Recipients

The Quest Innovation Fund has provided to support to these projects over the years. The most recent projects to receive the Commercialization Fund were announced in May 2018. Congratulations to these and all of the previous Quest Innovation Fund recipients.

Title: Optimization of metal oxides for enhanced magnetic refrigeration

Investigator: Everett Carpenter, Ph.D., professor of chemistry, College of Humanities and Sciences

Description: Dr. Carpenter has developed Lanthanum Calcium Manganese Oxide (LCMO) based materials that has the potential to reduce the energy consumption of refrigeration systems by over 30 percent. This low cost LCMO material is ideal to make high efficiency magnets for specialized refrigeration applications tailored for different temperature ranges.

Title: New analytical platform for rapid, high-throughput cell diagnostics

Investigator: Christopher Ehrhardt, Ph.D., associate professor of forensics science, College of Humanities and Sciences 

Description: Dr. Ehrhardt has developed a new analytical platform for rapidly analyzing tissue of individual cells from aged or dried samples in a cost effective manner. The tool is able to characterize cellular features such as type of cell, age of sample, and separate cells from multiple individuals to name a few. This platform would have an impact both in healthcare diagnostics and forensic analysis.

Title:  Novel synthetic antisickling agents

Investigator: Martin Safo, Ph.D., professor, medicinal chemistry, School of Pharmacy

Description: Dr. Safo has developed a series of novel compounds for treatment of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). Currently there is no standard effective treatment for SCD and these novel compounds provide a potential solution for this devastating disease.

Title: Nanoparticle conjugated NAP as novel treatment for opioid induced constipation

Investigators: Yan Zhang, Ph.D., professor of medicinal chemistry, School of Pharmacy; Hamid Akbarali, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, School of Medicine; Jurgen Venitz, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy; Yi Zheng, Ph.D., postdoctoral researcher

Description: Dr. Zhang and his team have developed a series of novel nanoparticle conjugated compounds for treatment of opioid induced constipation, opioid addiction and several other neurological conditions. These novel compounds will provide a unique tool to fight against the current opioid crisis in the United States.