Donnelly Centre Startup Wins First Place in Desjardins Pitch Competition

A startup that launched out of the Donnelly Centre, Synakis, took home first prize at the 2024 Desjardins Startup Prize Pitch Competition on March 7. Among 11 shortlisted startups, Synakis placed first in the late-stage category, with the company being awarded $40,000 to help it realize its mission.

The pitch competition was a highlight of True Blue Impact Day at the University of Toronto’s 2024 Entrepreneurship Week. The Desjardins Pitch Competition is an annual event that awards $100K in prizes to U of T’s most innovative startups.

Synakis is a biomedical startup with a simple but ambitious mission: to improve the quality of life for patients grappling with ocular disease. The team behind the startup includes Molly Shoichet, university professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry, Robert Devenyi, a world-renowned vitreoretinal surgeon at Toronto Western Hospital and three members of the Shoichet lab: postdoctoral fellows Adam Forman and Jonathan Labriola and PhD student Mickael Dang. The Synakis management team is advised by Peng Yan, retina specialist at Toronto Western Hospital, Budd Tucker, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Iowa and Paul Bresge, CEO of jCyte.

“We developed our hydrogel biomaterial as a substitute for the vitreous - the jelly-like material in the eye,” said Shoichet, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Tissue Engineering. “A substitute is needed after retinal detachment. Ours is a significant improvement over existing options and can deliver therapeutics to treat leading causes of blindness.”

Co-founder Mickael Dang delivered a three-minute pitch at the Desjardins pitch competition to highlight the need for a vitreous substitute for patients that does not preclude them from daily activities during the recovery period.

“Vitreoretinal surgery is a common procedure, considering that three per cent of people over their lifetime need it to treat retinal detachment caused by liquefication of the vitreous humour of the eye,” said Dang. “The surgery involves removing the vitreous humor and replacing it temporarily with a silicone oil or gas to hold the retina in place. In the weeks that follow the surgery, patients deal with blurred vision, having to spend hours each day in a face-down posture – and then another surgery to remove the vitreous substitute.”

Synakis is attempting to address the discomfort experienced by patients of vitreoretinal surgery with SYNGEL: a patented hydrogel that consists of a hyaluronan-based polymer that is naturally found in the eye and is crosslinked with polyethylene glycol. The hydrogel is injectable, long-lasting, biodegradable and transparent.

The Shoichet lab has worked towards developing injectable hydrogels to treat a multitude of diseases and injuries affecting the brain, spinal cord and eyes. A collaboration between Shoichet and Devenyi to design a hydrogel for patients requiring vitreoretinal surgery following injury and retinal detachment resulted in the development of SYNGEL.

“The standard of care for these patients hasn’t changed in last 50 years,” said Dang. “Retinal detachment is considered to be a niche health concern and hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, despite how common it actually is. We’re hoping to improve the recovery experience for vitrectomy patients.”

Dang, Forman and Labriola saw the potential for a patented product after SYNGEL was conceived by Alexander Baker, a former postdoctoral fellow in the Shoichet Lab. Dang was eager to get involved with Synakis when he joined the Shoichet lab in 2020; he has dedicated time to balancing his PhD research and co-managing the company to see it succeed.

“The Synakis team exemplifies the real-world impact we strive for at the Donnelly Centre,” said Stephane Angers, director of the Donnelly Centre. “This is a highly interdisciplinary team of individuals with complementary skills and areas of expertise working together to see their innovative hydrogel technology implemented across clinics.”

Synakis isn’t stopping at retinal detachment. The startup plans to use its hydrogel as a drug delivery vehicle to solve a range of ocular disorders, including glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. In fact, the Desjardins Startup Prize will help Synakis secure a patent on a version of the hydrogel designed for long-acting periocular drug delivery to treat chronic glaucoma.

As a late-stage startup, Synakis has already obtained more than $50,000 in funding prior to winning the Desjardins competition. The next step for the startup will be to secure additional funding to test SYNGEL for retinal detachment in clinical trials.