Proof of Concept Awards

Congratulations to Dr. Qian Zhong and team, Robert Williams, Yuling Chen, and Karlie Flader, on receiving a Discovery to Impact Proof of Concept Award for their project, Bedside Breathe-In Diagnostics for Pulmonary Fibrosis.

A faculty member in The University of Texas at Austin, College of Pharmacy, Dr. Zhong and his team are advancing a rapid, noninvasive diagnostic platform that uses inhaled biosensors and a urine test to enable early bedside detection of pulmonary fibrosis.

Congratulations to Dr. Jayant Sirohi on receiving a Discovery to Impact Proof of Concept Award for his project, Precision Aerial Firefighting System.

Dr. Sirohi, a faculty member in the Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin is advancing a low-cost, precision aerial firefighting technology that uses a guided, autorotative delivery system deployed from fixed-wing drones to accurately place fire suppressants on early-stage wildfires.

Congratulations to Dr. Daniella Rempe on receiving a Discovery to Impact Proof of Concept Award for her project, Doing for Floods What Smoke Alarms Did for Fire.

Dr. Rempe, an associate professor in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin, is advancing a low-cost, fully autonomous flood alarm designed to provide immediate, site-specific warnings when rising water reaches a location.

Congratulations to Dr. Yaguo Wang and Alejandro Saenz on receiving a Discovery to Impact Proof of Concept Award for their project, High-Performance Flexible Electronics.

A faculty member in the Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Wang is advancing an ambient‑air femtosecond laser sintering process to produce oxidation‑free, high‑conductivity copper films on flexible substrates.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Dr. Ilias Georgakopoulos-Soares, PhD, and his research teams on receiving two awards recognizing innovative work in privacy-preserving genomic analysis and data compression.

Dr. Georgakopoulos-Soares and team members Kimonas Provatas and Ioannis Mouratidis received a Discovery to Impact Proof of Concept Award for their project, Privacy Preserving Framework for Genomic Analyses. The team is advancing a software-based, privacy-preserving framework that enables secure genomic analysis directly on encrypted data using homomorphic encryption, helping make genomic research more secure and accessible.

Dr. Georgakopoulos-Soares also received an award with team members Michail Patsakis, Aris Karatzikos, and Ioannis Mouratidis for their project, Structure Aware Lossless Compression. The team is developing a structure-aware, lossless data compression platform that automatically learns the underlying structure of datasets to reduce storage and data transfer costs, improving efficiency for large-scale data management and analysis.

Congratulations to Dr. Juan Guan and Dr. Zhengrong Cui on receiving a Discovery to Impact Proof of Concept Award for their project, A Novel Treatment for TKI-resistant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Faculty members in the The University of Texas at Austin, College of Pharmacy, Dr. Guan and Dr. Cui are advancing a novel therapeutic strategy for tyrosine kinase inhibitor–resistant non‑small cell lung cancer by using mRNA lipid nanoparticles to deliver peptides that disrupt oncogenic biomolecular condensates.

Congratulations to Dr. Huiliang (Evan) Wang and Mohammad Bashashati, M.D. on receiving a Discovery to Impact Proof of Concept Award and Cockrell Innovation Grant for their project, Wearable Ultrasound Neuromodulation System for Gastric Motility Disorders.

Dr. Wang, a faculty member in the Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, and Dr. Bashashati, a faculty member in Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, are advancing a wearable ultrasound neuromodulation system for noninvasive, at-home treatment of gastroparesis and functional dyspepsia.

Congratulations to Dr. Elizabeth Cosgriff Hernandez and her collaborators on receiving two awards recognizing innovative work in cardiac rhythm therapy and lung surgery.

Dr. Cosgriff Hernandez received a Discovery to Impact Proof of Concept Award for her project, Transforming Cardiac Rhythm Therapy using Hydrogel mediated Ablation. She and her team are advancing a hydrogel mediated radiofrequency ablation technology designed to improve cardiac rhythm therapy by enhancing energy transfer and thermal control for more uniform lesions and fewer complications.

Dr. Cosgriff Hernandez and her collaborators from MD Anderson, Nicolas Zhou, Paula Aguilera Rodriguez, Andrew Ferrer, and Tim Marin, also received a Discovery to Impact Proof of Concept Award and a Cockrell Innovation Grant for their project, Next Generation BioPatch to Seal Air Leaks After Lung Resection. The team is developing a next generation lung BioPatch designed to rapidly seal post resection air leaks using a pressure resistant, tissue integrating design.

Congratulations to Dr. Qian Yin and collaborator Dr. Zhengrong Cui on receiving both a Discovery to Impact Proof of Concept Award and a Cockrell Innovation Grant for their project, A Novel Adjuvant for Pan-filovirus Vaccine.

Dr. Yin, from the Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, is advancing a novel solid-form nanoparticle adjuvant toward a stockpile-ready, pan-filovirus vaccine with broad, durable protection against Ebola, Sudan, and Marburg viruses.