By Momo Yamamoto, Senior Investor Research Analyst, LSN
Life Science Nation (LSN) is heading back to Yokohama this October for BioJapan 2026, taking place on October 7-9, 2026 at PACIFICO Yokohama. As one of Asia’s leading partnering events for the life sciences industry, BioJapan provides an important platform for startups, investors, pharmaceutical companies, strategic partners, and ecosystem stakeholders from around the world to connect and explore new opportunities. This year, LSN is pleased to participate in the conference and in two seminars focused on helping life science companies better understand and access international funding and partnership opportunities.
LSN Founder & CEO, Dennis Ford, will join KBIC (Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster) and MEDISO (Medical Innovation Support Office) on October 8, 2026 from 1 PM – 2PM JST at the Japan Healthcare Venture Summit (JHVS), held alongside BioJapan. The session titled “Key Points for Early-Phase Global Fundraising” will introduce government initiatives and programs designed to help early-stage ventures expand internationally and connect with overseas investors. We will join representatives from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), JIC Venture Growth Investments, VC Cell Therapy, United Immunity, CellFold, KBIC, and Mitsubishi Research Institute for a discussion on global fundraising and international growth.
On October 9, 2026 from 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM JST, LSN will be hosting a seminar with KBIC titled: “Inside Global Fundraising: LSN Framework for Startup Readiness and Global Capital Raising Success”. KBIC is Japan’s largest biocluster, hosting more than 340 organizations to accelerate innovation in the region. For life science companies seeking international expansion, global fundraising has become an important strategy for accelerating R&D and commercialization. During this seminar, LSN will introduce latest trends in global fundraising and practical strategies for investor engagement, drawing on LSN’s experience working with thousands of life science companies and investors worldwide. This discussion will feature: Haruhiko Koike (KBIC), Keiko Kobayashi (KBIC), Dennis Ford (LSN), and Claire Jeong (LSN).
This seminar will also highlight the upcoming RESI Asia, taking place in Tokyo at the APA InterContinental on April 13, 2027. As part of LSN’s globally recognized RESI Conference Series, RESI Asia will provide Japanese and Asian startups with opportunities to connect directly with international investors and explore new pathways for global growth.
LSN’s participation at BioJapan reflects its continued commitment to supporting the Japanese life science ecosystem as they seek to expand beyond the domestic market. We look forward to returning to the conference next week!
By Momo Yamamoto, Senior Investor Research Analyst, LSN
Chronic diseases represent one of healthcare’s greatest challenges and one of its largest opportunities for innovation. As the global burden of chronic conditions continues to grow, investors are looking for solutions that can improve outcomes, reduce long-term costs, and fundamentally change how patients manage their health.
At RESI Boston, the panel Building the Future of Chronic Disease Care: Innovation Across Therapeutics, Devices, and Digital Health will bring together investors to discuss where they see the most compelling opportunities across the chronic disease landscape.
The conversation will explore innovation across therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health, as well as the evolving reimbursement and adoption models that can determine whether a promising technology successfully reaches patients. Panelists will also share what they look for when evaluating early-stage companies, from clinical and commercial validation to differentiation, scalability, and a clear path to market.
Chronic Disease Panelists
Soyoung Park
1004 Venture Partners
(Moderator)
Gopal Chopra
Validare Capital
Navin Govind
Evidence Ventures
Nune Martiros
Paladin Capital Group
John Tremblay
Launchpad Venture Group
For early-stage founders developing solutions for chronic disease, this session offers an opportunity to hear directly from investors about what is attracting capital today and what companies need to demonstrate to stand out in a large and increasingly competitive market.
Join the conversation at RESI Boston, September 22–23 at the Westin Copley Place, and connect with investors, strategic partners, and fellow innovators advancing the next generation of healthcare.
Register for RESI Boston and join the chronic disease conversation on September 22 at 3:00 PM.
By Momo Yamamoto, Senior Investor Research Analyst, LSN
Every successful life science company has a defining moment in its fundraising journey. Long before a major venture capital round or strategic partnership, there is often an investor willing to take the very first leap of faith.
At 9:00 AM on Wednesday, September 23, Day 2 of RESI Boston 2026 begins with one of the conference’s most valuable discussions for early-stage founders: The First Believers: The Investors Behind Tomorrow’s Breakthrough Companies.
