POC Awardees
Proof of Concept funding has helped enable the formation of startup companies, attract venture and angel funding, and advance applications for SBIR/STTR funding.
Below are the POC awardees and their projects since the program's inception in 2012.
POC Awardees
Phase I Awardees
Phase I Awardees
Alex Leow
College of Medicine and College of Engineering
Project Title: Using Natural Language Processing and AI on your Smartphone to Gain Mental Health Insights
Alexander Adibekian
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Project Title: A Minimal Size Covalent-Reversible Tag for in vivo active LYTACs
Andrei Gartel
College of Medicine
Project Title: Novel FOXM1 Inhibitor against Human Cancer
Arunkumar Subramanian
College of Engineering
Project Title: Plasma Beam Lithography
Bin He
College of Medicine Targeted
Project Title: Delivery for Cancer Immunotherapy
Brad Merrill
College of Medicine
Project Title: Next Generation of CRISPR Stem Cell Programming
Dr. David X. Marquez
College of Applied Health Sciences
Project Title: Advancing the BAILAMOS Dance Program
Kamran Avanaki
College of Engineering
Project Title: Wearable Blood Gas Analyzer
Mathew T. Mathew
College of Medicine Rockford
Project Title: Electrochemical, Nanoengineered, and Intelligent Biosensor for Detection of Pancreatic Cancer
Pai-Yen Chen
College of Engineering
Non-Hermitian Cryptographic Primitives for Internet-of-Things Security
Stephanie Cologna
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Project Title: Sigma-2 receptor as a Target for Niemann-Pick Type C
Zongmin Zhao
College of Pharmacy Nanoengineered
Project Title: Dendritic Cells for in situ Immunization against Glioblastoma
2022 POC Award Winners
Phase I Awardees
Ramaswamy Kalyanasundaram and Justin Richner
College of Medicine
Project Title: Developing a novel mRNA vaccine for lymphatic filariasis and testing it in cell lines and in a mouse model
John Monaghan
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Project Title: Spatial and Temporal Modeling of Aircraft Crash Survivor Behavior
Terry Moore and Dustin Fraidenburg
College of Pharmacy and College of Medicine
Project Title: Non-covalent NRF2 activators for pulmonary arterial hypertension
Sangil Kim
College of Engineering
Project Title: Development of Prototype Pouch Cells for High-Performance, Long-Lasting All-Solid-State Batteries Based on Zwitterionic Polyurethane Electrolytes
Bellur S. Prabhakar
College of Medicine
Project Title: Diabodies to Treat Autoimmune Diseases
Pavel A. Petukhov
College of Pharmacy
Project Title: Novel inhibitors of thioredoxin glutathione reductase (TGR) for the treatment of schistosomiasis
Phase II Awardees
Deepak Shukla
College of Medicine
Project Title: DECON: A New Technology to Treat Herpes
Meenesh R. Singh
College of Engineering
Project Title: Fully automated robotic system for effective screening of drug substance
2021 POC Award Winners
Phase I
Leslie Aldrich
Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Project Title: Optimization and evaluation of an autophagy-selective inhibitor for cancer therapy
Deepak Shukla
College of Medicine
Project Title: DECON: A novel platform for enhanced antiviral drug delivery
Meenesh Singh
College of Engineering
Project Title: Fully automated robotic system for effective polymorph screening of drug substance
Arunkumar Subramanian
College of Engineering
Project Title: IC-compatible, direct deposition of patterned nanostructures using physical vapor deposition techniques
Joe Zhou
College of Medicine
Project Title: Three-dimensional functional MRI (fMRI) in focused brain regions
Phase II
Paul Goldspink
College of Medicine
Project Title: Targeting cardiac troponin I for treatment of cardiac myopathies
Reza Shahbazian-Yassar
College of Engineering
Project Title: Commercially viable coating based on graphene oxide nanosheets for dendrite-free lithium metal batteries
2020 POC Award Winners
Phase I
Paul Goldspink
College of Medicine
Project Title: Targeting 14-3-3/Troponin I in Cardiomyopathy
Russell Pesavento
College of Dentistry
Project Title: Coated Nanoceria as a Caries Prevention Agent
Justin Richner
College of Medicine
Project Title: Dengue virus mRNA vaccine
Fei Song and Jeffrey Loeb
College of Medicine
Project Title: GlyB4 biologic for neurodegenerative diseases
