News and views for the UB community
research news
By EMMA VECELLIO
Published September 27, 2024
The UB Center for Advanced Technology in Big Data and Health Sciences (UB CAT) will co-fund nine R&D projects to support the development of innovative health science technologies during the 2024-25 fiscal year. UB CAT has committed more than $495,000 in project funding while bringing in $718,000 of matching industry-sponsored dollars.
UB CAT is one of 15 centers across the state funded by Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). Each project pairs a faculty researcher with a New York State business, with the goal of driving growth for the life and health sciences industries.
In collaboration with these companies, participating UB faculty can supplement industry-sponsored research with matching funds to support research and development in two categories: proof-of-concept and product development. The four main areas of research are drug development, diagnostics, medical devices and health care information technology.
“University and industry partnerships are crucial for sustaining a vibrant innovation pipeline,” says Per Stromhaug, UB senior associate vice president for economic development. “The CAT program plays a vital role in providing early-stage funding, allowing UB experts to collaborate with industry and help bring new discoveries and products to market.”
New to the program this year is Ithaca-based Cornell spinoff TETmedical. The company will collaborate with Rosalind Lai and Elad Levy — faculty members at the Jacob School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB — to validate a first of its kind in-vitro diagnostic tool for acute stroke.
“I am incredibly excited to work with Dr. Levy and TETmedical on this pioneering project at UB,” Lai says. “Unlike heart attacks, where there are reliable blood markers, there is currently no such marker for stroke. Through this collaboration, our goal is to develop the first blood test for stroke. This has the potential to revolutionize stroke care by expediting diagnosis and reducing missed cases to improve patient care.”
Other projects include developing cancer therapies, robotic clot-removal catheters and mRNA vaccines, among other technologies. The faculty members awarded UB CAT support for the 2024-25 fiscal year include:
Julian L. Ambrus Jr., professor of medicine at the Jacobs School.
John Kolega, associate professor of pathology and anatomical sciences at the Jacobs School.
Rosalind Lai, assistant professor of neurosurgery, and Elad Levy, SUNY Distinguished Professor and the L. Nelson Hopkins Endowed Chair of neurosurgery, both of the Jacobs School.
Jonathan Lovell, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor of biomedical engineering, a joint program of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Jacobs School.
Swetadri Vasan Setlur Nagesh, research assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Jacobs School.
Norma Nowak, professor of biochemistry at the Jacobs School.
Jun Qu, professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Jun Xia, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.
David Zlotnick, interventional cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at the Jacobs School.
For more information on the UB CAT program and details on the upcoming application cycle for the next set of funded projects, visit the Business & Entrepreneur Partnerships website.