Projects
We are pleased to highlight the projects WE-REACH was able to support since 2020. The range of problems the innovations are addressing and the technologies to address those problems are impressive.
Teams accepted into this program had already been through the very early stages of prototype development and had advanced to a stage where the $50-200K of WE-REACH funding and project development got them through critical milestones toward their next stage of development and funding. Many reached the point of spinning out of the university into startup companies.
Winter 2020
Novel oral therapeutic peptide for inflammatory bowel disease. Startup company is Mopac Biologics, Inc. PI: Stephanie Berger, PhD, UW Biochemistry, Institute for Protein Design
ReHeal, a negative pressure wound therapy glove for post-surgical hand treatment developed for DoD with partners in Texas. PI: Chris Allan, MD, UW Medicine, Orthopedics
RADx Spring 2020
Portable viral antigen detector for COVID and other diseases. PI: Jae-Hyun Chung, PhD, UW Mechanical Engineering
Point-of-care diagnostic system with quick genetic sequence testing for COVID and other uses. Startup company is Anavasi Diagnostics, Inc. PI: Barry Lutz, PhD, UW Bioengineering
Spring 2020
Smartphone-based endoscope that captures an endoscopic image and sends it to the cloud for analysis. Startup company is Eigen Health. PIs: Randy Bly, MD and Tony Law, MD, UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital, Otolaryngology
Prostate Cancer Therapeutic, small molecule candidate. PIs: Wes Van Voorhis, MD, PhD and Stephen Plymate, MD, UW Medicine, Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Medical device that simplifies neonatal intubation making the procedure easier and safer. PI: Taylor Sawyer, DO, Seattle Children’s and UW Medicine, Neonatology
Fall 2020
Mini-kidney stem cell system for kidney therapeutic screening and research. Startup company is Plurexa. PI: Beno Freedman, PhD, UW Medicine, Nephrology, Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine
Peptide therapeutic for acute respiratory distress syndrome using the antibody cage (AbC) platform. Startup company is Archon Biosciences. PIs: James Lazarovits, PhD, and George Ueda, PhD, UW Biochemistry, Institute for Protein Design
ThermoTape, a high adhesion medical tape with switchable adhesion for easy release, minimizing skin trauma, especially in children. PI: Eric Seibel, PhD, UW Mechanical Engineering
VOC and non-VOC peptide biomarker eNose sensor for COVID and other bio detection uses. (RADx-RAD project) PI: Devin MacKenzie, PhD, UW Materials Science.
Spring 2021
MFM-SPECT Scanner, a nuclear medicine camera which reduces scan times and patient radiation dose for improved cancer-detection and neurological disease tracking. PIs: Robert Miyaoka, MD, and Larry Pierce, PhD, UW Medicine, Radiology
Fall 2021
αvβ6 integrin Inhibitor Minibinder for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and other diseases. Startup company is Lila Biologics. PIs: Anindya Roy, PhD, and Jake Kraft, PhD, UW Biochemistry, Institute for Protein Design
Spring 2022
QUIVER, a device to measure stability of dental implants making them more successful for the patient long-term. Startup company is QUIVER Dental, Inc. PI: Steve Shen, PhD, UW Mechanical Engineering
Piccolo Biosystems, a microfluidic technology for screening lipid enzymes and pathways for potential new therapeutics. Startup company is Piccolo Biosystems, Inc. PIs: Chris Sims, MD and Nancy Allbritton, PhD, UW Bioengineering
Fall 2022
CathConnect, a catheter breakaway device for urinary catheters that will disconnect when a patient accidentally pulls on it preventing unwanted catheter dislodgement. PI: Jonathan Posner, PhD, UW Mechanical Engineering
Internal Jugular Flow Enhancement Device (IJ-FED), a non-invasive wearable neck device that will help first responders begin to treat head-injury patients in the field, without invasive surgery. PIs: Laligam Sekhar, MD and Varad Shenoy, MBBS, UW Medicine Neurosurgery
DetectIV, an affordable peripheral intravenous detection skin patch that detects IV infiltration events. PI: Greg Valentine, MD, UW Medicine, Pediatrics
Summer 2023
Kanona, a platform using epigenetic knowledge derived from cell-free DNA screening data to predict preeclampsia risk in the first trimester with 90% accuracy, surpassing existing solutions. PIs: Swati Shree, MD, John Amory, MD, UW Medicine and Jonathan Reichel, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Nimble Surgical, a novel controllable metamaterial-based catheter that easily navigates through challenging anatomies including beating hearts. PIs: Zachary Steinberg, MD, UW Medicine, Cardiology and Jeffrey Lipton, PhD, UW Mechanical Engineering
Summer 2024
Sound Bubble, a headset technology that can create a sound bubble in which all speakers within the bubble are audible, but speakers and noise outside the bubble are suppressed making the technology useful to augment human hearing. PI: Shyam Gollakota, PhD, UW Computer Science and Engineering
Preeclampsia Blood Test capable of predicting preeclampsia before symptoms appear allowing for preventative intervention. PIs: Princess Imoukhuede, PhD and Cheri Fang, PhD, UW Bioengineering
RESTRICT HIV medication monitoring using a microfluidic device which has immediate applications for measuring adherence to HIV medication in clinical practice and behavioral science studies. PI: Ayokunle Olanrewaju, PhD, UW Bioengineering
Artemis IUD uses an intrauterine device frame as a platform for delivery of antiretroviral drugs to provide HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis as well as contraception. PI: Kim Woodrow, PhD and Ian Suydam, PhD, UW Bioengineering