Five CoE Faculty Members Present Their Startups at the MALSI 2025 “Spinout Showcase”

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Five faculty members from the UMass Amherst College of Engineering (CoE) “spun out” their groundbreaking startup companies during the 18th annual Massachusetts Life Sciences Innovation (MALSI) Day Spinout Showcase at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on July 24th. The CoE participants were Yubing Sun of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Seth Donahue and Sam Wojda of the Biomedical Engineering (BME) Department, Jungwoo Lee of the Chemical Engineering Department, and Thai Thayumanavan, head of BME and a professor in the Chemistry Department. 

The MALSI website describes the event as “the biggest day for life-sciences startups and innovation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This is a high-energy, hands-on, global event which brings together scientific leaders and business experts to mingle with scientists, post-docs, professors, entrepreneurs, innovators, and venture capitalists.”

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As the MALSI website explains about the Spinout Showcase, “Each team is spinning out of a research institution and working on something new in diagnostics, therapeutics, devices, and more…All of [the teams] highlight the energy and creativity driving the life sciences forward in a changing landscape.”

Sun collaborated with ChangHui Pak and Beatriz Martinez-Martin of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department to spin out a startup named “Above Nerves,” which is researching “better neural organoids for speedier drug discovery.” As the team explains, “Above Nerves is developing patterned brain organoids that better mimic human neural tissue to improve the predictive accuracy of preclinical drug testing, especially for neurological diseases.” The team’s patented diffusion-based device enhances organoid organization and function, reducing reliance on animal models.

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Donahue and Wojda spun out a startup named “Broga” that produces “shoes designed for knee-pain relief.” As they explain about the innovative research behind their startup, “Broga designs orthopedic-shoe soles using bioinspired lattices to reduce knee-joint forces, aiming to relieve osteoarthritis pain. The patented technology is being developed for licensing to footwear manufacturers.”

Lee has spun out a startup named “MetaBone” with his former graduate student, Patrick Ryan. He presented his innovative research on developing “scalable, cost-efficient, bone-organoid models.” According to Lee, “MetaBone is pioneering bone-organoid technology using patented demineralized-bone paper to create scalable, human-derived models for bone metabolism and metastasis research.” Lee’s in vitro platform offers rapid, predictive, and cost-effective assays for drug discovery and toxicology and aims to replace animal testing and accelerate therapies for osteoporosis, bone cancer, and related diseases.

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Finally, Thayumanavan is working with his Director of Business Operations Seth Thayumanavan on a startup called “Nalam Therapeutics,” which is producing a drug-delivery platform that is “tougher on cancer, gentler on patients.” As they explain, “Nalam Therapeutics is advancing a next-generation, targeted-drug-delivery platform known as Antibody Nanogel Conjugates. These nanogels encapsulate small-molecule drugs and are functionalized with antibodies, enabling highly specific delivery to cancer cells while minimizing off-target toxicity.” 

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MALSI 2025 calls itself “the flagship event of life sciences in Massachusetts, jointly and actively put together by BioLabs, LabCentral, MassVentures and The Engine, in partnership with all the major organizations that are involved in starting and supporting the life-sciences-startup ecosystem in the Commonwealth.” The day featured panel discussions, an emerging-technology poster competition featuring tech-transfer startups, and a networking reception.