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University of Pittsburgh
Start-Ups

Start-Up Companies Based on Pitt Technologies

Between fiscal years 2001 and 2009, 54 companies based on Pitt technologies have been launched. These companies include:

Almedtrac, Inc.

Almedtrac, Inc. is based on a comprehensive Web-based system for managing clinical trials, developed by Richard Engberg in Pitt’s School of Nursing. The system, called R-Trac, integrates subject tracking and instrument data management systems and also includes a scheduling system, reminder system and a subject randomization component, among other features.

Alung Technologies

This start-up is developing an artificial lung device to provide respiratory support to people with acute breathing problems. Some of its development efforts are based on Pitt technology.

AT Sciences, LLC

AT Sciences, LLC is dedicated to matching people with appropriate assistive technologies to meet their needs. The company’s in-house development projects include development of smart wheelchairs and personal assistants. Its services include consulting on assistive technology development, evaluation, and training.

Cardiorobotics Inc.

This company is developing advanced, highly articulated robotic probes that are tele-operated and can operate along a nonlinear pathway. The probes are being designed for use in minimally invasive surgeries, beginning with cardiac surgery. Pitt’s technology contribution to the effort includes a system and method for the functional exclusion of the left atrial appendage of the heart. Marco Zenati, an associate professor of Surgery at the University, is a co-founder of the company and serves as chairman of the company’s scientific advisory board.

Cohera Medical Inc.

Cohera Medical Inc. is based on a line of tissue adhesives for soft tissue and bones developed in a collaboration among the University's School of Dental Medicine, bioengineering department, and McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Initial marketable uses will include post-surgery reduction of fluid accumulation for abdomino-plasty (see related profile).

Lipella Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Lipella Pharmaceuticals Inc. is based on an innovation developed by a group of Pitt research faculty and others that allows for the use of lipid-based compositions as prolonged drug-delivery vehicles for treating bladder inflammation, infections, and cancer, among other disorders.

Logical Therapeutics, Inc.

Logical Therapeutics, Inc. was started by Carolyn Green, former director of the University’s Office of Enterprise Development, Health Sciences, and Mitchell Fink, a professor in Pitt's Department of Critical Care Medicine. The company, now based in Waltham, Mass., is developing several drugs, two of which were licensed from the University, for the treatment of diseases that form abnormalities in the inflammatory process.

NanoLambda Inc.

NanoLambda Inc. is based on unique sensor-chip technology developed in Pitt’s School of Engineering that provides a chip-sized spectroscope using nano-scale light waves. Potential uses: mobile, wearable, non-invasive glucose monitors or tiny devices for detecting toxic gases, among a wide range of other uses (See profile of Professor Hong-Koo Kim). The start-up is located in the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center in Harmarville. Phone: 412-334-4571.

Neograft Technologies (2009)

This start-up is based on new devices developed by a team of Pitt researchers that provide controlled temporary structural support to veins used as arterial vein grafts in cardiovascular surgery via a novel, electrospun polymer wrap.

RedPath Integrated Pathology, Inc.

RedPath Integrated Pathology, Inc. is a genomics-based diagnostics company whose complex testing resolves indeterminate and misdiagnosis, as well as the over-and-under treatment of cancer.

Tego, Inc.

Tego, Inc. is based, in part, on an option by the start-up for a novel system for harvesting radio-frequency energy using multiple-antenna technology that enhances the memory capacity of passive RFID tags. The development team, all from Pitt's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, included Marlin Mickle, Alex Jones, Raymond Hoare (formerly of Pitt), Tom Cain, Leo Mats, Minghong Mi, and Swapna Dontharaju. The company is located in Waltham, Mass.