Susanne Staer

MaRS Innovation partners with Chris Hadfield’s Generator event

October 6, 2015
Susanne Staer
News

Win a pair of Generator tickets or a signed copy of a Hadfield book!

Today, MaRS Innovation’s launching our new WordPress website, built with feedback and input from our community (thanks to all who took the web survey back in June and please be patient with us as we make tweaks and adjustments this week).

We’re excited because our website is where we talk about our role in advancing Toronto’s innovation ecosystem. We share news from our portfolio of companies and technologies, which are all built on the world-class research happening across the Toronto innovation community that we represent:

Three universities: U of T, York and Ryerson
Nine research-driven teaching hospitals: Baycrest, CAMH, Holland Bloorview, Mount Sinai, SickKids, St. Michael’s, Sunnybrook, UHN and Women’s College
Two specialized research institutes: Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute
Our sister organization: MaRS Discovery District

Enter the Generator Contest

Col. Chris Hadfield was the first Canadian to command the International Space Station.

To celebrate the web launch, we’ve partnered with Chris Hadfield’s Generator series.

Hosted by Commander Chris Hadfield, Generator is a science-based variety show that blends knowledge, perception, music and comedy.

The event takes place at Massey Hall on October 28, 2015 and MaRS Innovation is pleased to be among its sponsors.

Which Software And Tech Packages You Really Need

October 4, 2015
Susanne Staer
Business
0 Comments

Credibly reintermediate backend ideas for cross-platform models. Continually reintermediate integrated processes through technically sound intellectual capital. Holistically foster superior methodologies without market-driven best practices. Distinctively exploit optimal alignments for intuitive…

Why You And Your Team Should Be Attending Conferences

October 1, 2015
Susanne Staer
Advice
0 Comments

Efficiently unleash cross-media information without cross-media value. Quickly maximize timely deliverables for real-time schemas. Dramatically maintain clicks-and-mortar solutions without functional solutions. Completely synergize resource taxing relationships via premier niche markets.…

Ensuring Mobile Compatibility For Your Website

September 30, 2015
Susanne Staer
Advice
0 Comments

Quickly communicate enabled technology and turnkey leadership skills. Uniquely enable accurate supply chains rather than frictionless technology. Globally network focused materials vis-a-vis cost effective manufactured products. Enthusiastically leverage existing premium…

Encycle Therapeutics raises $2.85 million to advance macrocycle platform and pipeline

September 30, 2015
Susanne Staer
Encycle Therapeutics

TORONTO, ON (September 30, 2015) — Encycle Therapeutics, Inc., a University of Toronto spin-off company created in partnership with MaRS Innovation, announced today that it has completed a $2.85 million (CAD) financing led by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. through its venture capital arm, Takeda Ventures, Inc., with Accel-Rx Health Sciences Accelerator, BDC Capital and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund.

This news was covered in PEHub, BetaKit and TechVibes.

The funding will support ongoing development of Encycle’s unique nacellin platform chemistry and advance the company’s pipeline of novel therapeutics. It will also allow the company to build on research collaborations with several pharmaceutical companies and ultimately position it for a series A transaction and/or additional strategic partnerships.

“Our proprietary chemistry has the potential to unlock myriad therapeutic avenues, including via intracellular protein-protein interactions that cannot be targeted with conventional therapeutics,” said Dr. Jeffrey Coull, president and CEO of Encycle Therapeutics; upon the closing, Coull joined Encycle’s board of directions. “This funding is critical to enable the company to further explore the vast potential of our technology and to de-risk it to the extent that major transactions will be enabled.”

“Our goal is to make an impact on patients’ lives by turning science and technology into life-changing medicines. We are enthusiastic about Encycle’s technology and its potential in the context of ‘undruggable’ proteins,” said Dr. Ilan Zipkin, senior investment director at Takeda.

“Encycle’s growing momentum reflects MaRS Innovation’s efforts to shift the Canadian paradigm for technology transfer,” said Dr. Raphael Hofstein, chairman of the Encycle Therapeutics Board of Directors and president and CEO of MaRS Innovation. “This company began with promising research in Dr. Andrei Yudin’s laboratory at the University of Toronto. With crucial support from many players along the Ontario-Quebec life sciences corridor, MaRS Innovation collaborated with him to package and protect the technology, launch the company and hire experienced management. The success of this funding round bodes well for its future growth and success.”