Securing that first investment is about much more than capital. Early investors provide critical validation, open doors to strategic relationships, and help companies build the momentum needed to attract future financing. Understanding how these investors think can give entrepreneurs a significant advantage as they prepare for fundraising.
This panel brings together accomplished investors and innovation leaders who regularly evaluate breakthrough technologies at their earliest stages:
Renaud Jacquemart Omnium Global (Moderator)
Sam Gussman-Toh ARPA-H
William Hsu, PhD NuFund Venture Group
Rohit Jain HBS Alumni Angels of Northern California
Dushyant Pathak Autobahn Labs
These panelists represent a diverse range of perspectives across venture creation, angel investing, government-supported innovation, and early-stage venture capital. Collectively, they helped identify and support companies long before they became widely recognized.
During the discussion, attendees will gain insight into what separates promising startups from investable opportunities. The panel will explore the characteristics investors look for in founding teams, the technical and commercial milestones that inspire confidence, and the common mistakes entrepreneurs make when approaching investors during the earliest stages of fundraising.
The conversation will also address how startups can build credibility before institutional financing, demonstrate meaningful progress with limited resources, and develop fundraising strategies that position them for long-term success.
For founders preparing to raise their first outside capital, this session offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from the investors who are often the first to believe in transformative science and technology.
Whether you are refining your investment story, preparing for investor meetings, or mapping out your fundraising roadmap, The First Believers panel will provide practical insights that can help shape your next steps.
Don’t miss this opportunity to kick off Day 2 of RESI Boston with an inside look at how early-stage investors identify the breakthrough companies of tomorrow.
Register now for RESI Boston 2026 and join the conversations that can help launch your next stage of growth.
By Momo Yamamoto, Senior Investor Research Analyst, LSN
One of the most valuable aspects of attending RESI Boston is the opportunity to hear directly from the investors and strategic partners actively funding and partnering with early-stage life science companies.
This year’s agenda features an outstanding lineup of leaders representing global pharmaceutical companies, venture capital firms, strategic investors, government funding organizations, and mission-driven investment groups. Their sessions will provide firsthand insights into today’s investment landscape, what they look for in emerging technologies, and how startups can position themselves for successful fundraising and partnership discussions.
Farnaz Bakhshi American Cancer Society BrightEdge
Alan Chiu Breakthrough T1D
Yvanka de Soysa Foreground Capital
Shane Duffy Avanos Medical
Nimisha Gupta Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Sam Gussman-Toh ARPA-H
Jonathan Illicki Industrifonden
Nikhil Mutyal AstraZeneca
Rohit Nuwal TELUS Ventures
Parthiban Rajasekaran Sanofi
Armin Rump Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd
Register Today for RESI Boston 2026
Don’t miss your opportunity to learn directly from these industry leaders while connecting with hundreds of active investors, strategic partners, and innovative life science companies during Biotech Week Boston.
Join us September 22–23 in Boston, followed by three days of virtual partnering on September 25, 28, and 29.
Register now to secure your spot, take advantage of Early Bird savings, and begin scheduling meetings with the global life science investment community.
By Momo Yamamoto, Senior Investor Research Analyst, LSN
The KBIC Japan Life Science Showcase brought together Japanese innovators, investors, corporate leaders, and government representatives during RESI San Diego to highlight emerging technologies and strengthen collaboration between Japan and the global life science community. As Japan’s largest biomedical cluster and title sponsor of the RESI Conference, the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster (KBIC) brings together approximately 350 companies, medical institutions, and research organizations advancing healthcare innovation. The showcase featured eight Japanese startups selected for their readiness to engage with international investors and licensing partners, providing a platform to introduce their technologies to a global audience.
Each startup delivered a six-minute company presentation followed by five minutes of live Q&A in front of investor judges, giving attendees the opportunity to explore each company’s science, commercialization strategy, and market potential through direct discussions with the founders. The showcase featured an accomplished panel of judges representing Alumni Ventures, Aquillius Ventures, Bristol Myers Squibb, JLABS (Johnson & Johnson), and Mass Medical Angels. Drawing expertise across venture capital, corporate innovation, and early-stage investing, the judges engaged founders with thoughtful questions and constructive feedback, creating meaningful dialogue throughout the session.
