spinal-cord-injury
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Axonis Therapeutics
Axonis Therapeutics is a Boston-based, neuro-focused biotechnology company developing first- and best-in-class oral small-molecule medicines that target KCC2, a chloride transporter that acts as the brain's master regulator of inhibitory neurotransmission. Spun out of research from Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Universite Laval, Axonis is advancing its lead candidate AXN-027 - a first-in-class KCC2 potentiator - toward clinical proof of concept in epilepsy, chronic pain and other CNS disorders, backed by an oversubscribed $115 million Series A closed in 2024.
Wandercraft
Wandercraft is a French robotics company that builds self-balancing walking exoskeletons and, more recently, industrial humanoid robots. Founded in Paris in 2012 by engineers - some with personal ties to degenerative mobility disease - it created Atalante X, a hands-free clinical exoskeleton now used in more than 100 rehabilitation centers, and Eve, the first self-balancing personal exoskeleton designed for home use without crutches. In 2025 the company extended its gait-control expertise into Calvin, a family of industrial humanoids developed with Renault Group and NVIDIA. Wandercraft's stated aim is to blend frontier AI with high-performance hardware to help people work and walk.
Joanna Stanicka
Joanna Stanicka is the co-founder, president and CEO of Axonis Therapeutics, a Boston clinical-stage biotech developing first-in-class oral medicines that target the brain chloride transporter KCC2 to treat epilepsy, neuropathic pain and spinal cord injury. A Harvard-trained neuroscientist who began her career in cancer biology in Ireland, she moved from the bench to the boardroom, taking Axonis from a Boston Children's Hospital discovery to a company that raised a $115 million Series A in 2024 and pushed its lead drug, AXN-027, into first-in-human trials.
Aurie
Aurie is a Syracuse-based medical device company that built the first FDA-authorized reusable no-touch intermittent catheter system. Founded by industrial designer Souvik Paul after his sister-in-law's catheter-related infections, Aurie reuses a single catheter up to 100 times via a portable Personal Disinfector that cleans, disinfects, and lubricates the device in 36 minutes - cutting waste and recurring costs for people living with neurogenic bladder.
Souvik Paul
Souvik Paul is the CEO and Founder of Aurie, a medtech company that built the first FDA De Novo-cleared reusable intermittent catheter system. A Harvard-educated designer and former J&J strategist, Paul was driven to start Aurie after witnessing a family member's struggle with catheter-associated infections following a spinal cord injury. His Oakland-based startup has raised $14.24M and is pioneering a no-touch, automatically disinfecting catheter system designed to transform care for the 600,000 Americans who rely on intermittent catheters.