Ligon Discovery
Cambridge, MA
Cambridge-based Ligon Discovery has its roots in the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and is out to fast-track drug discovery. Its technology takes a hint from open-source software development, where common code is shared among developers. Ligon centers around a single form of chemistry that can make myriad drug-screening assays. It plans to form partnerships with bigger drug companies that would pay to use its technology, and later kick in some more cash contingent on the success of the drugs they discover with Ligon’s methods.
Marginize
Cambridge, MA
Marginize’s website says it brings real conversations to any website. Users can check out what others are tweeting about they website they’re browsing, and tweet themselves in the margins. The company was quick to fill an IT Xpo spot for us at the last minute, so I’m looking forward to hear what they have to say.
MoMelan Technologies
Cambridge, MA
This Cambridge-based startup is still pretty quiet about what it’s doing, but we do know that it’s working on a device to improve skin grafting to fight the physical effects of the disease vitiligo, which causes the formation of irregular white spots on skin. The company was co-founded by Harvard dermatologist R. Rox Anderson, who developed the technology at the Massachusetts General Hospital Wellman Center for Photomedicine, where he is a director. MoMelan says its device is designed expand a piece of skin by up to 100 times to cover a much larger area than a traditional skin graft could.
The company, which wrapped up about $1 million in debt financing in March, hasn’t tested its device in human trials yet, but is focused on engineering prototypes of the device. It ultimately aims for the device to be automated and reduce the time and cost of the procedures where the device is being used. “I want this to be quite simple,” Anderson Xconomy in a profile on the company. “Ideally, this is something where you can walk into a doctor’s office and in a short period of time get a treatment that is pretty reliable for re-pigmenting vitiligo.”
OmniStrat
Cambridge, MA
Cambridge-based OmniStrat makes software for helping businesses asses their priorities. Its website says users answer strategically relevant questions and its software responds with visualizations to help companies direct their focus. The system also enables users to prioritize and analyze how certain business issues will affect their goals, and share those results with employees and collaborate on how to achieve company goals.
