Perena Gouma receives Accelerator Award funding for development of user-friendly electrospinning prototype

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Eight projects recently received Accelerator Awards funding, totaling over $750,000, to advance the translation of technologies developed by Ohio State innovators from the university into the marketplace.

The Accelerator Awards program is designed to accelerate the advancement of cutting-edge Ohio State innovations from the university into the marketplace. The program provides grants of up to $150,000 per project to support external validation and de-risking activities. The purpose of the funding is to demonstrate the commercial viability of a technology and enable a license to an Ohio based startup-company at the conclusion of the project. The funding is provided by The Ohio State University, with matching funds from the Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation and Startup Fund (TVSF).

The recent Accelerator Award cycle saw another group of exciting technologies. We are delighted to be able to offer this critical, early-stage funding to our PIs, allowing them to perform proof of concept studies or create prototypes to quickly demonstrate the effectiveness of their technologies. By performing more of this work prior to a license agreement, we hope to increase the value and level of startup creation at Ohio State.

Cheryl Turnbull, Senior Director of the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship

The funding provided through the awards have helped provide a solid proof-of-concept platform on which to build a startup. Since the program launch in 2015, the Accelerator Awards distributed over $5 million to 78 unique projects. These projects have led to 22 startup companies.

The Accelerator Award program is administered through the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship. Past projects funded by Accelerator Awards will be featured at the Keenan Center Technology Showcase on May 19, in Columbus, Ohio. For more information contact, Cheryl Turnbull.

Accelerator Awards Overview: To be eligible for the Accelerator Awards program, submitted proposals must be focused on advancing Ohio State intellectual property toward commercialization, with the goal of licensing to a startup company. Projects are awarded funding to complete milestone objectives over a period of up to 12 months. Guidance from industry experts during the application phase and the funding period helps focus the projects on commercialization goals.  Awarded projects are reviewed and recommended by a selection committee that evaluates the commercialization and market potential as well as other criteria in keeping with the key goals of the program.

Accelerator Awards  |  2021-22 Awardees

Pelagia-Irene (Perena) Gouma 

Desktop High-Throughput Electrospinning System
College of Engineering | Department of Materials Science & Engineering   

Standard Electrospinning, a nano-manufacturing process of fibrous materials, is currently limited by the low production rate and technical problems associated with the available equipment. This project is developing a turnkey, user-friendly, scalable processing equipment that offers high-throughput production of non-woven fibers (random or aligned) which can be used to manufacture a wide range of products, from photocatalytic blankets (nanogrids) to skin gas sensing diagnostics and smart textiles. The Accelerator Award funds will be used to fabricate and validate a desktop prototype design for commercialization. 

Robert J. Lee

Albumin-SN-38 Conjugate (AlbuCure) for Cancer Therapy
College of Pharmacy | Division of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology

Lung and pancreatic cancers have poor prognosis and need better therapies from drug resistance and severe adverse side effects. AlbuCure is a tumor-targeted drug that selectively targets aggressive, difficult-to-treat cancers. With high therapeutic efficacy and reduced toxicity relative to standard chemotherapeutic drugs in use, development of this technology could significantly impact the management of solid tumors as a highly effective treatment either alone or in combination with other therapeutics. Accelerator Award funds will be used to validate AlbuCure’s safety and efficacy and outline a regulatory strategy for clinical development.

Zihai Li

Anti-GARP Monoclonal Antibodies for Cancer Immunotherapy
College of Medicine | Comprehensive Cancer Center

Although immune checkpoint blockade has emerged as a promising cancer therapy, a majority of tumors fail to respond or develop resistance due to tumor-associated immune dysfunction, which can be driven by the accumulation of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGFβ1) in the tumor microenvironment. While TGFβ-targeted therapies have the potential to treat a wide range of malignancy, there are currently no FDA-approved therapies for cancer. Combining TGFβ1 targeted therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors may overcome the resistance seen in the clinic. Glycoprotein-A repetitions predominant (GARP) is a receptor for latent TGFβ that is highly expressed in cancer cells, activated Tregs, and platelets. Targeting GARP offers a unique and potentially safer option for modulating TGFβ signaling and has been shown in mouse models to overcome tumor resistance to ICB. The Accelerator Award funds will used to obtain pre-clinical and IND-enabling data to support a future Phase I clinical trial.