Complementing the startup presentations, representatives from JIC Venture Growth Investments and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) shared insights into Japan’s evolving venture capital landscape, government initiatives supporting innovation, and the future outlook for the country’s startup ecosystem. Their presentations provided valuable context for international investors interested in partnering with Japanese life science companies.
More than a series of company presentations, the KBIC Japan Life Science Showcase demonstrated the growing momentum behind cross-border collaboration in life sciences. By connecting Japan’s innovative startup ecosystem with U.S. and international investors, strategic partners, and industry leaders, the session reinforced a shared commitment to accelerating healthcare innovation through global partnerships. Events like these continue to strengthen the bridge between regional ecosystems, creating new opportunities for investment, licensing, and commercialization that benefit both the Japanese and international life science communities.
By Momo Yamamoto, Senior Investor Research Analyst, LSN
At RESI San Diego, the “New Frontiers in Diagnostics: Investing in Technologies Enabling Earlier Disease Detection” panel will bring together investors and industry leaders to explore one of the most rapidly evolving areas in healthcare innovation: diagnostics.
As advances in liquid biopsies, molecular diagnostics, AI-enabled imaging, and point-of-care technologies continue to reshape healthcare, diagnostics are increasingly moving beyond simple detection tools and becoming central to disease prevention, monitoring, and personalized treatment strategies. Earlier and more precise detection has the potential to improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and create entirely new models of care delivery.
Meet the Panelists
Priya Balachandran
Life Science Angels (Moderator)
Randy Berholtz
Mesa Verde Venture Partners
Yaron Daniely
aMoon Fund
Debbie Lin
T.Rx Capital
Soyoung Park
1004 Venture Partners
The panel will examine where investors and strategic partners see the greatest opportunities emerging across the diagnostics landscape, particularly in oncology screening, cardiometabolic disease, and chronic disease monitoring. With healthcare systems placing greater emphasis on prevention and longitudinal patient management, diagnostic companies are facing growing demand—but also increasing pressure to demonstrate meaningful clinical and economic value.
For early-stage companies, the diagnostics space presents unique opportunities alongside complex commercialization challenges. Unlike many therapeutics companies, diagnostics startups must often navigate overlapping clinical validation, reimbursement, regulatory, and adoption hurdles simultaneously. Investors are increasingly looking for companies that can clearly demonstrate clinical utility, integrate effectively into provider workflows, and build compelling reimbursement strategies early in development.
Panelists are expected to discuss the milestones and study designs that help diagnostic companies stand out in a crowded and competitive market. Topics may include generating real-world evidence, designing validation studies that resonate with payers and providers, and establishing partnerships with laboratories, health systems, and pharmaceutical companies to accelerate adoption.
The rise of AI-enabled diagnostics is also expected to play a central role in the conversation. As machine learning tools become more integrated into imaging, pathology, and predictive analytics platforms, investors are paying close attention to how startups validate algorithms, manage regulatory considerations, and demonstrate measurable improvements in clinical decision-making.
Beyond the technology itself, the panel will likely explore broader market trends shaping investor interest in diagnostics. Healthcare systems worldwide continue shifting toward preventative care models, while aging populations and rising chronic disease burdens increase demand for scalable monitoring solutions. In this environment, diagnostics companies capable of delivering actionable insights earlier in the patient journey may be particularly well-positioned to attract strategic partnerships and investment.
For founders attending RESI San Diego, the session offers an opportunity to better understand how investors evaluate diagnostics opportunities in today’s market and what differentiates successful companies from the broader field. From regulatory and reimbursement strategy to commercialization planning and partnership development, the panel aims to provide practical insight into building investable diagnostic platforms in an increasingly competitive healthcare landscape.
The “New Frontiers in Diagnostics” panel is part of RESI San Diego’s broader programming focused on emerging healthcare technologies, investment trends, and strategies for early-stage companies navigating today’s life science funding environment.
This week, we provide some lightning takes on recent translational papers that caught our eye. We saw several preclinical advances in approaches for pain, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease and bone disorders. In the gene-editing arena, several new large DNA insertion technologies and RNA-targeting CRISPR systems came to the fore.
But before we dive in, we want to highlight the New England Journal of Medicine report from the groups of Rebecca Ahrens-Niklas and Lindsey George at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that details a neuroepithelial tumor in a 5-year-old boy with severe mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPSI, a.k.a. Hurler Syndrome) 4 years after receiving an intracisternal injection of an AAV-9 gene therapy.
