The UConn Office of the Vice President for Research provided seed funding to 22 investigators to conduct proof-of-concept research in the final year of the START program.
The START Preliminary Proof-of-Concept (PPOC) Fund was established through support from the CTNext Higher Education Fund.
This funding helps move promising early-stage innovations toward commercialization. By establishing a strong proof-of-concept these technologies become more attractive for commercialization, partnerships, and later-stage funding.
Recipients come from UConn, the University of Bridgeport, and Southern Connecticut State University. The program provides researchers with up to $10,000.
Over the three-year life of the START program, a total of 77 projects funded were funded, representing over $768,000.00 of investment into Connecticut-based innovations.
START 2021 Q2 Awardees:
Young Tang, College of Agriculture. Health, and Natural Resources, Department of Animal Science- $10000
Evaluating the In Vivo Effect of Compound B7 to Block the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) Infection
Douglas Adamson, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry- $10000
Electrifying and Polarizing HEPA Filters with Graphene to Improve the Efficiency of Virus Removal from Air
Yi Li, College of Agriculture. Health, and Natural Resources, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture- $9995
Evolution of citrus rootstock overexpressing iaaM and CKX genes for HLB tolerance
Karl Guillard, College of Agriculture. Health, and Natural Resources, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture- $9985.89
A Low-Cost, Semi-Automated and Integrated System for Soil Health Assessments
Rahul Kanadia,College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology- $10000
Testing potential antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2
Alexandru Asandei, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry- $10000
Controlled Radical Polymerization of Conjugated Alkenes in Water
Steven Demurjian, School of Engineering, Department of Computer Science and Engineering- $10000
Mobile app for medication reconciliation to achieve Best Possible Medication History
START 2021 Q3 Awardees:
Na Li, School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Science- $10,000
Enhancing the intestinal permeability of non-permeable drug aggregates
Eugene Pinkhassik, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry- $10,000
Integration of palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions in flow processes
Erika Taylor, Wesleyan, Department of Chemistry- $10,000
Targeting tRNA modifying enzymes for inhibitor development
Madhur Upadhyay, School of Dental Medicine, Department of Orthodontics- $10,000
Deep learning (Mask R-CNN) for organization of Diagnostic Records in Orthodontics
Brian Willis, School of Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering- $10,000
Demonstration of Wavelength Tunable Photodetector Arrays
START 2021 Q4 Awardees:
Markus Bookland, School of Medicine, Department of Surgery- $10,000
Mobile Screening of Pediatric Cranial Deformities Using Artificial Intelligence and Image Recognition Software
Leslie Caromile, School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology- $10,000
Bone Metastasis in a Dish – A novel way to personalize cancer treatment
Constance DeVereaux, School of Fine Arts, Department of Dramatic Arts- $10,000
ArtZapp: An Arts and Culture Game and Info App
Khaled Elleithy, University of Bridgeport, Department of Computer Science and Engineering- $10,000
HomeLock
Aoife Heaslip, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology- $10,000
Development of new anti-parasitic drugs targeting in Toxoplasma gondii
Marmar Moussa, School of Medicine, NEAG Comprehensive Cancer Center- $10,000
Cloud-based interactive single-cell immune profiling platform empowering precision medicine
Gary Robbins, College of Agriculture. Health, and Natural Resources, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment- $6,500
Permeable Asphalt Air Permeameter
James Rusling, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry- $10,000
Rapid CRISP-Based Point-of-Care Detection of COVID-19 and COVID-19 Antibodies in Saliva
Paulo Verardi, College of Agriculture. Health, and Natural Resources, Department of Pathobiology- $10,000
Modified Live Vaccines for PRRSV Incorporating Mosaic Immunogens
Hao Wu, Southern Connecticut State University, Department of Computer Science and Engineering- $10,000
Multi-dimensional U.S. STEM Scholars Demographics and Impact Research Database System
