Lyda Hill Philanthropies Expands Hands-On STEM
Learning for Dallas ISD Students
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Lyda Hill Philanthropies is partnering with Dallas ISD to provide more than 48,000 K-8 students with free, high-quality learning experiences that align with classroom instruction. Through the Learning Voyages program, students in select grades will visit the Dallas Zoo, Perot Museum, Dallas Arboretum, and Environmental Education Center, gaining hands-on, real-world applications of their lessons.
The initiative removes financial and logistical barriers to ensure all students can participate, fostering curiosity, creativity, and a passion for STEM.
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Protecting Innovation:
Security, Intelligence, and the Future of Life Sciences
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In this episode of BioNTX Presents: Inside Innovation, we explore why security and risk intelligence have become essential pillars of healthcare and life sciences innovation. As discovery accelerates and organizations navigate increasingly complex digital, regulatory, and global environments, protecting innovation is no longer a support function—it is a strategic necessity.
Joined by The North Group, the Official Security & Risk Intelligence Partner of BioNTX, the conversation examines how intelligence-driven security strategies help safeguard innovation across the lifecycle—from research and IP to commercialization and scale. Having this level of expertise embedded in the North Texas life sciences ecosystem reflects its continued maturation and global ambition.
We invite you to watch this timely and thought-provoking discussion.
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Connecting Talent and Industry at the
BioNTX Career Symposium & HR Forum
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BioNTX hosted our annual Career Symposium & HR Forum last week, bringing together students, job seekers, biotech employers, and HR leaders for a full day of meaningful dialogue and connection focused on strengthening the life sciences workforce in North Texas.
Students and early-career professionals explored in-demand skills, professional branding, resilience, networking strategies, and navigating career pathways across the life sciences industry. In parallel, biotech employers and HR leaders engaged in forward-looking discussions on workforce strategy, including competitive benefits, effective people management, talent retention, and the growing impact of AI and emerging technologies in HR.
This forum reflects BioNTX’s continued commitment to developing a connected, prepared, and future-ready life sciences workforce. We are grateful to our sponsors and partners whose leadership and investment make this work possible and reinforce the importance of talent as a driver of innovation and long-term growth across the ecosystem.
Thank you to all who participated and supported this important effort.
Thank you for your support
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BIO BREAK Fort Worth: A Growing Hub for Life Sciences
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BioNTX recently convened the life sciences community in Fort Worth for a BIO BREAK, bringing together regional leaders, innovators, and partners to highlight the city’s growing role in the North Texas life sciences ecosystem.
Fort Worth continues to emerge as an important and expanding market, with increasing strength across research, manufacturing, clinical innovation, and talent development. This BIO BREAK created space for meaningful connection and conversation—reinforcing Fort Worth’s position as a strategic contributor to regional growth and long-term competitiveness.
We are grateful to all who joined us and helped make the event a success. Special thanks to our sponsors whose leadership and support enable BioNTX to foster collaboration and advance life sciences innovation across North Texas.
Thank you for your support
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TAKE ACTION:
BioNTX Life Sciences Manufacturing Survey
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BioNTX announced the launch of the Life Sciences Manufacturing Initiative and invited the community to share input through a brief survey.
As the initiative evolves, stakeholders across Texas are invited to help identify gaps, align strengths, and set priorities to strengthen and grow the state’s biomanufacturing foundation.
Feedback from across Texas will help guide future strategies and initiatives to advance a more competitive, resilient, and scalable life sciences manufacturing ecosystem—supporting a Bigger, Better Texas.
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Introducing the Keynote Speaker for Women Driving Innovation
March 6, 2026
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Presents
2026 Women Driving Innovation
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Join us on March 6th at Pegasus Park for Women Driving Innovation, our annual event honoring women leaders shaping the future of bioscience and healthcare innovation in North Texas.