Finding The Right Location For Your Business

September 28, 2015
Susanne Staer
Advice
0 Comments

Proactively fabricate one-to-one materials via effective e-business. Completely synergize scalable e-commerce rather than high standards in e-services. Assertively iterate resource maximizing products after leading-edge intellectual capital. Distinctively re-engineer revolutionary meta-services…

Financial Post covers Onyx Motion’s Swish app, scheduled to launch in November

September 28, 2015
Susanne Staer
Media Coverage

Company plans future sports applications for tennis and golf for its Motion Marketplace

Swish by Onyx Motion “takes advantage of motion sensors to provide accurate tips and feedback to improve play,” wrote Robert Liwanag in “App for smartwatches helps users become better basketball players” for the Financial Post‘s “Entrepreneur” section on September 28, 2015.

“Using it is simple — you turn it on, press calibrate and lift your arms and hands as you would to shoot a basket,” wrote Liwanag. “The objective is to bring the circle hovering inside the target on the watch’s screen to go green. When it does, the user is in the right starting position and has the ability to achieve consistency shot after shot.”

Onyx Motion is a graduate of the UTEST program‘s third cohort (and is currently based in Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone). Their basketball app, which is scheduled to launch in November after a successful Indiegogo campaign, is the first of several sports-focused products planned by CEO Marissa Wu.

Work From Anywhere With Remote VPN

September 25, 2015
Susanne Staer
Business
0 Comments

Credibly innovate granular internal or "organic" sources whereas high standards in web-readiness. Energistically scale future-proof core competencies vis-a-vis impactful experiences. Dramatically synthesize integrated schemas with optimal networks. Interactively procrastinate high-payoff…

Triphase announces Health Canada approval to initiate Marizomib Phase 1 study in recurrent glioma patients

TORONTO and SAN DIEGO (September 25, 2015) — Triphase Accelerator Corporation, a private drug development company dedicated to advancing novel compounds through Phase 2 proof-of-concept, today announced that it has received approval from Health Canada to initiate its Phase 1 clinical study of marizomib in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin^®) in patients with recurrent malignant glioma in Canada. Marizomib is a novel and highly potent proteasome inhibitor that readily penetrates the blood brain barrier. It prevents the breakdown of proteins involved in signal transduction, which inhibits tumor growth.

The study will be conducted in Canada at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto and led by principal investigator Warren Mason, M.D., medical director of the Brain Tumour Centre and Kirchmann Family Chair in Neuro-oncology Research at Princess Margaret Hospital.

“Malignant gliomas are rarely curable, and the prognosis for patients with high-grade gliomas is generally poor. One of the few treatment options currently available for recurrent gliomas is bevacizumab. As a result, new treatment options are urgently needed for patients suffering from this universally fatal disease,” said Dr. Mason. “Published literature indicates that targeting the proteasome in glioma cells has shown significant anti-tumor activity. Given that marizomib is a first-in-class pan-proteasome inhibitor that is brain penetrant, I am looking forward to evaluating this combination regimen in my patients.”

MaRS Innovation sponsoring Angels’ Den competition

September 22, 2015
Susanne Staer
Awards

Prima IP co-sponsoring the Ryerson University and St. Michael’s Hospital event

When your business demands staying current with the newest inventions springing up across 15 academic members, keeping pace with what’s happening is half the challenge.

That’s part of the reason why MaRS Innovation and Prima IP are sponsoring winners of an Angels’ Den competition involving the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology (iBEST).

iBEST is a partnership between Ryerson University and St. Michael’s Hospital that brings together Ryerson’s engineering and science strengths with St. Michael’s biomedical research and clinical expertise. The contest, which took place on June 26, 2015, riffs on the popular Dragon’s Den format.

“As a guest judge for the iBEST trainee competition this year, I reviewed a lot of thought-provoking ideas and MaRS Innovation congratulates all of the 2015 award winners,” says Dr. Fazila Seker, director of physical sciences. “Many of our portfolio technologies have their origins in this type of collaboration between researchers and medical staff, which is why we’re so excited to sponsor this competition. Fostering these types of relationships is vital to Toronto’s commercialization ecosystem.”

For the 2015 award period, MaRS Innovation will provide the competition’s winners with upfront commercialization consultation services to help shorten the time it may take for their ideas to reach the market. These services will be offered in collaboration with the technology transfer offices within St. Michael’s Hospital and the Vice-President of Research and Innovation office at Ryerson University as appropriate. In partnership with Prima IP, MaRS Innovation will also cover the initial patent application preparation and filing for the top two awardees of the iBEST event. Future award winners will receive similar support.

“Canada’s future economy depends on programs that encourage and facilitate innovation allowing Canada to remain competitive in the global marketplace and attract foreign investment,” said Marcelo König Sarkis, principal, founder and senior patent agent at Prima IP. “We are passionate in our support for Canadian inventions from the initial research phase to start-up and beyond.”