Mississauga, ON — SEPTEMBER 2024
With our inaugural startups now settled into the program, SpinUp is thrilled to welcome four new, high-calibre teams to join our growing community of promising biotech, chemistry, and clean tech early-stage startups. Supported by a range of facilities and services campuswide, these companies will soon be moving into the University of Toronto Mississauga’s (UTM) new Science Building where they’ll have the opportunity to establish research partnerships with UTM faculty and recruit student interns. At SpinUp, the startups will have the infrastructure, equipment, and programming they need to further develop their intellectual property (IP) and prepare for their next stages of growth — all within a strong entrepreneurship ecosystem offered by the City of Mississauga and the University of Toronto.
Meet our next group of startups founded by U of T students and alumni, as well as founders supported by external partner programs.
HDAX Therapeutics

HDAX Therapeutics is pioneering next-gen therapeutics for better patient outcomes. We are overcoming conventional challenges of HDAC6 targeting approaches with our novel dual binding mechanism to deliver a safe, effective, and long-lasting therapeutic solution for diseases driven by microtubule dysfunction, starting with peripheral neuropathies and cardiometabolic diseases.
Meet the team: Nabanita Nanwar, CEO & Cofounder; Pimyupa Manaswiyoungkul, COO & Cofounder; Bertrand Le Bourdonnec, CSO; Harsimran Garcha, Business Operations Specialist; Brian Bin Yan, Medicinal Chemist
Liven

Liven is a functional ingredient company specializing in high-value, food-inspired bioactive peptides for functional foods and natural products. We empower consumers to achieve their health and wellness goals through innovative nutrition. Using proprietary design and precision fermentation, our ingredients require doses hundreds of times lower than other peptides. It is also animal-free and suitable for a variety of food and dietary supplement formulations, providing an efficacious, versatile and convenient solution. Currently, Liven focuses on targeted peptides that mimic the body’s natural signals to enhance joint health and mobility, promoting a vibrant and active lifestyle.
Meet the team: Fei Luo, CEO; Daria Zhukova, Business Operations Lead; Ondrej Halgas, Lead Protein Scientist; Jens Cormier, Bioprocess Scientist
Maman Biomedical

Maman Biomedical is a pioneering startup dedicated to revolutionizing fertility treatment through innovative drug delivery systems. We are working to transform the landscape of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), addressing not only the emotional and physical challenges faced by patients but also the environmental concerns associated with traditional fertility treatments.
Meet the team: Latchmi Raghunanan, CEO & CSO; Roopchand Raghunanan, CBO; Lauren Franzoni, COO
QurCan Therapeutics

QurCan Therapeutics is a Canadian biotechnology company pioneering a proprietary nanoparticle-enabled drug delivery technology platform that addresses the need for safe, tissue-selective RNA therapeutics delivery. By combining their innovative delivery technology with precision RNA therapeutics, the company strives to develop life-saving therapies to prevent, delay, and cure diseases.
Meet the team: Mohammad Ali Amini, CEO; Shirley Wu, CSO; John Reid, CBO; Azhar Abbasi, EVO of R&D; Chanson He, EVP of Operations
Purpose-built to drive life science innovation, SpinUp is the first wet lab incubator at the University of Toronto, Canada’s leading centre for learning and discovery and one of the world’s top-two universities for health science productivity. SpinUp offers early-stage start-ups access to outstanding wet lab space, equipment, and expertise at U of T Mississauga. SpinUp is part of U of T entrepreneurship, a network of 12+ innovation accelerators that has supported more than 650 capital-backed companies, which have created 9,000 jobs and raised $2.5 billion in external investment over the past ten years.
Media Contact
U of T Mississauga:
Julia Le
Issues and Media Relations Strategist, Office of Communications