Meet Dr. Diana Castro, a physician, entrepreneur, and innovator transforming healthcare through patient-centered care and cutting-edge innovation. She built a world-renowned clinic in North Texas and is deeply committed to developing groundbreaking therapies for rare neuromuscular conditions.
Do not miss this chance to learn from women leaders in our ecosystem who are redefining what it means to drive innovation and lead with impact.
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PCCP: Building Our Talent Network
March 11, 2026
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Presents
Peer Career Connect Program
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The Peer Career Connect Program (PCCP) is a platform for professionals navigating career transitions and for employers seeking talent in life sciences and related industries. PCCP facilitates meaningful connections, peer learning, and knowledge sharing to help jobseekers explore opportunities and employers connect with qualified candidates.
Open to professionals at all career stages and employers across sectors including biopharma, digital health, aerospace, research, engineering, logistics, and manufacturing, PCCP provides a space to exchange insights, explore career paths, and build valuable professional relationships in a collaborative and results focused environment.
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Thank you for your support
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BIO BREAK: North Texas Connections in Life Sciences
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BIO BREAK offers the life sciences community an opportunity to network, exchange insights, and foster professional connections. Attendees can engage with peers, discuss emerging trends, and build relationships that support collaboration and innovation across the ecosystem.
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Beyond Compliance: Audit Ready by Design
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FDA inspections do not announce themselves — and one observation can disrupt operations, delay approvals, and impact investor confidence. PSC Biotech helps life sciences companies achieve true audit readiness through expert audits, gap assessments, SOP remediation, and quality system optimization. Our team of former regulators and industry specialists partners with you to identify risks before the FDA does. From early-stage biotech to commercial manufacturing, we help build sustainable, inspection-ready systems.
Be proactive. Be prepared. Be PSC compliant.
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Thank You BioNTX New & Renewing Members
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Alloy Therapeutics Accelerates
Antibody Discovery for Mediar Therapeutics
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Alloy Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company focused on broad access to advanced drug discovery tools, completed an antibody discovery collaboration with Mediar Therapeutics, enabling multiple therapeutic candidates to enter clinical development ahead of schedule. Mediar also closed an oversubscribed Series B financing, highlighting progress in developing therapies for fibrotic diseases. Alloy supports more than 200 partners worldwide, with over 100 active drug programs and contributions to more than 20 IND filings.
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AstraZeneca Expands Global Reach with NYSE Listing
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AstraZeneca ordinary shares are now trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for the first time, joining its existing listings on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Nasdaq Stockholm (STO) under a harmonised global structure. Trading under the ticker “AZN” across all three markets, the move opens the door for more US investors to participate in the company’s growth story.
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UAE Launches Colossal BioVault to Preserve Global Biodiversity
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The UAE has partnered with Colossal Biosciences to create the Colossal BioVault at Dubai’s Museum of the Future, safeguarding genetic material from thousands of species. Using advanced robotics, AI, and cryopreservation, the initiative positions the UAE as a global leader in conservation and provides a living platform for research and public engagement in biodiversity preservation.
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Island Secures Funding as FDA Confirms
Galidesivir Development Pathway
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Island Pharmaceuticals has secured funding to advance its antiviral candidate Galidesivir along a clearly defined US FDA Animal Rule pathway for Marburg virus. The FDA’s confirmation validates Island’s proposed trial model, de-risking the program and enabling the company to progress preclinical studies and the pivotal confirmatory phase required for approval, with the funding supporting both the clinical program and potential US Government stockpiling opportunities.
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Lantern Pharma Orchestrates Rare Cancer
Breakthroughs with withZeta.ai
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Lantern Pharma Inc. is transforming rare cancer research with withZeta.ai, an AI platform that acts as an autonomous co-scientist. It stress-tests hypotheses, analyzes pathways, evaluates biomarkers, designs trials, and generates actionable insights—compressing months or years of work into days. By orchestrating multiple AI agents and capturing institutional knowledge across programs, withZeta.ai enables high-precision, capital-efficient drug development, accelerating discoveries that could bring desperately needed therapies to patients faster than ever before.
