BTI’s Innovation of the Year Finalists – Early voting is now open – Vote here!
Brown Technology Innovations will be giving out awards for Inventor of the Year, Startup of the Year, and Innovation of the Year. We would like your help to select our Innovation of the Year! Thank you for participating!
| Innovation | Description |
| Engineered Cardiac Tissues for Regeneration (Engineering) | Translation of regenerative cell-based cardiac therapies is challenged by the harsh environment and delicate balance in the injured or diseased heart. Therefore, clinical implementation of cell-based therapies requires advanced biomanufacturing and tissue engineering approaches to create functioning tissue and handle the large number of pluripotent stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes needed for these cardiac therapies. This disclosure provides a method for manufacturing cell-dense engineered human myocardium that can accommodate up to 1 billion cardiomyocytes typically lost during myocardial infarction (heart attack). |
| piRNA-therapeutics for Human Malignancies (BioMed-MCB) | Piwi interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that modulate key signaling pathways at the transcriptional or post-transcriptional level. Glioblastoma (GBM) is an example of a human malignancy with a universal recurrence rate. The invention demonstrates that the treatment of human glioma stem cells (GSCs) with piRNA-mimics results in cytotoxic death of the GSCs, whereas treatment of control (i.e., non GSCs) human astrocytes with piRNA-mimics does not affect astrocyte survival. |
| Subcutaneous EEG for Chronic Home Use (Engineering) | Accurate, reliable, long-term monitoring of brain activity by low-cost wearable devices at home and outdoors could provide valuable and clinically critical neurological diagnostic information for patients, such as those with epilepsy. This technology is based on a unique highly miniaturized minimally invasive subdermal EEG sensor strip design (millimeter-wide, less than quarter millimeter thick). The technology is scalable in that multiple unobtrusive sensor strips, covering several brain areas, can transmit EEG signals wirelessly through the scalp to an external coin size external receiver behind the ear. |
| Method to Reduce Dendrite Growth for Safer Solid Electrolyte Batteries (Engineering) | Currently available battery technology is predominantly based on liquid electrolytes which are prone to fires, thermal runaway and pose a safety risk during operation. Newer rechargeable batteries utilize solid electrolytes which offer the promise of improved safety. However, current solid-state batteries can still fail due to short circuits resulting from metal filament penetration introduced from stress fractures formed over the life of the battery from repeated charge/discharge cycles. This invention introduces a method for “pre-stressing” the solid electrolyte by replacing lithium ions on the surface with larger ions. These larger ions introduce compressive stress into the solid electrolyte thus offering the promise of improving the cycle life of the batteries and thereby potentially leading to safer, commercially viable solid-state battery technology |
| Dopamine Control of Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability (BioMed- Neuroscience) | Blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability is key for the delivery of pharmacological agents to the brain. This disclosure describes the ability to use stimulation of dopamine signaling to rapidly open the BBB. In addition to pharmacological approaches, this stimulation can be evoked behaviorally and non-invasively in human patients, for example, by providing appropriately timed rewards. |
| Biometric Authentication Scheme without Storing Personal Data (Mathematics) | Biometric authentication is a scheme that verifies users’ identity with their unique biological traits, such as facial images, fingerprints, voices, retinas, and other features. In a radical departure from existing methods, this invention delivers an easy to use and safe biometric protocol, authenticating users in milliseconds, while totally eliminating the need to memorize an individual’s biometric data and store the corresponding secret information. This novel scheme mitigates privacy concerns, is fully compatible with existing infrastructure and authentication schemes, and offers promising market opportunities. |