DELAWARE BIOSCIENCE CAT GRANTS

12 collaborative grants funded in 2017

The Delaware Bioscience Center for Advanced Technology (Bioscience CAT) awarded Applied Research Collaborations or Entrepreneurial Proof of Concept grants to four College of Engineering faculty members in 2017.

Bioscience CAT is funded by the state of Delaware and is administered by the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI). DBI promotes partnerships across Delaware’s academic research organizations, including the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Christiana Care Health System, Nemours/AI DuPont Hospital for Children, Wesley College, and Delaware Technical and Community College.

The Bioscience CAT grants synergize efforts between the academic and industrial bioscience research communities to address the technology innovation gap and promote economic development in Delaware. Projects involve partnerships among principal investigators at Delaware’s academic or research institutions and scientists from companies in the state.

Following are the latest funded projects and partners in the College of Engineering:

  • Xinqiao Jia, UD associate professor of materials science and engineering, will collaborate with Prelude Therapeutics Incorporated to engineer 3D prostate cancer models to reliably test new anticancer medicines.
  • Megan Killian, UD assistant professor of biomedical engineering, will work with LiteCure LLC to research effects of laser therapy on young athletes recovering from tendon injuries.
  • Babatunde Ogunnaike, who previously announced he will leave as dean of UD’s College of Engineering and return to the faculty as a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, will work with Air Liquide to develop a systems-engineering model to test diagnosis and treatments of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
  • John Slater, UD assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is planning to develop a new therapeutic approach to stopping cancer metastasis.

“Support from Gov. John Carney and the Delaware General Assembly has enabled the Delaware Bioscience CAT grants to expand and build a strong pipeline for innovative, collaborative and entrepreneurial projects in the state of Delaware,” said John Koh, interim director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute. “These projects foster a bidirectional exchange of ideas between business and academic researchers that together synthesize products or innovations that result in job creation and economic growth for our state.”

In 2018, the Delaware Biotechnology Institute is launching another round of Bioscience CAT grants and proposals are due by 5 p.m. on Monday, April 2. Visit www.cat.dbi.udel.edu for more details and to apply for the grant.

For the full UDaily article, click here.