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Johnson & Johnson’s AKEEGA® Receives CHMP
Recommendation for High-Risk Prostate Cancer
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Johnson & Johnson announced that the CHMP of the European Medicines Agency has recommended expanding the use of AKEEGA® (niraparib and abiraterone acetate) with prednisone or prednisolone and ADT for patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer carrying BRCA1/2 mutations. The recommendation is based on Phase 3 AMPLITUDE study results, which showed significant improvements in radiographic progression-free survival and delayed symptomatic progression for patients with BRCA1/2 mutations. The safety profile was consistent with previous studies, with manageable adverse events.
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Innovation in Action: SingleCell Biotechnology Year in Review
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SingleCell Biotechnology enters 2026 reflecting on a year of strong progress. In 2025, the team advanced device development for dormancy, clonogenic, and migration assays, standardized protocols, and developed automated analysis software using machine learning.
The company completed first-year CPRIT grant milestones and submitted its first manuscript, When Every Cell Counts: High-Throughput Profiling of Single- and Multi-Cell Clonal Fates in a 3D Microwell System. Leadership was strengthened with the appointments of Matthew Head and Douglas Krohn, MD, to the Board of Directors, with Dr. Krohn also serving as Chief Medical Officer.
The company looks forward to sharing ongoing scientific and organizational updates with stakeholders throughout 2026.
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Solaris Endovascular Hits Milestone in Dialysis Access Innovation
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Solaris Endovascular has completed enrollment in the DEScover trial of its next-generation Solaris DE sirolimus-eluting, electrospun PTFE covered stent. Interim six-month results showed 95% overall patency—100% in AVG and 91% in AVF patients—without any device-related serious adverse events, underscoring its potential to transform vascular access care for dialysis patients.
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EisnerAmper Earns Diamond Award for Client Service Excellence
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EisnerAmper, a global business advisory firm, has once again been honored with ClearlyRated’s Best of Accounting Award for client service excellence. With five consecutive years of recognition, the firm has earned the exclusive Diamond Award distinction, placing it among the top 25% of award winners for exceptional client satisfaction.
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Polsinelli Ranked in Top 20 of 2025 Mergermarket M&A Rankings
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Polsinelli has been recognized among the top 20 legal advisors in the 2025 Mergermarket M&A Rankings, placing #18 in the Americas and #16 in the U.S. by deal count. The rankings reflect the firm’s nationwide M&A expertise and consistent transactional work. Polsinelli’s Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures Practice collaborates across industries and with clients’ advisors to provide integrated legal guidance.
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RSM Expands Direct Licensing of PartnerSight® Tax Platform
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RSM US LLP, a leading provider of assurance, tax, and consulting services for the middle market, announced expanded direct licensing of its PartnerSight® platform, giving financial institutions, private equity, and family offices access to a cloud-native tax allocation system refined through nearly two decades of complex client engagements. PartnerSight centralizes partnership tax data, automates allocation workflows, and establishes a governed data layer for AI-driven tax operations.
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What Life Sciences Companies Need to Know in 2026
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Sheppard has released the 2026 edition of Top-of-Mind Issues for Life Sciences Companies, highlighting key regulatory and innovation trends shaping the industry.
As evolving FDA priorities and enforcement approaches take shape under the current administration, shifts in deregulation, safety, and efficacy are influencing product approvals, clinical trials, pricing, and compliance risk. At the same time, rapid advances in AI, digital health, and telehealth are adding new regulatory complexities.
The report provides practical insights to help life sciences companies navigate change in 2026.
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Baylor Student Earns Prestigious
2026 SOT Undergraduate Research Award
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Ava Frescura, a biology major and Goldwater Scholar from Baylor University, has been selected for the 2026 Undergraduate Research Award from the Society of Toxicology (SOT), one of only 19 students nationwide—and the only student from Texas—to receive this honor.
