BUFFALO, N.Y. – Ten early-stage life science and biotech companies will present their technologies during NewYorkBIO’s Buffalo Mini-Pitch Day at the University at Buffalo, hosted by UB Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships.
Each company will pitch to a panel of judges and receive real-time feedback in front of investors, entrepreneurs and life sciences industry leaders.
News media will have the opportunity to speak with founders about their companies and technologies.
Who
Participating companies and presenters include:
- Kevin Macwan, Sensible Vascular – single-pass stroke clot removal
- Karla Paniagua, NexOnco.AI – AI for cancer prognosis
- Ernest Smith, Immunotolerx – immune tolerance therapies for autoimmune disease
- Satish Kandlikar, BiRed Imaging Inc. – AI-assisted breast cancer detection
- Kelly Cycon, Axenica Bioscience LLC – viral reference materials for diagnostics
- William Mangione, Meditati Inc. – AI drug discovery for opioid use disorder
- Samara Barend, AION Biosystems – continuous temperature monitoring for early infection detection
- Tim Mikhelashvili, Amedea Pharma – life sciences performance analytics
- Jonathan Lovell, POP Biotechnologies – rapid-response vaccine technology
- Kerry Poppenberg, Neurovascular Diagnostics, Inc. – blood-based diagnostics for unruptured brain aneurysms
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The participating companies represent a mix of Western New York startups. Rochester-based BiRed Imaging was co-founded by Rochester Institute of Technology professor Satish Kandlikar, and Immunotolerx — a portfolio company of Empire Discovery Institute — will also be among the presenters.
Several companies have Buffalo and UB connections, including POP Biotechnologies, a UB spinout led by biomedical engineering professor Jonathan Lovell; Sensible Vascular, a Canadian company that recently established a presence at UB’s Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences; Meditati, a spinout founded by UB biomedical informatics professor Ram Samudrala; Immunotolerx, which licenses technology invented in the laboratory of UB pharmaceutical sciences professor Sathy Balu-Iyer; and Neurovascular Diagnostics, a UB spinout developing a blood test to screen for unruptured brain aneurysms.
When
Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, 2-5:30 p.m. Networking reception to follow.
