Iaso Therapeutics Develops Next Generation of Vaccines

 

A small MedTech startup in East Lansing is quietly developing the next generation of vaccines. 

Iaso Therapeutics has developed a breakthrough synthetic vaccine platform that will improve health and treat a variety of diseases, including cancer and microbial infections.

The company has developed a new carrier to deliver the vaccine, faster. Iaso’s proprietary and innovative mutant Qβ (mQβ) platform technology has been shown to elicit more powerful immune responses in head-to-head comparison studies.

This new generation of vaccine technology does for sugars what mRNA vaccines did for peptides and proteins: makes it faster to adapt to emerging new threats.

Innovation-Driven Growth Leading Workforce Expansion

Founded in 2018 by Xuefei Huang, a professor at Michigan State University, the company has grown to four full-time employees, including the CEO and three Ph.D. scientists, and five trained interns working to scale up this novel vaccine technology. One of the scientists even relocated from St. Louis to begin her work at Iaso, demonstrating the draw of leading MedTech businesses in the area from other regions.

Iaso is also fueling the talented MedTech workforce pipeline – it has trained several interns who have gone on to Ph.D. programs and been hired by biotech startups.

Tapping into the Benefits of Michigan’s Health Core 

Tapping into the supportive investment ecosystem of the Lansing/East Lansing area, Professor Huang received seed funding from Spartan Innovations and Red Cedar Ventures to establish the company, as well as additional funding and support from the Lansing Regional SmartZone.

With this early connection to MSU, a core partner of Michigan’s Health Core, the company enjoys its continued involvement in the coalition of community members working to accelerate MedTech advancements by facilitating collaborations and investments in the Lansing region.

The company’s physical proximity to MSU allows Iaso team members to access analytical tools and instruments on a fee-for-service basis that a startup could not afford to purchase outright.

Looking to the future of Michigan’s Health Core, Iaso President and CEO Robert Forgey says, “It would be nice to see Lansing become a vibrant hub for biotech and health tech startup companies from all over the state.”

Category: Talent and Workforce