The award supports Frescura’s participation at SOT’s Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, where she will present her research on plasticizers, chemical additives in everyday products that can disrupt endocrine function.
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UNT Health Fort Worth Launches Sensory Research Institute
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UNT Health Fort Worth has launched the Sensory Research Institute (SRI), a new center dedicated to advancing discovery across the human sensory systems and understanding how they shape perception, communication, and quality of life.
The institute will explore how the brain integrates and interprets sensory information, bringing together expertise in neuroscience, engineering, behavioral health, and clinical research to support systems-level approaches in both health and disease.
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UTA Names Founding Director for
Pediatric Brain Health and Neurosciences Center
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Christos Papadelis, a pioneering researcher at The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) and leader at the Jane and John Justin Institute for Mind Health at Cook Children’s Health Care System, has been named founding director of the UTA Pediatric Brain Health and Neurosciences Center.
The center connects clinical and academic communities, bridging the gap between scientific discovery and patient care.
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UTD Researchers Identify Molecular Signature
of Pain-Causing ‘Sleeping’ Neurons
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Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and international collaborators have uncovered the molecular signature of human “sleeping” nociceptors—silent sensory neurons that can trigger chronic neuropathic pain.
The study, published Feb. 4 in Cell, reveals these neurons’ unique genetic makeup, opening the door to targeted therapies for the 20% of Americans suffering persistent, unexplained pain. By mapping these elusive cells, scientists now have a roadmap to potentially stop pain at its source.
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UT Tyler Professor Inducted as Fellow of the
New York Academy of Medicine
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Melinda Hermanns, PhD, RN
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Dr. Melinda Hermanns, professor and interim assistant dean for professional development at The University of Texas at Tyler School of Nursing, has been inducted as a fellow into the New York Academy of Medicine for her outstanding contributions to health, medicine, and public policy.
Hermanns was recognized for her commitment to improving the lives of individuals with chronic illness, preparing future nurse leaders.
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FUNDING & MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
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Accelerate Your Scale:
MassChallenge Healthcare & Life Sciences Traction Program
Application closes February 20, 2026
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The MassChallenge Healthcare & Life Sciences Traction Program helps validated startups bridge the gap between promising technology and scalable business growth. Through an intensive 10-week program, founders work toward key milestones that unlock customers, capital, and long-term scale.
The program supports startups from Pre-Seed through Series A+ across digital health & AI, devices & diagnostics, biotech & therapeutics, and systems innovation.
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Fueling the Next Generation of Health Innovators
Application closes March 6, 2026
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The One Health Incubator is a dynamic partnership between the Innovation Hub and the Health Sciences Center, created to support researchers and technology startups in the life sciences sector. This collaborative platform combines institutional expertise to offer an ecosystem of incubation, mentorship, and strategic connections—tailored specifically for life science innovators.
Startups and researchers benefit from access to state-of-the-art facilities, specialized resources, and guidance from industry experts. The incubator helps accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative healthcare solutions while fostering valuable relationships with potential partners, investors, and mentors.
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Call for Abstracts: 2026 JPS Research & Quality Symposium
Application closes March 13, 2026
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Submit your abstract for the 2026 JPS Research & Quality Symposium, featuring live poster presentations, a rapid-fire research competition, and an online gallery of posters from May 19–June 19. Submissions are welcome on all topics.
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The Prototype Fund: Bring Your Innovation to Life
Application closes May 1, 2026
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The Prototype Fund helps established startups transform customer insights into a working prototype or minimum viable product. This program supports innovators ready to take their technology from concept to reality within a year, helping validate ideas, advance intellectual property, and bridge the gap between innovation and commercialization.
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Startup Prize: Health
Application closes May 15, 2026
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Startup Prize: Health is now accepting registrations from early-stage health and medical startups nationwide.
