UIC researchers awarded CBC entrepreneurial fellowships
Two UIC researchers receive fellowships from the Chicago Biomedical Consortium Heading link
Two UIC researchers have been named to the inaugural class of the Chicago Biomedical Consortium Entrepreneurial Fellows program. The program aims to inspire, identify, and coach an inclusive cohort of the next generation of Chicago’s bio-entrepreneurs. The fellows will be trained to navigate the complex research ecosystem to commercialize promising scientific discoveries.
Amanda Maldonado, a PhD candidate in medical chemistry, and Karol Sokolowski, a PharmD/PhD candidate in biopharmaceutical sciences, will be part of the inaugural class.
Each researcher will receive a full-time, paid fellowship and will be guided by venture capitalists, biotech executives, strategic business development professionals and senior scientists to learn how to advance commercially promising research projects sourced from the three-member universities — UIC, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. The best of these projects will receive up to $250,000 from the consortium to advance science.
Maldonado plans to use her fellowship training to expand the commercialization of treatments for women’s reproductive diseases. Maldonado has completed a thesis in the lab of Joanna Burdette, professor and associate dean for research and graduate education in the UIC College of Pharmacy. She also is the recipient of an NIH grant and is on the executive board of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science Graduate Chapter.
Sokolowski plans to contribute to Chicago’s biotech ecosystem, as well as support science students in the Chicago Public Schools, where he was educated before attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Sokolowski completed his thesis in the lab of Richard Gemeinhart, professor and associate vice chancellor for research at UIC, where he investigated a hydrogel delivery system capable of personalized, flexible antibiotic delivery for the treatment of bacterial skin and soft tissue infections.
“The opportunity to serve as a CBC Entrepreneurial Fellow provides me with an avenue to develop novel therapeutic technologies capable of addressing current gaps in patient care. I am excited to learn from biotech leaders in academia and industry while working alongside my co-fellows to advance biomedical innovation within Chicago,” Sokolowski said.