Volkswirtschaftsstiftung supports DynaDes and Phocone

The track record of the “Volkswirtschafts-Stiftung” is impressive. The organisation has supported start-ups like Esbatech, Spectraseis, HeiQ or LiberoVision. The organisation provides interest-free loans in a very early phase of a start-up-project. The money is usually used for incorporation and IP costs. Every year the foundation supports three to six companies. The two newly supported start-ups are DynaDes and Phocone.
 
DynaDes is based in Zurich. The company designs pre-clinical drugs using innovative and proven, proprietary computational methods that account for protein dynamics and solvation effects. Combined with its in-house designed compound libraries and synthesis resources, the unique approach is remarkably efficient in generating novel, highly selective and potent drug candidates. The products currently in the pipeline target the ATP-binding and allosteric sites of protein kinases and protein-protein interaction sites of proteins implicated in cancer.
 
Phocone was founded in 2011, as a spin-off from ETH Zurich. Phocone's mid-infrared laser modules are the new reference for broadly tunable laser sources. They are specifically designed for gas detection applications, combining single mode emission and a quasi perfect emission beam. The extremely broad wavelength tuning allows the measurement of heavy molecules, hydro-carbons in particular, and of multiple gases at once. Possible application fields are the optimization of combustion processes and the handling of toxic gases in the industry or in medicine to analyze exhaled breath for the early diagnosis of many severe diseases and of drug drug abuse.