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BioCentury features Encycle Therapeutics

Encycle Therapeutics, a MaRS Innovation start-up company from the University of Toronto, was featured in a BioCentury emerging company profile by Michael J. Haas.

The company is currently raising a Series A financing round and employs eight people.

Haas’ profile, “Encycle: Oral Macrocycles,” is available behind a pay wall on the BioCentury website.

Here’s a short excerpt:

Macrocycle therapies can block protein-protein interactions that are undruggable with small molecules; however, oral availability and cell penetration remain key challenges. Encycle Therapeutics Inc.’s chemistry platform generates drug-like macrocycles against validated targets to treat diseases for which oral therapies are needed.

Marketed inhibitors of protein-protein interactions include biologics and other molecules large enough to target the wide, shallow surfaces involved in those interactions, but can only bind extracellular targets. Macrocycles can have sufficient size to block protein-protein interactions yet remain small enough to penetrate cells and block intracellular interactions that biologics and small molecules cannot.

Founded on chemistry from University of Toronto for cyclizing peptides and non-peptidic molecules, Encycle’s macrocycles incorporate three features that are not all found in other companies’ compounds — the absence of sulfur, the presence of intramolecular hydrogen bonding motifs, and an upper limit on size, according to President and CEO Jeffrey Coull.

CBC’s Lang and O’Leary Exchange features Whirlscape’s Minuum keyboard

August 1, 2014
Susanne Staer
Media Coverage

UTEST graduate Whirlscape, makers of the wearable, one-line Minuum keyboard, were recently featured on CBC’s Lang and O’Leary Exchange.

Minuum has also broken the 100 billion pixels mark in screen space saved for its users. Read about it on input, the Minuum blog.

Founder and CEO Will Walmsley was interviewed by Amanda Lang. The footage was also made available on CBC News, and was included in CBC’s weekly summary of the week’s top business stories. Watch the video.

Here’s an excerpt:

Typing on a smartphone is hard enough – imagine doing it on a smartwatch or other wearable device.

A Toronto startup called Minuum is trying to solve that problem with a tiny virtual keyboard.

It’s a downloadable app costing $3.99 that combines a tiny keyboard with a powerful autocorrect that helps you get the message out, no matter how you punch it.
[. . .]
“What really drives us to work on this technology is the future potential it has. The core concept is a keyboard that is just one line of characters, which means if you can imagine typing on a line anywhere, that can be a keyboard,” he said.

The Varsity on UTEST and start-up culture at U of T; Whirlscape launches new Minuum smartwatch demo

“Start-up culture is fast taking hold at U of T, with an array of incubators and accelerators providing student entrepreneurs the resources and mentorships required to get their businesses up and running,” writes Ameya Charnalia of The Varsity, the University of Toronto’s student newspaper.

Charnalia’s article focuses on new student-focused incubators, such as the UTEST program, which provide entrepreneurs cash, access to in-house expertise, working space and mentorship to advice their ideas.

It appeared in the same week that recent UTEST graduate Whirlscape released a new demo video showing their Minuum keyboard technology running on a LG G watch, which is also an Android Wear device. The announcement was covered in TechCrunch, engadget, Pocketnow, Android Police, SlashGear, BGR, Mobile Syrup, 9to5Google, and DroidLife, among other tech blogs.

Xagenic announces second closing of $25.5M Series B financing

TORONTO, July 14, 2014 - Xagenic Inc., a molecular diagnostics company developing the first lab-free molecular diagnostic platform with a 20 minute time-to-result, has announced a second closing of its…

WaveCheck campaign part of new study on crowdfunding medical research

MI’s Fazila Seker also interviewed in National Post article on what prompts medical researchers to consider crowdfunding

The WaveCheck crowdfunding campaign, which raised $53,390 on Indiegogo to support clinical trials for a clinical technique invented by researchers at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Ryerson University, was included in a new Canadian-led study on the merits of crowdfunding to support cancer and rare diseases.

“Crowdfunding drug development: The state of play in oncology and rare diseases,” was published in Drug Discovery Today‘s June issue.

MaRS Innovation has confirmed with lead author Professor Nick Dragojlovic of the University of British Columbia that WaveCheck was among the campaigns included in the study.

Whirlscape releases demo of Minuum keyboard on the Moto 360 circular smartwatch

As part of their ongoing efforts to explore the future of wearable typing, UTEST grad Whirlscape released a demo of the Minuum keyboard working on a Moto 360 smartwatch.

