October 11, 2017
Purdue-affiliated life sciences startup wins first place and $25,000 in BioCrossroads competition
Rachel Kim, an MBA graduate from MIT Sloan, and You-Yeon Won, a professor in Purdue's School of Chemical Engineering, are developing a nanoparticle ultraviolet radiation technology, named Radio-Luminescent Nano Particles. Won and Kim have started the company Lodos Theranostics to further develop and commercialize the technology. They received $25,000 as first-place winners in the BioCrossroads’ New Venture Competition. (Purdue Research Foundation photo)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – LoDos Theranostics LLC, a Purdue-affiliated life sciences startup, received the first-place prize at the New Venture Competition hosted by BioCrossroads.
You-Yeon Won, a professor in Purdue's School of Chemical Engineering, and Rachel Kim, an MBA graduate from MIT Sloan, co-founded LoDos Theranostics to develop radio luminescence therapy. This technology is a nanoparticle ultraviolet radiation technique that enhances the destruction of deep tissue cancerous tumors.
“We are honored to receive this recognition from BioCrossroads, especially when you consider all the outstanding startups in the competition,” said Won. “This funding will help us advance our technology and help us move this innovation to the public. Also, we are very grateful for all the help and guidance we have received from the Purdue Foundry and others.”
LoDos Theranostics’ technology could provide better treatment of cancerous tumors focusing two radiation sources onto the affected area. This technique strengthens the radiation treatment and improves the destruction of cancerous cells.
The New Venture Competition admits health information technology companies, like LoDos Theranostics, as well as other life sciences startups.
At the Indiana Life Science Summit Networking Reception, BioCrossroads awarded $50,000 in cash prizes and business planning mentoring. As the first-place winner, LoDos Theranostics will receive $25,000 in funding and entrepreneurial guidance from Indiana Seed Fund’s staff and business strategy network. The remaining cash prizes will be awarded to Inscope Medical for second place and Indiana Lysis Technologies for third place.
LoDos Theranostics licensed its technology through the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization. The company received startup assistance from the Purdue Foundry, a startup accelerator in Purdue’s Discovery Park Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.
About Purdue Foundry
The Purdue Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. Managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, the Purdue Foundry was named a top recipient at the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Designation and Awards Program by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org.
Writer: Kelsey Henry, 765-588-3342, kehenry@prf.org
Purdue Research Foundation Contact: Cynthia Sequin, 765-558-3340, casequin@prf.org
Sources:
You-Yeon Won, yywon@ecn.purdue.edu
Lori Leroy, BioCrossroads, 317-238-2456, LLeroy@biocrossroads.com