Rice Biotech Launch Pad and Texas Medical Center Venture Fund to Present at the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference

New partnership between two Houston leaders will showcase the most innovative advancements emerging from the world's largest life science ecosystem

HOUSTON, June 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Rice University and the Texas Medical Center today announced that the Rice Biotech Launch Pad, a Houston-based accelerator focused on expediting the translation of the university's health and medical technology discoveries into cures, and the TMC Venture Fund, an evergreen fund focused on entrepreneurs shaping the future of health, will present at the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference, June 4–6, 2024, in New York, New York.

The accelerator's executive director and chairman, Paul Wotton, and William McKeon, president and chief executive officer of the Texas Medical Center, chairman of the TMC Venture Fund, and member of the launch pad's external advisory board, will present exciting technology advancements from startups affiliated with Rice and TMC on June 6 at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Paul Wotton said, "In less than a year since its inception, the Rice Biotech Launch Pad has made impressive strides in research and in building out a team with elite leaders from the life sciences and Houston communities. We look forward to showcasing the progress of our incubated companies, including Sentinel Biotherapeutics and Duracyte. These companies exemplify the cutting-edge research and entrepreneurial spirit that the launch pad supports."

Bill McKeon said, "It is an honor to join Paul and present the exceptional technologies emerging at Rice and across the Texas Medical Center. TMC has built the most efficient ecosystem for moving from discovery to commercialization and I'm thrilled to share three of the 24 companies currently in the TMC Venture Fund's portfolio."

To schedule a meeting at the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference with the Rice Biotech Launch Pad, please email [email protected]. To meet with the TMC Venture Fund, please email [email protected]. 

About the Rice Biotech Launch Pad 

The Rice Biotech Launch Pad is a Houston-based accelerator focused on expediting the translation of Rice University's health and medical technology discoveries into cures. This initiative is designed to help advance internally discovered platform technologies from concept to clinical studies and commercialization. The Rice Biotech Launch Pad will identify and support highly differentiated projects while driving the expansion of Houston as a world-class medical innovation ecosystem. The accelerator will bring together local researchers with a network of industry executives. For more information, please visit https://biotechlaunchpad.rice.edu/. 

About Rice University

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,574 undergraduates and 3,982 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction, No. 2 for best-run colleges and No. 12 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. 

About the TMC Venture Fund

The TMC Venture Fund is the $50 million venture capital arm of TMC Corporation. Launched in 2017 to help life science companies in their earliest stages, TMCVF supports visionary entrepreneurs through R&D, operational growth and clinical milestones. To date, the fund has helped drive the efforts of 24 startups, spanning digital health, medical devices and therapeutics, leading to more than $1.2 billion in capital raised by the portfolio.

About the Texas Medical Center

TMC, the world's most comprehensive life science ecosystem — is at the forefront of advancing life sciences. TMC is on a mission to further accelerate the pace of healing by harnessing our collective expertise in innovation, research, development, production and patient care within a single, centralized medical ecosystem. With over 70-plus million square feet and 120,000-plus employees, TMC is leveraging the collective power by pioneering a revolutionary life sciences initiative to house the entire treatment of life cycle from discovery to delivery, within a single, world-class medical complex, on a scale never before seen.

Media Contacts:

Jeff Falk
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Andrew Bell
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Tatum Martens
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SOURCE Rice University