Douglass Guernsey, MBA '22, is on a mission to transform the way we use non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Rather than an instrument of financial investment or speculation, Douglass sees NFTs as a tool to validate social actions, such as donating to charity or supporting a cause. Hear about his social impact NFT startup, Missionable, which he developed in part in the Brandeis Virtual Incubator Spark program.

As far as innovative inventions go, you’ll be hard pressed to find such an interesting, diverse portfolio as Dan Perlman’s. With over a 100 US and international patents (published and pending), Dan’s work spans decades of research and development. Among his vast range of creations are laboratory and consumer products, which include the well-known brand Smart Balance and the Corazonas-branded snack products. We spoke with Dan about his remarkable career.

Heller graduate and SparkTank winner Alison Elliott has long had a dream of combining her dual passions for sustainability and delicious, original recipes. Starting with a blog, her brand The Farmer Foodie grew during her time in the Brandeis Innovation Virtual Incubator to a groundbreaking new plant-based cheese alternative. Launching this May, it sold out online within hours. She recently won the WeWork-Oatly sustainable startup pitch competition, winning support for a year for her food startup. This June, you can meet Ali at local farmers' markets. Learn about Ali's journey from farm educator to the Farmer Foodie, her sustainable lifestyle, and her experience growing her business through the Brandeis Innovation Spark program.

Undergraduate student Daniel Hariyanto looks to address a challenge not too unfamiliar for him – Alzheimer’s disease. A co-founder of his startup company Mobile Memory, Daniel has developed an app that detects early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Using AI to listen to how a person talks, the data helps the healthcare physician with making a diagnosis and provide potentially lifesaving treatment. We hear from Daniel about Mobile Memory, his experiences and advice for other innovators.

https://www.mobilememory.app/

A thought-provoking episode of the Onye Podcast exploring real-world experiences, ideas, and insights in an engaging audio discussion.

PhD candidate Adrianna Shy is proactively involved at the forefront of medicinal health research – developing therapeutic solutions for treating human diseases such as Alzheimer’s. A participant of the I-Corps program, Adrianna talks a little about her research and her experiences at Brandeis Innovation. This includes her time with the Sprout program as a competition winner. Furthermore, we hear about some of her learnings, as well as her advice for other innovators.

https://people.brandeis.edu/~bxu/

Ben Pockros is in the MD/MBA program at Tufts and Brandeis Universities, while also launching an app that helps students navigate their health insurance options. And you thought you were busy! Find out how this student innovator makes time to launch a startup and get through med school.

Brandeis University SparkTank competition winner Mariam Serag had a classic problem - standing all day in high heels is painful and tiring. Being an entrepreneur, she had her own solution to a common problem: start a footwear company A line of convertible heels that combine comfort with style, Tambu is proud of their sustainable sourcing, as well. We learned from Mariam about her entrepreneurial journey, as well as her advice for other innovators. www.tambufootwear.com/

Inspiring insights on collaboration, innovation, and collective problem-solving from a Brandeis Innovation session.

Looking to partner with industry on an invention, and unsure how such collaboration works? Get inside knowledge from those who have spearheaded industry collaborations, both from academia and industry. You’ll learn potential ways of getting industry-sponsored research opportunities (more funding is always good!) and opportunities to land a job/co-op/internship.

Speakers:

Irena Ivanovska

Irena Ivanovska, Ph.D. is a Director at Celdara Medical, where she leads several internal therapeutic development programs. In addition, she serves as an Alliance Manager in support of Celdara’s Pipeline Development Service partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. She also leads Celdara’s due diligence efforts for reviewing new opportunities.

Chari Smith

Dr. Chari Smith is the founder and principal consultant for PharmTeam Consulting, providing consulting services for preclinical drug discovery programs with a focus on programs emerging from Academic environments. Dr. Smith is an accomplished biochemist, with over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to her work with PharmTeam Consulting, Dr. Smith has served as the Drug Discovery Consultant in Residence at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, where she provided on-site consulting for university researchers seeking entrepreneurial opportunities and consults with the Dean of Research office on creating external partnerships between the university and the biotechnology industry. She continues to consult with the university in this capacity.

Anne Joseph

Anne Joseph is the Product Development and Commercialization (PDC) Senior Manager at Biogen. As PDC Senior Manager, she works in close partnership with the PDC Lead and drives asset strategy, implementation plans, analyses and progress for BIIB111 CHM & BIIB112 RPGR. Previously, she was the Search and Evaluation Manager for the External Portfolio Innovation Unit at Biogen. She has also been a Life Sciences Consultant for Back Bay Life Sciences Advisors. She received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Brandeis University in 2017 and her thesis investigated the contribution of specific calcium-dependent signaling pathways in the maintenance of firing rate homeostasis of the neuron. Using Ca imaging, immunohistochemistry and electrophysiology she probed into the CaMKIV pathway in pyramidal rat neurons.

Alexander Margulis

Dr. Margulis is currently leveraging his scientific and business acumen to manage the operations and business development at Mansfield Bio-Incubator. Concurrently, he is working as a Business Development Manager (New England) in a boutique life science and marketing strategy organization. Previously, while working at Precision Biosystems where he developed and executed a strategy to increase the sales by 100% within 1 year while managing a team of manufacturer's representatives. Beforehand, he worked as a Senior Scientist at BIOARRAY Therapeutics, where he managed the project to set up a fully functional laboratory 33% ahead of schedule while saving money and developed proof-of-concept assays for the company's leading diagnostic test. Prior to that, Dr. Margulis worked for 7 years in large biotech/pharma companies in project teams to perform cell-based assays.