Dehua Pei

Cell-Permeable Proteins for Sustainable Organic Agriculture
College of Arts and Sciences | Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Modern agriculture relies heavily on fertilizers and pesticides, which have an adverse impact on the environment as well as animal and human health. Many environment-friendly products for organic agriculture are peptides/proteins derived from biological defense activators and bio-stimulants. However, poor cell penetration efficiency undermines their utility. This project is developing a novel cell-penetrating protein that can effectively deliver defense activator/biostimulant proteins into plant cells to substantially improve agricultural productivity in an environment-friendly manner. Accelerator Award funds will be used to refine and validate the delivery platform, confirm low toxicity of the protein, and de-risk a low-cost system for large-scale production.

Judit Puskas

“BUCKEYE” COVID Mask
College of Food, Agricultural & Environmental Sciences | Department of Food, Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Current face masks have limitations and lower compliance has been an issue. The project is developing a face mask to address these problems (comfort, moisture absorption, impeded breathing) by prototyping a recyclable and comfortable face mask that outperforms current disposable masks, while having the filtration efficiency of KN95 masks. The Accelerator Award funds will be used to fabricate prototype masks and test them with users at meat processing facilities, as well as de-risk scaled-up manufacture of the material required to make the masks. 

Jonathan Song

Induced Electric Field (iEF) Therapy for Treatment of Metastatic Cancers
College of Engineering | Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Metastasis of cancer cells is associated with a poor patient prognosis and is the foremost cause of cancer-related death, with approximately 90% of patients who succumb to cancer dying of metastatic disease. While current standard of care therapies, such as chemotherapy and radiation treatment, can sometimes shrink or slowdown metastatic tumors, their therapeutic effects are most often temporary and are commonly associated with side effects and co-morbidities. There is a need for novel, safe, effective, and cost-effective anti-metastatic therapies that can either replace existing treatments or make current treatments more effective. The project has developed an induced electric field technology as a novel, non-invasive, and non-pharmaceutical method for limiting and preventing cancer metastasis. The Accelerator Award funds will enable us to develop a prototype for a device-based solution for treating metastatic cancer leading ultimately to human clinical trials.

Yael Vodovotz

Overcoming challenges to commercialization of a bio based, biodegradable rubbery bioplastic: A need for an industrially produced prototype
College of Food, Agricultural & Environmental Sciences | Department of Food Science and Technology

Single plastic use is prolific and cost-effective, however the environmental impact due to plastic waste, petroleum-based plastics and the cost to mitigate this is high. New bioplastic materials that can overcome deficiencies and are environmentally friendly are needed. A bio-based blend of polymers has been developed to include a plasticizer using food processing waste that when processed produce an alternative to single use plastics that can be used in food and cosmetics packaging. The Accelerator Award funds will be used to validate prototypes and de-risk scaled-up processing and manufacturing to support eco-friendly packaging alternatives.

Alper Yilmaz and Deepak Gulati

Machine Learning Tool Detection and Monitoring of Stroke
College of Engineering | Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering
Wexner Medical Center| Department of Neurology

Timely recognition of stroke along with follow-up monitoring remains a challenge. Major pain points include failure to timely detect and assess severity of stroke, monitoring patients during hospital and post-discharge for secondary prevention. Using stroke scales are correlated with better patient outcomes and reporting of stroke scales has an impact on reimbursement and stroke center certification, as mandated by Joint Commission and American Heart Association. The project has developed a technology to deploy an automated machine learning agent for detection severity and monitoring of stroke. The Accelerator Award funds will be used to complete a market research study to support and validate development of a mobile application that detects and monitors stroke through an audio-video-haptic interface in prehospital, hospital and posthospital settings.