Summary timeline (A) of a patient with severe Hurler Syndrome who developed a neuroepithelial tumor 4 years after intracisternal administration of AAV-9 delivering an a-L-iduronidase (IDUA) transgene under the control of a cytomegalovirus enhancer and a chicken β-actin promoter (B). Axial and coronal MRI of the patient’s head performed 4 years after treatment revealed an intraventricular mass associated with truncated and rearranged AAV vector sequences integrated into intron 4 of the PLAG1 (pleiomorphic adenoma gene-like 1) gene on chromosome 8. Source: NEJM
Needless to say, approved AAV-based gene therapy products have a long track record of safety, efficacy and long-term transgene expression, but the specter of insertional mutagenesis has always loomed, even though AAV is a predominantly episomal vector. More than five years ago, a paper on hemophilia A dog studies published in Nature Biotechnology reported 1,741 unique AAV integration events in liver and clonal expansions of transduced hepatocytes, with many integrations near growth-related genes. In that case, no tumors were seen. Human liver-biopsy studies after AAV gene therapy have similarly made clear that integration and clonal hepatocyte expansion can happen, while not showing obvious malignant transformation. The NEJM report stands out as providing the first well-documented case of human oncogenesis plausibly linked to AAV vector integration. We can expect it to lead to tighter regulatory and post-marketing oversight of AAV gene therapies, as illustrated by the clinical hold the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already placed on Regenxbio’s gene therapy for Hurler, which was reported back in January. The takeaway for the investment community is that this is not entirely unexpected and should be viewed in the context of >6,000 patients receiving AAV gene therapy to date without major long-term toxic effects.
Safety signals have also been a recurring theme for drugs targeting sodium voltage channels (Nav1.7) in different pain indications. Multiple industry programs have encountered problems with off-target effects and poor clinical translation. Now a team led by Wengsheng Zhang at Sichuan University has identified potent nonopioid analgesics targeting multiple voltage-gated sodium channel isotypes with improved efficacy when tested their efficacy in perioperative rat models (PNAS). We wonder how such a broad approach would mitigate some of the safety flags encountered by previous clinical trials of investigational drugs targeting this pathway. Elsewhere, Xiao-Ming Li and collaborators at Zhejiang University School of Medicine set out to mitigate some of the adverse events of cannabinoid 1 (CB1) agonists, such as reduced locomotion, hypothermia, addiction and analgesic tolerance using so-called biased signaling and targeting downstream signaling cascades mediated predominantly through inhibitory guanine nucleotide binding protein (Gi), rather than beta-arrestin. They show their Gi-biased inhibitors display analgesic properties, but with reduced side effects when tested in mice (Cell). Over recent years, industry has explored cannabinoids to treat a wide range diseases, including chronic kidney disease, glaucoma and even obesity, again with limited clinical success. It will be interesting to see whether drugging a downstream signaling pathway will bring greater reward.
While cannabinoids haven’t exactly set the world of company formation alight, platforms leveraging autophagy biology are another story. In the past five years, Lysoway Therapeutics, Retro Biosciences, Casma Therapeutics, Automera Therapeutics, PAQ Therapeutics and AUTOTAC Bio have all received funding for platforms leveraging auto-phagosomal pathways, such as ATTEC, AUTAC, AUTOTAC, chaperone-mediated autophagy or AUTAB. The latest instantiation of ATTEC is described in a paper by Einar Sigurdsson and researchers from New York University, who develop single-domain antibodies to promote autophagy-mediated tau degradation in patient-derived neurons, improving motor function in tauopathy mice (Science Translational Medicine). Autophagy is also the focus for a collaboration between the Jia-Hong Lu team at the University of Macau and MindRank AI, which developed an AI-based screening platform using a variational autoencoder trained on a library (from MedChemExpress and TSBiochem) of over 1 million compounds to identify brain-penetrant small molecule autophagy enhancers effective in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease (Nature Biomedical Engineering).
Elsewhere in the neurodegenerative disease field, TDP-43 aggregation is a hallmark of disorders like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. Acurastem and Quralis have been tackling these diseases using antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to modulate splice-switching of genes affected by mutant TDP-43. But new research from the groups of James Shorter at the University of Pennsylvania, Christopher Donnelly at the University of Pittsburgh, Nicolas Fawzi at Brown University, Brigid Jensen at Thomas Jefferson University and Jeetain Mittal at Texas A&M reveals that short 34-nucleotide RNAs can act as chaperones to inhibit TDP-43 aggregation and prevent neurodegeneration in the mouse. This potentially opens up short RNA chaperones as a new therapeutic modality for protein-folding disorders (Science).
