Half of the six finalists for this year’s BioCrossroads New Venture Competition announced Monday have ties to Indiana University. The contest, now in its fourth year, recognizes some of Indiana’s best up-and-coming life sciences companies and has awarded more than $180,000 to a dozen startups since its 2012 inception. Finalists linked to IU include:

• Arrhythmotech: Arrhythomtech is part of the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp.’s Spin Up program. Co-founded in 2012 by Dr. Peng-Sheng Chen and Shein-Fong Lin, the company seeks to develop a non-invasive technology to monitor both sympathetic nerve activity and electrocardiogram signals.
• Auricyte: Another Spin Up company, Auricyte was co-founded in 2014 by IU School of Medicine researchers Karl Koehler, Eri Hashino and Gerry Oxford. They are developing a first-of-its-kind therapy for hearing loss based on regenerative technology that guides human stem cells into functional hearing cells.
• Ossa Biomedical: Ossa develops novel therapeutics for bone disorders and is currently focused on the treatment of osteogenesis imperfecta — or so-called “brittle bone disease” — through the commercialization of Salubrinal, which carries the potential to fight osteoporosis and speed bone healing.

Thirty companies in all entered the 2015 BioCrossroads contest, which offers a cash prize of $25,000. The winner also gains access to the Indiana Seed Fund II (ISFII) staff and its network of resources to provide business planning and early-stage strategic support. The winner also earns the opportunity to make a presentation to the Fund’s investment committee for added exposure.

Last year’s BioCrossroads winner, Anagin LLC, is also part of IURTC’s Spin Up family of companies.

Second- and third-place cash prizes of $15,000 and $10,000 respectively also will be awarded, as will a pre-venture prize of $10,000. The latter goes to companies who have promising technologies that are very early in development.

Read more about the competition and this year’s finalists here: