CSU researchers secure advanced-industries grants

FORT COLLINS — CSU Strata, the technology-transfer arm of Colorado State University, has announced nine recipients of a total of $780,000 in state grants to commercialize innovations.

The 2023 Advanced Industries Proof of Concept Grant Program is administered through the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. CSU Strata manages the selection process, in conjunction with the CSU Office of Sponsored Programs.

CSU Strata  received 23 applications for the allocated funding, with applicants pitching the concept to a review committee coordinated by the technology-transfer team.

Grantees were selected for their innovative ideas with a high potential to advance various industries including aerospace; advanced manufacturing; bioscience; electronics; energy and natural resources; infrastructure engineering; and technology and information.

“We are immensely proud of the innovations showcased by the winners of the Advanced Industries Proof of Concept Grant,” Richard Magid, vice president of technology transfer at CSU Strata, said in a written statement. “These projects demonstrate the potential to create solutions in their respective industries while creating economic impact for the state of Colorado.”

Awardees include:

• Harnessing Infection-mimicking and Antigen-presenting Conditions to Rapidly Produce IgY — Addressing a significant global concern of bacterial diarrhea through the development of a therapeutic that mitigates the risk of antibiotic resistance.

Primary investigator: Brad Borlee, associate professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology.

• Hydrogen Plasma-Assisted Radiant Tube Burner for Heat Furnaces — Developing a new hydrogen burner technology to address greenhouse gas emissions in the industrial heat process industry.

Primary investigator: Ciprian Dumitrache, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering. 

• Chemically Recyclable Plastics — Demonstrating the commercial feasibility of a chemically recyclable plastics technology, using multiblock copolymers to easily construct and deconstruct different polyolefin-like materials with diverse mechanical properties.

Primary investigator: Garret Miyake, professor, Department of Chemistry.

• Development of a New Generation of Vectors to Accelerate Drug Development — Advancing drug design and development with iVectors, a novel tool using parts of DNA to speed up drug discovery.

Primary investigator: Jean Peccoud, professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

• Advanced All-Terrain Robot with Tensegrity-Based Locomotion for Public Safety — Addressing the shortcomings of robots currently used for this purpose, such as mobility, through the development of a surveillance tool for law enforcement.

Primary investigator: Jianguo Zhao, associate professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering. 

• TraumaFoam: Developing and Innovative Wet Hydrogel Foam for Effective Pain Management, Antibacterial Protection, and Blood Clotting for Open Wound Recovery — Managing acute open wound care through the development of a foam that can be deployed in the field to mitigate pain, infection, and blood loss.

Primary investigator: Kirk McGilvray, associate professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering. 

• A Novel Gene Therapeutic Approach to Osteoarthritis for Companion Animals — Treating osteoarthritis, a progressive, degenerative condition affecting many companion animals, through the development of a veterinary gene therapeutic.

Primary investigator: Laurie Goodrich, professor, Department of Clinical Sciences. 

• Developing a Commercial High-Throughput Crop Disease Monitoring System with Drone Hyperspectral Imaging and Machine Learning — Advancing precision agriculture in Colorado by developing a method for real-time detection and monitoring of crop disease in Colorado wheat.

Primary investigator: Phuong Dao, assistant professor, Department of Agricultural Biology. 

• GutSeq Technology for Improved Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Diseases — Creating improved gastrointestinal diagnosis for the veterinary market by the development of a GI test that is rapid, non-invasive and lower cost than existing alternatives.

Primary investigator: Steven Dow, professor, Department of Clinical Sciences. 

“We are immensely proud of the innovations showcased by the winners of the Advanced Industries Proof of Concept Grant,” said Richard Magid, vice president of technology transfer at CSU STRATA.
“These projects demonstrate the potential to create solutions in their respective industries while creating economic impact for the state of Colorado.”

Additional Advanced Industries Proof-of-Concept grants are available, with applications due in March.

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