Show Notes
Node AI is a software as a medical device company based in Hamilton, Ontario using artificial intelligence to guide surgeons through endobronchial ultrasound, a critical procedure used to determine whether lung cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. Until now, surgeons performing it have essentially been navigating blind. In this episode, Jim Wilson speaks with co-founder and CEO Mackensey Bacon about a company that grew out of a surgeon's simple observation: if a phone can recognize a face, why can't AI identify a malignant lymph node? Mackensey explains how that idea became a company with four clinical trial sites across Canada and an FDA submission on track for the end of the year. Mackensey also reflects on the strength of Hamilton's life sciences ecosystem and what it takes to lead a startup alongside two of the best in their fields.
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Allison Brown is the site head of BioLabs University of Toronto, the first Canadian location in a global network of shared lab and office facilities spanning twenty biotech innovation clusters around the world. Located in the MaRS Discovery District, it puts her at the epicentre of innovation and commercialization in Canadian life sciences.
Andrea Ladouceur is President and CEO of the Biosciences Association of Manitoba, or BAM, a not-for-profit industry association based in Winnipeg that is focused on growing the province's life sciences sector.
Trigger warning: This episode touches on themes of mental health and loss of life. Listener discretion is advised. Neil Fraser is one of the most respected leaders in Canada's medtech sector. He spent 38 years at Medtronic Canada, serving as president from 2004 to 2022, and has been a longtime advisor on health innovation policy and a director on numerous boards.
Greg Wolfond is the founder of the Give Back Health Innovation Foundation, a Canadian philanthropic network working to advance public health through innovation and technology. It tackles one of the most persistent problems in Canadian life sciences: the country does world-class research yet ranks near the bottom when it comes to commercializing it.
Dr. Michael Rudnicki is co-founder and Chief Discovery Officer of Satellos Bioscience in Ottawa, and one of the most accomplished stem cell scientists in the world. A member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, his work sits at the leading edge of regenerative medicine. In this episode, host Jim Wilson speaks with Michael about a life shaped by science, family, and curiosity, from taking apart the family car as a kid in Ottawa to building some of the first knockout mice at MIT's Whitehead Institute. Michael reflects on the mentors and moments that shaped his path, the founding of Canada's Stem Cell Network, and the discoveries in his lab that led to Satellos. At the heart of the conversation is the company's mission: a paradigm-shifting approach to Duchenne muscular dystrophy that treats the disease as a stem cell signaling problem rather than simply a structural one, and the hope that it could change the lives of patients living with this devastating condition.