Faculty innovations range from autonomous vehicle communication to the improvement of kidney failure treatment.
Fourth-round awardees from the Proof of Product (POP) Grants program recently presented their research updates at the Cove @ UCI Applied Innovation.
Applied Innovation’s POP Grants program provides funds of up to $100,000 to each awardee over a six-month period to assist in the development of promising UCI technologies. With the funds, the awardees can further develop their research into commercially viable products and increase the technology’s licensing potential.
“This is a very unique and great opportunity for our faculty members to be able to not only do their research but also start moving technologies that have commercial potential,” said Ron King, senior director of research translation programs at Applied Innovation and the event’s host. “It’s a very difficult area to get funding in, so having a proof-of-product program and supporters of this program is really important both for the university and the ecosystem.”
Below are the nine researchers and the projects they presented:
Mohammad Al Faruque, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, showcased his research, which aims to improve the overall safety and performance of autonomous vehicles by facilitating secure communication between vehicles, infrastructure and pedestrians.
Abraham Lee, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, presented research that uses microfluidics to improve single-cell genomic sequencing.
Dr. Harrison Lin*, School of Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology, presented the development of a new type of cochlear implant, which has electrodes directly implanted into the cochlear nerve rather than in the cochlea itself, offering many benefits over traditional cochlear implants.
Dr. Rohan Patel, School of Medicine’s Department of Urology, and Michael Klopfer, CalIt2, presented on behalf of Dr. Ralph Clayman, School of Medicine’s Department of Urology, on a novel pressure-sensing device to make kidney stone removal procedures safer.
Dr. Joseph Rinehart, School of Medicine’s Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care, showcased his development of an automated unit that safely and efficiently administers the correct dose of medication used to increase blood pressure.
Dr. Brian Wong, School of Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology, presented a new, nonsurgical method of cosmetic fat reduction by breaking down fat cells with an electric current – or electrochemical therapy.
Per Niklas Hedde, a postdoctoral researcher at UCI, presented on behalf of Enrico Gratton, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, on a method to rapidly detect sepsis and extract the bacteria for molecular analysis at the point of care.
Chang Liu, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, presented a platform technology that drastically decreases the time it takes to develop therapeutic antibodies for drug discovery and other uses.
Dr. Hamid Moradi*, School of Medicine’s Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, showcased research that takes advantage of the endocannabinoid system to improve survivability in patients with end-stage renal disease.
With POP Grants funding, awardees can conduct validation testing, pre-clinical and clinical trials, as well as create startup companies and fine-tune prototypes.
Support for POP Grants comes from Assembly Bill 2664, Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, Kairos Ventures and philanthropic donations. To learn more about the POP Grants program and to support UCI research and innovations, click here.
*Drs. Lin and Moradi are awardees from the third round of POP Grants.
