UCI Beall Applied Innovation recently announced its second cohort for its Faculty Innovation Fellows, bringing its total number of fellows to 35.
Fellows were selected based on their experience and history of translating research into commercial applications and will be supported with a stipend, peer-to-peer learning, workshops and other resources, the university said.
“This is designed to accelerate innovation out of the lab and into the marketplace,” Executive Director Richard Sudek said.
“It creates a unique platform for faculty members from various backgrounds and disciplines to share their knowledge, learn together and trigger new ideas and innovation paths.”
Fellows, which come from the schools of education, engineering, medicine and arts, will serve as ambassadors for the innovation and tech transfer branch at UCI for a two-year period.
“Innovation takes many forms across UCI’s schools and this program helps to leverage that talent,” said David Tiemeier, managing director of the Research Translation Group at BAI.
Irvine-based nRichDX recently started commercializing its liquid biopsy sample prep systems.
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, among other academic and industry partners, are currently conducting studies and evaluating the performance of the company’s workflows, which range in price from about $10,000 to $100,000.
nRich, previously known as WaveSense, set out in 2015 to improve liquid biopsy—a means of testing that analyzes blood, plasma or other liquid samples—to determine whether a patient with a deadly condition such as cancer is responding to treatment or not, according to Chief Executive Bill Curtis.
The goal is to use liquid biopsy to “turn things you die from into things you live with—chronic conditions” through therapy monitoring, Curtis said.
nRich’s sample prep systems solve problems with existing liquid biopsy technologies, such as being able to process up to 50 milliliters of liquid sample, compared to a typical amount of one to five milliliters, Curtis said.
“If you find cancer in [a] small sample, it’s likely already late-stage,” Curtis added.
Curtis was previously the co-founder of Florida-based CBLPath Holdings Corp., a specialized anatomic pathology and molecular lab that sold to Sonic Healthcare in 2010.
nRich has about 15 employees and expects to hire this year.
Global College Advisers recently launched its virtual college consulting business.
The Costa Mesa-based firm guides prospective students through the college application process—from college list building to essay and application support.
“While we guide and support students applying to U.S. colleges, we encourage them to consider also international options and possibly take their undergraduate studies abroad right from the start,” said Founder Cornelia Betschart-Fuertes, a former public relations specialist and publisher.
There are several advantages to a university education abroad; many European countries have publicly funded education and offer lower tuition fees for degrees taught completely in English, Betschart-Fuertes said.
“It’s our mission at Global College Advisers to educate our students and families about these excellent college options overseas when working on building their college list,” she said.
Global College Advisers offers a variety of coaching sessions from $1,590 and up.
LICENSING DEAL
Irvine-based Trigr Therapeutics last month announced a licensing agreement with Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals in China.
Under the terms of the deal, Elpiscience paid about $7 million in cash for exclusive rights to develop and commercialize TR009, a potential cancer therapeutic, in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Trigr is eligible to receive an additional $110 million in milestone payments and royalties.
Trigr formed in 2018 with the aim to create new immunotherapies; it paid about $4.3 million to license rights to five therapeutic antibodies from ABL Bio.
Trigr’s lead candidate, TR009, is intended to treat patients with gastric, colorectal, ovarian and pancreatic cancers that don’t respond or build resistance to current treatments such as Genentech’s Avastin and Eli Lily’s Cyramza.
Trigr is also developing therapeutic candidates for multiple myeloma and solid tumor cancers, both of which are expected to begin Phase 1 trials this year.
FINANCING
Mobilize Solutions of Irvine last month received a $100,000 investment from Tech Coast Angels OC.
Mobilize is the creator of a platform, similar to SnapChat, that uses filters, stickers and GIFs to enhance photos taken on a smartphone. Its platform is expected to roll out on millions of devices of a major wireless carrier this year.
The carrier has not been disclosed.
“Our strategy is working with the wireless industry because 90% of photos are taken on the native camera on smartphones,” Chief Executive Aaron Horvath said.
“We tell our wireless partners, ‘Why do you make your customers leave the camera to third-party apps with filters like SnapChat or Instagram? Why wouldn’t you want those features in the camera?’”
Mobilize wants to make the photo personalization experience easy and accessible to a broader demographic, compared to social apps that generally appeal to young adults, Horvath added.
Mobilize makes revenue through licensing agreements with carriers and other partners. It also expects to generate revenue via sponsored content following its carrier activation.
The company, which is also back by Irvine’s Cove Fund, has about 20 employees and expects to grow its team in 2021.
OFFICE SPACE
Fintech upstart Securing Life has expanded from its founding location in Texas to Irvine.
Founder Brandon Burton, a former Marine and financial adviser who grew up in Newport Beach, recently moved back to the area with the aim of expanding in California.
Securing Life offers a range of financial tools and lessons to help consumers budget and manage transactions, get a credit card or loan, plan for retirement and more.
The platform is available to consumers for $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year. It is also marketed and sold to employers, which provide the service to their workers as an employee benefit starting at $3 a month.
Securing Life has also signed marketing partnerships with Betterment, Discover, Intuit, LendingTree and others.
Burton said he plans to hire a team in Irvine, while maintaining the company’s headquarters near Dallas.
