Innovation and Industry Partnerships
Focused on partnerships to translate research discoveries into products and services to improve lives, generate economic growth, and achieve impact for society and businesses.
From left: Michael G. Wells, Adi Mittal
Persistence Pays Off for Wells Competition Team
The 12th edition of the Michael G. Wells Student Healthcare Competition witnessed a previous contestant who took the advice of the competition’s benefactor to focus and try again. Adi Mittal (shown above), a Pitt School of Medicine student, working alongside Pitt neurosurgery resident Kamil Nowicki to develop a blood test that can detect cerebral aneurysm formation, pitched in the 2021 Wells Competition but did not win one of the cash prizes. He and Nowicki took Wells’ words to heart and refined their go-to-market strategy. They reapplied for the 2022 competition with their pitch finely honed and received the $20,000 grand prize.
Second place ($15,000) went to Isabelle Chickanosky, a PhD candidate in bioengineering, for work on a machine learning tool to non-invasively identify risk, presence, and stage of endometriosis. Third place ($5,000) went to Jordyn Ting, a PhD candidate in bioengineering, for work on applying deep brain stimulation to the motor thalamus to improve speech after stroke.
Searching for Promising Drugs
To fund the development of novel therapeutics in the areas of women’s health, autoimmune diseases, and rare neurological diseases, Pitt and UPMC collaborated on a request to UPMC’s innovation and commercialization arm, UPMC Enterprises (UPMC-E). Two projects were funded this year.
Dwi Kemaladewi, assistant professor of pediatrics, is working to create a gene therapy treatment for muscular dystrophy in children. The UPMC-E funding will assist with pre-clinical experiments to gauge the therapy’s effectiveness.
Edward Burton, UPMC Endowed Professor of Movement Disorders, professor of neurology and of microbiology and molecular genetics, and principal investigator for the Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, partnered with Donna Huryn, professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the School of Pharmacy, to develop a therapy to treat progressive supranuclear palsy, a debilitating and fatal neurodegenerative disease. The UPMC-E funding will assist with experiments to identify promising molecules.
Pitt Joins Interior Northeast I-Corps Hub
Innovators participating in the Innovation Institute’s Pitt Ventures academic entrepreneurship programming have had access to the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps) training since 2015. During fiscal year 2023, Pitt joined a consortium of 10 regional universities as part of I-Corp’s Interior Northeast Region Hub. This new iteration of I-Corps has provided more flexibility for Pitt innovators by offering an expanded number of innovation commercialization short courses throughout the year. Pitt innovation teams that participate in I-Corps programming improve their chances of obtaining funding for their commercialization efforts at Pitt through sources such as the Chancellor’s Gap Fund, Michael G. Wells Student Healthcare Competition, and Pitt Innovation Challenge. These teams have also gone on to form nearly 40 startup companies.
Chancellor’s Gap Funds Support Innovation Prototypes
The Chancellor’s Gap Funds help to move promising innovations on the path to commercialization. Former Chancellor Patrick Gallagher established the funds to help Pitt innovators with critical de-risking experiments or the development of prototypes. This year, the Innovation Institute focused on two areas: small-molecule therapies and developing prototypes (“xprojects”) for promising Pitt innovations.
