It all begins in the gut. We know that a balanced gut microbiome is key to a healthy (and happy) life. Probiotics, ingestible products that contain healthy bacteria and yeast, are available for people to buy and help with their digestive issues. But not all probiotics are created equal.

Sun Genomics found that an individual’s genome can help identify which probiotic strains are best for the person. By creating personalized probiotics, the company can eliminate the guesswork that’s involved with buying probiotics off the shelf and help people regain control of their health. Customers of all ages (babies, tots, adults) can get a whole genome sequencing of their gut microflora now, and get custom-tailored probiotics sent to their door right away, with the Floré product by Sun Genomics.

Sun Genomics has also launched a new academic collaboration focused on understanding the potential link between the gut microbiome and the Autism Spectrum Disorder

Killing an animal and eating its flesh is not the only way to gain protein. Now more than ever, we need alternatives to conventional animal farming and fishing—not just because of animal welfare, but for human and environmental health. What’s happening now is not sustainable.

Prime Roots uses fungi as a complete protein source which acts as a seafood alternative. Described as healthful, protein-rich, sustainable, ethical, and delicious, the company is working to help people reimagine meat and seafood with fungi, that has the proper taste, texture, and nutrition. The product has already been tested with over 10,000 potential consumers, and their full product line is hitting markets and available for purchase on their website.

70% of agricultural produce relies on bes for pollination. Yet modern agriculture has neglected pollination as a means to improving yields, and we know that bee colony collapse is a major risk factor for food security in the coming years.

Beeflow’s bee health supplements and bee hive management supercharge pollination, leading to an increase crop yields and improve the quality of fruits and seeds, without compromising the health of bees. By measuring pollination and bee-plant interactions Beeflow can help farmers plan water use, fertilizer use and enhance farm inventory management. The company has been running successfull pilot programs over the past two years, delivering unprecedented yields and now rapidly scaling to expand operations to farms across the West Coat and Latin America, covering almonds, berries and more.

Wood is a touchy subject. It could be considered a more sustainable material than plastic because it’s regenerative, but we’re simply just not regenerating them fast enough.

Lingrove is a materials company that is making wood without the trees. Their signature material, Ekoa, is lighter than carbon fiber, stiffer than fiberglass, and the wood grain finish is simply beautiful. Their product is made from a bioresin bonded with flax, which is normally discarded anyway after they are harvested for flaxseed. Ekoa can be molded into complex shapes and dyed to match the finishes of even the most expensive hardwoods. High performance, planet-positive and carbon-negative products without compromising the beauty.

When your cells make instructions in the form of mRNAs, there are also many small RNAs (sRNAs) that regulate those instructions. They regulate the health and disease of all living things, and researchers are now finding out that their activity patterns are indicative of overall patterns in the body.

Turns out, this is a good strategy for biomarker discovery. Gatehouse developed an RNA analytics platform intended to classify patient samples with binary accuracy. The company’s platform identifies small RNA biomarkers and discovers molecular pathways of disease through deep analysis of small RNAs and accelerates the development of targeted therapies, enabling custom bio-markers and companion diagnostics driving cures.

Dahlia Biosciences is leading the development of cell-based RNA detection tools using CRISPR technology. The foundational RNA-targeting Cas9 technology was invented by Dr. Mitchell O’Connell and Dr. Sam Sternberg in the laboratory of Dr. Jennifer Doudna at UC Berkeley.

The company is dedicated to empower scientists to study and isolate cells at high resolution via sensitive, robust, and multiplexed RNA detection in both fixed and live cells. Their CRISPR based RNA detection reagents will plug seamlessly into existing flow cytometry workflows, reducing the time and cost-basis of research and development. Their kits and reagents can supercharge the many applicaitons based on fixed-cell analysis and live-cell sorting with wide-ranging implications for detection of disease to design of biomarkers and drugs.

Non-union’ fractures are common in people with low and imbalanced hormones, such as the elderly, but may also result from infection, inadequate blood supply to the bone, and incorrect splinting. Surgery, which has a low level of success, is the current standard of care. Full recovery from non-union fracture surgery is rare and repeat surgeries are often required.

MezoMax created a first of its kind, convenient, twice daily oral formulation called MMX-701 that works by delivering calcium directly to the bone producing cells to accelerate healing and provide for more complete bone union in non-union fractures.

MMMX-701 was tested in over 1,000 patients in three international Investigators-Initiated Trials, using an open-label adaptive design, and has shown good safety and tolerability, a significant increase in the bone mineral density (assessed via Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry as a T-score in the lumbar vertebrae), and decreased bone resorption.

With the 17 million new patients every year who are recovering from a stroke, a third of them will be touchless and voiceless. These victims have aphasia and paralysis to a point that they can no longer interact with the rest of the world, and can bring an individual to a such an imprisonment in their own bodies, that life feels like it no longer matters.

Nuro is making a headset and multimodal, multidirectional operating system (dubbed NUOS) to help a locked-in patients communicate with the world. Their headset is combining EEG and EOG into a set of algorithms that give stroke patients their independence and dignity back. You can view their current work on their website where they show patients communicating independently with just their brain – no voice, no touch. They are the only manufacturer in the world cleared by Health Canada, US IRB and US FDA under ‘Expanded Access’ for Communication by Brain for up to Locked-In Stage VI ALS.  NURO has developed a complete neurological product line named NUOS, which can be implemented instantly without any brain surgery and with a wide range of individuals, from healthy human beings to victims of Stroke, Trauma or Neurodegeneration.

Traditionally, people in pain are given Opioids—which, although they relieve pain, can have dangerous side effects such as loss of motor function, and addiction. Ocycontin, Vicodin, and other pain relievers are effective in subduing pain, but they are extremely addictive, which causes major problems in families and communities.

The Opioid Crisis is a reality we’re facing now—but what if pain could be treated another way? That’s exactly what Neurocarrus has been working on. Their new drug delivery technology safely disrupts pain signals without possessing addiction-forming qualities. The company’s lead asset, N-001, is a novel protein that was synthesized to target key sensory neuron structures called actin. It is designed to disrupt peripheral pain signaling without affecting motor function or causing addiction.

Jointechlabs is a regenerative medicine solutions company based in California providing FDA-cleared technology that empowers safe, cost-effective point-of-care regenerative medicine therapies to eliminate pain and suffering, and make you look and feel better. With 9 granted patents, signed distributors, efficient team, NIH grant, early sales, and several pipeline products, Jointechlabs is creating a regenerative medicine ecosystem as a standard of care.

Their device, MiniTC, has been shown to isolate fat-derived stem cells at in a disposable, closed loop medical device in any clinic setting, with no change in infrastructure. It’s fast gaining adoption in medical aesthetics, plastic and reconstructive surgeries, orthopedics and wound care. This platform is unlocking a therapeutic development program, their first program in clinical development, JTL-T-01, is a proprietary injectable stem cell biologic therapy for osteoarthritis, and is already approved under FDA’s 510k program.