The Office of Technology Development has completed its annual Ignition Award cycle and is pleased to announce this year’s winners.  Ignition Awards are typically $50K, one year grants to validate early-stage technologies in the Life Sciences/High Tech domain with clear potential commercial and medical impact.  Between leading outreach through BU community to better advertise and solicit proposals and bringing on notable industry and investment figures to make award decisions through the Ignition Committee, Ignition awardees are seeing increasing success in finding follow-on funding.

This year, OTD has awarded Ignition grants to four technologies:

• George Daaboul will use his award to reach proof-of-concept milestones for his new system for digital detection of single molecules, testing a potential way to significantly increase optical resolution and comparing the performance of his prototype to existing technologies.
• Russell Giordano will be using his award to fabricate a new test line of his bullet-resistant ceramic composite, measuring their strength and flexibility and supplying samples for interested partners.
• Michael Holick’s award will be used in a pilot study of his new vitamin-D producing LED, which could cheaply and easily treat vitamin deficiency.
• John Caradonna will use his award to optimize the production of chemical catalysts for his green oxidation system, which has the potential to significantly change the pharmaceutical manufacturing process.

Of last year’s winners, with help from OTD and their Kindle Mentors, three are already in advanced discussions for investment or research partnerships with industry, and all of our Ignition Winners over the last three years are still actively developing, seeking funding, or have successfully licensed or found investors.  OTD looks forward to the continued success of past and present Ignition Awardees, and is excited to bring a new group of inventors into the program next year, with the application process for 2015 awards starting in the fall.