A QED award has been received for the first time by Lehigh University, Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University. In the fourth round of the University City Science Center's QED Proof of Concept Program, each university was awarded $200,000. An announcement in this regard has been made by the Science Center. Commercial investment in early-stage life science technologies with high potential in the healthcare industry are facilitated with the QED Program.
Philadelphia University’s fabric that resists bacterial contamination was one of the recipients of the award. While Lehigh University developed a portable device for delivering oxygen to critical care patients, Thomas Jefferson University developed a breakthrough diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer. An independent group comprising of industry and investment professionals selected these projects from 10 finalists.
In a release, Stephen S. Tang, Ph.D., MBA, president and CEO of the Science Center said, “These awards demonstrate that medical technologies of high commercial potential exist at many of our region's research institutions. We are delighted to see Lehigh University, Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University join the ranks of past QED awardees such as Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Drexel, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers and Temple.”
Christopher Laing, MRCVS, Ph.D. is the Vice President of Science and Technology at the Science Center. Laing oversees commercialization programs including the QED program. According to Laing, the key to the organization’s competitiveness as a source of new medical technologies and products are multi-institutional programs like QED. A critical mass of research infrastructure has been used to build the successful technology clusters.
Laing said, “The Greater Philadelphia region represents almost 4 percent of the nation's academic medical research output, and QED creates a mechanism for new product development that mobilizes and showcases that entire powerhouse.”
One year of business guidance from the Science Center's network of experienced entrepreneurs will be also received by each research team. This will help the research team to bring their technologies to market.
The QED Program was launched in 2009. Since its launch, 40 detailed technology development projects have been reviewed and a total of 12 projects have been funded by the QED Program.
Carolyn John is a Contributor to HealthTechZone. To read more of her articles, please columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
