Athens, Ga. – The Georgia BioBusiness Center, the University of Georgia’s startup incubator, will hold its annual Startup Showcase on Tuesday, April 15, from 5:30-7 p.m. The event will be held at the UGA Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, located at 111 Riverbend Road. All UGA faculty, staff, students and the public are invited to attend.
The event is a celebration of UGA startup company success, drawing entrepreneurs, technology leaders, university representatives and investors from across the region. Dozens of the center’s most promising member companies will have exhibits showcasing their efforts to find treatments for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and develop agricultural and green technologies. UGA faculty founded many of the showcased companies.
“The Georgia BioBusiness Center plays a pivotal role in contributing to economic development and vitality, as well as fostering innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Derek Eberhart, director of the UGA technology commercialization office and interim director of the Georgia BioBusiness Center. “In addition to launching technology-based startup companies, it helps move research from UGA labs to the marketplace and attracts new and established businesses to the state and Athens community.”
GBBC startup companies featured at the event include:
• Argent Diagnostics: Argent Diagnostics commercializes nanophototonics in biomedical devices. Founded by Richard Dluhy, UGA professor of chemistry, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
• IS3D, LLC: Develops interactive educational software for K-12 students. IS3D graduated from the GBBC incubator this year. Co-founded by eight UGA faculty members, including CEO Tom Robertson, associate professor of physiology and pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine.
• GlycoScientific, LLC: Creates technologies for glycoscience applications. Founded by Ron Orlando, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and chemistry, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
• Molecular Therapeutics: Develops antimicrobial technologies. Founded by Branson Ritchie, Distinguished Research Professor of small animal medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine.
• NueMD: Develops software solutions and technologies for the medical and health industries, including billing and payment processing, and patient scheduling. NueMD is working with Chris Plaue, UGA lecturer in computer science, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, to recruit interns and employees.
• PhotoChem Technologies, LLC: Develops technologies to support the protein pharmaceutical industry and analyze protein pharmaceuticals, based on technology developed by Josh Sharp, associate research scientist at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center.
• PhotoSynthetix: Horticultural lighting company specializing in ultra-high performance LED illumination systems for photosynthetic applications. Founded by UGA crop and soil science alum Erico Rolim de Mattos, in collaboration with Marc Van Iersel, UGA professor of plant nutrition and physiology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
• Swissaustral, USA LLC: Commercializes bioactive compounds of extremophilic microorganisms. Founded by UGA biochemistry alum Jenny Blamey and managed by UGA microbiology alum Felipe Sarmiento.
• ViaCyte: Stem cell engineering company dedicated to creating, delivering and commercializing cell and drug therapies to treat diabetes and other chronic diseases. ViaCyte has co-developed a technology with UGA professor and GRA Eminent Scholar of Molecular Biology Steve Dalton.
For more information about these and other Thinc. Week signature events, visit thinc.uga.edu.
