PulmonaVat Secures Exclusive License for Lung Organoid Technology

 In July, PulmonaVat reached a key milestone: McGill University granted us an exclusive license agreement to further develop and commercialize innovative lung organoid technology.

This agreement strengthens our mission to bring physiologically relevant lung in-vitro models closer to the market, accelerating drug discovery and paving the way for more predictive and human-based solutions in respiratory medicine.

With this step, we reaffirm our commitment to transforming respiratory medicine — and we couldn’t be more excited about what lies ahead. 

In March, PulmonaVat was officially registered as a B.V. biotechnology company in the Netherlands.
Our mission is to revolutionize personalized respiratory medicine by developing reliable, human-based tools that reduce reliance on animal models, drive scientific innovation, and improve access to life-saving models for more equitable healthcare.
We are proud to be one step closer to bringing our technology to the market. 

PulmonaVat was proudly selected to join the 2025 UNLOCK cohort—an incubator program dedicated to Life Sciences and Health, based at the Leiden BioScience Park.
This program has provided us with valuable support and guidance to further refine our concept and position it as a real-world solution. We are truly grateful for the lessons learned and the meaningful connections made throughout this experience, which continue to strengthen our journey toward innovation in respiratory medicine. 

On January 23, PulmonaVat was selected as a semifinalist in the prestigious Gulliver Startup Competition 2024/2025, which recognizes the most innovative startups in South Holland.
Although we did not advance to the final round, being acknowledged as one of the region’s most promising early-stage ventures reinforced our commitment to transforming respiratory medicine. The feedback received and connections made during the event provided valuable insights and motivation as we continue to move forward. 

PulmonaVat was selected by Prototypes for Humanity 2024 as one of the 100 most innovative projects worldwide, and one of only 25 recognized for breakthroughs in health and medicine.

Our CEO, Alicia Reyes Valenzuela, attended the event in Dubai in November 2024, where she presented PulmonaVat’s technology to a global audience of investors, health regulatory experts, potential partners, and the general public.

This prestigious platform not only showcased our work but also enabled us to build meaningful connections with other forward-thinking innovators, decision-makers in healthcare, and regulatory stakeholders. The diversity of impactful projects presented at the event served as a powerful source of inspiration and reaffirmed our mission to transform respiratory medicine without relying on animal models.

Being featured at Prototypes for Humanity validated PulmonaVat’s role on the right side of innovation, driven by ethical science, scalability, and real-world relevance.

PulmonaVat was selected to join the Fall 2024 cohort of Venture Academy, the pre-incubation program at PLNT in Leiden.
Through this program, we gained access to personalized business coaching and expert guidance, allowing us to further refine our business model and validate our technology with potential customers. This experience brought us one step closer to bridging the gap between academic research and industry and helped lay the groundwork for our next phase of growth. 

Our CEO, Alicia Reyes Valenzuela, received the first prize for her presentation about our lung organoid used for modeling viral infections in the seventh annual research day,  of IDIGH. 

In May 2023,  Alicia presented her research on a lung organoid model for studying viral infections—including SARS-CoV-2 and influenza H1N1—which now forms the foundation of PulmonaVat’s technology. Her enthusiasm and innovation were recognized by a panel of experts, earning her frist prize and affirming the scientific value and potential of the model.

The  Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health, IDIGH,  program integrates cutting-edge research in infectious diseases, immunity, and global health at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.
We are proud that the origins of PulmonaVat’s core technology were recognized in such a prestigious setting.

 Our CEO, Alicia Reyes Valenzuela, received the Early Career Scientist Award and was invited to speak at the 2022 Lung-In-Vitro Event for Innovative and Predictive Models in France.

During this event, Alicia presented her research to leading experts and engaged with several companies facing challenges with the current commercial lung in vitro systems used for toxicology and inhalation therapy. Notably, companies such as Altertox and Epithelix were among the attendees, offering valuable input that helped shape the direction of what would later become PulmonaVat.