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Casey and Thai
S. Thai Thayumanavan and Casey Brown

The UMass Amherst Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program has announced three awards of $100,000 each in 2024 Seed Translational Research Project (STRP) funding to faculty-led teams aiming to advance UMass research towards solutions to real-world unmet needs. 

In addition to their highly focused research, each is creating a startup venture to carry technology and product development forward towards a sustainable enterprise that will improve the lives of customers and stakeholders while having positive social and economic impact.

The recipients are:

  • Tova Earth – This startup uses technology and data to revolutionize the way water resources are managed. Its STRP will fund “Creating a Global Water Sustainability Tool Using Deep Learning Applied to Existing Geophysical Data” and was awarded to Casey Brown, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and co-founder and chief science officer of Tova.
  • HasenTech - This early-stage biotech startup aims to exploit the anti-inflammatory properties of a novel exopolysaccharide produced by a harmless soil bacterium to dampen inflammation in diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and graft versus host disease. Its STRP will fund “Developing a Safe Therapeutic to Dampen Pathological Inflammation in Graft Versus Host Disease” and was awarded to co-founder Barbara Osborne, professor emerita in the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences.
  • Nalam Therapeutics – This startup is focused on developing a proprietary antibody nanogel conjugate platform for cancer treatment. Its STRP, “Developing a Proprietary Antibody Nanogel Conjugate (ANC) Platform for the Treatment of Cancer” was awarded to founder S. Thai Thayumanavan, department head of Biomedical Engineering and Distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry.

“Each STRP award holds the promise of increasing the potential to create real-world impact from UMass research to impact human health and well-being. We are excited to support their efforts to positively impact society,” observed Founding Director of the Institute for Applied Life Sciences and ART Principal Investigator Peter Reinhart.

“Beyond these initial Seed Translational Research Projects, the ART program will enable many faculty, postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate student researchers to significantly increase the application of their research to address the world’s great challenges,” noted Vice Chancellor for Research & Engagement Mike Malone. “As we accelerate research translation, we also look forward to amplifying our contribution to economic growth in Western Massachusetts and beyond.”

The objective of the ART program is to create an equitable expansion in the research translation capacity of the campus. Some success metrics we plan to seek include an increase in patents, startups, students, postdocs, and faculty participating in translational activities. All leading to positive societal impact. The program is funded by a $6 million, four-year award (ITE 2331351) from the U.S. National Science Foundation and financially supports up to three STRPs annually. In addition to financial support, the ART program will offer widely available training to equip faculty, postdoctoral and graduate student researchers with knowledge and skills needed to create impactful startups, spinouts, social impact organizations and other opportunities. 

Article posted in Research