Innovation in Action: Six BLUE KNIGHT™ Resident Quickfire Challenge Winners Shape the Future of Health
In early June, at the 2024 BLUE KNIGHT™ Symposium in San Diego, Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JLABS) and BARDA announced the winners of the BLUE KNIGHT™ Resident Quickfire Challenge: Partnerships for Preparedness, designed to advance innovation in health security.
July 30, 2024
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At the recent 2024 BLUE KNIGHT™ Symposium in San Diego, Johnson & Johnson Innovations (JLABS) and BARDA announced the winners of the BLUE KNIGHT™ Resident QuickFire Challenge: Partnering for Preparedness.
Blue Knight is a joint initiative launched by Johnson & Johnson Innovation and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Strategic Preparedness and Response. Blue Knight is a collaboration dedicated to anticipating potential health security threats, galvanizing the global innovation community, and accelerating scientific and technological advances to prepare for and respond to a rapidly evolving global health environment. Blue Knight offers physical residencies at select Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS (“JLABS”) locations, including the Blue Knight Hub at JLABS in Washington, DC, as well as virtual engagement options.
This challenge is the third in the BLUE KNIGHT™ Resident QuickFire Challenge series, designed to help current and past Blue Knight participants address critical inflection points in the commercialization process. For more information on the challenge, please see below.
The winners are Acclinate, Avecris Pte Ltd, Decoy Therapeutics, Jurata Thin Film, Inc., Immunyx Pharma (in partnership with Akagera Medicines), and Neuroene Therapeutics (in partnership with Epiloid Biotechnology). The selected winners will receive grant funding to achieve key development milestones:
1. Acclinate: Revolutionizing Genomic Research and Clinical Trials
Acclinate, part of JLABS in Washington DC, developed e-DICT, a HIPAA-compliant platform that leverages predictive analytics and ML to identify diverse members most likely to participate in genomic studies and clinical trials. Health equity is at the core of their platform, and their value proposition is education and long-term engagement.
2. Avecris Pte Ltd: Disrupting the SPRING DNA and mRNA Markets
JLABS Singapore’s Avecris is developing SPRING DNA, a novel non-viral gene delivery platform that has the potential to revolutionize the $100 billion mRNA market by solving the challenges of 1) long-lasting gene expression and 2) cell type-specific gene expression.
3. Decoy Therapeutics: AI-powered antiviral solution
Decoy Therapeutics, part of JLABS @ NYC, is using AI to design broad-spectrum antiviral peptide conjugates aimed at targeting today’s viruses and preemptively defending against future ones.
4. Jurata Thin Film, Inc.: Heat stabilization for global access
Jurata Thin Film, part of JLABS @ TMC, is developing technology to heat-stabilize vaccines and biologics at room temperature, making them more accessible to patients around the world.
5. Immunyx Pharma and Akagera Medicines Collaboration
Immunyx Pharma, a resident company at JLABS @NYC, is partnering with Akagera Medicines to combine their proprietary platform technologies to develop novel therapeutics that modulate the function of toxic neutrophils in disease.
6. Neuroene Therapeutics and Epiloid Biotechnology Collaboration
Neuroene Therapeutics, based at JLABS in Washington, DC, has partnered with Epiloid Biotechnology to combine its proprietary platform technologies to develop brain-penetrant mitochondrial therapeutics for hard-to-treat neurological diseases.
Blue Knight is particularly interested in inspiring early-stage companies in multi-purpose technologies with commercial and preparedness applications, and through these efforts hopes to support companies that foster ecosystem collaborations that can expedite Blue Knight companies’ path to commercialization.
Want to learn more about Blue Knight? Feel free to submit a quick Meet With form on the Blue Knight website.
