Five finalists out of 65 participants were announced at the 4th BIO Startup Program, which is supported by the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (AIFD) and executed by ReDis Innovation. Ventures that create solutions for many problems from cancer treatment to the early detection of cancer, from DNA analysis in a very short time with artificial intelligence (AI) to blood clotting time measurement will have the opportunity to prove themselves in the international arena.

Five bio-ventures selected by the jury among the participants that made their presentations at Demo Day at the Lütfi Kirdar International Convention and Exhibition Center can now participate in the BIO Entrepreneurship Bootcamp and BIO Convention in Philadelphia on June 1-6.

Ventures to seek support in U.S.

The final stage of the BIO Startup Program is participating in the BIO Convention, the world's largest biotech event in Philadelphia, and the BIO Entrepreneurship Boot Camp, which is part of the convention. These bio-ventures will meet various actors in the international ecosystem such as investors, global companies and incubation centers during the program in the U.S.

Selin Arslanhan, the founder of ReDis Innovation, stressed the importance of the BIO Convention to be held June 1-6 in terms of startups. "Our selected bio-ventures will get together with similar startups, share their experiences and have the opportunity to come in contact with professionals in their fields and meet investors, corporate companies and potential customers," she added. "BIO Convention offers an important opportunity to monitor scientific and technological developments in biotechnology, make contact with different actors in the global biotechnology ecosystem and conduct one-on-one meetings for cooperation."

Türk Telekom Health

With advancing technology, smartphones have become indispensable to our lives, while online applications and services have become key elements that make everyday life easier. Health services are also among the top sectors that benefit from this transformation. While research shows that the use of online health services, especially video chats with doctors, is rapidly spreading around the world, a wide range of applications and digital devices have started to enter our lives every day in health care. Similar health practices that have been used for a while in Turkey give hope for the future. Thanks to online health practices that Türk Telekom supports and contributes to, Turkey will be ahead of the pack.

Immune system against cancer: VacciZone Biotech, a startup company with patents in four international markets, is developing a national and domestic anti-cancer immunotherapy method. Professor Nesrin Özören, one of the developers of the project, provided information about the BIO Startup Program.

"As VacciZone Biotech, a startup company established to commercialize Turkey's first and only biotechnology invention, it was a great chance for us to be accepted into the Bio Startup Program," Özören said. "With the U.S. program, we hope to accelerate the steps toward implementing the project that we have developed with master students in Turkey."

VacciZone General Manager Dr. İbrahim Gökçe Yayla, on the other hand, stressed that they are working on a drug development project against cancer. "Immunotherapy, which has revolutionized cancer treatment in recent years, activates the immune system against cancer, allowing the body's own cells to remove cancer cells," he continued.

"Immunotherapy needs supportive treatments and VacciZone does this. We support immunotherapy by triggering biological pathways."

Prevents migraine attacks: Vagustim, another finalist, drew attention with the very special solution they developed especially against migraine attacks. With the device they have developed, they stimulate the vagus nerve in the ear electrically in a noninvasive way and regulate the autonomic nervous system to prevent migraine attacks. Ali Can Erk, the founding partner of the company, said they are very excited for the BIO Convention and international cooperation, adding this process will be a great opportunity to start the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) processes.

DNA analysis with artificial intelligence: Pera Labs uses artificial intelligence to select healthy sperm cells without damaging the sperm cell and reduces the duration of DNA analysis, which normally takes 10 days, to one-and-a-half hours. It provides DNA quality analysis faster with image processing algorithms and deep learning models. Burak Özkösem, the founder of Pera Labs, said it is very exciting to meet investors and potential partners. "We are ready for our talks thanks to the training and mentoring process which has prepared us for this so far," he added.

Measures blood clotting time: Tarabios, which has developed a blood clotting time measurement platform, is also producing a different solution for data processing. Hasan Ürey, who carries out business development activities, said that their first goal is to have strategic cooperation with pharmaceutical companies as their products are also used in drug development and patient follow-ups. "Our project gained momentum, the measurement was made with real blood data, and our results were very successful," Tarabios' Research and Development Coordinator Gökhan Sağlam said. "We are in search of investment and know-how to prepare and develop the product."

Early diagnosis of lung cancer: ELAA Technology has developed an algorithm for the 3D Lung Navigation System for early diagnosis of lung cancer. By adding an algorithm that will guide the physician to the bronchoscopy devices that we use today, the system aims to achieve the exact target and to ensure biopsy with a success rate of 98 percent from this point. ELAA Technology Co-Founder professor Tunç Laçin shared his thoughts following the BIO Startup Program. "The purpose of our application was to see where our prototype could reach and which companies we could partner with at the Bio Convention," Laçin said. "We thank AIFD for their support in terms of investment opportunities. We believe that the partnerships, agreements and project partnerships we will acquire at the BIO Convention will be great. As a Turkish brand, we intend to show that such a technology can be opened abroad for exports."

