One of the ways Pitt stimulates its innovation ecosystem is by creating thematic challenges that encourage Pitt faculty, students and staff to develop solutions in those areas that can make an impact in the world. Recent challenges have included the Performance Innovation Tournament that called for ideas for improving human performance, and the Philips Grand Challenge, sponsored by the sleep and respiratory care division of Philips Healthcare. Last year’s Pitt Innovation Challenge, sponsored by the university’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), picked up on the theme of human performance and awarded $475,000 last September to innovations ranging from a mobile app to prevent falls to a new ultrasound technique to immediately diagnose tendon damage in sports injuries.
Speaking of injuries, CTSI is back with the Pain Research Challenge. This is a funding opportunity for ideas and solutions associated with both physiological and psychological pain. Solutions should address a specific problem in the area(s) of pain including mechanism, treatments, modalities, and impacts of acute and chronic pain.
How can I participate?
To participate, teams are asked to submit a research poster that outlines the concept and solution by February 18, 2019. Advancing teams are invited to submit a budget and seven-minute slideshow presentation. To conclude the challenge, advancing teams will participate in a poster session at the awards reception on May 15.
What are the awards?
The 2019 iteration is offering three $50,000 awards across three separate projects. Awards will be funded by the Virginia Kaufman Endowment Fund and CTSI. One member of your team must be a University of Pittsburgh faculty member. University partnerships or cross-disciplinary teams are encouraged, but individuals are welcome to apply.
Are there any success stories from the previous Pain Research Challenge?
Projects that have received Pain Research Challenge awards range from pre-clinical studies to clinical interventions and novel technologies. Painimation was one of the first projects to receive a Pain Research Challenge award and developed an application that uses animations to measure pain and enables patients to describe their pain in a unique way. The team recently published results of their clinical trial demonstrating the effectiveness of an electronic assessment tool and are pursuing further development.
If you have any questions about the Pain Research Challenge, email pain@pitt.edu.
If you are interested in sponsoring research in this area or exploring licensing opportunities for pain related innovations from Pitt, contact us at innovate@pitt.edu.