Nerve-on-a-chip startup AxoSim Technologies has won $25,000 in the 3rd annual BioChallenge pitch competition for Louisiana life sciences companies. The novel technology reduces the costs and length of preclinical drug development. The other three finalists were Crescentium, a critical care medical device firm, coastal resiliency and living shoreline company ORA Estuaries, and Taxor Diagnostics, the developers of a diagnostic test that predicts whether taxane chemotherapies will be effective for breast cancer patients.

November 18, 2014 — Read more at The Times-Picayune/Nola.com

JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced four local grants totaling $500,000 to fund the growth of the health sciences and biomedical industries that are vital to New Orleans’ economic future. TheBioInnovation Center receives the largest grant of $200,000. New Orleans Business Alliance, the city’s economic development public-private partnership, receives $150,000. Remaining funds go to Good Work Network and Idea Village. The half-million-dollar commitment is part of Chase’s nationwide Small Business Forward initiative, a five-year, $30 million program to boost support networks that help growing small businesses in specific industry concentrations known as “clusters.” They also align with the priorities in ProsperityNOLA, the city’s five-year plan for economic growth.

November 6, 2014 — Find out more and see video coverage of the event at WDSU News