University of Vermont Vice President for Research Richard Galbraith, M.D., Ph.D., has announced that four UVM research teams have each been awarded seed grants – ranging from $25,000 to $50,000 – to help move their innovative work one step closer to the marketplace. The researchers were among six finalist teams who pitched their ideas to a panel of experts at the first UVM-wide SPARK-VT session on June 26, 2015.

Launched in 2013 by the UVM Department of Medicine, SPARK-VT aims to support researchers as they navigate the tricky terrain between developing an idea for a new device or therapy and making it a reality. Its premise hinges on feedback from outside of the university: An invited Consultant Panel of 12 leaders from biotech, pharmaceutical, business, engineering, finance, and legal fields who listen to presentations from top UVM researchers. Panel members ask questions, challenge presenters on the details of their plans and ultimately offer suggestions for next steps. All participants get tips and suggestions, and the winners receive seed funding from UVM’s Office of the Vice President for Research. Past SPARK-VT awardees have partnered with the UVM Office of Technology Commercialization to found companies and develop partnerships with established biotech firms, as well as successfully apply for a number of competitive grants. The program also includes workshops and guest lectures that address the commercialization process, founding start-ups, business planning and other topics that help faculty move research from bench to bedside.  

This year, after two successful years for SPARK-VT inside the College of Medicine, UVM’s Provost and Office of the Vice President for Research broadened the program’s reach, resulting in the submission of proposals by 13 teams from a variety of UVM colleges and schools. After a selection process, six teams were invited to present. According to Galbraith, the Consultant Panel members expressed that they continue to be impressed with the intellectual quality that exists at UVM. 

Winning proposals and their respective research team members include:

  • An innovative easy-to-use, non-toxic, lung sealant patch/band-aid that could be used for lung surgeries or other emergency sealant needs developed by Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Rachael Oldinski, Ph.D., and Professor of Medicine Daniel Weiss, M.D., Ph.D. SPARK-VT funds will aid the team in testing the long-term durability and reliability of the innovative alginate material in animal models, before later moving on to humans.
  • A proposal by Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dryver Huston, Ph.D., and Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Tian Xia, Ph.D., that focuses on a new, low-cost ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology for highway infrastructure maintenance testing that promises deep cost savings compared to systems currently available. SPARK-VT funds will help them to move the current prototype forward and identity a “scalable, low-cost manufacturing pathway” for a lightweight, vehicle-mounted system.
  • A project led by Assistant Professor of Engineering Patrick Lee, Ph.D., and involving Assistant Professor of Engineering Ting Tan, Ph.D., and Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dryver Huston, Ph.D., that focuses on the development of environment responsive microfibers to reinforce concrete structures. The market for concrete admixtures like this is estimated to be over $700 million, with a 2.5 percent growth rate.
  • A proposal by Jon Ramsey, Ph.D., a research associate in the Department of Biochemistry, Professor of Medicine Claire Verschraegen, M.D., and Professor Emeritus of Chemistry William Geiger, Ph.D., regarding a new family of compounds called cymanquines that disrupt autophagy, a process cancer cells use to develop drug resistance. The SPARK-VT funds will be used to test a cymanquine compound in animal models of metastatic melanoma, as well as in other cancers.

SPARK-VT grant recipients will receive 50 percent of their funding at the start of the project (when all necessary research project protocol approvals are received); the remaining 50 percent of funding for the project is contingent upon the successful completion of the milestones and deliverables – detailing scientific and commercialization progress, challenges, project advancement and a plan and timeline. These will be reported at a Progress Report meeting scheduled for March 2016.

Learn more about SPARK-VT.

(Erin Post, senior writer in UVM medical communications, contributed to this article.)

PUBLISHED

07-21-2015
Jennifer Nachbur
Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dryver Huston, Ph.D., and Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Tian Xia, Ph.D. (Photo: COM Design & Photography)
Claire Verschraegen, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Director, Hematology/Oncology (Photo: COM Design & Photography)