ONLINE SIMULATION SOLUTION FOR ENGINEERS

The solution of the Simularge venture, which demonstrates with an online simulation platform how durable and successful a product designed by engineers will be in the real world, is being tested by 90 users. Simularge, founded 15 months ago, has implemented five projects over the past year.

Simularge, which represents itself as an engineering platform, offers cloud-based testing services with online simulation tools and software development team. Simularge's virtual testing platform enables fast, interactive and affordable infrastructure to understand the strength of machine parts that have not yet been introduced into production. Established in January 2018, Simularge's online simulation tools are currently being tested on 90 users, while its three-person executive team has implemented five projects over the past year. The venture, which is successfully used by major customers such as Arçelik and ranked second in the TechSquare venture event offered by KoçSistem, will receive support from KoçDigital. In the final of the T-Day's Venture of the Year award, which resulted in very close scores, the jury gave Simularge's entrepreneurial team, which came second with a very close score, the opportunity to develop a joint project with KoçDigital.

The event, in which the TechSquare T-Day Award of the Year was presented, was held with the participation of entrepreneurs, jury and an audience of leading figures in the business and media world. Enhencer was received the Startup of the Year Award at TechSquare T-Day 2019 for its entrepreneurial team that developed machine learning (ML) based forecasting algorithms.

Tamer Haşimoğlu, president of Tourism, Food and Retail Group of Koç Holding, presented the grand prize of TL 100,000 to Enhencer. With the TechSquare platform, Enhencer will be able to benefit from KoçSistem's national and international know-how as well as a large network of business and investors from Turkey's strongest entrepreneurs.

OPPO HIDES SELFIE CAMERA, REMOVES NOTCH ON SCREEN

Chinese company Oppo's new phone, Reno, has hidden the selfie camera on the top of the body, eliminating the notched view on the giant 6.6-inch screen. The Reno series 5G will be available in May with a 10X zoom camera and standard 3 models.

New designs in smartphones aim to produce innovative solutions for the camera, display and battery. The Chinese Oppo, one of the world's leading smartphone brands, has hidden the selfie camera on the top of the body, like a pocket knife, instead of putting a notch on the giant screen due to the front camera in the new Reno model. When you want to take a selfie from the 6.6-inch screen, the camera, which is stored in the body at the top of the phone, opens up like a pocketknife. In this way, the full screen is not sacrificed for front camera shots. The system called pop-up camera produces a solution without error. The camera turns off automatically when you push it down.

Three different models

The 10x Hybrid Zoom and panoramic display are the most striking aspects of the innovative features in the Reno series. The Reno series focuses on photography, entertainment and social experiences that impact young people's lifestyle.

All models of the series are available with the sixth-generation Corning Gorilla Glass to ensure the durability and protection of the front display. The Reno 5G and Reno 10x Zoom have a 6.6-inch OLED display (6.4-inch screen for Reno), a resolution of 2340x1080 pixels, a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and an extremely thin frame. These design features have a screen-to-body ratio of up to 93.1 percent and are completely notched. To create this new panoramic display, Oppo's research and development team went beyond the previous water drop design and pushed the limits of innovation once again to give users the best experience when watching videos, playing games or taking photos.

Low light eye

Reno 10x Zoom uses a triple camera solution consisting of 48 Megapixel HD primary lens, 8MP Ultra-Wide Angle and a 13MP Telephoto for long-distance shots. In addition, Reno 10x Zoom uses dual optical image stabilization (OIS) and artificial intelligence in the main camera to get high-quality photos at any time. It also features a laser detection autofocus. The camera system uses a customized algorithm that adjusts light effects to adapt to every skin color and to make selfies look more natural, especially in low-light conditions. When taking night portraits, the camera can automatically distinguish the human face from the background and provide special protection to make the portrait more attractive and to make sure the skin color is natural.

The Reno series comes with three models to meet different user needs: Reno 5G, Reno 10x Zoom and Reno. All versions take advantage of two new gradient colors, called Ocean Green and Carbon Black. The Reno series draws attention for its unique rotating camera that combines design, functionality and technology. This innovation makes it possible to get a simple and beautiful full screen that hides the front camera, headset and flashlights in the pop-up structure. It takes only 0.8 seconds to complete the entire pop-up rise, display the front camera at an 11-degree angle, and perfectly integrate elegance and agility into the dynamic ascent process. The pop-up camera's ascending structure can be used more than 200,000 times. If a user turns on the camera about 100 times a day, the pop-up structure will still continue to run for five years. In addition, the fall protection mechanism can detect the phone's fall in real time and automatically retract the camera to avoid any damage.