09/10/2015
Two Vanderbilt technologies, PinPtr (high-precision, low-cost GPS cloud service) and VenoStent (stent to prevent intimal hyperplasia) have been awarded the coveted National Science Foundation Accelerating Innovation Research - Technology Translation (AIR-TT) grant of approximately $200,000 (each). PinPtr is led by Dr. Akos Ledeczi, Associate Professor and Senior Research Scientist and Dr. Peter Volgyesi, Research Scientist - both from the Institute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt University. Rigved Joshi, Manager, New Ventures at CTTC will serve as the Co-PI and Business Mentor on the grant. VenoStent PinPtr is led by Dr. Hak-Joon Sung, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Cardiovascular Medicine and Timothy Boire, Master’s student in Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. Peter Rousos, Director, Economic and New Venture Development at CTTC will serve as the Co-PI and Business Mentor on the grant.
The overall objective of the PFI:AIR-TT program is to provide funding that will enable research discoveries to be translated onto a path toward commercial reality while engaging faculty and students in entrepreneurial and market-oriented thinking. The AIR-TT solicitation supports research to overcome technology barriers/knowledge gaps in the translation of NSF-funded fundamental science and engineering discoveries toward market-valued solutions. It provides an opportunity for investigators to conduct the necessary research to develop a proof-of-concept, prototype, or scale-up of the prototype that addresses real-world constraints and provides a competitive value in a potential application space.