Accelerator fund helps advance faculty projects with potential to improve research and patient care.
Four faculty proposals for emerging biomedical technologies each received $100,000 this year through the Brown Biomedical Innovations to Impact accelerator fund. BBII also launched a new $250,000 award to support the development of life sciences technologies with the potential to achieve commercialization.
In addition to funding, the new Brown Innovation Fund-Life Sciences Impact Award, established by Preetha Basaviah ’91 MD’95 and Venky Ganasan, will provide advising and mentorship to one or two recipients each year. Recipients are expected to generate licensable technology, with the potential to establish a start-up.
The inaugural awardee is Eric Morrow, MD, PhD, Mencoff Family Professor of Biology and professor of brain science, of neuroscience, and of psychiatry and human behavior. Morrow, who is developing a gene therapy that can treat specific genetic-based neurodevelopmental disorders, will receive the support of BBII and Brown Technology Innovations throughout his research and development.
“The Brown Innovation Fund-Life Sciences Impact Awards provide an advanced level of support for development of life science technologies where there is already some established proof of concept,” says Karen Bulock, PhD, managing director of BBII. “This year, five faculty-led teams competed by pitching their technology to a selection committee of venture capital investors. We provided support to the PIs to develop their project plan and pitches. The process is a valuable learning experience as well.”
BBII also supports proof-of-concept projects to help demonstrate the potential for clinical impact, such as drugs, medical devices, and tests. The $100,000 awards, funded either by BBII or by a gift from the Steven J. Massarsky Trust, help faculty inventors to develop important data showing the promise of their technology. An advisory committee made up of venture capitalists and experts in the pharmaceutical and medical device fields review faculty proposals for commercialization potential.
This year, out of 21 submissions, the committee selected four proposals to receive proof-of-concept awards:
- Carolina Haass-Koffler, PharmD, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior and of behavioral and social sciences, is developing an antidote for fatal xylazine-laced overdoses. Overdose deaths are increasing, despite efforts by governments to address illicit drug use and implement public health approaches. A significant reason is the increasing prevalence of xylazine (tranq), an alpha-2 adrenergic agonist and central nervous system depressant present in the fentanyl drug supply. Xylazine is used in veterinary medicine as a large-animal tranquilizer. Naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote, does not reverse xylazine effects. Haass-Koffler is developing yohimbine, an alpha-2 adrenergic antagonist that reverses the effects of xylazine in animals, as an antidote to xylazine for administration to humans to reverse cardiovascular and neurological effects in overdose situations. Haass-Koffler will use her award, funded by the Massarsky Trust, to support a clinical study of yohimbine administration in drug overdose.
- Stephanie Jones, PhD, professor of neuroscience, aims to develop brain simulation tools to uncover the mechanisms underlying neurological diseases and model the effects of neurotherapeutics on brain circuits. Current measures of therapeutic success rely on subjective behavioral endpoints without direct links to brain circuitry. As such, the failure rate of bringing neuropharmaceutical drugs to market exceeds 95 percent. Jones’ lab’s software solutions will provide evidence for critical decisions in the preclinical drug development phase with the intent of increasing success rates within the drug development pipeline. She will use her BBII-funded award to develop a proof-of-concept model for schizophrenia by building the process and framework for biomarker identification, model simulation, and experimental validation.
- Adam Lewkowitz, MD, MPHS, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, will create a smartphone application that adapts the Mothers and Babies Program, which uses cognitive behavioral therapy to disseminate effective postpartum depression prevention and treatment. The app will deliver on-demand support tailored to individual behaviors. Lewkowitz will use his award, funded by BBII, to incorporate additional features to encourage ongoing engagement and to develop a commercialization strategy that will allow for wide dissemination to patients.
- Arto Nurmikko, PhD, L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Engineering and professor of physics, is creating a minimally invasive wireless subdermal neural implant for mobile use. Many patients, like those with epilepsy, may need neural activity recorded continuously, yet no clinically viable system exists. Nurmikko proposes the development of a minimally invasive EEG technology for long-term neurological monitoring for home and mobile use. The monitoring technology for home and mobile use is based on a new subdermal wireless sensor concept—an unobtrusive multielectrode strip that is insertable in a doctor’s office. The device integrates a tiny radio chip that is externally powered and transmits EEG brain signals through the scalp to a coin-sized external receiver behind the ear. He will use his Massarsky Trust-funded award to develop a prototype and validate the EEG functionality in vitro and in vivo.
Since 2018, BBII has funded 25 proposals by 22 faculty, totaling $2.4 million. Of those, four have formed start-ups to commercialize their products, and raised more than $3 million combined in additional seed funding. They include:
- PedialyDx, a 2020 awardee. Cofounded by Barry Lester, PhD, director of the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk and a professor of psychiatry and human behavior and of pediatrics; and Stephen Sheinkopf, PhD, a former associate professor of pediatrics and of psychiatry and human behavior, PedialyDx uses machine learning to develop and commercialize diagnostic tools based on acoustic signatures from infants’ cries.
- SmölTap, a 2019 award winner. The device, which stabilizes infants to perform a lumbar puncture, was invented by Brian Alverson, MD, a former professor of pediatrics and of medical science, and neonatologist Ravi D’Cruz MD’13 RES’16 F’19. In 2022, Smöltap became the first BBII awardee to bring its technology to market.
- XM Therapeutics, which won an award in 2019. Founder Jeffrey Morgan, PhD, the Donna Weiss ’89 and Jason Weiss Director of the Center for Alternatives to Animals in Testing and a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and of engineering, invented a technology that generates biomaterials from cultured human cells to aid patient recovery from heart failure.
