The MIT Startup Exchange Lightning Talks listed below are part of the full agenda for MIT Madrid Symposium - Revolutionizing Healthcare Through Cutting-Edge Research and Technology.
In recent years, there have been significant advances in medicine and medical research, with new treatments and technologies emerging that are revolutionizing healthcare.
Some of these advances include precision medicine for a more targeted and personalized treatment, immunotherapy to fight cancer cells, gene therapy, AI to improve diagnosis, treatment, and patient outcomes and nanomedicine to develop new treatments and diagnostic tools.
At this symposium, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from leading MIT faculty and startups on:
(*) Exploring the use of nucleic acids as highly programmable nanoscale materials for revolutionary applications, including the targeted in vivo delivery of therapeutic nucleic acids; massive molecular data storage, retrieval, and computing; and quantum computing and sensing. (*) Understanding the interface of vascular and mental health: from nano and microscale to tissues, organs and patients to address the likelihood of depression of people suffering from chronic illnesses. Additionally, the risk of developing chronic illnesses is higher in people with mental diseases. (*) Developing devices, materials, and vaccines to create customizable living and gene therapies for cancer, diabetes, and other applications. Particularly, the quest to deliver drugs inside target cells in the body through synthetic nanoparticles that can act like artificial viruses, the development of smart biomaterials that can interact appropriately with the immune system, and the development of next generation nanotherapeutics for cancer.
Overall, these advances in medicine and medical research hold great promise for improving patient outcomes and advancing our understanding of disease.
Director, MIT Startup Exchange
Catarina Madeira joined the Office of Corporate Relations as Program Director of Startup Exchange, in May 2021. She was promoted to Director of Startup Exchange in December 2022.
Catarina has been working with the Cambridge/Boston startup ecosystem for over 10 years and joined Corporate Relations with a solid network in the innovation and entrepreneurial community. Prior to MIT, she was part of the team that designed and launched the startup accelerator IUL MIT Portugal later rebranded to Building Global Innovators. She was based in Lisbon and worked in direct relation with the Cambridge team. She held positions including Operations Coordinator, Program Manager, and Business Developer. The accelerator soon achieved steady growth in large part due to the partnerships that Catarina led with regional and global startup ecosystems. After that, she worked at NECEC, leading a program that connects cleantech startups and industry. In this role, she developed and built a pipeline of startups and forged strong relationships with both domestic and European companies. She has also held positions in Portugal and France including at Saboaria e Perfumaria Confiança and L’Oréal as Technical Director and Pharmacist.
Catarina earned her Bachelor in Chemistry at the University of Porto and her Bachelor in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. She went on to earn her Master of Engineering for Health and Medicines at University Lyon 1 and EM Lyon in France.
CEO, Dynocardia
Dr. Mohan Thanikachalam, a cardiovascular surgeon with a keen interest in public health, is a faculty member at Tufts University School of Medicine. With the support of the US National Institutes of Health, Dr. Thanikachalam and his team from Tufts MedicalSchool and MIT have created ViTracktechnology. This innovative wearable device allows for non-intrusive, accurate, and continuous monitoring of blood pressure and heart performance in everyday settings. ViTrack technology surmounts the limitations of conventional automatic cuff-blood pressure devices, making it a valuable asset across various healthcare markets. As the founder and CEO of Dynocardia, Inc., Mohan is leading the way in commercializing the ViTrack technology with private funding and grant support from multiple NIH agencies and the National Science Foundation. The innovative technology has been recognized with several awards, such as the "Break Through Innovation in Cardiovascular Digital Health HRX 2023" by the Heart Rhythm Society and the American College of Cardiology 2023 Innovation Award.
CEO, Founder & Director, 4M Therapeutics
Pablo has 25 years of experience in the biotech industry and a track record of successful drug approvals. He was previously Chief Medical Officer at Lexicon Therapeutics and Vice President of Clinical Development at Bristol-Myers Squibb. His work has been published in leading scientific journals including the New England Journal of Medicine. Pablo holds an MD from Harvard Medical School and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Harvard College where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.
Co-Founder & CEO, Leuko
Carlos Castro-Gonzalez is an engineer and entrepreneur driven by translational research in healthcare. Carlos received an MSc in Electrical Engineering from KTH (Stockholm, Sweden) and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UPM (Madrid, Spain). After his PhD,Carlos was selected for the prestigious M+Vision fellowship at MIT, where he led international, multi-disciplinary projects to translate medical imaging technologies into clinically applicable products at the crossroads of engineering, business and medicine. His work includes award-winning AI algorithms to diagnose cardiac CT images and an ultrasound product for early diagnosis of infant meningitis. Recently, he co-founded and is the CEO of Leuko, an MIT spinoff focused on commercializing PointCheckTM the first medical device to noninvasively monitor white blood cells with the goal to improve cancer chemotherapy outcomes. Carlos was named Innovator Under 35 by MIT Technology Review and has won multiple awards including the Rice Business Plan Competition, MassChallenge HealthTech, Startup WorldCup and a prestigious SBIR award by the National Institutes of Health.
Vice President, Clinical Genomics Operations & Chief of Staff, Cache DNA
Dr. Williams is the Vice President, Clinical Genomics Operations & Chief of Staff at Cache DNA in San Francisco, California, USA. She is an EBMG Board Certified Clinical Laboratory Geneticist (ErCLG), and a registered Clinical Scientist (Genomics) (UK, HCPC) with additional certifications from ASCP. She completed her PhD in Molecular Pathology at Nova Southeastern University, an ACGME/ABMGG fellowship at the NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, an Execs on Deck Fellowship, and her Executive Master of Business Administration (Healthcare) at Yale University. Her expertise includes transitioning laboratories to the highest medical laboratorystandards to demonstrate the quality and reliability of their service, addressing emerging issues in access to genomic testing, and supporting the recognition, certification, and global awareness of Laboratory Genomic Professionals. She has authored several papers and recommendations and served on various working groups and committees focused on precision medicine. She has received awards such as ASCP's "40 Under Forty," "Lab Superstar Award," and Women Who Code's "Applaud Her Awards." Currently, she is creating breakthrough technologies to address the access and utility of biological samples by helping labs store and manage genetic materials. She is dedicated to mentoring and supporting those pursuing careers in genomics.
Disclaimer: MIT Startup Exchange can make introductions that ideally provide open ended discussions in order to share mutual interests and potentially create common ground that incite the parties to collaborate. MIT Startup Exchange introductions may eventually lead to mutual partnerships, but that is not in any way guaranteed by MIT, MIT Corporate Relations, MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) or MIT Startup Exchange, which takes no responsibility for these outcomes and no formal part in such discussions following our introduction. MIT Startup Exchange and its activities and events are not for purposes of soliciting investment or offering securities.