Evaluation of Injectable Collagen Patches for Disc Herniation Repair

The goal of this work is to develop injectable collagen patches to seal disc herniations. More than 500,000 discectomy procedures performed each year to address disc hernations, but there is no effective way to repair these herniations. Here we will test 3dBio's AnnuNova collegen formulation on spines from human cadavers to demonstrate that these implants have the mechanical stability under loading that would be necessary to ensure safety in human clinical trials.

Company partner: 3DBio Therapeutics

Academic PI: Lawrence Bonassar, Daljit S. and Elaine Sarkaria Professor in Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering

Developing affordable same-day, sample-to-answer assays based on cell-free RNA liquid biopsy

This continuation project will leverage genome sequencing to identify cell-free RNA biomarkers for early-stage disease and use those results to develop a sample-to-answer, affordable PCR-based diagnostic tool that yields results in a few hours. Cell-free RNA liquid biopsy offers non-invasive, early detection of conditions such as cancer, preeclampsia, and infectious disease. 

Company Partner: Rheonix, Inc.

Academic PI: Iwijn De Vlaminck, Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering

Physiological and molecular responses of wheat and tomato to an enzymatically produced pesticide

Responding to a critical need to protect and improve crop quality and yield while reducing reliance on synthetic agrochemicals, environmental and health impact, this project will characterize the physiological and molecular responses of wheat and tomato plants to a novel, enzymatically driven, broad-spectrum pesticide.

Company Partner: Agrynex

Academic PI: Olena Vatamaniuk, School of Integrative Plant Science Soil and Crop Sciences Section Plant Biology Section