Three health-technology startups led by Western grads and faculty are among the recipients of Ontario’s Life Sciences Innovation Fund (LSIF), which is investing $6.5 million to help 13 companies bring their medical innovations to market and expand commercial opportunities. The latest funding is part of the province’s goal to strengthen Ontario as a global biomanufacturing and life sciences hub.
Deep Breathe, Marlow and Vessl Prosthetics Inc. were each awarded funding of up to $500,000 through the fund, delivered by the Ontario Centre of Innovation.
Dr. Rob Arntfield
Advancing lung diagnostics using artificial intelligence
In 2021, Schulich Medicine & Dentistry professor Dr. Rob Arntfield’s company Deep Breathe used its AI technology to help health-care professionals better understand the impact of COVID-19 on the respiratory system. The company has since expanded its capabilities to make lung health diagnostics universally accessible using AI-powered lung ultrasound applications. This allows ultrasounds to be performed right at the bedside, helping health-care providers quickly and accurately diagnose medical conditions such as pneumonia. Deep Breathe has also established the world’s largest proprietary archive of annotated lung ultrasound images, spanning more than a decade of clinical investigations.
Promoting comfort, sustainability and inclusivity in menstrual health
(From left) Simone Godbout, Kiara Botha, Nadia Ladak and Harit Sohal
Instead of “pausing life” or reconfiguring plans when your period hits, Marlow, founded by a group of Ivey Business School grads, describes its product as revolutionizing how people go about their daily lives freely and comfortably no matter the time of month. Based in Toronto, this health startup offers a first-of-its-kind kit containing 100 per cent organic cotton tampons paired with organic lubricant designed to address discomfort during menstrual use. Marlow was founded by Simone Godbout, Kiara Botha, Nadia Ladak and Harit Sohal, all HBA’20. They first came up with this business idea as part of their capstone in the Ivey New Venture Project. In addition to providing menstrual products, the company is building a community to encourage more open conversation surrounding menstrual health.
Modernizing prosthetics to improve quality of life
Oleksiy Zaika, MSc’15, PhD’23 and Sydney Robinson, MESc’21, realized there was an opportunity to address the problem of ill-fitting sockets that amputees faced after visiting a diabetes clinic through the Western Medical Innovation Fellowship (MIF) program. After learning about this common issue, they co-founded Vessl Prosthetics with a mission to reduce pain and increase quality of life for lower limb amputees by improving their comfort and mobility. Vessl creates automatically adjustable prosthetic sockets designed to adapt to changes in a wearer’s limb as it fluctuates in size throughout the day.
The LSIF program is part of the province’s strategy to support Ontario’s growing life sciences sector. Since its launch in 2022, the fund has helped early-stage companies attract private investment, scale operations and accelerate commercialization. The latest funding round continues that momentum, with these Western-affiliated ventures advancing technologies developed through academic research and student entrepreneurship.
