Purdue Research Park-based companies to travel to Silicon Valley to seek funding

The companies, Intelliphage Inc. and Matrix-Bio Inc., were selected during a competition last October at the Company Fundraising Boot Camp held on campus at Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship. The event, sponsored by Lonergan Partners, is held annually to help entrepreneurs develop fundraising strategies for their companies. Purdue Provost Randy Woodson, and Leah Jamieson, dean of the College of Engineering, will speak in California, along with Mark Lonergan, founder and managing partner of Lonergan Partners.

Intelliphage, founded by Purdue food sciences professor Bruce M. Applegate, has created a method to detect and capture foodborne bacteria such as E. coli faster and less expensively than technology currently used in the market. A modified virus identifies a bacterium's presence by turning it red or making it luminescent, allowing food companies to detect potentially contaminated food before it goes to market.

"Venture capital provides biotechnology startups the time they need to turn discoveries in the lab into products that save lives," said Brian P. Phillips, CEO of Intelliphage. "The venture capitalists who fund Intelliphage will be invaluable partners in accelerating the company's efforts to meet the urgent market need for safer food and water through our breakthrough, simple-to-use, quick and cost-effective pathogen detection technologies."

Matrix-Bio, founded by Purdue chemistry professor Daniel Raftery, has developed "metabolite profiling" technology that can help improve early cancer diagnosis. Researchers analyze multiple metabolite biomarkers present in blood and urine. By detecting cancer at earlier stages, more treatment options can be considered, thus increasing the probability of successful interventions.

"Venture capital firms play a very important role in commercialization of new discoveries for companies like Matrix-Bio," said CEO Oscar Moralez. "A solid venture capital firm will bring capital, industry and management experience, and strategic relationships. They will be actively engaged with the company throughout its continued development. These are invaluable resources that will significantly improve the chance of success for Matrix-Bio."

Three Purdue Research Park-based companies won the 2008 competition to travel to Silicon Valley: Events 180° LLC, Moerae Matrix LLC and Kylin Therapeutics Inc.

About Intelliphage Inc.

Intelliphage, founded by Purdue food sciences professor Bruce M. Applegate, has developed highly cost-effective, easy-to-use test strips that can detect pathogenic bacterial contamination in food and water. These kits provide a way for users to visually determine if contamination has occurred within hours without the need for special equipment, shipping samples to a laboratory or special training.

About Matrix-Bio Inc.

Based on new, patent-pending technology developed in the laboratory of professor Daniel Raftery, Matrix-Bio analyzes multiple small molecule metabolite biomarkers that are used to diagnose cancer at its earliest stages. Early cancer detection provides more options for treatment and increases the probability of successful therapeutic interventions. The company will initially focus on providing state-of-the-art diagnostic services to the medical community for breast cancer and will provide additional cancer diagnostic tests as they are developed. Matrix-Bio's goal is to be a leading provider of metabolite-based testing in the fast-growing diagnostic testing market.

About Lonergan Partners

Lonergan Partners is a leading executive search firm focused on the technology markets. Specializing in CEO and board search projects for public and private companies, Lonergan Partners is a strategic recruiting partner for the most senior levels of technology management and board governance. Lonergan is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Calif., with offices in the Midwest. 

About Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship

The Burton D. Morgan Center is a platform to launch technology-based enterprises based on Purdue research and helps faculty, students and Indiana entrepreneurs better understand how to bring research and technology to market.

About Purdue Research Park

The 725-acre Purdue Research Park (https://www.purdueresearchpark.com) has the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The park is home to more than 160 companies. About 100 of these firms are technology-related and another 39 are incubator businesses. The park is owned and managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, a private, nonprofit foundation created to assist Purdue University in the area of economic development. In addition to the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, the foundation has established technology parks in other locations around Indiana including Merrillville, New Albany and Indianapolis.

To the Purdue Research Park, https://www.purdueresearchpark.com

Purdue Research Park contact:
Steve Martin, (765) 494-6872, sgmartin@prf.org

Sources:
Julie Goonewardene, (765) 496-7519, jkgoonewardene@prf.org

Oscar Moralez, (317) 635-9070, omoralez@stepstonebusinesspartners.com

Brian P. Phillips, (646) 283-0570, bphillips@intelliphage.com