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Empirica
Therapeutics:
Translational
Cancer Discoveries
Empirica Therapeutics was founded
in 2018 on the ground-breaking
work of Dr. Sheila Singh, a pediatric
neurosurgeon at McMaster Children’s
Hospital and Canada Research Chair
in Human Cancer Stem Cell Biology at
the research institute of St. Joe’s Hamilton McMaster University.
operates across five research pillars with an
annual budget exceeding $28 million and
oversees the work of more than 700 researchers, Her lab, which brings together
staff, students and fellows. multidisciplinary scientists from several
Canadian universities, has become a
mohawk College is the fourth-largest research discovery engine and a translational
college in Canada in 2020 and a leading specialist pipeline for therapies aimed at
in digital and mobile health. mEDiC (mHealth & aggressive and treatment-resistant
eHealth Development and innovation Centre) is cancers. With the help of the McMaster
Canada’s only technology access Centre with a Industry Liaison Office, Singh has
focus on digital health, including an e-health “living secured patents, found commercial
lab” that enables mEDiC to support digital health partners and attracted the attention of
companies from design to deployment. the global biotech sector.
With a strong foundation in place, key additions In June 2020, Empirica was acquired
have solidified Hamilton’s place as a life sciences by Philadelphia-based Century
powerhouse. innovation Factory, a regional Therapeutics and the company has
accelerator; the Forge, a business incubator maintained an important presence at
funded by mcmaster University; and the Bay area McMaster Innovation Park as Century
Health Trust, a unique arm’s length for-profit entity Therapeutics Canada.
that benefits McMaster and HHS, have built an
ecosystem that nurtures the commercialization of “We have a very differentiated set of
ideas. skills in Hamilton that have poised
us for success in the biomedical and
the Synapse Pitch Competition, founded in 2013 by biotechnology sector,” said Singh.
innovation Factory, has become ontario’s premier
life science pitch competition. through training and
mentorship the competition assists innovators to “The good news is that the scientists
bring their ideas to market, leverage Hamilton’s who have made the seminal discoveries
research infrastructure and intellectual property, and spun out companies currently
and attract investment. more than 100 companies at MIP are here training the next
have come through the Synapse Competition, generation of research scientists at
winning $500,000+ in funding from the competition McMaster University.”
and have gone on to raise $50+ million.
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