Innovative cancer therapy platform among “Most Disruptive Startup” list

Alfred Landik (MBA ’24) says his mission in life is to help people to live longer healthier lives. “So many people die before they should in part because their bodies are too damaged to keep living. I'm very interested in finding ways we can minimize this damage, stay healthier for longer, and improve the quality of our lives,” he said.

To further his goals, Landik founded Cell Mind to develop an AI platform to connect cancer patients with physicians providing Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell therapy, or CAR-T therapy. CAR T-cell therapy uses a patient's own genetically modified immune system T cells to fight cancer, particularly acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Cell Mind, which was recently recognized by Poets & Quants as one of the most disruptive start-up companies for 2024, aims to make this innovative therapy more accessible and affordable to the patients who need it.

“Less than 20 percent of cancer patients eligible for CAR-T ever receive this lifesaving treatment,” said Landik. “Cell Mind uses AI technology to improve the patient selection process by predicting safety and efficacy outcomes, which leads to more effective treatment and lower costs.”

Landik is from Ukraine and started his career as a PhD candidate pursuing scientific research, but credits Carey Business School’s MBA program and its focus on the business of health for guiding his path and helping him create his business. He says the experience helped him gain a solid understanding of the U.S. health care system and insights for commercializing technologies.

“The Johns Hopkins ecosystem is extremely helpful for starting a new business,” Landik said. “In my first year as an MBA student, I took a six-week Summer Incubator course at the Johns Hopkins Pava Center, which helps student ventures that are ready to take a deep dive into building their startups.”

“After the Summer Incubator, I felt everything moving and starting to grow. I then got involved with the Spark business accelerator program at Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures. They provided a lot of training to help refine our pitches, our public speaking, and our marketing materials. Spark also helped me make connections within Johns Hopkins, which led to the signing of our data-sharing agreement,” Landik added.

Recently, Landik signed an agreement with the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University of North Carolina Hematology Department to allow Cell Mind to collect patient data critical for developing AI algorithms.

“It is a significant step for the company,” said Landik. “I received tremendous support from our student technology ventures team, who guided me step-by-step through the process of building these partnerships. With their help, we successfully navigated the complexities and achieved our goal.”

You can read more about Landik’s startup and his MBA experience at Poets & Quants.