Curtis Sessler, M.D., a professor in the School of Medicine, created the RASS scale that intensive-care unit clinicians and researchers around the world have used for more than two decades to describe a patient’s level of alertness and agitation.
Virginia Commonwealth University is the winner of the 11th annual Innovation & Economic Prosperity Talent award from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The award recognizes exemplary initiatives in education and workforce development.
Announced during the association’s annual meeting today, VCU’s submission was lauded by the APLU for its “particularly innovative and exemplary” framework for regional economic development and engagement. The award highlights the university’s RTR teacher residency program, da Vinci Center for Innovation and Richmond Health and Wellness Program.
“The initiatives highlighted in this submission are perfect representations of our deep commitment to knowledge creation, innovation and conducting transformative research that tackles our greatest challenges, connects with our communities, reduces disparities and lifts lives. VCU’s TechTransfer and Ventures has been instrumental in advancing several of these university-led innovations to the marketplace, including through startups and overall furthering economic development.”
P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., vice president for research and innovation
Uses could include surgical robots that better detect minute changes in pressure or temperature, industrial machines that measure air or water flow, a robot that reads braille, or debris detection on a highly sensitive camera lens.
From AI to implantable devices, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay pushes the limits at a small but powerful scale.
Aerogel innovation from physics professor Massimo Bertino could power an energy-efficient upgrade from fiberglass and other materials.
The National Academy of Inventors has placed VCU among the top 100 universities in the U.S. for utility patents granted, reflecting VCU’s excellence in innovation and research.
Worth Longest and his team received a $3 million grant to create an aerosolized surfactant - a substance that lowers liquid surface tension - and a device to deliver it.
Two VCU researchers who have collaborated for years to address challenges found in the field of medical aerosols have received a $3.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
"By bringing skilled industry experts to inventors early in the invention cycle, we enhance the chances of delivering VCU discoveries to the commercial market. The end result: greater prominence for VCU, economic development for Central Virginia, and technologies that improve and enhance human lives while addressing society’s grand challenges." - Ivelina Metcheva, Ph.D., MBA
Since July 2022, VCU TechTransfer and Ventures has licensed laboratory discoveries and other inventions developed by faculty and trainees to 12 startup companies. Pictured here is Rebecca Martin, Ph.D., a longtime VCU researcher-turned-entrepreneur with Pleros Therapeutics. See her work and more in this article on VCU News.
Pictured Above: Michael Hindle, Ph.D.
Two VCU inventors from separate scientific disciplines – pharmaceutics and computer science — were formally recognized in June by the National Academy of Inventors for their contributions to society from their efforts in Richmond.
In remarks during a ceremony hosted by VCU TechTransfer and Ventures and held at Maymont, speakers highlighted VCU’s recent ranking by the National Science Foundation as a top 50 public research university and crossing the $400 million barrier in sponsored research in 2022.
“It speaks volumes of what the institution is doing to have so many people inducted into [NAI] membership,” P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., vice president for research and innovation, said during the April 25 event. “Over the last few years, VCU has proven to be a research powerhouse. The unstoppable knowledge creation and the transformative innovation being carried out here is felt locally, nationally and globally.”
A VR program developed by a Virginia Commonwealth University and Veterans Affairs psychologist and a prominent Richmond-based visual effects artist is helping individuals with addictions and mental health conditions in guiding them toward recovery. Read the full story at VCU News.
Researchers and scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health are charging ahead to find the answer to a decades-old opioid crisis that, in Virginia, now claims more lives than automobile accidents and guns combined. The most potent killer is fentanyl. Read more about the project led by Yan Zhang, Ph.D., professor of medicinal chemistry at the VCU School of Pharmacy and a member of the VCU Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies.
A central venous catheter, also known as a central line, is a medical implant device that allows health care providers to deliver medication into the bloodstream, particularly the large vein that empties into the heart, without the need for many needle sticks into a vein. CVCs carry risks of infection and thrombosis, or blood clotting, which can lead to complications and result in longer hospital stays, illness or even death. Now, a division within the National Institutes of Health has awarded a $1.52 million four-year grant to a team led by Xuewei Wang, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences. The team is developing a solution to help prevent infection and complications for patients receiving chemotherapy, dialysis and other treatments through their veins. Read the full article on VCU News.
Across the academic and medical campuses, instructors, researchers and clinicians have turned to VR for teaching, training and patient care. Beyond a new method of learning, VR offers economic and efficiency benefits by reducing costs of training and anywhere, anytime access to academic lessons. Check out a roundup that offers a fairly comprehensive look at VR work at VCU.
Six VCU Inventors get funding from VCU
Drug delivery, new therapies, AI, VR. Six VCU inventors received VCU TechTransfer and Ventures' latest round of Commercialization Fund awards. Read about them here.
Scaffolding in place for a startup with immense health impact
Michael Hindle, Ph.D., is one of 169 distinguished academic inventors to be named National Academy of Inventors fellows. Hindle, who leads the Aerosol Research Group on the MCV Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University and holds the Peter R Byron Distinguished Professorship in the VCU School of Pharmacy, said the honor reflected the successful collaboration of the pharmacy-engineering team for the past 15 years. Read more.
As we close out 2022, we move forward with a new name that better reflects our expanded functions: Innovation Gateway, our name for more than 10 years, is now VCU TechTransfer and Ventures. It’s a direct statement that reinforces our mission of protecting and commercializing university IP and supporting our startup companies. Meet a few of the innovators that are leading VCU into the future.
Using virtual reality, a collaboration across the VCU School of Medicine, VCU College of Engineering, and Central Virginia VA Health Care System looks to replace an expensive and time-intensive surgical training process for a procedure to treat female urinary incontinence. Using an application developed by computer science professor Milos Manic, Ph.D., and his doctoral students, urogynecologist Lauren Siff, M.D. is helping build a VR training application that could change the way the procedure is performed in the future.
Jonathan Isaacs, M.D., is the creative force behind Nerve Tape, a tiny biologic wrap used to repair severed peripheral nerves. Like a piece of high-tech tape with tiny, flexible embedded hooks, the wrap loops around and self-seals the nerve’s outer connective tissues — improving nerve alignment and promoting regeneration. Read more.
VCU is now one of 80 “Innovation & Economic Prosperity” universities, the APLU announced Sunday at its annual conference. Earlier this fall, U.S. News & World Report named VCU among the top 30 innovative public universities in the country. Read more.
Robert F. Diegelmann’s research led to a breakthrough in the products used to stop the massive loss of blood in emergencies. In June, the emeritus professor at the VCU School of Medicine donated to the Richmond-based museum a collection of 16 items related to his research into hemostasis. His efforts ultimately led to the discovery of the blood-clotting properties of sodium bentonite, an absorbent clay often found in kitty litter. Read more.
IEEE Spectrum profiles VCU researchers Richard Costanzo and Daniel Coelho, who have developed a "neuroprosthetic" to detect odors and send signals to an implanted receiver that can stimulate the brain. Read more.
Continuing VCU's growing national distinction as a top urban, public research university, the latest institutional record of over $400 million for fiscal year 2022 marks a more than 47% increase over five years ago, and a 10% increase since last year.
VCU is a university on the move. And that move is powered by research. Our latest newsletter highlights some of this research and the inventors behind the work.
The recognition underlines VCU’s restlessly ambitious and innovative approach to strengthening student success and to pursuing groundbreaking research that tackles the world’s toughest problems.
