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Indee Labs is developing a non-viral intracellular delivery system based on microfluidic vortex shedding (µVS) to rapidly deliver nucleic acids, proteins and gene editing complexes to patient and donor T cells with minimal perturbation.", "one_liner": "Enabling T cell immunotherapy discovery, development and manufacturing", "team_size": 5, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Drug Discovery and Delivery", "launched_at": 1481766629, "tags": [ "Gene Therapy", "Microfluidics", "Cell Therapy" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2017", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Drug Discovery and Delivery" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/indee-labs", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2017/indee-labs.json", "year_founded": 2015, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/indee-/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/indeelabs", "fb_url": "https://www.facebook.com/indeelabs/", "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/indee-2", "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/ac1b20e8e540ce71927b19ed6cbc32f9956f9290.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 168592, "full_name": "Ryan Pawell", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "My career aim is to use technology to improve health outcomes. See more on my LinkedIn profile.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpawell", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/rpawell", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/1ec7eb2c05b850d36f6c41f641ae037e721c12d5.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Indee Labs Announces Strategic Investment from BroadOak BioTools Venture Fund", "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/indee-labs-announces-strategic-investment-from-broadoak-biotools-venture-fund-301794866.html", "date": "Apr 12, 2023" }, { "title": "Indee Labs Awarded $2M Contract to Scale up and out Hydropore for Cell Therapy — Indee Labs", "url": "https://www.indeelabs.com/news/indee-labs-awarded-2m-contract-to-scale-up-and-out-hydropore-for-cell-therapy", "date": "Nov 02, 2022" } ], "launches": [] }, { "id": 1655, "name": "PreDxion Bio", "slug": "predxion-bio", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/519a74fb089a6c9dd854328b8022c68e00467972.png", "website": "http://www.predxionbio.com", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA; South San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "PreDxion Bio is working on a rapid saliva-based antigen test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 S-protein in asymptomatic and presymptomatic patients. Our technology is uniquely capable of being scaled to 10's of millions of tests of days using semiconductor fab processes, a scale of testing necessary to better inform public health officials and policymakers and enable contact tracing at scale.\r\n\r\nPreDxion Bio's origins are in critical care: our original technology is a rapid, near real-time cytokine and biomarker detection platform to monitor the immune response of critically-ill patients. This technology leverages a novel sensor platform we spun out of the University of Michigan. PreDxion Bio has received FDA Breakthrough Device designation and partnered with top pharmcos to monitor the immune response following CAR-T therapy and predict the development of cytokine release syndrome and neurological AEs, and for use in guiding precision medicine approaches in critical care.", "one_liner": "Rapid, scalable diagnostic for SARS-CoV-2 and beyond", "team_size": 6, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Diagnostics", "launched_at": 1493740320, "tags": [ "Microfluidics", "Nanosensors", "COVID-19" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2017", "status": "Inactive", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Diagnostics" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/predxion-bio", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2017/predxion-bio.json", "year_founded": 2017, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/predxion-bio", "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/519a74fb089a6c9dd854328b8022c68e00467972.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 177079, "full_name": "Walker McHugh", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Walker is Co-founder and CEO of PreDxion Bio. Walker is a graduate of the University of Michigan, completing undergraduate studies in immunology and further graduate training in the Medical Product Development Program at the University of Michigan College of Engineering. Walker is a past Fellow in the Zell Global Entrepreneurship Program, was named the 2017 University of Michigan Graduate Student Entrepreneur of the Year, and a Top 20 Entrepreneur Alumni from the University of Michigan in 2019.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/walker-mchugh-517b86b7/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/walker_mchugh?s=21&t=mXbPwUBOPCQgoonxNjWP9Q", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/7cee81f1d491872842f5f99808020ac799156b1e.jpg" }, { "user_id": 191741, "full_name": "Timothy Cornell", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": null, "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-cornell-64a19145", "x_url": null, "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/24a383dd4375534598881f133d0e379052f959e1.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [] }, { "id": 1791, "name": "Correlia Biosystems", "slug": "correlia-biosystems", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/d9aad85e9ea2a3b4df72a9807d29b7536bcb76ce.png", "website": "http://www.correliabio.com", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA; Berkeley, CA, USA", "long_description": "Correlia Biosystems is a UC Berkeley spinoff company based in Berkeley, CA. Correlia develops innovative microscale tools that accelerate rapid quantification of biomolecules.\r\n\r\nOur versatile \"SimpleScan\" technology opens up new biological questions from one microliter of sample, with rapid results that allow for dynamic monitoring of protein expression profiles (rather than simple end-point measurement). 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It is done by detecting the oxygen consumption of the bacteria", "one_liner": "One-hour antibiotic sensitivity testing", "team_size": 5, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Diagnostics", "launched_at": 1625157553, "tags": [ "Microfluidics", "Medical Devices" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2021", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Diagnostics" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/astek-diagnostics-inc", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2021/astek-diagnostics-inc.json", "year_founded": 2020, "city": "Baltimore", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/0cc751641f3edca70063a728f7fc978cc2df8169.