With the launch of Nuage Therapeutics, Vitala Technologies, and Cooling Photonics, the centres of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) have reached 41 active spin-off companies.
Vitala Technologies, a new spin-off company from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Nuage Therapeutics from ICREA and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), and Cooling Photonics from the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) have all launched this month, bringing the total number of active spin-off companies by BIST centres to 41.
Vitala Technologies combines deep tech technologies for drug testing, medical diagnosis, and personalised medicine applications. The company was created by Maria Alejandra Ortega Machuca, alumna of the BIST From Science to Business course and co-organiser of the 2018 BIST Postdoc Day. Irene Marco-Rius (“la Caixa” Foundation – BIST Chemical Biology Group Leader at IBEC), Javier Ramon Azcon (ICREA Professor and Group Leader at IBEC) and Luca Venza (IESE Business School) are business partners.
Through a series of technologies, Organ-on-Chip (OoC) and advanced magnetic resonance tools, Vitala delivers deep insights into metabolic kinetics at the cellular level. This will save the pharmaceutical industry billions of dollars in drug testing and will allow clinics and hospitals to target treatments to specific patients, improving the quality of life and eliminating erroneous, or even hazardous, treatments.
Learn more about Vitala Technologies here.
Nuage Therapeutics is a spin-off from IRB Barcelona and ICREA and was founded by researchers Xavier Salvatella and Mateusz Biesaga from IRB Barcelona, and Denes Hnisz from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics. The company is based at the Barcelona Science Park and focuses on the discovery of new drugs aimed at therapeutic targets that, due to their structural properties, are currently considered “undruggable”. Sabadell Asabys, the investment vehicle of Asabys Partners, has backed the company and will join a future financing round involving local and international funds.
Learn more about Nuage Therapeutics here.
Cooling Photonics is a new ICN2 spin-off company created by the ICN2 Phononic and Photonic Nanostructures Group, led by ICREA Prof. Clivia Sotomayor Torres. The company was first presented at Expoquimia by Javier Achiaga, CEO of Cooling Photonics, Antonio Cuenca, COO, and Juliana Jaramillo, the company’s principal developer. The company’s technology provides passive cooling solutions without energy consumption or carbon emissions.
Learn more about Cooling Photonics here.