Small-molecule projects
To identify and develop compounds to treat osteoporosis and mineral ion disorders such as hypercalcemia and hyperparathyroidism—Jean-Pierre Vilardaga, professor, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, and Peter Wipf, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Chemistry
To identify a small molecule to help resolve symptoms for people suffering from sickle cell disease—Toren Finkel, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and director, Aging Institute; Bill Chen, professor of medicine; Yuan Liu, assistant professor of medicine
To develop structurally engineered fatty acids to treat chronic liver disease and underlying inflammatory conditions—Francisco Schopfer, associate professor of pharmacology and chemical biology; Fei Chang, research instructor, Department
of Pharmacology and Chemical BiologyTo develop a new class of small molecules for engaging potassium ion channels with potential therapeutic benefit for epilepsy, diabetes, tinnitus, neurodegeneration, and pain—Peter Wipf, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Chemistry
Prototyping “xprojects”
To develop a new spinal cord stimulation device for controlling chronic pain that eliminates the need for a more invasive surgery to insert the stimulator leads—Gaurav Chauhan, assistant professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine; Trent Emerick, associate professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine
To advance a reliable model system with physiological and anatomical resemblance to human skin that can be used to study skin-related pathologies and test therapeutics—Asim Ejaz, assistant professor of plastic surgery
To develop vibration therapy to preoccupy nerve pathways for people with limb loss who suffer from phantom limb sensations or even phantom limb pain—Goeran Fiedler, associate professor of rehabilitation science and technology
To develop a self-cleaning endoscope attachment for use during surgery—Rohit Mantena, student, Pitt School of Medicine; Kamil Nowicki, resident, Department of Neurological Surgery; Adi Mittal, student, Pitt School of Medicine; Michael McDowell, assistant professor of neurological surgery
Innovation activity at the University of Pittsburgh during the fiscal year 2023.
Source: Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
A Growing Corporate Partner
Through Pitt’s Office of Industry and Economic Partnerships (OIEP)—a one-stop shop for industry and venture capital firms seeking to partner with Pitt on sponsored research, technology licensing, and new venture creation—industry-sponsored research at Pitt grew by approximately 11% year over year, with more than 400 industry partners investing approximately $56 million across a spectrum of research at Pitt.
Coeptis Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cell therapy platforms for cancer, entered into a sponsored research agreement to advance development of the platform.
Owkin, a French technology company, partnered with Pitt and an industry/academic consortium called MOSAIC to revolutionize cancer research through a set of cutting-edge technologies that offer unprecedented information on the structure of tumors.
Genprex, a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing therapies for patients with cancer and diabetes, entered into an exclusive license agreement related to a gene therapy for type 2 diabetes.
At Big Idea Center, Pitt
Student Innovators Soar
The 15th annual Randall Family Big Idea Competition awarded nine student teams – with ideas ranging from social impact, education, and music, to medical devices, assistive technologies, clean energy, and consumer products and services. Prizes range from $2,000 to $25,000. Pitt’s longest-running student innovation opportunity, the Randall competition, held each spring, has evolved into a culminating event for student-led teams working on a startup idea. The top winning teams include Underdog, Ember, ScOAP-E, CyberPunk Reality, NoVRel, and SpringE.
Four teams won at the Kuzneski Innovation Cup, an annual pitch competition sponsored by Andy and Laurie Kuzneski. The Kuzneskis chose four teams to win part of the $25,000 prize pool: Underdog, CyberPunk Reality, ScOAP-E, and NoVRel.
Fiscal Year 2023 Pitt Startups
AiMiLight Sensors
Fiber optic-based sensors for chemical, mechanical, and temperature sensing in hazardous environments
Alenis Therapeutics
Gene replacement therapy using herpes simplex virus-based vectors to treat muscle diseases
BRG Innovations (dba PopSole™)
Customizable insole for use in pressure relief of primary foot discomfort or plantar fasciitis
Coloma Therapeutics
Small molecules that function as molecular degraders, inducing protein degradation of high-value therapeutic targets
GNOMX Inc.
Epigenetic diagnostics for infectious diseases and other exposures
Kaleibe Therapeutics
Gene replacement therapy using herpes simplex virus-based vectors to treat brain diseases
Pipeline Innervations
Greenfield and retrofit installation of fiber optic sensors into pipelines using robotics for real-time monitoring enabled by
artificial intelligence
Respair Inc.
Novel endotracheal tube that seals the airway more consistently and for longer periods of time than current tubes without requiring constant monitoring by health care professionals
Sensible Photonics
Engineered optical fiber sensor technology platforms to eliminate predictable asset failures
Sirina Therapeutics
Gene replacement therapy using herpes simplex virus-based vectors to treat diseases of the skin
SirNaMed Therapeutics
Cationic amphiphilic polymers for co-delivery of therapeutic genes and hydrophobic drugs
Surface Design Solutions Inc.
Physics-informed machine learning delivers cost savings in manufacturing that increase over time