This news builds upon Whirlscape’s activities in the wearables space; the company had previously announced a partnership with Omate Smartwatches that was covered in TechVibes.

This news was covered in the Los Angeles Times, Tech Crunch, Droid Life, Mobile Syrup, Digital Trends, SlashGear, Android Community and GigaOM. See also this article speculating on possibilities for the future of Canadian mobile wearable technology, also by Mobile Syrup.

Why would you need to type on a smartwatch? CEO Will Walmsley addressed the topic on input, the Minuum blog:

Globe and Mail: Strong incubators are key to driving innovation

Jeff Cates’ op-ed in the Globe and Mail‘s Small Business/Digital Innovation section on June 19, 2014 argues that incubators have a key role to play in fostering innovation, entrepreneurship and growing new industries in Ontario.

Cates states this is particularly true when incubators when they provide programs and services to help young entrepreneurs succeed.

The University of Toronto Early-Stage Technology program (UTEST), co-managed with MaRS Innovation, is one such program. UTEST is set to announce its third cohort within the next month.

U of T researchers demonstrate new class of solar-sensitive nanoparticle

New research emerging from the University of Toronto’s Edward S Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is developing and demonstrating a new class of solar-sensitive nanoparticle.

MaRS Innovation is working with Professor Ted Sargent, his research team and U of T’s Innovations and Partnerships Office (IPO) to incubate and commercialize this and other solar technologies. Their work was recently published in Nature Materials.

The paper’s publication was widely covered in the technical trades, including CNET.com, Tech Times, Compound Semiconductor.net and Gizmag, among others, and on the university’s website.

Here’s an excerpt from power-technology.com:

Led by post-doctoral researcher Zhijun Ning and Professor Ted Sargent, the research work resulted in the development of a new form of solid, stable light-sensitive nanoparticles, known as colloidal quantum dots.

Developed in collaboration with Dalhousie University, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the solar-sensitive nanoparticles are cheaper than the traditional panels, large and rectangular.

In addition to being cheaper, the colloidal quantum dots are more flexible solar cells, and better gas sensors, infrared lasers, infrared light emitting diodes and more.

U of T names inventors of the year, celebrates top innovators

June 4, 2014
Susanne Staer
Awards

UTEST companies and MaRS Innovation partnership recognized along with this year’s honourees

A better keyboard for mobile devices, intelligent traffic lights to tackle traffic jams, a more ecofriendly way to make nanoparticles for applications such as solar cells and agriculture, and an artificial neural network that improves the way computers learn.

These four inventions took top honours May 21 at the University of Toronto Celebrates Innovation event.

Mobile Syrup covered Whirlscape’s involvement in this event. Read the story.

The annual event, which has previously honoured the university’s top inventors of the year, has widened its scope. This year, in addition to naming the top inventors of the past year, U of T honoured people and companies working on everything from apps to help the disabled to a printer that prints human skin for wound dressing. It also recognized the financial support of the Connaught Fund for several programs that support innovation.

“This year is extra special,” said Professor Paul Young, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation. “We decided to bring into the fold some of the other competitive innovation programs. U of T is home to some of the world’s most creative and entrepreneurial innovators, so these competitions were fierce.”

The 2014 inventors of the year are:

Will Walmsley, a recent graduate of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, who was cited for his development of the Minuum keyboard. Dubbed “the small keyboard for big fingers,” it provides a full keyboard for mobile devices using very little space, allowing users to type quickly and use gesture shortcuts.

Flybits selected as a Red Herring Top 100 North America Winner

May 28, 2014
Susanne Staer
Awards

TORONTO, Canada (May 20, 2014) — Red Herring has selected Flybits as one of its 2014 Top 100 North America award winners. Flybits was recognized for its leading-edge, context-aware computing solutions.

Red Herring Top 100 America recognizes innovation from outstanding entrepreneurs and promising companies. Its “Top 100 North America” award winners were selected from among approximately 3,000 tech start-ups financed each year in the U.S. and Canada. Past winners include companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, Marin Software, Palo Alto Networks and eBay, and many others that have changed how we live and work.

“In 2014, selecting the top 100 achievers was by no means a small feat,” said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. “We believe Flybits embodies the vision, drive and innovation that define a successful entrepreneurial venture. Flybits should be proud of its accomplishment, as the competition was very strong.”