University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship has formed microbiome-focused Avnovum Therapeutics, BiomeSense, Covira and Oxalo Therapeutics over the past year.

University of Chicago (UChicago)’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship has highlighted the founding of four US-based biotech spinouts focused on microbiome-based applications over the past year. The companies include Avnovum Therapeutics, which is working on microbial peptides that help vitalise fungal microbiomes by preventing infection and virulence, and BiomeSense, which is developing an automated sensor that evaluates the microbial composition of air and water. Avnovum Therapeutics builds on work by Eugene Chang, an associate section chief for research at the Department of Medicine focused on research in gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition. BiomeSense has been publicised previously, having received $250,000 from University of Chicago’s George Shultz Innovation Fund in June 2018. The spinout was co-founded by Jack Gilbert, a professor of surgery at University of Chicago Medicine, together with Savas Tay, associate professor at the Institute of Molecular Engineering, and Kevin Honaker, a graduate from the Booth School of Business. UChicago also mentioned the launch of Covira, a developer of microbiome-friendly aids which reduce the risk of infection during surgery, on the back of research by John Alverdy, executive vice-chair of the Department of Surgery. The cohort was rounded off by Oxalo Therapeutics, which is using the findings of Hatim Hassan, an assistant professor focused on kidney disease, to devise microbiome-orientated oral medications which prevent kidney stones. Oxalo was one of three biotech companies to share a $575,000 investment from the George Shultz Innovation Fund in December 2017. The university attributed its activity to a new innovation structure tailored to microbiome research, which includes a $100m research hub called Duchossois Family Institute: Harnessing the Microbiome and Immunity for Human Health.

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