Intero Biosystems has developed GastroScreen, the first stem cell-driven human “mini gut” that is ideal for organ function testing before testing on humans.
In an update to last week’s story, congratulations to BME Ph.D. student Madeline Eiken and her Intero Biosystems co-founders Charlie Childs, Ph.D., and Don Sobell on winning the Grand Prize at the Rice Business Plan Competition from April 10-12.
Peter Rodriguez, Dean, Rice Business, noted that “the ideas were excellent, and the competition was fierce, but Intero Biosystems from the University of Michigan stood out as our top team and received the $150,000 Goose Capital Investment Grand Prize.” In total, Intero Biosystems received $902,000 in award funding at the event:
In addition to the Grand Prize, the team received several other honors:
“We are absolutely stunned about the results from Rice,” Eiken said. “We made invaluable connections with legends in biotech, and were so amazed and proud to win the competition. The whole weekend was electric. Now, we get to work! We are excited to have a project with our first customer beginning this spring. With the money we won at Rice, we think we can speed up accomplishing some of our milestones and are excited to move the science and the company forward.”
RBPC, presented by Rice Business, showcases the best university startups from across the United States and around the world, while providing student entrepreneurs the unparalleled experience of pitching their startups to investors and learning what it takes to build and launch a successful business. It is hosted and organized by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.
Read the back story on Intero Biosystems’ road to victory at Rice.