On Tuesday, 11 biomedical
projects from across the state
of Michigan were selected as
recipients of the Innovation
Hub awards. Fast Forward
Medical Innovation, a unit
within the Medical School’s
Office of Research at the
University
of
Michigan,
grants the awards. More than
$1.8 million in total has been
allocated
to
health-related
research projects statewide,
ranging
from
automated
brain tumor diagnosis using
convolutional neural networks
to
reversing
synchronized
circuitry to treat tinnitus in
humans.
The
awards
are
funded
by
the
Michigan
Translational Research and
Commercialization for Life
Sciences
Innovation
Hub,
which is managed by Fast
Forward Medical Innovation
and funded by the University
and the Michigan Economic
Development Corporation.
The
MTRAC
Innovation
Hub
began
solely
as
a
University program in 2014
but has since expanded to the
entire state of Michigan. It has
an operating budget of over $4
million.
One
project
which
was
granted
the
award
is
a
University
research
team led by Susan Shore,
a professor within the
University’s Department of
Otolaryngology-Head and
Neck Surgery. The team
is developing a device to
treat tinnitus, a condition
that causes a ringing in the
ears and affects 15 percent
of Americans. They have
conducted
successful
trials on guinea pigs and
are starting to work with
humans.
“This tells us a lot about
how the circuitry in the
brain changes after noise
damage and tells us how
the auditory system works
in general, so that can end
up helping other kinds of
hearing disorders as well,”
Shore said in January.
Howard
Petty,
a
professor
of
Ophthalmology
and
Visual Sciences, is another
recipient of the Innovation
Hub award. Petty is the
principal
investigator
of a University research
team working to improve
ocular cancer therapy with
semiconducting nanoparticles.
“In our preliminary studies,
we have a couple papers on
this.
We
have
developed
nanoparticles that generate
toxins and what we can do is
we can inject them into the
eye and the nanoparticles
have been developed so we can
target the tumor cells in the
eye,” Petty said.
In the future, Petty said
he wants to make the drug
available to human patients.
“What we’re going to be
able to do with the money is
get enough publications and
data that if it works well in
treating mice, we’ll be able
to use it as an investigational
drug,” Petty said. “The goal is
to try to make this available to
patients, and this will provide
us,
between
fundamental
research and clinical research,
it will help us cross that gap.”
In
early
January,
the
finalists
–
whose
initial
proposals
were
due
in
September
–
gathered
in
downtown
Ann
Arbor
to
present their project proposals
at the annual meeting of the
external
MTRAC
oversight
committee.
Those selected, spanning as
far as Michigan Technological
University to the University,
received
individual
awards
ranging
from
$75,000
to
$250,000
with
the
goal
of
helping
their
products,
which are already partially
developed, reach the market
and help patients as soon as
possible.
2A — Thursday, February 15, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Ky
@kyliebreaa
Okay umich, I get it. you’re
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freezing my ass off and I
would really enjoy being
inside now.
Kristen
@kristencrosss
neing part of the psych
depoartment at umich means
running into colleagues in the
atrium as you’re all marveling
at the new tables and chairs
amanda
@aefm_
Today i learned that valentine
day is also be rude as hell to
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tdm
@teemitch_
you wanna see road rage?
put me in 5pm traffic
downtown ann arbor
Joe
@j_spag
In my accounting class today
some guy saw a girl with ash on
her forehead for Ash Wednesdsay
and the guys next to me were
trying to figure out what it was.
One guy goes “I think it’s for
singles awareness or something”
Kyle
@kessenma
I made a friend in my stats class
and he told me he puts wine in his
water bottle for his pottery class,
and tbh being tipsy playing with
clay for college credit sounds so
ideal.
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THURSDAY:
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Researchers at University awarded
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Innovation Hub acknowledges biomedical teams working on drug therapies
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WOLVE RINE OF THE WE E K
What is your ideal
Valentine’s Day date?
“Going to Skyzone
and jumping in
trampolines with
my significant
other, grabbing
something to eat,
and then watching
a movie.”
LSA junior Nate Baker