Media Advisory: Ten life sciences companies to pitch emerging health technologies at UB on Sept. 10

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 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

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 (CBLS); 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.

Where: UB Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences (CBLS), 701 Ellicott St., Buffalo, N.Y. 14203.