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 698468, "full_name": "Mustafa Al-Adhami", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Mustafa Al-Adhami Ph.D., CEO, Astek Diagnostics. He has long experience in customer discovery and diagnostics. He envisioned the technology behind Eugris while completing his PhD. As a doctoral student, he won the national Three Minute Thesis (3mt) competition, Baylor Business Plan, elevator pitch competition, and VentureWell’s BMEidea competition. Mustafa has raised over $5M for Astek to date to revolutionize antibiotic prescription. ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/maladhami/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/c3d6e397e9c04bcafd4a4570763f1a8fd437a1e9.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Y Combinator alum Astek wants to revolutionize antibiotics - Technical.ly", "url": "https://technical.ly/2022/01/18/astek-diagnostics-antibiotics-y-combinator/", "date": "Jan 18, 2022" } ], "launches": [] }, { "id": 28112, "name": "Persist AI", "slug": "persist-ai", "former_names": [ "Persist AI", "Persist AI Formulations Corp" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/eeb1e38a6ca6e6061c101deae73f22c28c142596.png", "website": "http://www.persist-ai.com", "all_locations": "Sacramento, CA, USA", "long_description": "It takes 5 years for pharma to develop long lasting drug injections for chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes. Persist uses AI-driven automation to reduce formulation development time down to 2 years, a ~50% reduction.", "one_liner": "Developing long-lasting drug formulations 50% faster", "team_size": 6, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Drug Discovery and Delivery", "launched_at": 1671420729, "tags": [ "Machine Learning", "Robotics", "Microfluidics", "Nanotechnology", "Therapeutics" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2023", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Drug Discovery and Delivery" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Growth", "app_video_public": true, "demo_day_video_public": true, "app_answers": [ { "question": "Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.\n", "answer": "Help pharma develop slow release drugs faster" }, { "question": "What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.\n", "answer": "For a pharma company to develop a sustained-release (slow release) drug formulation takes about 3-5 years and $10M or more. This is because there are a lot of variables and scientists' intuition (aka guesswork) needed to arrive at the final formulation solution.\r\n\r\nWe will provide a service to pharma companies to develop their formulations for them 50% faster and cheaper than current methods. 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This lowers the overall dose the patient receives (reducing side-effects), improves compliance, and quality of life. ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthik-raman-scientist/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/ecc2a524e445309696a536435506c40bc98010ac.jpg" }, { "user_id": 1114143, "full_name": "Christopher Shelner", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Career program manager, first time founder. Focus has been in electronics, automation, and manufacturing. Super excited to be part of the YC batch! ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "http://www.linkedin.com/in/christophershelner/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/25ae4aac51df1a910d1efc90c169f83830fc6913.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Beyond the $12M: Revolutionizing Drug Formulation Development at Persist AI", "url": "https://www.persist-ai.com/post/beyond-the-12m-revolutionizing-drug-formulation-development-at-persist-ai", "date": "May 19, 2025" }, { "title": "Persist AI Raises $4M in Seed Financing to Revolutionize Drug Formulation ", "url": "https://www.persist-ai.com/post/persist-ai-raises-4m-in-seed-financing-to-revolutionize-drug-formulation", "date": "Aug 04, 2023" } ], "launches": [ { "id": 69239, "title": "Persist - We build long-lasting drugs 50% faster 💊", "tagline": "Drug formulations made by robotics and designed by AI", "body": "### **TLDR**\n\nPersist helps pharma make drug injections that last up to 1 year. \n\nUsing robotics & AI, we reduce a 5-year drug formulation process to \\~2 years.\n\n**Contact Us (**[**founders@persist-ai.com**](mailto:founders@persist-ai.com)**) for a case-study formulation**\n\nTo make injections we encapsulate drugs inside injectable microspheres made with FDA-approved materials.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=69239&key=user_uploads/1094851/19542a20-d5f0-4ccd-9450-d6b8427a6b94)\n\n**_Left:_** _Image of a \\~37 um microsphere made by our robotics_\n\n**_Right:_** _A Schematic showing how encapsulated drugs are released over 1 year so patients don’t take as many injections._\n\n### 🤔**THE PROBLEM**\n\nFor chronic diseases, most patients prefer 1 injection/yr rather than multiple injections per week.\n\nHowever, making a long-lasting injection takes a lot of trial and error and the time between iterations is long.\n\nKey challenges include:\n\n* **Using manual work & intuition is slow**: Typical teams manually mix and match chemicals to optimize the amount of drug that’s loaded into the spheres and the rate of release of drug\n* **Trial and error is cumbersome:** Because changing one variable may have multiple effects \n* **Scale-up is unpredictable:** Even if something works at a small scale, batch-to-batch consistency during scale-up is uncertain because production is done in large reactors\n\n### 💡**OUR SOLUTION**\n\nWe utilize custom robotics and AI to solve the problems with building microspheres. \n\n* **We automatically mix & optimize formulations:** We use a closed-loop robotics + AI approach so there’s minimal manual work\n* **We reduce trial & error with AI predictions:** We generate 50x more data than most formulation teams and use that data to train AI. This unique data enables us to make better predictions than others.\n* **We build small batches, faster:** So we can QC batches more frequently and scale up predictably\n\n### ❤️**OUR ASKS**\n\nIntroduce us to friends who work in Pharma. Email [founders@persist-ai.com](mailto:founders@persist-ai.com) \n\n“Follow” us [on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/persist-ai/)", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/I0l-persist-we-build-long-lasting-drugs-50-faster", "votes": 36, "created_at": "2023-02-13T16:43:58.890Z" } ] } ]