UB CAT supports nine faculty-industry life sciences R&D projects

The UB Center for Advanced Technology in Big Data and Health Sciences (UB CAT) will co-fund nine R&D projects to support the development of innovative health science technologies during the 2024-25 fiscal year. UB CAT has committed more than $495,000 in project funding while bringing in $718,000 of matching industry-sponsored dollars.

UB CAT is one of 15 centers across the state funded by Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). Each project pairs a faculty researcher with a New York State business, with the goal of driving growth for the life and health sciences industries.

In collaboration with these companies, participating UB faculty can supplement industry-sponsored research with matching funds to support research and development in two categories: proof-of-concept and product development. The four main areas of research are drug development, diagnostics, medical devices and health care information technology.

“University and industry partnerships are crucial for sustaining a vibrant innovation pipeline,” says Per Stromhaug, UB senior associate vice president for economic development. “The CAT program plays a vital role in providing early-stage funding, allowing UB experts to collaborate with industry and help bring new discoveries and products to market.”

New to the program this year is Ithaca-based Cornell spinoff TETmedical. The company will collaborate with Rosalind Lai and Elad Levy — faculty members at the Jacob School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB — to validate a first of its kind in-vitro diagnostic tool for acute stroke.

“I am incredibly excited to work with Dr. Levy and TETmedical on this pioneering project at UB,” Lai says. “Unlike heart attacks, where there are reliable blood markers, there is currently no such marker for stroke. Through this collaboration, our goal is to develop the first blood test for stroke. This has the potential to revolutionize stroke care by expediting diagnosis and reducing missed cases to improve patient care.”

Other projects include developing cancer therapies, robotic clot-removal catheters and mRNA vaccines, among other technologies. The faculty members awarded UB CAT support for the 2024-25 fiscal year include:

Julian L. Ambrus Jr., professor of medicine at the Jacobs School.

• Industry partner: Immco Diagnostics Inc., a UB licensee company specializing in advanced diagnostics for autoimmune diseases.
• Project: Development of next-generation diagnostic tests for Sjögren’s Syndrome.
• Project budget: $140,000.

John Kolega, associate professor of pathology and anatomical sciences at the Jacobs School.

• Industry partner: Neurovascular Diagnostics Inc., a UB spinoff that is developing a low-cost blood test to screen high-risk patients for unruptured brain aneurysms.
• Project: Development of a blood test to identify dangerous brain aneurysms.
• Project budget: $176,000.

Rosalind Lai, assistant professor of neurosurgery, and Elad Levy, SUNY Distinguished Professor and the L. Nelson Hopkins Endowed Chair of neurosurgery, both of the Jacobs School.

• Industry partner: TETmedical Inc., a Cornell spinoff and clinical-stage platform nanomedicine company focused on in vitro diagnostics that enable insights for high-consequence disease decision-making. TETmedical’s first product is a high sensitivity, 15-minute blood test to prevent missed strokes.
• Project: Clinical evaluation of the blood test, Neuron Specific Enolase Functional Activity Stroke Test (NSE-FAST) in stroke alert patients presenting at UB.
• Project budget: $130,000.

Jonathan Lovell, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor of biomedical engineering, a joint program of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Jacobs School.

• Industry partner: POP Biotechnologies Inc., a UB spinoff developing cutting-edge vaccine technologies enabling the creation of powerful new ways to prevent infectious disease and treat cancer.
• Project: Developing and validating novel cancer therapies using immunogenic neoepitopes.
• Project budget: $250,000.

Swetadri Vasan Setlur Nagesh, research assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Jacobs School.

• Industry partner: QAS.AI Inc., a UB spinoff focused on the development and commercialization of predictive AI software to optimize neurovascular treatment by assisting decision-making during surgery.
• Project: Developing bias-reduction algorithms to enhance QAS.AI predictive performance.
• Project budget: $121,000.

Norma Nowak, professor of biochemistry at the Jacobs School.

• Industry partner: Flag Bio, a Buffalo-based biotech startup pioneering proprietary mRNA adjuvant technology to enhance the efficacy, safety and affordability of mRNA vaccines.
• Project: Looking at systemic activation of the immune system on distribution of mRNA vaccines.
• Project budget: $12,000.

Jun Qu, professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

• Industry partner: POP Biotechnologies Inc.
• Project: Development and assessment of a novel peptide vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease.
• Project budget: $70,000.

Jun Xia, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

• Industry partner: J.M. Canty, a global company with locations in Buffalo; Dublin, Ireland; and Phuket, Thailand. Canty develops automated smart-imaging technologies to solve some of the most difficult problems in manufacturing process control for a variety of industries.
• Project: Developing sonocrystallization control systems to improve pharmaceutical production.
• Project budget: $138,000.

David Zlotnick, interventional cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at the Jacobs School.

• Industry partner: Vicora, a medical device startup commercializing robotic catheters that remove blood clots from the legs, lungs and brain
• Project: Robotic clot-removal catheters: simulated use-testing with UB physicians for FDA submission.
• Project budget: $250,000.

For more information on the UB CAT program and details on the upcoming application cycle for the next set of funded projects, visit the Business & Entrepreneur Partnerships website.