Dr. Jeff Seemann, UConn/ UConn Health Vice President for Research and Dr. Bruce Liang, Interim Dean of UConn School of Medicine and Director of the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center, are pleased to announce the recipients of UConn Health’s 2015 SPARK Grant Competition. These awards aim to help investigators move ideas into the earliest stages of commercialization and development.
The selection committee included UConn Health faculty and staff leaders, entrepreneurs and senior executives from top pharmaceutical, biotech and venture capital firms. The committee members were impressed by the science and innovation conveyed in all twelve presentations. A natural outcome of SPARK is the opportunity for participating researchers to connect with and learn from the members representing industry. We were very fortunate this year, as we have already had one of the companies represented on the committee express interest in a technology presented. The committee selected the following six awardees:
Dr. Robert Clark, “Development of a Blood Biomarker for Use in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis”
Dr. Robert Kelly, “Artificial Salivary Pump/Gland Concept”
Dr. Mark Metersky, “Novel Technologies for Cloning Cancer Cells Derived from Pleural Fluid for Diagnosis and Drug Discovery”
Dr. Kourosh Parham, “Inner ear protein prestin as a biomarker for ototoxicity”
Dr. Andrew Winokur, “A Phase I Study of the Biomarker Response and Pharmacokinetic Profile of Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone (TRH) Administered as a Sublingual Tablet”
Dr. George Wu, “Targeted Transplantation of Mitochondria to Liver Cells”
“The top notch research underway at UConn Health ensured that we were able to offer the judges a highly competitive pool of candidates,” said Dr. Seemann. “We are extremely grateful to have the input of the industry members who provided keen insight into the factors leading to translation of research, as is the long term intent of this program.”
The School of Medicine was pleased to support SPARK again this year, said Dr. Liang. “I commend all of the SPARK applicants for presenting a very compelling case for their proposals, and offer my thanks to the Office of the Vice President for Research for its outstanding management of the SPARK program, as well at its financial contributions.”