PhagePro

It's been an incredible time at PhagePro! We are honored to be part of the #FoundersofColor #GoldenTicket cohort with LabCentral Ignite with Jaspaul (Paul) Singh of Interon Laboratories, Inc. and Joseph Beyene, Ph.D. of Nanoplex LLC. Huge congratulations to the #WomenFounders cohort: Chelsea Trengrove, PhD of Neoclease, Núria Puigmal Domínguez of Lybra Bio, and Galit Frydman, DVM, ScD of Coagulo Medical Technologies, Inc.! More to come in the upcoming months - stay updated with PhagePro news with our new and improved website that launched earlier this year: https://lnkd.in/gh_A2hV Many thanks to the team at Thinkubator Media - Lori Lennon, Greg Stenson, and Blair Burrell - for doing a beautiful overhaul! #RepresentationMatters #Biotech #Phage

Last night, we proudly hosted our 4th annual LabCentral Ignite #GoldenTicket Contest, and we’re excited to introduce this year’s winners! Six rockstar #biotechstartups took home the prize: three from the #FoundersofColor category—Interon Laboratories, Inc., PhagePro, and Nanoplex LLC—and three from the #WomenFounders category—Neoclease, Lybra Bio, and Coagulo Medical Technologies, Inc.. A huge congratulations to all! 🙌 🎉 Designed to uplift and celebrate companies led by underrepresented communities in the #biotech industry, Ignite golden tickets award startups with $50,000 in funding for space at LabCentral and access to the Ignite Golden Ticket fellowship, which provides them with the network, resources and support needed to succeed in the industry. A special thank you to our sponsors for helping make this opportunity possible: Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda, BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and EisnerAmper.

Last but certainly not least, we’re excited to celebrate the impressive accomplishments of Ashley Luo, who completed her Northeastern University co-op with us at PhagePro from July to December 2022. During her time here, Ashley made meaningful contributions to our understanding of the evolutionary arms race between Vibrio cholerae and its phages, utilizing both bioinformatics and molecular microbiology approaches. She quickly mastered new techniques and brought an unmatched enthusiasm for lab work. It’s no surprise to us that after graduating, Ashley was accepted into the Tufts University Post-baccalaureate Research Program, where she conducted groundbreaking research on the interactions between phages and the anti-phage defense system, CBASS, in E. coli and V. cholerae. Adding to her growing list of achievements, Ashley has also begun her PhD in Molecular Microbiology at Tufts University—a huge milestone as she continues to pursue her passion for innovative research. As a Tufts spin-out, we are especially excited to see her return to our roots. In her free time, Ashley enjoys doing crafts, painting, and cosplay/going to conventions! We couldn’t be prouder of Ashley’s incredible progress and can’t wait to see where her scientific curiosity takes her next. Keep reaching for the stars, Ashley! #Phage #GlobalHealth #RepresentationMatters #Internship #Biotech

Next, we’re excited to shine a spotlight on Sayde Perry, who has achieved remarkable milestones since her internship with PhagePro in the summer of 2021. During her time with us, Sayde delved into the molecular mechanisms of Vibrio cholerae and its phage, ICP1. Her deep understanding of phage biology was well beyond her undergraduate years, and she consistently emphasized the importance of translating phage research into clinical settings, particularly in low-resource areas. Since her internship, Sayde graduated from Pomona College in 2022 with a major in molecular biology. She was awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for her exceptional promise in the natural sciences and earned the Pomona Walter Bertsch Memorial Prize in Molecular Biology for her senior thesis on the interactions between ICP1 and V. cholerae. Following graduation, Sayde received a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue advanced phage research at the Leicester Centre for Phage Research in the UK. Over the past two years, she completed an MPhil, focusing on the identification and characterization of a phage that replicates in dormant E. coli, significantly contributing to our knowledge of phage ecology. Now, Sayde is set to begin her PhD in Microbiology & Immunology at Stanford University this September, and we couldn’t be prouder of her journey. Outside the lab, Sayde has a passion for the outdoors, and we've included a picture of her hiking in Scotland to highlight her adventurous side. Congratulations, Sayde, on all your incredible achievements! We’re eager to see where your passion for science will take you next! #Phage #GlobalHealth #RepresentationMatters #Internship #Biotech

