A new method to detect brain aneurysms, a first-of-its-kind probiotic that consumes fat molecules, a novel treatment for lung fibrosis and new platforms for delivering bereavement counseling and parenting support to under-served communities are among the ideas and discoveries Pitt innovators spent the past few months exploring how to bring to market.
The participants in the most recent cohort of the Innovation Institute’s First Gear program worked one on one with an experienced business mentor to determine what value potential customers could derive from their innovations and begin plotting out the most effective path to market.
Each team also received $3,000 through the NSF I-Corps program to assist in conducting market research and customer discovery activities.
Ali Atar pitches for the Cerebral Aneurysm Test innovation team.
“This was one of the most diverse cohorts we have had in terms of the ideas presented and the people involved in the six-year history of First Gear,” said program coordinator Paul Petrovich, assistant director of business development at the Innovation Institute. “We look forward to continuing to assist these academic entrepreneurs as they advance their innovations toward real-world impact.”
The next cohort of First Gear is being planned to begin in February, 2022. Learn more and apply.
Each team in First Gear is composed of a Principal Investigator (PI), an Entrepreneurial Lead (EL) and a Business Mentor (M). Teams completing the fall 2021 First Gear cohort included:
Cerebral Aneurysm Test (CAT-7)
PI: Robert Friedlander
EL: Kamil Nowicki and Ali Atar
M: Robert Huemmrich
50 percent of patients with cerebral aneurysms before reaching the hospital and 33 percent of survivors have severe disabilities. Current aneurysm diagnosis is invasive, expensive and dangerous. The innovators are developing a cerebral aneurysm blood test that provides risk stratification and probability of rupture, as well as a therapy that will reduce aneurysm progression, reducing the need for surgery.
DNA-Nano-patterned Plastic
PI: Haitao Liu
EL: Liwei Hui and Nathan Tolman
M: George Abrahim
The innovators are proposing a novel, chemical-free method for preventing bacteria and film growth in addition to clogging/clotting on medical devices using DNA to imprint nature-mimicked patterns onto device surfaces.
Cueing Kitchen
PI: Rory Cooper
EL: Hailee Kulich and Shantanu Satupe
M: John Iaconis
Kitchens have the second highest rate of domestic home accidents and pose significant risks for people with intellectual disabilities. The innovators have created a hardware software solution for making kitchens safer for at-risk populations and their caregivers.
Novel Lung Fibrosis Drug
PI: Michael Epperly
EL: Amitava Mukherjee
M: Megan Lipcsey
Approximately 5 million people suffer from lung fibrosis. The innovators are developing a drug that prevents the production of a fibrotic protein in the lungs when presented with a scarring stimuli.
TeleAR
PI: Grace Lim
EL: Sabrina Carrozzi
M: Vasu Rao
Few people in rural areas are trained in neonatal resuscitation. The innovators have developed a certification program to “train the trainer” in neonatal resuscitation leveraging telemedicine and augmented reality as teaching tools.
YouBiotics
PI: Steven Little
EL: Matthew Borrelli
M: John Inserra
The innovation team has developed a method to train a person's own bacteria to consume dietary fats to create a first-of-its-kind probiotic.
COVIDetect
PI: Alexander Star
EL: Wenting Shao
M: Frank Falcione
Initial Covid-19 tests have a long turnaround time and low accuracy with antigen tests. The need for a fast, accurate and low-cost test is urgent. The innovators have created a hand-held device with disposable sensing chips to detect COVID-19 antigens built upon a breathalyzer previously developed by this same team to detect other substances.
SmartMRI
PI: Vince Schmithorst
EL: Tyler Fortuna, Rafael Ceschin and Ashok Panigrahy
M: Evens Augustin and Anthony Cafagna
MRI’s are an important diagnostic tool, but have limited patient throughput due to long imaging time and result in a poor patient experience. The SmartMRI solution uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to speed up exam time to around five minutes.
Tribute
PI: Channing Moreland, Laura Dietz, Quiana Golphin
EL: Khavah Murray
M: Pritam Advani
The TRIBUTE Program (Training Religious in Bereavement Counseling to Upskill Treatment Experiences) aims to expand mental health services to reduce racial-ethnic health disparities by training clergy and healthcare paraprofessionals in communities of color to provide Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), an evidence-based intervention that can reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms related to bereavement.
Parenting While Black
PI: James HuguleyEL: Cecily Davis and , Kyndra Cleveland
M: Paul Harper
Parenting While Black utilizes group-based, interactive programming to provide Black parents with tools to improve their own and their children’s mental health outcomes in racially adverse environmental contexts. Programming is hosted and co-facilitated by local school and agency partners utilizing a best-practice community-engaged framework.
Patient-Specific Expandable Foam
PI: Kenneth Urish
EL: Malcom Dombrowski, Neel Patel and William Li
M: Dave Satina
Complex wounds affect 15 percent of all Medicare patients. Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) using vacuum-assisted closure assists in healing wounds that cannot be closed in an acute setting. Current foams have difficult application in wounds with irregular geometry, leading to poor seal. The innovators have created a novel foam that expands, contours and solidifies to the exact dimensions of the wound bed.
CAREY: Improving the Caregiving Experience
PI: Carissa Low
EL: Julio Vega
M: Darrin Grove and Alessandro Gubbini
Most adults prefer to “age in place” with intermittent support from family and other caregivers. The innovators are developing a platform to gather, visualize and analyze data from existing wearable devices to share real-time insights with caregivers.