Alexander Yarin and Youngkwan Song
Colleges of Engineering and Nursing
Project Title: Medical device-related pressure injury prevention pressure-indicating material
2019 POC Award Winners
Phase I
Ayman Al-Hendy
College of Medicine
Project Title: TLR5: Molecular Bio-Imaging Probe to Differentiate Uterine Fibroids from Sarcoma
Gang Cheng
College of Engineering
Project Title: Commercialization of an Anti-infective Urinary Catheter
Gus Cho
College of Medicine
Project Title: Peptide Treatment of Vascular Occlusion in Thromboinflammatory Disease
Reza Shabazian-Yassar
College of Engineering
Project Title: A Commercially Viable Coating Based on Graphene Oxide Nanosheets for Dendrite-Free Lithium Metal Batteries
Phase II
Bin He
College of Medicine
Project Title: Viral Immunotherapy of Cancer
Sandeep Jain
College of Medicine
Project Title: Immunotherapy of Dye Eye Disease
Sangeetha Madhavan
College of Applied Health Sciences
Project Title: DIG-I-PRIME™ to Enhance Stroke Neurorehabilitation
Ajay Maker
College of Surgery
Project Title: A Novel Single Platform Screening Test for Early Stage Pancreatic Cancer
2018 POC Award Winners
Phase I
Mark Rosenblatt
College of Medicine
Project Title: Intraocular display projector for corneal blindness
Sangeetha Madhavan
College of Applied Health Sciences
Project Title: SMART ankle-foot motion tracker device for neurorehabilitation
Ajay Maker
College of Medicine
Project Title: A novel single platform screening test for early stage pancreatic cancer
Amit Trivedi and Theja Tulabandhula
College of Engineering
Project Title: Delivering robust, real-time artificial intelligence (AI)
Sandeep Jain
College of Medicine
Project Title: Treatment of citrullination-related eye diseases
Bin He
College of Medicine
Project Title: Oncolytic immunotherapy of cancer
Phase II
Rui Xiong and Gregory Thatcher
College of Pharmacy
Project Title: Novel oral treatment for metastatic ER+ breast cancer
Arnon Lavie
College of Medicine
Project Title: TRAIL-asparaginase fusion protein as a novel pancreatic cancer therapeutic
2017 POC Award Winners
Phase I
Mary Jo LaDu
College of Medicine
Project Title: Novel Mechanistic Biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease in Human Plasma
Arnon Lavie
College of Medicine
Project Title: TRAIL-Asparaginase fusion protein as a novel pancreatic cancer(PC) therapeutic
Jason McAnany
College of Medicine
Project Title: Apparatus and method for noise-based visual
Besma Smida and Danilo Erricolo
College of Engineering
Project Title: Inherent Self‐interference Cancellation for In‐band Full-duplex Wireless Communications
Rui Xiong and Gregory Thatcher
College of Pharmacy
Project Title: Novel Brain-Penetrable, Oral SERDs for ER+Breast Cancer
Phase II
Kaori Yamada
College of Medicine
Project Title: 23 aa Peptide Derived From Kinesin KIF13B Inhibits Angiogenesis: Novel Therapy for Ischemic Diseases
2016 POC Award Winners
Phase I
Marcelo Bonini
College of Medicine
Project Title: Mito-spyro, a new mitochondrial targeted antioxidant with anti-cancer, anti-arrhythmic and potential anti-diabetic functions
Alan Mancini
College of Pharmacy
Project Title: Formulation of Topical Glyburide for Use in Diabetic Wound Care Treatment (Topical Glyburide for Wound Healing)
Igor Veryovkin
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Project Title: Right Angle Ion Mirror-Prism (RAIMP) for High Resolution Mass Spectrometry Imaging
Kaori Yamada
College of Medicine
Project Title: 23 aa Peptide Derived From Kinesin KIF13B Inhibits Angiogenesis: Novel Therapy for Ischemic Diseases
Phase II
Terry Vanden Hoek
College of Medicine
Project Title: Phase II-Novel TAT-peptide Improves Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) Survival
2015 POC Award Winners
Spring 2015
Shiva Shahrara
College of Medicine
Project Title: TLR5: A Novel Treatment Strategy for RA Patients
Shane Phillips
College of Applied Health Sciences
Project Title: Wearable Continuous Cardiovascular Sensor and Algorithm for Healthcare & Rehabilitation
Amin Salehi-Khojin
College of Engineering
Project Title: An Advanced Li-Air Battery Cell for Energy Storage Applications
Steven Ackerman
College of Medicine
Project Title: Peptide Nanoparticle Inhibitor of CCR3-Mediated Eosinophilic Inflammation in Asthma
Fall 2015
Terry Vanden Hoek
