Student Innovator Team MicrobeBlaster Receives E-Team Grant from VentureWell

MicrobeBlaster, a startup founded by four female undergraduate students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently received a VentureWell E-Team Grant in recognition of the potential of their invention to create a positive social, health, or environmental impact.

Image

The team received a $5,000 Stage 1 grant to further their work and will take part in the Pioneer workshop, which provides student teams with the training, coaching and peer networking opportunities that will help them launch their innovation.

MicrobeBlaster, which is developing a biofilm coating that prevents bacteria from making and maintaining contact on the surface of implantable medical devices, was founded by undergraduates Sarah Kaunfer, Simran Jeet, Phoebe Lasic-Ellis and Hayley McIsaac. The team also swept the 2021 Innovation Challenge, a multi-part competition hosted by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship at the UMass Isenberg School of Management, which encourages student ventures to take the leap into a startup business. The women submitted their product idea that they designed while in the iCons program, the university’s integrated concentration in science program.

The VentureWell E-Team Program offers up to $25,000 in grant funding and entrepreneurship training to student teams across the U.S. that are developing science and technology innovations focused on solving the world's biggest challenges. Through E-Teams, VentureWell has trained more than 500 student teams and more than 1,300 student innovators. These teams have raised more than $700 million in follow-on funding and have launched 415-plus ventures since taking part in the program.