On June 11, the Merck Digital Sciences Studio (MDSS) held its Cohort 3 Graduation Showcase graciously hosted by McDermett, Will, & Emory at their Manhattan Office. The event marked the culmination of the 10-month accelerator program, which supports early-stage companies developing technologies that enable more efficient and effective drug discovery and development.
MDSS is a collaboration between Merck and the New Jersey Innovation Institute (a subsidiary of NJIT), with additional investment from the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Northpond Ventures, and McKesson Ventures. Microsoft for Startups provides technical support. The program is designed to support startups that are building digital infrastructure for biopharma. These companies extend beyond not just applications of artificial intelligence, but through a range of tools spanning biology, automation, and data systems.
A Cross-Sector Audience and a Focus on Impact
The event brought together a curated audience of investors, pharma executives, academic researchers, and tech transfer leaders. All sharing an interest in accelerating innovation across the biopharma pipeline. Over the course of the afternoon, attendees heard directly from 12 MDSS-backed companies, each developing novel approaches to longstanding challenges in research, development, and clinical translation.
The format centered around three panel discussions, each highlighting a different facet of the drug development ecosystem. Rather than traditional pitch presentations, the panels allowed founders to dig into the scientific, technical, and operational problems they’re solving and why it matters.
Panel Discussions: Spotlighting Core Themes
The first panel, Enabling Biology, featured Orb Therapeutics, UbiquiTx, and Hebbian Bio. These companies are designing platforms that expand what’s possible in therapeutic discovery, whether through programmable therapies, next-gen proteome editors, or biomarker platforms for neurological disease.
The second panel, Redefining Human Disease, focused on teams working to extract new insight from patient-derived data. Voyant Bio, Nine Diagnostics, and ImYoo are developing technologies that allow researchers to characterize disease with more precision and speed, particularly in immunology, oncology, and personalized medicine.
The final panel, AI Toolkits for R&D Teams, addressed the need for more integrated and intelligent infrastructure to support preclinical research. ModernVivo, Potato, and ReSync Bio are tackling bottlenecks in experimental design, data coordination, and team workflows. All areas that remain major inefficiencies in the drug development lifecycle.
The Cohort: A Range of Technical Approaches
Collectively, the cohort reflects the breadth of what “digital enablement” in biopharma can mean. Some companies are focused on foundational biology such as Augment Biologics, which is building a platform based on glycobiology, or Inaedis, which is developing stable biologic formulations. Others are reimagining data capture and analysis, such as Esya Labs, which is working to make brain health screening more routine and accessible.
Across the board, the companies are grounded in deep technical expertise and a strong understanding of the needs of biopharma R&D teams. While several leverage artificial intelligence, they also incorporate domain-specific tools in chemistry, immunology, and systems biology. These companies underscore that innovation in this space is inherently multidisciplinary.
Looking Ahead
The showcase closed with a networking reception, giving attendees a chance to connect more informally with the founders and one another. Set against panoramic views of Manhattan, the reception served as a reminder of the broader goal of MDSS: to build a collaborative ecosystem where early-stage companies gain access not just to capital, but to the networks, knowledge, and infrastructure they need to scale.
As Cohort 3 graduates from the program, they join a growing network of companies using technology to transform how therapies are discovered, developed, and delivered. The Showcase made clear that MDSS is not just accelerating companies, it’s helping define the future of biotech innovation.