Vineet Erasala, a first-year biomedical engineering and electrical engineering major, has always been interested in how technology has a role in healthcare. From this interest, he and his friends started a company, Genetesis LLC., which recently placed as one of the finalists at 43North, the world’s largest business competition.

Genetesis, established last year, is a biotechnology company that focuses on using algorithms and computer software to optimize drug design and analyze real-time function of the heart’s electrophysiology. The goal is to enable health care providers to prescribe the right medications to patients for their heart problems, without debilitating side effects.

The competition gave a total of $5 million away to 11 finalists. As one of those finalists, Genetesis won a $250,000 investment prize and another $10,000 from a people’s choice award that the competition held on Twitter.

With their newfound wealth, over the course of the next year, Genetesis will be working on biomedical and lab-based studies, including finding a non-invasive way to detect the bioelectric signals from the heart.

Erasala says that his experience at CWRU has been instrumental to Genetesis’ development.

“Because Case is one of the leaders in biomedical engineering, we can talk to the foremost experts in bioinformatics and electrophysiology to get their advice,” said Erasala. “Even the location is good because we can reach out to all of the hospitals nearby.”

Erasala and his friends, Peeyush Srivastava and Emmanuel Setegn, both undergraduates from Ohio State University, began the company while in high school together.

“I’ve always been fascinated with how medical technology can change to fix the problems that doctors will face in the field,” said Erasala. “Biotechnology is a way to fundamentally alter the business for the better.”