Part competition, part conference, and part entrepreneurial support platform, Startup Prize: Health connects founders with experienced mentors, practical guidance, and investor and ecosystem connections. Through qualifying events, founders pressure-test their business, get clarity on regulatory and reimbursement questions, and prepare for the next stage of growth.
Founders compete in two tracks for a $10,000 cash prize, and no equity is taken.
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NIH Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA)
for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions
Program ends January 8, 2027
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The purpose of this Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions is to support small scale research grants at institutions that do not receive substantial funding from the NIH, with an emphasis on providing biomedical research experiences primarily for undergraduate students, and enhancing the research environment at applicant institutions.
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Upcoming Events & Opportunities
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McKinney Plug-In
Join Plug and Play for an in-person morning of innovation and networking! This event is your chance to connect with entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators shaping the tech and startup community.
February 19th | McKinney, TX
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A Wealth Conversation for Women in Life Sciences
Join Women in Bio for a session tailored to C-suite and senior leaders, exploring common financial blind spots in the industry and offering a strategic framework for asset growth, risk management, and legacy planning.
February 19th | Virtual
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Meet the HBA: Dallas- Fort Worth
Join the HBA to learn more about the organization’s initiatives and activities locally and globally. Connect with leaders across all areas of healthcare and get a firsthand sense of what membership in the HBA is all about.
February 20th | Fort Worth, TX
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Texas Healthcare Challenge Virtual Info Session
Join Healthcare Wildcatters for a virtual info session on the 2026 Texas Healthcare Challenge to hear event details, ask questions, and learn how to get involved.
February 25th | Virtual
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Metroplex Manufacturing Resource Expo
Join TMAC for the North Texas Manufacturing Leadership Summit and Resource Expo. Manufacturing is the keystone sector to increase the sustainable development and economic competitiveness of the Metroplex.
February 27th | Arlington, TX
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Red Raider Startup Spring 2026
Join TTU Innovation Hub for Red Raider Startup and build your entrepreneurial mindset in one exciting weekend. Pitch an idea, form a team, validate your concept, and present to judges for a chance to win 1,000 dollars.
February 27th - March 1st | Lubbock, TX
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2026 iC³ Summit: North Texas’s Premier Life Science Gathering
September 24 - 25, 2026
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The BioNTX iC³ Life Science & Healthcare Innovation Summit is North Texas’s premier convening for the region’s bioscience and healthcare community. Each year, we bring together industry leaders, pioneering researchers, investors, entrepreneurs, and innovators to share insights, explore emerging trends, and collaborate on the next breakthroughs in life sciences and healthcare.
At iC³ 2026, you will have the opportunity to engage with thought leaders, connect with peers, and participate in conversations that are shaping the future of healthcare innovation in North Texas and beyond. Whether you are looking to gain knowledge, showcase your work, or build meaningful partnerships, iC³ provides the platform to make an impact.
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Honoring Leadership and Innovation
During Black History Month: Dr. Patricia Bath
“I made a decision to try to solve problems.”
- Dr. Patricia Bath
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In celebration of Black History Month, BioNTX is proud to recognize leaders whose
work continues to shape and advance the life sciences ecosystem.
Dr. Patricia Bath was a pioneering ophthalmologist and inventor whose work transformed patient care worldwide. She is best known for inventing the Laserphaco Probe, a medical device that revolutionized cataract surgery and restored sight to millions of people across the globe. As a physician-scientist and entrepreneur, Dr. Bath exemplified how clinical insight, innovation, and technology can converge to create scalable, life-changing impact.
Her legacy reflects a core principle of the life sciences ecosystem: breakthrough innovation often begins at the point of unmet need. By translating frontline clinical experience into patented technology, Dr. Bath demonstrated the power of applied science, inclusive innovation, and purpose-driven leadership—values that continue to guide BioNTX and the North Texas life sciences community.
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