UMass Startups Win Lever’s Western Massachusetts Health Technology Challenge

UMass Amherst-launched health technology companies Ernest Pharmaceuticals and Organicin Scientific won innovation grant funding at the Lever Western Mass Health Technology Challenge this week. The two startups were selected this week from among four finalists by a panel of expert judges.

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UMass biotech startup Ernest Pharmaceuticals of Hadley received $50,000. The company seeks to create a novel bacterial platform to revolutionize cancer treatment success through innovations in intracellular macromolecule delivery, technology that was developed by company CEO and co-founder Nele Van Dessel during her postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Neil Forbes, chemical engineering.

“Participating in the Western Mass Health Technology Challenge enabled us to validate our business model and resulted in many new connections that can push Ernest Pharmaceuticals forward,” Van Dessel said. “With the help of this prize, we can perform the necessary safety studies to get our therapies into clinical trials. The Challenge brought us one step closer to our final goal, developing cancer treatments for advanced solid tumors. We are grateful to Lever for this opportunity and their guidance during this competition.”

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Amherst-based biotechnology research company Organicin Scientific Inc. received $25,000 for its work to discover and develop bacteriocins – used to fight harmful bacteria – to prevent disease and improve health. In the face of antimicrobial resistance, there is an urgent need for antibiotic alternatives that can mitigate disease challenges, in both agriculture and human health. The company’s co-founder and chief scientific officer, Margaret Riley, is a professor of biology at UMass Amherst.

The Lever Western Mass Health Tech Challenge is funded in part by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MSLC), an economic development investment agency dedicated to supporting the growth and development of the life sciences throughout the state. North Adams-based Lever and MLSC have partnered since 2016, with the Challenge representing the seventh in a collaborative series of acceleration programs.