College of Medicine
Project Title: Phase I-Novel TAT-peptide Improves Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) Survival
Maria Siemionow
College of Medicine
Project Title: Phase I-Novel Chimeric Cell Therapy for Treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Arnon Lavie
College of Medicine
Project Title: Phase I-Novel L-Asparaginase Cancer Drug: Clone 63
Brian Chaplin
College of Engineering
Project Title: Phase I-Commercialization of Reactive Electrochemical Membranes (REMs)
2014 POC Award Winners
Spring 2014
Brian Kay
College of Liberal Arts and Science
Project Title: High-Throughput Antibody Generation by PExSR
Valerie Dobiesz and Stacie Geller
College of Medicine
Project Title: Obsterical Medical Device for Auto Transfusion in Post-Partum Hemorrhage (PPH)
Sriram Ravindran
College of Dentistry
Project Title: Bioenhanced Implant Surfaces for Improved Osteointegration
Mark Grechanik
College of Engineering
Project Title: Making Cloud Computing Elastic, Cost Effective and Efficient
Bellur Prabhakar
College of Medicine
Project Title: Evaluation of Soluble OX40L-JAG-1 to Treat Type-1 Diabetes
Dieter Klatt
Colleges of Engineering and Medicine
Project Title: Validation of In-Vivo SLIM-MRE
Fall 2014
Sudip Mazumder
College of Engineering
Project Title: Wide-Bandgap Optical Emitter Turn-Off (ETO) Thyristor
Mahshid Amirabadi
College of Engineering
Project Title: High Power Density Power Conversion System
Mary Jo LaDu
College of Medicine
Project Title: Novel Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease in Human Plasma
David Peace
College of Medicine
Project Title: Peptide Targeted Immunotherapy of Prostate Cancer
Anantha Harijith
College of Medicine
Project Title: PF-543, a Novel Drug to Treat Oxidative Lung Injury
Alan Kozikowski
College of Pharmacy
Project Title: Use of 5-HT2c-Agonists in Rett Therapy
2013 POC Award Winners
Spring 2013
Venkat Venkatakrishnan
College of Engineering
Project Title: Security Analysis of Online Enterprise Websites
Amin Salehi-Khojin
College of Engineering
Project Title: Novel Catalysts for Syngas Production by CO2 Reduction
Nadim Mahmud
College of Medicine
Project Title: Expanded Cord Blood as an Off-the-Shelf Bridge Graft to Augment Blood Cell Numbers
John Hetling
Colleges of Engineering and Medicine
Project Title:Detecting Glaucoma Where it Starts
Sandeep Jain
College of Medicine
Project Title: New Drug for Treating Dry Eye Disease – Phase I/II Human Trial
Ying Liu
College of Engineering
Project Title: Scalable Process for Manufacturing Nanoparticles Encapsulating Hydrophobic Compounds
Fall 2013
David Carley
College of Engineering
Project Title: Proof of Concept for Real‐Time Prediction of Driving Performance and Safety
Alexander Aruin
College of Applied Health Sciences
Project Title: Design and Optimization of Gait Performance Enhancing Insole
Shaolin Yang
College of Medicine
Project Title: Two-Dimensional J-Resolved LASER and semi-LASER Spectroscopy
Girish Deshpande
Department of Medicine
Project Title: Bench Testing of SecureTube
2012 POC Award Winners
Spring 2012
Samuel Dudley
College of Medicine
Project Title: A Blood Test to Differentiate Systolic from Diastolic Heart Failure
Xavier Llor
College of Medicine
Project Title: Development of a Blood Test for Colorectal Cancer Screening Using a miRNA Panel
Hayat Onyuksel
College of Pharmacy
Project Title: A Novel Targeted siRNA Delivery Platform Case Study : Liver Fibrosis
Katherine Warpeha
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Project Title: Transformation of Critical Crops to Engineer Improved Stress and Yield Characteristics
Fall 2012
Sohail Murad
College of Engineering
Project Title: Water Desalination by an Electric Field Enhanced Ion-Exchange Process
Mahnaz Shahidi
College of Medicine
Project Title: EyeFlow: A Device to Detect Impaired Cerebral Blood Flow
Farhad Ansari
College of Engineering
Project Title: Crack Sensor
Ramaswamy Kalyanasundaram
College of Medicine
Project Title: Improving the Current Lymphatic Filariasis Disease
Seungpyo Hong
College of Pharmacy
Project Title: Development of Biomimetic Device for Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells
Gregory Thatcher and Debra Tonetti
College of Pharmacy
Project Title: Selective Estrogen Mimic (Sem) Treatment of Tamoxifen-Resistant Breast Cancer