Moving away from the CNS, some intriguing advances in other therapeutic areas popped into our inbox. One of the new frontiers for oligonucleotide therapies is common cardiovascular indications, such as heart failure and atrial fibrillation. For example, Ionis’ transferrin-receptor 1 targeted ASO for downregulating phospholamban in R14-deleted dilated cardiomyopathy just entered phase 1 testing in a development partnership with AstraZeneca. Along these lines, two teams headed by Matthias Nahrendorf and Maarten Hulsman at Harvard Medical School report another target, osteopontin (Spp1), downregulation of which with an antibody–siRNA conjugate targeting TREM2+ cardiac macrophages suppresses atrial fibrillation in mice (Nature Cardiovascular Research).
Another area likely to attract more commercial activity going forward is metabolic bone disease. Last December, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made a landmark regulatory shift, formally qualifying percentage change from baseline at 24 months in total hip bone mineral density (BMD) via imaging as a validated surrogate endpoint (previously, bone disease trial times typically took anywhere from two to five years). Two recent papers discuss new therapeutic approaches to heterotopic bone formation after injury. In the first, two teams led by Benjamin Levi and Michael Dellinger from UT Southwestern show that vascular endothelial growth factor D (VEGF-D)-induced lymphangiogenesis can promote heterotopic bone resorption in mice (PNAS). And across the Atlantic, the groups of Johan Keller and Anke Baranowsky at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf target extracellular traps from myeloid cells using an FDA-approved recombinant DNAse 1 Pulmozyme to inhibit traumatic heterotopic ossification in mice (Science Translational Medicine; Roche/Genentech’s Pulmozyme (dornase alpha) is approved only for the pulmonary indication cystic fibrosis).
Moving onto advanced genetic therapeutics, several advances caught our attention in the gene-editing space. While programmable recombinases/integrases capable of introducing genetic cargoes >10 kb have been prominent in journals, momentum in commercializing these approaches has proceeded at a moderate pace, with Brink Therapeutics, Seamless Therapeutics and Stylus Medicine all raising funding in the past three years. The ability of recombinases to introduce large constructs has been touted as a key advantage over prime editing, which traditionally can only achieve desired edits no larger than ~300 bp. In this context, three recent papers disclose alternative prime-editing approaches for the genomic insertion of large sequences, overcoming the sequence size limitation. First, research patented by Ying Zhang’s group at Wuhan University shows that quadruple paired pegRNAs enable prime editing based genomic insertion of sequences as long as 26 kb in vitro (Nature). Second, the teams of Haoyi Wang, Chenxin Wang and Wei Li at the Chinese Academy of Science developed “PRIME-In”, a genome editing platform for the integration of up to 3 kb-long DNA sequences in human T cells independent of double-stranded DNA breaks (Nature Biomedical Engineering). Last, the groups of Erik Sontheimer and Wen Xue at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School described a “prime assembly” approach for the insertion of DNA fragments as long as 11 kb (Nature).
Finally, in the area of RNA editing, two recent studies expand the palette of CRISPR–Cas effectors capable of targeting and manipulating cells at the level of transcripts rather than nuclear DNA. A paper from I-Ming Hsing’s group at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology describes the first use of DNA-guided CRISPR–Cas12a effectors for programmable RNA recognition and cleavage (Nature Biotechnology). In a second paper, Yang Liu’s team at the University of Utah, Chase Biesel’s group at University of Würzburg and scientists from Akribion Therapeutics and BRAIN Biotech engineer CRISPR–Cas12a2 for the selective, DNA-triggered killing of virally infected human cells on the basis of their transcriptional profile (Nature).
Conference roundup
Selected startups raising funds in past three years presenting data at the American Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ASCGT), Boston, May 11–15.
If you’re interested in commercializing your science, get in touch. We can help you figure out the next steps for your startup’s translational research program and connect you with the right investor. Follow us on X, BlueSky and LinkedIn. Please send feedback; we’d love to hear from you (info@haystacksci.com).
