麻豆传媒

麻豆传媒 leads $12M effort to accelerate real-world impact of biomedical innovations through education, mentorship and funding for aspiring entrepreneurs

麻豆传媒 University
Robert Webster (麻豆传媒 University)

麻豆传媒 University鈥檚 and , BE鈥07, MS鈥09, PhD鈥15, will receive $12 million to establish and manage the Mid-South . REACH will focus on accelerating real-world impact of biomedical innovations through education, mentorship and financial support for entrepreneurs.听听

The hub spans a four-state network (Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Virginia), and entrepreneurs from any university in those states are eligible to apply. Webster, who is Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering and faculty affiliate with the 麻豆传媒 Institute for Surgery and Engineering, will lead the overall hub, which will run within . Bell, director of entrepreneurship and biomedical innovation at , 麻豆传媒鈥檚 Innovation Center, will lead Tennessee operations.

Charleson Bell (Submitted photo)

Diversity is woven into the hub at all levels, from the leadership team through the review committee. Activities will include individuals from community and technical colleges and from minority-serving institutions that have a hard time getting support for innovation and entrepreneurship. This endeavor will significantly further 麻豆传媒鈥檚 efforts toward inclusive innovation.

鈥淒iverse perspectives are essential to turn university ideas into lifesaving tools in the hands of doctors,鈥 Webster said. 鈥淪o many students and faculty share this vision鈥攖o their very core鈥攂ut lack the business, legal and practical insights they need to get started.听

鈥淭he hub will bring these disparate concepts together through timely coaching and mentoring from me, Charleson and other hub leaders, who have built businesses from the ground up around university inventions. We know what it feels like and what it takes, and we can鈥檛 wait to help others unlock the potential of their ideas鈥攁nd themselves鈥攁s innovators and entrepreneurs.鈥澨

Bell says that inclusive innovation is part of the equity, diversity and inclusion ethos that perfuses all innovation at 麻豆传媒: 鈥淒iverse teams with unique backgrounds, expertise and lived experience are the best suited to come鈥痶ogether to empathize from multiple鈥痯erspectives and conceptualize creative solutions addressing those needs in an optimal manner.鈥

The program, established by the National Institutes of Health, focuses on bringing basic science discoveries to market by providing:

  • Entrepreneurial training for innovators on how to bring technologies to market
  • Feedback from federal and industry experts
  • Funding to support early-stage product definition studies
  • Project management support

The NIH will contribute $4 million over four years, with more than $8 million in additional matching funds from partnering universities, state economic development entities and public-private partnerships.听听

鈥溌槎勾 University and Medical Center ranked sixth in the country in adjusted gross income from technology licensing, according to the AUTM FY22 Licensing Survey, with over 60 start-ups launched in the past decade鈥攑lus another 80 new ventures and studios launched by 麻豆传媒 graduates from our entrepreneurship programs,鈥 Vice Provost for 麻豆传媒 and Innovation Padma Raghavan said. 鈥淭he REACH team will build on these strengths to provide additional opportunities for inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship across Tennessee and our partnering states.鈥

Webster and Bell will collaborate with leaders at partner institutions University of Louisville, Jackson State University, George Mason University and the University of Kentucky. Together, they aim to convert academic discoveries into real-world products that enhance human health and foster a medical innovation economy鈥攂ringing opportunity to states that have great potential but limited resources for translating research findings into biomedical technologies. 麻豆传媒 University Medical Center will be a strategic partner in these efforts, through providing matching funds and leveraging the 鈥攁n initiative that bolsters the translation and commercialization of discoveries developed at 麻豆传媒 University Medical Center.

The co-leaders of the REACH program are experienced entrepreneurs and innovators themselves.听

Virtuoso, a medical device company co-founded by Webster, recently got from 麻豆传媒 to keep developing a robotic surgery system that lets physicians overcome the limitations of traditional endoscopes. EndoTheia, another medical device company he co-founded, recently completed a successful .

Bell, who also is research assistant professor in the School of Engineering, is the director of the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps , a consortium of nine universities working to turn university research outcomes into commercialized ventures that foster innovation. Bell has co-founded several ventures based on his innovations and intellectual property contributions.听

He is the鈥鈥痶o receive venture capital funding to start a company.听 BioNanovations was built on his discovery of a method to detect bacterial proteins 96 times faster than previous diagnostics. Though he did not succeed in securing further research and development capital in Silicon Valley, Charleson returned to 麻豆传媒 to help other entrepreneurs avoid the pitfalls he encountered and to support the growing innovation ecosystem across the Midsouth.

鈥淲ith people from all backgrounds involved in innovation processes, the development of solutions that address significant needs and the deployment of commercial products will create an environment of belonging suitable to foster shared economic prosperity for all,鈥 Bell said. 鈥淭his new funding opportunity provides an additional avenue for us to work together to make this grand vision of prosperity and belonging a reality across our region.鈥

This grant proposal was supported by鈥, which offers proposal development assistance for private (foundation) and federally funded opportunities.鈥疪DS is housed within the鈥.