Petrost Therapeutics wins $25,000 at Iowa JPEC awards

Noah Laird, co-foundre of Petrost Therapeutics, at the Innovation Challenge Awards event on April 12, 2023, at MERGE in Iowa City, Iowa. CREDIT DARREN MILLER
Noah Laird, co-foundre of Petrost Therapeutics, at the Innovation Challenge Awards event on April 12, 2023, at MERGE in Iowa City, Iowa. CREDIT DARREN MILLER

Petrost Therapeutics recently won first prize at the UI John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC) Innovation Challenge Awards event.

A total of $125,000 was given in two divisions to support innovation across campus, with Petrost Therapeutics claiming stake to $25,000. Founders Noah Laird and Aliasger Salem started Petrost Therapeutics to develop a new type of bone regenerative implant for large bone defects, according to a press release.

The next four winners in the faculty/staff/graduate student/incubator startup division were Volamet Technologies (second place, $20,000), Relevant Methylomics (third, $15,000), xDose Technologies (fourth, $10,000), and Chemo Care Solutions (fifth, $5,000).

Relevant Methylomics CEO Kelsey Dawes told the CBJ in September she hopes her saliva-based at-home test will diagnose the nutrition levels of cells, and ultimately prompt patients to change behaviors.

Chemo Care Solutions, a startup creating a device to prevent chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy, won first place at the University Pitch Madness in Chicago in July.

Topping the undergraduate division were Cedar Sales (first, best growth, $5,000), PTXtension (first, best technology, $5,000), Unbreakable Female Athlete (first, best non-technology, $4,000), Urban Wave Embroidery and Indya Heart Studios (first, best social impact business, $3,500), Walters and Company, ChordaWorm Lures, and Arblu (first, best lifestyle business, $3,000), and AesthetixMe (best retail, $2,500).

Best overall pitch awards of $1,500 went to Isabelle Wilcox of Expeerient and Barns.

57 University of Iowa businesses applied for the spring business model competition and 36 were selected as finalists to compete April 10 and April 11. An alumni division will be judged at a later date.