Vanderbilt University announced 10 recipients of the Innovation Catalyst Fund awards for the February 2026 cycle, advancing faculty-led research projects with the potential to address critical societal and health care challenges through translational research.
The awards provide strategic funding to support faculty’s technologies from a broad range of disciplines as they move promising discoveries toward commercialization and real-world application.
This cycle’s funded projects span bioscience and health care, social science, engineering and physical sciences, with a strong emphasis on biomedical innovation, diagnostics, medical devices and digital health technologies.
This cycle’s recipients include:
- Panambur Bhandari, assistant professor of plastic surgery: Pilot Manufacturing and Structured Clinical Validation of the Intrinsic Glove
- Dylan T. Burnette, associate professor of cell and developmental biology and medicine: Programmable Blebbisomes as Translation-Competent Biologic Production and Immune-Stealth Delivery Platforms
- Rohan Chitale, associate professor of neurological surgery: Development of a Bent Stent for Treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia
- Laurie Cutting, professor of special education: Advancing LANTERN: From Research Pipeline to Scalable Reading Analytics Platform
- Brian C. Drolet, professor of plastic surgery; vice chair for education: Endoscopic Retinaculatome (ERT): Integrated Tower-Independent Visualization Platform for Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Release
- Kelsie M. Full, assistant professor of medicine: Bridging Faith and Memory Care: A Technology-Enabled Model to Reduce ADRD Disparities
- Bill Heerman, associate professor of pediatrics: Scaling up an Evidence-based Digital Intervention for Obesity Prevention: the Greenlight Plus program
- Dan Lin, professor of computer science in the College of Connected Computing: Cost-Efficient AI for Detecting Unseen Synthetic Media
- Xinqiang Yan, research associate professor of radiology and radiological sciences: Maximizing Diagnostic Fidelity in MRI: An Integrated Wearable Coil with Real-Time Motion Tracking
- Adam D. Yock, director of technology and innovation; associate professor of radiation oncology: An Online Adaptive Radiotherapy End-to-End Quality Assurance Phantom
"The Innovation Catalyst Fund program continues to demonstrate Vanderbilt’s strong commitment to supporting our innovative faculty and helping CTTC translate those innovations into the marketplace to have a positive impact on society,” said George Wilson, Interim Executive Director of New Venture Development. “The return on investment to date is particularly impressive, given that the ICF program has only been in operation for three years. This cycle's awardees represent yet another pool of high-caliber faculty whose ideas are shaping our present and our future."
The Innovation Catalyst Fund will begin accepting applications for the next cycle on June 1. All full-time faculty at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center are eligible to apply here.
About the Innovation Catalyst Fund
The Innovation Catalyst Fund’s goal is to propel faculty research ideas toward market and real-world impact. The program provides support for proof-of-concept commercialization, advancing early-stage projects with high innovation potential and developing research projects with societal relevance.
The Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation manages the fund in consultation with university academic leadership and Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Office of Research. The Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization coordinates the submission and review process in collaboration with deans across Vanderbilt’s schools and colleges.
For more information about the Innovation Catalyst Fund, visit the Innovation Catalyst Fund website or email CatalystFunding@vanderbilt.edu.