Berthiaume Institute announces 2024 Technology Development Fund awardees
The Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health at the University of Notre Dame has announced the awardees of its Technology Development Fund for 2024. Four projects received funding, each of which aims to enhance a key area of knowledge at the frontier of science and engineering for health.
Matthew J. Webber, the acting director of the Institute and the Keating-Crawford Collegiate Professor of Engineering, said, "These awards are a testament to the exciting innovations emerging at the intersection of healthcare and technology. We are especially proud that nearly all of the recipients are early-career faculty from multiple departments across campus, highlighting the breadth of expertise and creativity driving BIPH initiatives. Their work embodies the forward-thinking and translational spirit of our institute, and we look forward to seeing the impact these projects will have on advancing precision healthcare solutions.”
The awarded 2024 Technology Development Fund projects are:
Machine learning for rapid drug screening
Yamil J. Colón and Yichun Wang, both assistant professors in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, will leverage machine learning technology alongside sensor development to create fast, effective ways to identify street drugs. Opioids and related potent substances pose a significant public health risk and present occupational safety challenges for care providers and first responders. Colón and Wang hope the tools they develop will help identify dangerous drugs more quickly and effectively to prevent overdoses and save lives.
“Healthcare condensers” for rapid, low-cost, and precise sensing
Jingcheng Ma and Emily Johnson, both assistant professors in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, will design a new sensing platform to identify airborne markers of disease. Their proposed platform will be both compact and sensitive thanks to a specially designed condenser that concentrates disease markers into droplets for more cost-effective and reliable results.
A 3D system that mimics the structure and function of the human liver
Yichun Wang and Kaiyu Fu, assistant professors in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry and Biochemistry, respectively, will design a 3D liver cell culture model for testing pharmaceuticals. Their model will be paired with a special microfluidic system to help it more accurately replicate the conditions of a liver in the human body.
A wireless, implantable device for drug delivery
Yanliang Zhang, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Collegiate Chair and associate professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, will create a wireless device that can be implanted in a patient’s body for programmable delivery of a wide range of therapeutics. The device will enable personalized medical interventions to respond to chronic health conditions such as diabetes and difficult-to-treat cancers.
To learn more about the Berthiaume Institute’s Technology Development Fund, please visit https://precisionhealth.nd.edu/opportunities/technology-development-fund/.
In addition to the Technology Development Fund, the Institute manages the Discovery Fund, a seed grant program for exciting new ideas and projects that have proven successful in generating external funding support and commercialization activity. New support for viral infections and related phenomena research is also available. To learn more about these and other opportunities, please visit https://precisionhealth.nd.edu/opportunities/.
Contact:
Brett Beasley / Content Strategy Program Director
Notre Dame Research / University of Notre Dame
bbeasle1@nd.edu / +1 574-631-8183
research.nd.edu / @UNDResearch
About Notre Dame Research:
The University of Notre Dame is a private research and teaching university inspired by its Catholic mission. Located in South Bend, Indiana, its researchers are advancing human understanding through research, scholarship, education, and creative endeavor in order to be a repository for knowledge and a powerful means for doing good in the world. For more information, please see research.nd.edu or @UNDResearch.
Originally published by precisionhealth.nd.edu on October 30, 2024.
atLatest Research
- NSF CI Compass hosts FAIR Data Working Group to help major facilities, like MagLab, find data solutionsAs research facilities and their staff of researchers and scientists grapple daily with producing, storing, and preserving their petabytes of data for new discoveries and studies — others need to construct systems that can enable them to build on their findings. Within the data collected each day…
- Fatal school shootings have lasting impact on local economiesNew research from the University of Notre Dame offers the first large-scale empirical evidence that community anxiety caused by fatal school shootings can impact routine consumption behaviors like grocery shopping and dining out.
- Navigating the Waters of Peace: Challenges and Opportunities in the Implementation of Colombia's Peace AgreementNearly half the commitments outlined in Colombia's historic peace accord face significant challenges and may not happen in time unless policymakers make several key interventions, a new report from the University of Notre Dame warns. The report…
- Klau Institute’s Melsheimer Fellows learn about civil and human rights while serving South Bend communityOn a Wednesday evening in early April, a variation on the game of bingo was being played in the old St. Casimir Catholic School on the west side of South Bend. An instructor from One More Citizen, a nonprofit organization that offers free citizenship classes, was calling out questions from…
- Exploring Product-Market Fit: Inside the ESTEEM Unusual AcademyThis past year, several ESTEEM students had the opportunity to participate in the pilot of a new program: The ESTEEM Unusual Academy, led by Unusual Ventures Co-Founder and Managing Partner, John Vrionis.…
- Franco Institute announces inaugural Humanities Faculty Fellows and new Research Innovation CollaborativesThe Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good, formerly the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, continues its support of innovative research in the College of Arts & Letters with a new name and expanded mission. Seventeen faculty…