Treeswift, a startup that utilizes drones to collect forest data, recently raised a $4.8 million seed round. Pathbreaker Ventures led the funding along with 13 other investors, bringing Treeswift’s total funding to $6.4 million!
New findings from the Penn School of Arts & Sciences biologists show that evolution, normally considered to be a gradual process, can occur in a matter of weeks in fruit flies in response to natural environmental change. Researchers studied populations of fruit flies in 10 enclosures on the Pennovation Works campus to make these exciting discoveries! View the full article on Penn Today to learn more about their research and what is happening right outside our Pennovation doors.
After winning the 2021 President’s Innovation Prize, two Wharton grads and Pennovation Works Alumni, Aris Saxena and Yiwen Li created Mobility Health. Mobility Health is an app designed to connect patients with on-demand physical therapists that provide at-home care. Read the full article on the Penn Today website to learn more on how Mobility Health creates customized healthcare experiences for patients.
Fast Company recently named Vivodyne #1 in the list of the World’s Most Innovative “Small but Mighty” Companies for 2022. Vivodyne's automated platform cultivates living, realistic, lab-grown human organ tissues, and tests a variety of new potential medicines on them. Their innovative research focuses on designing organs-on-chips to create a scalable alternative for pharmaceutical drug testing on animals.
Penn Today marks the anniversary of Pennovation Works, the University’s business incubator and laboratory space, with a look at the evolution of the site, its research and commercialization achievements, and a glimpse into the future. Read more.
As part of a $100 million commitment from J&J to promote health equity over five years, $600,000 will be dispersed between founders of health-driven startups in six cities, including Philadelphia. Applicants should be focused on solving health equity issues among Black and brown people. The founders will also receive access to the the JLABS ecosystem. Apps are due by Nov. 12. View the full information on the Johnson & Johnson website.
In September 2021, the Working Dog Center at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Vet) launched a new video, “Two Decades Since 9/11: A Tribute.” This video features the handlers of Search and Rescue working dogs deployed to Ground Zero and the Pentagon immediately following September 11, 2001. The video is dedicated by the Working Dog Center to the canines who served our country in the aftermath of September 11th, and to all dogs who continue to bring humans hope in difficult times.
Penn Dental Medicine and Penn Engineering recently awarded the Center’s first IDEA (Innovation in Dental Medicine and Engineering to Advance Oral Health) Prize to Dr. Henry Daniell, W.B. Miller Professor at Penn Dental Medicine, and his collaborator, Dr. Daeyeon Lee, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Penn Engineering. Their award-winning project “Engineered Chewing Gum for Debulking Biofilm and Oral SARS-CoV-2,” reduces dental plaque and oral SARS-CoV-2 transmission using chewing gum.