2025 CTRI Awardees
Introduction
The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Innovation and the Office of Technology Management are proud to announce the 2025 awardees of the Chancellor’s Translational Research Initiative (CTRI). The CTRI program provides up to $25,000 in funding to advance early-stage translational research projects towards commercialization. Successful completion of the CTRI program prepares projects for future industry funding, licensing, and start up creation. This year, ten projects were awarded spanning the areas of therapeutics, medical devices, engineering, and AI technology.
Awarded Projects:
Adam Cross
College of Medicine Peoria: Department of Pediatrics
Pulmonary Acoustic Sensor Telemetry Array (PASTA)
Oliver Keyhani
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: Department of Biological Sciences
Discovery of a new antibiotic from ambrosia beetle fungi
Divya Bijukumar
College of Medicine Rockford: Department of Biomedical Sciences
EVNaturoPatch: Innovative exosome-releasing microneedle patch to deliver pain management therapies
Aslihan Karatas
College of Engineering: Department of Civil, Materials, and Environmental Engineering
Window diagnostic tool for occupants’ safety and indoor environmental quality in commercial buildings
Sushant Anand
College of Engineering: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ultra-fast paper-based PCR device for affordable home diagnostics
Steve Lee
College of Pharmacy: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Human CD40 agonist antibody for cancer vaccine
Ying Liu
College of Engineering: Department of Chemical Engineering
Peptide-lipid nanoparticle-based siRNA therapy for lung fibrosis
Zongmin Zhao
College of Pharmacy: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Nanoparticle-decorated myeloid-derived suppressor cells for immunotherapy of multiple sclerosis
Tanvi Bhatt
College of Applied Health Sciences: Department of Physical Therapy
FRATS: Innovative cloud-based AI-powered system for fall risk assessment
Sojin Shikano
College of Medicine: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Adoptive T cell transfer therapy of inflammatory bowel diseases
Congratulations to the awardees!
For more information on the CTRI Program and other funding opportunities, please visit the Office of Technology Management website: www.otm.uic.edu.