Building a Biotech Venture Pitch Competition

Pardee lab members and Glusyn Diagnostics team (from left) Evan Amalfitano, Jennifer Doucet and Moiz Charania

Six trainee-led teams pitched expert judges for a chance to win $25,000 in research funding

Advancing a promising therapeutic or diagnostic technology from the lab to the point of patient care is both challenging and exhilarating. On May 30, six trainee-led teams from across U of T and affiliated hospitals competed in a final-stage pitch competition as part of the Building a Biotech Venture program offered by Medicine by Design in partnership with U of T’s Precision Medicine Initiative (PRiME), Health Innovation Hub (H2i) and Talk Boutique.

“Over a series of workshops and sessions, trainee-led teams have learned how to think about their research in terms of a product or business; develop their venture story; and build a business canvas and pitch deck,” said Allison Brown, Director of Strategy & Translation at Medicine by Design.   

Ten teams focused on developing technologies in regenerative and precision medicine began the six-month long program earlier this year.  The six teams with the highest potential for company creation were selected to participate in the pitch competition held at the Leslie L. Dan Faculty of Pharmacy Building at U of T’s St. George Campus. Venture pitches were presented to a panel of expert judges.

Jennifer Doucet, Postdoctoral Fellow with the Pardee lab at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the main presenter for the Glusyn Diagnostics team, says through entrepreneurship-focused experiences like the pitch competition, she’s building a completely new set of valuable skills.

“For me, the biggest motivation to continue the work I'm doing in Keith's lab is to build out new technologies and bring them out into the world where they'll make a difference. Entrepreneurship is a challenging but rewarding way to achieve that goal. I'm learning so much going through this process with my team,” she said. At the competition, Glusyn Diagnostics demonstrated the use of a glucose meter as a convenient and universal reader for cell-free gene circuit sensors. The automated PCR-free diagnostic systems the group is developing are shelf-stable and low-cost.