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<p>Eleven university innovators pitched their innovations at听<a href="/venturepartners/innovators/lab-venture-challeng... Venture Challenge (LVC),</a> a funding competition hosted by <a href="/venturepartners/">Venture Partners at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder</a> that helps commercially-promising technologies accelerate into impactful business ventures. Judges from the local entrepreneurial ecosystem awarded a total of nine grants鈥攗p to $125,000 each鈥攆or the top physical science, engineering and bioscience innovations demonstrating high commercial potential, a clear path to a compelling market and strong scientific support.</p>

<p>This year, LVC took place at Galvanize Boulder and was split into听two categories over two days: Biosciences on Nov. 13 and Physical Sciences & Engineering on听Nov. 14.听</p>

<p>Finalists delivered 10-minute听pitches and navigated four听minutes of Q&A from听a panel of business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and intellectual property experts.听Numerous departments across the 麻豆免费版下载Boulder campus were represented, ranging from advertising and public relations听to chemical and biological engineering.</p>

<p>Among the winners was Ivan Smalyukh, physics professor听and founder of iFeather, a company developing super-insulating, yet transparent aerogels.听Smalyukh and his <a href="/soft-matter-physics/">research听team</a>听originally developed these aerogels for听<a href="/today/2018/08/13/super-insulating-gel">window insulating glass units</a>, but the company is now听focusing on additional market applications in greenhouses and solar thermal collectors. Not only are these aerogels听energy efficient, they听can also be made out of food waste, further adding to the cleantech impact of the technology.</p>

<p>"We enjoyed competing in this year's LVC and learned things that will be very useful in translating our technology to market," said Smalyukh. "Our team has fundamental science and technical backgrounds, so we had many assumptions, stereotypes and gaps in understanding the steps needed to form a startup company. Participating in LVC was extremely beneficial听for our team in understanding new venture creation."</p>

<p>Sara Sawyer, professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, and her听research听team听are looking to bring their technnology, SickStick, to market. A saliva test for contagious disease, SickStick is designed to "know you're sick before you do."听Currently, the only easy way to monitor whether or not someone might be getting sick is an everyday thermometer.</p>

<p>Sawyer hopes to soon be testing听SickStick in a military field trial, as听more soldiers are admitted to the hospital for听infectious disease than for injuries and wounds sustained during battle. Infectious disease has a particularly negative impact on workforce and productivity, and Sawyer hopes that the听military can combat this鈥攓uite literally鈥攃ombat this with SickStick. The funding from LVC brings Sawyer and her team one step closer to bringing those plans to fruition.</p>

<p>To prepare for the showcase, finalists were encouraged to participate in Venture Partners'听<a href="/techtransfer/investigators/commercialization-ac... Academy</a>听customer discovery programs, such as <a href="/venturepartners/innovators/commercialization-ac... Blocks</a> and <a href="/venturepartners/innovators/commercialization-ac....听麻豆免费版下载Boulder <a href="/techtransfer/investigators/entrepreneurs-reside... in Residence (EIRs)</a>, commercialization mentors and Venture Partners staff also provided critical feedback so finalists could refine their presentations and practice engaging different business audiences in order to attract funding.</p>

<p>"These different programs put on听by Venture Partners all help to develop a culture of entrepreneurship and provide insight for academics who are trying to transition an innovation into a company," said Roy Parker, biochemistry professor听and co-founder of Exocure Therapeutics.</p>

<p>Parker鈥攁long with听his <a href="/lab/parkergroup/">research group</a>听and co-founder Siddharth Shukla,听a听postdoctoral fellow鈥攆ound that inhibiting a specific RNA processing enzyme听called PARN, combined with treatment from commercially available chemotherapy drugs, re-sensitizes cancer cells to chemotherapy.听With additional funding from LVC, Exocure will continue to identify听possible lead compounds for drug development.</p>

<p>In the spring of 2020, all of the awardees will enter the Research-to-Market program. In addition, toward the end of the funding period, awardees will present their progress from the LVC and collaborate with EIRs, mentors and Venture Partners听staff to set the commercialization path forward.</p>

<p>鈥淲ithout a doubt, this was the most successful Lab Venture Challenge ever in terms of attendance and the quality of ventures represented," said Brynmor Rees,听assistant vice chancellor for Research & Innovation and managing director of Venture Partners.听"Although some of our researchers didn't win funding, many of them formed connections with investors and local startup community members at the event. Ecosystem building is one of the many ways we strive to make an impact."</p>

<p>LVC funding comes from the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade鈥檚 (COEDIT) AIA program, Venture Partners at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder听and the Chancellor鈥檚 Innovation Fund.</p>