Apollo Neuroscience is a spinout from the University of Pittsburgh that began in 2018. The company has developed a wearable device and software platform technology that delivers patented vibration patterns, Vibes (TM), that are scientifically shown to increase resilience, helping you to relax, sleep well, focus, and stay energized by sending gentle sound waves to any location on the body.
Brain aneurysms can appear without any prior symptoms. Diagnosis is invasive and expensive. Monitoring progression can be a guessing game. And if they rupture, which happens to about 30,000 people in the U.S. each year, there is only a 50/50 chance of making it to a hospital alive. Roughly a third of those who do make it to the hospital alive never leave, and those that do often face lifelong disabilities. A Pitt Department of Neurosurgery resident and a third-year School of Medicine student, want to bring a new blood test for brain aneurysms to market that can accurately and less invasively detect brain aneurysms and measure the risk of rupture, giving clinicians much more direction in determining when to provide treatment.
One of the key resources for Pitt innovators who are determined to see their discoveries make an impact on the world are entrepreneurs in residence (EIRs) at the Innovation Institute, part of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. EIRs are available for consultation at every step of the entrepreneurial journey, from initial idea or discovery to licensing or startup formation and beyond. The Innovation Institute’s newest EIR brings decades of experience from a variety of perspectives to offer to Pitt innovators. Previously as the director of the technology licensing department of the renowned Mayo Clinic, and as a partner in several private equity and venture capital firms, Dan Broderick has been at both ends of the negotiating table with academic entrepreneurs.
Eunice Yang was teaching mechanical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown campus when a colleague from the nursing department approached her with a problem that immediately captivated her: how to help prevent older people from falling. Eunice Yang discusses her entrepreneurial journey with Rich Lunak, president and CEO of Innovation Works, at the 2019 Wells Lecture at the University of Pittsburgh. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that elderly falling accidents have a direct economic cost of $50 billion per year, and result in nearly 36,000 deaths. Yang joined Pitt in 2009 after working for many years as an aerospace engineer. The opportunity to apply her skills and ingenuity to a problem that could benefit people like her own parents quickly became an obsession.
Since forming a startup around his oncolytic virus cancer therapy research six years ago, Steve Thorne has managed to attract two major pharmaceutical partners to develop portions of his platforms and has in-licensed more Pitt technology.