Thirteen winners of the Neuro Startup Challenge (NSC), an open innovation competition designed to bring promising neuro-related inventions to market, were announced on May 21. The second challenge of its kind, the NSC was established by a collaboration formed by NIH, the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) and Heritage Provider Network, based on the successful framework of the Breast Cancer Startup Challenge (BCSC). The winning teams were selected based on their business plans, financial models and live pitches and will move forward to phase three of the challenge to launch new businesses to commercialize 16 NIH-conceived and developed inventions. These inventions include therapeutics, diagnostics, prognostics and medical devices designed to improve brain health. Three of the NSC inventions are from the National Cancer Institute technology portfolio.
More than 578 students and entrepreneurs in 70 teams competed in the challenge that launched in August 2014. Teams competed in two phases during which they were mentored by experts to produce business plans, financial models and live pitches. In the final phase, the winning teams will be mentored to launch their startups, incorporate their business, apply for licensing and execute development and regulatory requirements. The winning teams are:
Challenge #1: A novel compound for treatment of disorders with cognitive dysfunction for example attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Winner-Tulane University 1A
Finalist-Wake Forest University 1,2A
Challenge #2: A novel therapy for neurodegenerative diseases for example Alzheimer's disease
Winner- Johns Hopkins University 2A
Challenge #3: A method of treating an enzyme deficiency disorders which causes neurodegeneration with small molecule
Winner- California Institute of Technology 3A
Challenge #4: Novel Dopamine D2 Receptor Antagonists and Methods of Their Use
Winner- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 4A
Challenge #5: A device to simulate the impact of brain trauma for explosive blast-induced Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and early stage TBI diagnosis
Winner- University of Pennsylvania 5A
*Challenge #6: A novel drug delivery method for treatment of brain injury and disease - focusing on Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders, such as stroke, hemorrhage, or TBI
Winner-Northwestern University 6A
*Challenge #7: A novel treatment for vascular disease/injury/inflammation in vasculature such as carotid artery that supplies blood to the brain
Winner-Tulane University 7A
*Challenge #8: A brain cancer specific target that can be used in diagnostics and potentially therapeutic applications
Winner- University of Pennsylvania 8A
Challenge #9: A tumor diagnostic marker for new blood vessels formation that can be used for early detection of brain tumors
Winner-Medical College of Wisconsin 9A
Finalist-Cambridge CCN 9A
Challenge #10: A new compound for treatment of Neurofibromatosis Type 1
Winner-University of Texas at Houston 10A
Challenge #14: A motion correction method to reduce MRI artifacts during brain inspection
Winner-Buckeye SmarterImage 14A
Challenge #15: A novel MRI contrast agent to improve the visibility of internal body structures during MR imaging
Winner- Duke University 15A
Challenge #16: Multiplex Assay for Detection of JC Virus
Winner- Washington University in St. Louis 16A
For more information on the challenge, please see: http://www.neurostartupchallenge.org/ and Neuro Startup Challenge Winners Announced press release.
To learn more about NCI technologies for collaborative development, please see: https://techtransfer.cancer.gov/availabletechnologies.
*Inventions from the NCI invention portfolio.