Ariel joins other innovative startups including Agot AI, Apollo Neuroscience, Koop Technologies, Shift Robotics and others in Pittsburgh Inno’s 2022 Startups to Watch.
Ariel Precision Medicine Inc. was founded in 2015 by CEO Jessica Gibson, MBA, and Chief Scientific Officer David Whitcomb, MD, PhD.
Dr. Whitcomb is the Giant Eagle Foundation Professor of Cancer Genetics, a Professor of Medicine, Cell Biology and Physiology, and Human Genetics, Director of the Precision Medicine Service at UPMC, and an affiliated faculty member of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Ms. Gibson and Dr. Whitcomb’s company is helping doctors treat patients with chronic health conditions through the use of its Advance Platform technology, an AI platform that can take genetic and clinical data and turn it into insights for the proper identification, management, and advanced therapeutic development of various chronic health conditions. Its main focus is on identifying causes of digestive and metabolic diseases, starting with the pancreas.
The startup has received several accolades, placing multiple times in the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Tech 50 competition, most recently as a finalist in the innovator of the year: life sciences category for 2021, and being ranked among Data Magazine’s 101 best bioinformatics startups and companies. In 2022, the company is looking to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of physician diagnosis and care plans in an effort it hopes will result in improved patient outcomes. It has raised about $8 million in funding so far from institutional investors, venture capital firms, patient advocacy groups, and angel investors.