Here are the biotech startups selected for the 2019 UD Fastpass

You may not have heard of Extrave Bioscience and Lignolix, but they’re going places.

The two biotech startups have been named as winners of the 2019 University of Delaware FastPass competition, giving them each an equity-free package providing operational, technical, business development and financial support valued at $50,000.

The Delaware Innovation Space (DIS) launched Fastpass in 2017 through a partnership between DuPont, the University of Delaware and the State of Delaware. The package includes a one-year membership to the DIS, a science startup accelerator located at the Experimental Station in Wilmington. Present and former DIW companies include Incyte, Prelude Therapeutics and Napigen.

Last year’s FastPass winner, W7Energy, recently received a $3.4 million grant from the Department of Energy for its zero-emission fuel cell research.

Here’s a little about the winning startups, via the DIS:

• Founded by Matthew Hudson, an assistant professor in UD’s College of Health Sciences, Extrave BioScience has developed technology that has the potential to reverse the pathology in muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder marked by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness, by delivering and restoring full-size dystrophin throughout the body.
• Lignolix, a start-up company founded by Thomas H. Epps, III, the Thomas and Kipp Gutshall Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UD, focuses on sustainably making materials from renewable biomass, such as lignin, a major component of trees and plants that paper manufacturers typically throw away.

Startups are eligible for the UD Fastpass if they have an association with the university, including founders and/or leadership team members being UD students, UD staff, UD professors, UD alumni and/or business has intellectual property that was developed at and/or licensed from the University of Delaware. Click here to learn more.