Researchers & UT Community
PROOF OF CONCEPT AWARDS
Technology Development
The Texas Proof of Concept Awards provide competitive funding for faculty membersor permanent researchers with principal investigator (PI) status to demonstrate the feasibility of their innovations to accelerate the process towards commercialization. We invite you to learn more about the past awardees and consider applying.
Award recipients
Andrew Dunn
New Method for Quantitative Blood Flow Imaging During Surgery
Synopsis:
Continuous and quantitative blood flow visualization during surgery could reduce complications and shorten time of surgery, but is not currently available to surgeons. The Dunn laboratory is developing laser imaging technology that could enable surgeons to visualize and measure real-time blood flow within the surgical field.
UT Austin Startup:
Dynamic Light
Details
Website
Alan Groves
Trinity Tube Feeding Tube
Synopsis:
Premature birth affects around 10% of infants and is the most significant cause of newborn death in the USA. Premature infants need to have their vital signs (heart rate, breathing rate, temperature) monitored continuously. At present this monitoring is carried out by skin mounted sensors which can damage the delicate skin. Realizing that all premature infants need a tube placed through their nose/mouth into the stomach to deliver milk feeds, UT physicians and engineers are developing an ‘intelligent’ feeding tube which can continuously and wirelessly monitor an infant’s vital signs while avoiding damage to the skin. Placement of sensors inside the chest will also allow the team to develop novel markers of airway pressure and work of breathing to guide clinical care for these vulnerable infants.
UT Austin Startup:
Details
Website
Huiliang (Evan) Wang
Wearable Brain Computer Interface System for In-home Stroke Rehab
Synopsis:
With stroke being the leading cause of severe disability in the United States, there is a huge economic burden and challenge for patients regarding rehabilitation strategies, including the need to physically visit a rehab center. To help solve these challenges, UT engineers and scientists are developing an electroencephalogram (EEG)-based wearable brain-machine interface system for in-home continuous stroke recovery.
UT Austin Startup:
Details
Website
Mitchell Pryor
Inspection Robot for Floating Roof Storage Tanks
Synopsis:
In the oil and gas industry, manual inspection of seals in floating roof storage tanks is inaccurate, costly, and dangerous. Inspections are increasingly necessary given our aging infrastructure and desire to minimize the release of fugitive emissions harmful to inspectors and the environment. UT innovators have developed an autonomous robotic solution that performs tank inspections safer, cheaper, faster, and more accurately than traditional, manual methods.
UT Austin Startup:
Pike Robotics
Details
Website
Farshid Alambeigi
4D Imaging System for Early Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer
Synopsis:
Colon cancer polyps have a high degree of variation in stiffness, morphology, and sizes across patients, making early polyp detection and classification a imperfect when performing a standard colonoscopy. UT engineers and physicians are developing a new four-dimensional AI-enabled imaging system for the early diagnosis of colon cancer using a novel inflatable tactile sensor and complementary artificial intelligence algorithms.
UT Austin Startup:
Details
Website
