Four Pitt innovation teams have been selected to receive a total of $263,000 in commercialization grants from the Chancellor’s Gap Fund to accelerate their path from the lab to the market.
The Chancellor’s Gap Fund was reauthorized in 2021 to provide critical bridge funding for research projects that have demonstrated strong commercialization potential but require key proof of concept experiments or other data or prototypes in order to attract interest from potential investors or industry partners. The fund provides grants ranging from $25,000 to $75,000, based on what is needed to advance the project through a significant milestone.
Expressions of interest for the next funding cycle will be accepted beginning in April.
Innovation teams receiving awards in the current cohort include:
PACE-RTP: Perception-Action Coupling Evaluation for Return to Play: A rapid and reliable method for measuring sport-related concussion. Principal investigator: Chris Connaboy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Co-investigators: Alice LaGoy, Neuromuscular Research Laboratory; Shawn Eagle, Department of Neurological Surgery.
Youbiotics: Personalized probiotics for weight management. Principal investigator: Steven Little, Swanson School of Engineering. Co-investigators: Matt Borrelli, Swanson School of Engineering; Abhinav Acharya, Arizona State University; Jonathan Krakoff, National Institutes of Health.
Reusable and self-sterilizing 3D HEPA metal filters: 3-D printed porous metal filter for use in air filtration applications in masks, room- or building-based air filtration. Principal investigator: Markus Chmielus, Swanson School of Engineering.
LiDIA: Listening, iDentification and Instant Amplification: Device for greatly broadening the identification of hearing loss that is currently untreated. Principal investigator: Catherine Palmer, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Co-investigators: Jeffrey Vipperman, Swanson School of Engineering; Erik Rauterkus, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.