Demo Day - 2019
Sumita Pennathur, PhD
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, UC Santa Barbara
Professor Pennathur is a full Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of California, Santa Barbara, with degrees from Stanford (PhD) and MIT (MS, BS). Dr. Pennathur specializes in and has contributed significantly to the fields of MEMS, nanofludics, and electrokinetics. Specifically, her most significant contributions include: 1) unearthing a novel mechanism for separation and concentration of analytes for bioanalytical applications, 2) developing a label-free detection mechanism for nucleic acids (that has since spun off into a point-of-care diagnostic company), 3) developing commercial medical diagnostic products, 4) building optical and acoustic biosensors and 5) developing revolutionized methods for measuring blood glucose for patients with diabetes.These contributions have been disseminated in the form of over 60 archived journal publications, books or conference papers, 6 patents applications, and over 80 invited presentations. Notable awards include the American Diabetes Association Pathway to Stop Diabetes Visionary Award (2017), the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce Innovator of the Quarter Award (2012), the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (2010), and the DARPA Young Faculty Award (2008).
Demo Day - 2018
Jeff Karp, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University
Dr. Jeff Karp is an acclaimed entrepreneur,and biotechnologist with over 100 patent applications and patents. He has co-founded companies that have achieved over $100 millionin public and private market capitalization, and his innovations have been profiled by CNN, National Geographic, Popular Mechanics, Boston Globe, and many others.Several technologies developed in Dr. Karp’s lab have led to several successful companies that include Skintifique, Gecko Biomedical, Alivio Therapeutics, and Frequency Therapeutics, which, respectively tackle skincare, adhesive tissue, inflammation targeting, and regenerative medicine.Dr. Karp has deep expertise in drug delivery, medical devices, stem cell therapeutics and tissue adhesives and has won over 50 major awards and honors that include the Society for Biomaterials Young Investigator Award, the Coulter Foundation Translational Young Investigator Award, and being asked to co-lead the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Regenerative Therapeutics Center (making him the youngest faculty at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital to direct a research center).Demo Day - 2017
Geoff von Maltzahn, PhD
Partner, Flagship Pioneering
Dr. Geoff von Maltzahn is a renowned engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, and biotechnologist with over 100 patent applications and patents. He has co-founded companies that have achieved over $3 billion in public and private market capitalization, and his innovations have been profiled by Forbes, the Economist, CNN, Scientific American, and many others. Through his role as partner at Flagship Pioneering, Dr. von Maltzahn has co-founded companies that include Indigo Agriculture, Seres Therapeutics, Axcella Health, and Kaleido Biosciences, which, respectively are pioneering plant microbiome products for crop improvement, microbiome therapeutics, amino-acid based drugs, and novel chemistries to shape the human microbiome. Dr. von Maltzahn has deep expertise in the microbiome, bioengineering and biotechnology and has won over 20 major awards that include the Lemelson-MIT Student prize, awarded to the most innovative student at MIT, the National inventors Hall of Fame Graduate student prize, the Harvard-MIT Martha Gray prize, and the Randolph G Wei Award (awarded to MITs most outstanding contribution at the interface of life sciences and engineering)
Henry S. Webber
Chairman, CORTEX
Innovation
Executive Vice Chancellor
for Administration, WUSTL
Professor of Practice, Brown University
Henry S. Webber is executive vice chancellor for administration at Washington University and a professor of practice at the Brown School and Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Art and Architecture. Mr. Webber serves as the university’s chief administrative officer and oversees organizations with combined operating and capital budgets of over $400 million annually and over 1,300 employees. He is currently leading the largest capital project in the history of the university: Enhancing the East End of the Danforth Campus.
Mr. Webber is chairman of the Board for CORTEX, a 200-acre urban biotech innovation hub and technology district, and helps in managing over $300 Million in investment, and 2,500 full-time jobs
As a faculty member at the University of Chicago and Washington University, Mr. Webber teaches courses on topics including community development, health policy, strategic management and social welfare policy. His research has centered around community development, mixed-income housing and the role of anchor institutions in urban development. He is currently writing a book on recent innovations in community development in America.
Demo Day - 2016
