Biolocity, a partnership between Georgia Tech and Emory University dedicated to accelerating the commercialization of breakthrough biomedical innovations, successfully hosted its inaugural Biolocity Pitch Competition this summer. The event brought Georgia Tech and Emory innovators together with an accomplished panel of investors, entrepreneurs and commercialization experts.
Designed specifically for innovators in the early stages of commercialization, the competition provided far more than an opportunity to compete for prize funding. It created a forum where faculty innovators received candid feedback, asked questions and gained valuable insight from experienced investors, entrepreneurs and industry leaders to help guide the next stage of their commercialization journey.
Founders from Emory represented two out of the five teams pitching. Water Bear Bio, with co-founders Morgan Greenleaf, who serves as director of programs in the Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship Office at Emory, and Jesse Waggoner, associate professor of medicine at Emory, develops accessible technologies that expand access to world-class molecular diagnostics.
The second venture, CytMesh, aims to monitor pediatric and central nervous system cancers to predict metastasis and treatment resistance. CytMesh’s platform has been developed through research at Georgia Tech and Emory University, with co-founder Tobey MacDonald, a professor in the department of pediatrics at Emory’s School of Medicine.
Following evaluation by a distinguished judging panel, Logicyte, a company building the full suite of hardware, software and modeling tools needed to enable fully autonomous cell therapy production, was selected as the recipient of the $10,000 Biolocity Pitch Competition Award.
“The inaugural Biolocity Pitch Competition was an outstanding opportunity to showcase innovation and entrepreneurship across Emory and Georgia Tech,” said Alex Vo, vice president of ventures at Emory Healthcare and one of the competition judges.
