December 2, 2024, Newark, NJ — New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), a subsidiary of New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), is pleased to announce The Merck Digital Sciences Studio (MDS Studio) Cohort 3.
NJII welcomed the new MDS Studio cohort to the Profeta Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for a kickoff event, marking a key step on the journey for 12 innovative startups focused on revolutionizing drug discovery and development through digital solutions. Highlights of the November 21st event include a panel on technology trends, a discussion on product growth, and a collaborative panel with program alumni and other team members to wrap up the day.
MDS Studio is a collaborative digital accelerator designed to enable the next generation of technologies for drug discovery and development, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. MDS Studio was founded to offer support for early-stage digital biopharma startups providing strategic guidance, direct investment, and connection opportunities to pharma leadership. Since inception in 2022, this highly selective program has accepted less than 7% of applicants over its first three cohorts.
This cohort will focus on important and disruptive bio-technical approaches in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), with expertise and tools from clinical scientists to advance leading-edge science to save and improve lives.
Meet the Cohort:
Augment Biologics: Using foundational discoveries in glycobiology to transform biologic drug development.
Esya: Making brain health screening as routine and accessible as any other essential health check.
Hebbian Bio: Unlocking novel treatments and biomarkers for neuro conditions through precision medicine.
ImYoo: Powering personalized medicine via big molecular data directly from patients.
Inaedis: Manufacturing powdered, thermally stable biologics and vaccines using innovative room-temperature dehydration technology.
ModernVivo: Developing software to help research scientists design optimized in vivo models to reduce costs, accelerate timelines, and identify effective therapeutics.
Nine Diagnostics: Determining treatment effectiveness and discovering new biology using AI-enabled nanosensor technology.
Potato AI: Building an AI scientist to speed up discovery.
ReSync Bio: Serving as a single source of truth for preclinical operations: coordinating labs, data, and software programs on one platform.
UbiquiTx: Integrating AI, computation, and biological automation to accelerate the design of novel proteome editors.
Voyant Bio: Designing precision immunotherapies targeting immune-immune cell interactions to radically improve cancer patient treatment outcomes.
About Merck Digital Sciences Studio:
The Merck Digital Sciences Studio (MDS Studio or MDSS) is a collaboration between Merck, the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Northpond Ventures, McKesson Ventures, Microsoft for Startups, and the New Jersey Innovation Institute, a New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) subsidiary. The 10-month startup accelerator program empowers members and enables the generation of innovative digital technologies for drug discovery and development through hands-on mentorship, connection opportunities with industry-leading partners, and training in an active entrepreneurial setting. Through the accelerator program, these startups will have access to workshops, coaching, office space, and Microsoft for Startups resources, including up to $150,000 Azure Cloud computing credits.
About NJII:
New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) is a 501c3 organization wholly owned by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). As an independent corporation, NJII is uniquely positioned to be agile, entrepreneurial, and opportunistic. NJII is focused on accelerating technology and fostering innovation to have a positive economic impact in New Jersey. To date, NJII has generated over $330M in revenue during its ten years of operation across its divisions (AI/ML, Defense, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare and Learning & Development) and today has a team of 100+ members. Learn more: https://www.njii.com/about/