Three Forge clients are finalists in Synapse Life Science Competition

March 7, 2022

The Forge clients Tenomix, Celerite Labs and Dahlia have been selected as finalists in the ninth annual Synapse Life Science Competition Pitch Showcase. The showcase is designed to help innovative life science companies launch into the market by pairing up innovators with business and entrepreneurship students. Fourteen nascent startups have been selected as finalists and will participate in the showcase taking place on March 23, 2022.

Tenomix, co-founded by Saumik Biswas, Eveline Pasman, Sherif Abdou, and Michael Lavdas, is on a mission is to develop novel technologies that target inefficiencies in the pathology workflow, optimize cancer care and reduce healthcare costs. The startup’s dedicated team of engineers, medical doctors, and clinical scientists is currently working on Tenomix’s flagship device, which autonomously searches for lymph nodes in resected cancer tissues and marks their locations for efficient extraction. This bench-top device replaces the existing tedious and unreliable manual lymph node finding process and greatly improves the speed and reliability of the cancer staging process. This enables clinicians to make better-informed treatment decisions, resulting in fewer patient complications and fatalities and ensures hospitals continuously meet their quality metrics. Tenomix will be working with Kyle Jackson, a McMaster University student completing his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering.

Celerite Labs, co-founded by Rakesh Prasad Sahu and Ishwar K. Puri, is a biotechnology spin-out from McMaster University and is developing an innovative magnetic printing technology that allows 3D printing of cells within a few hours, without the need of any scaffolds. The magnetic printing technology supports cancer research, wound healing, toxicity screening, disease modelling, and tissue engineering. The method is compatible with high-density microwell plate format, easy to use, and allows creating complex hierarchical in-vitro models. Celerite labs will be working with Min Wen Gong, a McMaster University student completing her Bachelor of Health Science Honours degree in Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization.

Dahlia, co-founded by Christopher Juman and Bindi Mehta, believes that people who menstruate deserve period products that are progressive, intuitive, comfortable and convenient. Dahlia is developing a suite of products that do just that while remaining inclusive and environmentally friendly. The innovative startup is currently developing a menstrual cup that has been re-designed alongside anatomy experts to be optimized for comfort and fit, along with a simple and discreet applicator and removal tool. To ensure for utmost convenience, Dahlia is also optimizing the cleaning and storage process for their products. Dahlia will be working with Hamna Imtiaz, a McMaster University student completing her Bachelor of Health Science Honours degree in Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization.