graded manner with each tissue as a function of type and state to provide adequate adhesion while maintaining biocompatibility

Links:

Liane Clamen

Founder and CEO, Adaptilens

About the company:

Developer of a precision medicine platform designed to provide the right drug to the right patient. 

Links:

Oriana Papin-Zoghbi

CEO and Co-Founder AOA Dx

About the company:

AOA Dx is developing the next frontier in early-stage cancer detection through its pioneering work in glycolipids and proprietary biomarker technology. Our revolutionary tumor marker ganglioside platform, GlycoLocateâ„¢, is paving the way for life-saving early cancer detection. In a first of its kind, AOA Dx is developing AKRIVIS GDâ„¢, an early-stage liquid biopsy test for ovarian cancer.

Links:

Laura Kleiman

Founder and CEO, Reboot Rx

About the company:

Reboot Rx is the nonprofit health tech startup dedicated to fast-tracking the development of affordable cancer treatments using repurposed generic drugs, AI technology, and innovative funding models.

Links:

Roya Khosravi-Far

Co-Founder and CEO, InnoTech Precision Medicine

About the company:

InnoTech Precision Medicine is developing a pioneering biosensor platform technology for the next generation of point of care diagnostics. These biosensors can be developed for many types of disease biomarkers, including antigens and nucleic acids, allowing accurate, sensitive, and field-deployable diagnosis in one test that is currently possible from multiple tests. Our initial indication will be for the rapid and accurate screening and diagnosis of upper respiratory infections including COVID and Influenza. Our pipeline includes biosensors for Sepsis and Immune Oncology.

Links:

Lynne Becker

CEO and Founder, Power of Patients

About the company:

Power of Patients (POP) is a patient-led technology innovator with a patent-pending AI app that is transforming traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The app is patient-powered, collecting TBI data at a granular level through a patient’s direct input, driving patient engagement to improve care and create unique therapeutic and research opportunities for providers, researchers, and the clinical trial industry.

Links:

Elizabeth Wood​

Founder & CEO, JURA Bio

About the company:

JURA Bio is revolutionizing the field of cell therapies for T-cell mediated disease with its cutting-edge platform powered by machine learning and synthetic biology.

Links:

Alison Burklund

Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Nanopath​

About the company:

Nanopath is a molecular diagnostics company that aims to disrupt traditional testing methodologies. The company’s goal is to equitably improve the lives of patients, starting with women, by providing actionable molecular information within a single office visit.

Links:

CL Tian​

CEO, Phiex Technologies

About the company:

Phiex Technologies enables medical device makers to sterilize critical devices in-line with self-sterilizing materials, providing a safe, cost/time-savings alternative to the cancer-causing status quo.

Links:

Andee Wallace

CEO and Co-Founder, Robigo

About the company:

Robigo is leveraging cutting edge biotechnology and data science to develop a new class of precision microbials to protect crops, fight disease, and improve overall yields while creating a more sustainable future for agriculture.

Links:

Maura Warner

CEO and Co-Founder, Sidereal Therapeutics

About the company:

Sidereal is an early-stage company developing therapeutics for Acute Kidney Injury, Bone Marrow Transplant & other critical care applications.

MissionBioCapital Awardee

Links:

Samantha Johnson

Founder and CEO, Tatum Robotics

About the company:

Tatum Robotics is supporting DeafBlind individuals with their first independent communication tool prioritizing their primary language, tactile sign.

Links:

Ananya Zutshi

Co-Founder and CEO, Guardian Bio

About the company:

Guardian Bio is developing a first-in-class therapy leveraging a newly defined type of dendritic cell designed to launch a personalized anti-tumor immune response in cancer patients.

Links:

Katerina Chatzi

Founder and CEO, Promakhos Therapeutics

About the company:

Promakhos Therapeutics is developing curative therapies that restore the function of the immune system, allowing the body to control inflammation and heal.

Links:

Karen Cronholm

CEO and Co-Founder, Akeyna

About the company:

Akeyna is a medical technology company dedicated to improving the lives of patients and medical professionals by increasing the safety of common procedures. Akeyna’s novel technology detects the presence of blood vessels in vivo.

Links:

Diana Mojahed

Founder and CEO, Lightfinder

About the company:

Lightfinder is developing a high-resolution 3D tissue imager on-a-chip that will enable a more accurate, efficient, and less costly tissue diagnostic pathology process.

Links:

Claire Zeng

Founder, CEO, and CTO, DoriNano

About the company:

DoriNano is developing first-in-class transformative nanoparticle-based combination immunotherapies for cancer patients.

Links:

Leah Borden

CEO, Gelectric Medical

About the company:

Gelectric Medical is the creator of the novel product AnastoTape, a reversible soft tissue suture alternative for surgical anastomosis repair.

Links:

Sean Matsuoka

Co-Founder, General Prognostics

About the company:

General Prognostics (GPx) is addressing heart failure management with a non-invasive, cost-effective technology that uses smartwatch data and proprietary algorithms to deliver continuous NT-proBNP insights, reducing hospital readmissions and costs while positioning itself as a B2B subscription service for cardiologists and HF centers.

Links:

Erika Bechtold

CEO and Co-Founder, Barlume Cosmetics

About the company:

Barlume Cosmetics is developing a 100 percent cellulose/lignin-based sunscreen that will be safer for people and the planet.

Links:

MLSC Brandmark scaled 1

Hear from the Heart of the Hub