This June, an I-Corps cohort of oncology researchers – each working on a cutting-edge solution to improve care and outcomes for cancer patients – took to Chicago for the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting to interview clinicians about their biggest problems.
Instructed by Caroline Cannon of Dartmouth College and Olga Petrova of the University at Buffalo, participants in this I-Corps regional course started with two weeks of virtual training in customer discovery, a technique for interviewing potential customers to learn about their most urgent pain points. The course culminated with the fully funded trip to the ASCO conference, where each team interviewed 30 potential customers and industry stakeholders.
Known for advancing the medical and oncology field, the ASCO conference brings professionals to connect, collaborate, and inspire. I-Corps participants had the unique opportunity to connect with a large concentration of clinicians in this environment.
“By providing access to world class experts in clinical cancer research at ASCO, this course has enabled us to refine our value proposition, confirm our product-market fit, and advance our business strategy through valuable networking opportunities,” said Nancy Guo, a member of the 2025 cohort.
These eight teams successfully completed the course –
- Battle Buddy Bears – Chris Evert and Lora Yeater: Battle Buddy Bears is a cutting-edge, AI-powered therapeutic tool designed to support the mental and emotional health of pediatric oncology patients.
- CATOS-AI – Ryan Goodman, Nancy Guo, and Qing Ye: Providing cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) / big data technologies and health analytics services for precision medicine.
- Cui Laboratory – Zhibin Cui: Integrates whole-exome sequencing (WES) with a clinically oriented bioinformatics pipeline to enable early and precise diagnosis of precancerous oral lesions.
- DeNoMI – Nataliya Buxbaum and Mingchen He: Implementing deep-learning-based reconstruction algorithm to remove noise and ringing from raw images, which could help us to overcome the current disadvantage.
- Genome Science.AI – Runpu Chen and Yijun Sun: Using AI and next-generation sequencing technology, we have developed a novel genomics-based prognostic test for lung cancer.
- MATCH Labs – Anthony Franchini: Developing a gene editing solution to precisely modify donor bone marrow cells by matching key immune genes (HLA), making transplants safer and more accessible—especially for patients who struggle to find compatible donors.
- OncoDimer Solutions – Mohd Abdullaha and Christian Migliarese: Developing the first small-molecule therapy to directly block TFE3 dimerization, a key driver of translocation renal cell carcinoma, offering a targeted treatment approach for this aggressive and treatment-resistant cancer.
- TRB Oncology, LLC – Frances Carr, Noelle Gillis, and Brent Osborne: Developing first-in-class thyroid hormone receptor beta agonists as targeted therapies to suppress tumor growth and improve treatment response in aggressive and recurrent endocrine cancers like thyroid and breast cancer.
“From customer interviews, we learned that advanced bioinformatics software is in critical need for cancer researchers, as the current bioinformatics core/companies cannot meet the research need due to limited supporting staff, and insufficient capability to conduct novel discovery,” said Guo.