U.K. Trade and Investment (UKTI) has posted a Youtube video featuring Canadian companies looking to expand their operations to Britain.
Flybits, a Mars Innovation spin-off company, was among three companies to be profiled:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VrtJuSkYqY
Flybits is launching a corporate presence in East London’s Tech City, which is also known as the Silicon Roundabout.
Platform for cyclizing peptides promises to increase efficiency of early-stage drug discovery
BOSTON, June 18, 2012 – Encycle Therapeutics, a MaRS Innovation spin-off company, has created a ground-breaking chemistry platform for cyclizing peptides that promises to increase the efficiency of the early-stage drug discovery process.
Peptides have long been sought after as therapeutics due to their high specificity — they can hit specific cellular targets, especially complex protein-protein interaction targets implicated in cancer, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders.
The Financial Post and the National Post each ran a feature article June 18, 2012 concerning the United Kingdom’s efforts to attract Canadian-based technology start-ups seeking entrance into European markets.
Flybits, a Mars Innovation spin-off company based on the research of Ryerson University professor Hossein Rahnama, was among those profiled.
The University of Toronto’s news site has posted a brief snapshot of Toronto’s entrepreneurial scene, highlighting the university’s historical and current innovative strengths.
Here’s a brief excerpt:
Entrepreneurs don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to become the next great business success story. Toronto now ranks fourth among the world’s top 25 start-up ecosystems, according to Start-up Genome, a project that maps the success rates of start-ups. Toronto ranks just behind Silicon Valley, New York City and London.
OtoSim Inc., a MaRS Innovation spin-off company, made its debut on Business News Network’s The Pitchon June 1, 2012.
Louis Hui, OtoSim’s business development manager, had 90 seconds to pitch OtoSim™ — an integrated educational system that dynamically and interactively teaches how to accurately diagnose ear diseases — to The Pitch’s panel of financiers and experts.
MaRS Innovation and the University Health Network‘s Toronto Rehabilitation Institute have collaborated to bring a new technology to market that accurately diagnoses sleep apnea at the patient’s home.
Sleep apnea is a medical disorder that is gaining increasing recognition as a major health issue. It is estimated that six to eight per cent of the world’s population suffer from the disease, but 85 per cent are undiagnosed.
Undiagnosed sleep apnea is estimated to cause $3.4 billion in additional medical costs in the US.
TORONTO (January 30, 2012) – Xagenic Inc., a start-up company created by Dr. Shana Kelley, in partnership with MaRS Innovation, today reached a significant milestone by successfully completing series A financing totaling $10 million.
The financing comes from sources from the private and public sector including CTI Life Sciences Fund L.P., Qiagen N.V. and the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation through its Emerging Technologies Fund.
TORONTO (May 31, 2011) — MaRS Innovation (MI) and GlaxoSmithKline Inc. (GSK) today announced a new development fund — the GSK-MaRS Innovation Fund — that will support and fast-track the commercialization of some of the country’s most promising translational research coming from 16 leading academic health sciences centres, hospitals and universities derived from MI’s member institutions.
“From the discovery of insulin in 1922 to the discovery of stem cells, Ontario has a rich, proud history of world-class medical and scientific breakthroughs,” said Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO of MaRS Innovation. “Our partnership with GSK Canada furthers Ontario’s position as a major international research hub by providing much needed capital to fund exciting drug discovery and development technologies and bridging the gap to successful commercialization.
“Launching this development fund is also part of a global trend where government, researchers and industry are partnering at the early stage of translational research with an eye to achieving global impact and improving patient care,” Hofstein added.
TORONTO, May 9, 2011 – York University has become the latest member of MaRS Innovation, the commercialization agent for many leading Toronto-based universities, hospitals and research institutes.
“York has become one of Canada’s fastest-growing centres for research and innovation,” said Stan Shapson, vice-president Research & Innovation at York University. “We typically get 10 to 20 discovery disclosures a year. Joining MaRS Innovation allows us to deliver the most competitive commercialization services to the researchers making these discoveries. We’re confident that membership in MaRS Innovation will boost that number and accelerate the commercialization of York’s most promising research.”
Earlier this year, York University launched its Innovation York office. Based in York Region, Innovation York works with other partner organizations in the Markham Convergence Centre to build upon research partnerships between York researchers and life science and technology companies based in York Region and the Greater Toronto Area. It’s also making York’s research and infrastructure more accessible to industry, government agencies and community partners.
MaRS Innovation provided crucial commercialization funding to support research from The Hospital for Sick Children MaRS Innovation (MI) and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have launched OtoSim Inc. to…
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