As summer comes to a close, we caught up with our incredible summer interns from the past few years to hear how things are going. First up, we’re excited to hear from Marly Jean-Francois, who interned with us during the summer of 2021 through Project Onramp, a Life Science Cares Boston initiative that provides access to paid internships to talented and motivated college students from under-resourced backgrounds, helping bridge the opportunity gap. During her time at PhagePro, Marly conducted analyses of the healthcare ecosystem in Bangladesh, providing us with valuable insights into our patient community. She effectively communicated her findings to our scientists, consistently advocating for patients and ensuring their needs remained central to our R&D process. Since then, Marly has achieved several milestones. She graduated early from University of Massachusetts Amherst, completing her degree a year ahead of schedule, and recently earned her master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences this past May. While pursuing her studies, Marly also became certified in Early Education and Care, balancing both her education and work commitments. Despite her busy schedule, she continued to pursue her passion for travel, visiting Florida, New York, New Orleans, Mexico, and Aruba. Marly is now preparing for her board exams, and we couldn't be prouder of her accomplishments. Congratulations on all your success, Marly! We’re cheering for you! #PatientsFirst #GlobalHealth #RepresentationMatters #Internship #Biotech

We are so grateful to announce that PhagePro is one of the recipients of the MassVentures START Phase I grants! Huge thank you to MassVentures, the judges and sponsors of this impactful program, and of course to the state of Massachusetts. We couldn't be happier to be on #TeamMassachusetts. And a big congratulations to the other START award winners! It's an honor to be part of such a great cohort. Phase I awardees: BioSens8, Bloomer Tech, Emvolon, Eyebot, Guardion, Inc., Ortholevo, Theromics Inc., Transcend Air Corporation, Versatope Therapeutics Phase II awardees: Advanced Silicon Group, Electrified Thermal Solutions, Gel4Med, Inc., Notch, Osmoses Phase III awardees: ActivSignal, EnVision Endoscopy, Inc. Charlie Hipwood, Stacy Swider, Priya Yadav, Vinit Nijhawan (he/him), Sienna Leis, Whitney Leslie Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development (EOED), Yvonne Hao, Sarah Stanton

A few weeks ago, our CEO Minmin Yen, Ph.D., MPH (she/her) had the amazing opportunity to travel to the Netherlands with The Termeer Foundation. Many thanks to everyone at Netherlands Innovation Network in Boston, Health~Holland, and hollandbio for the thoughtful organization of the trip, in particular Belinda Termeer, Catharine Smith, Erica Mawby-Roche, Hans Schikan, Laura Duran, Simone Ho, and Kim Tran. At Innovation for Health, Dr. Yen chatted with Eline van Beest and Marco Fossatelli about the importance of DEI in the biotech ecosystem and how to sustainably incorporate strategies into our workforce cultures during a Topx Network panel. We are also grateful for the platform to share PhagePro's role in the devastating global cholera pandemic - many thanks to Axon Lawyers for supporting our AXON Innovation for Health award in the annual pitch contest! Lastly, we had such a great time bonding with other Termeer Fellows/Honorees (Daniel Fischer, Tim Knotnerus, June Park, Ph.D., Safia K. Rizvi, Cinzia Silvestri, Claudine van der Sande, Stan Wang, MD, PhD, Yael Weiss, and a huge welcome to Dan Jing Wu!) and the MA delegation (Jeanne LeClair, Freddy Nguyen, MD, PhD, and Jeevan Ramapriya). Looking forward to continuing to build and strengthen the transatlantic relationship between our two ecosystems!