The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee introduced a new internal grant program (FIPS) to foster faculty-industry relationships by supporting bold and translational ideas to lay the groundwork for impactful, externally funded collaborations. For this purpose, 19 internal grants were selected for funding by the UWM Office of Research. Several MIDD members were among recipients.
Ching-Hong Yang, Distinguished Professor, Department of Biological Sciences: Commercialization of RejuPrime: A Novel Biostimulant for Enhancing Crop Resilience to Abiotic Stress
This project establishes a multidisciplinary partnership between the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and agrobiotech companies to transition RejuPrime, a novel, patent-pending natural plant biostimulant, to the commercial market. RejuPrime is a natural metabolite produced by a Pseudomonas species that enhances plant growth and increases tolerance to abiotic stress at low concentrations. The collaboration focuses on proof-of-concept efficacy studies and the critical regulatory and marketing groundwork needed for a successful commercial launch.
Alexander (Leggy) Arnold, Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry: Independent Functional and Physicochemical Benchmarking of Sustainable EcoFizz™ Detergents as Alternatives to Tween-20 and Brij Surfactants.
This collaborative project between Thermo Fisher Scientific and the Arnold Group seeks to conduct an independent, data-driven evaluation of novel EcoFizz™ detergent candidates designed to preserve functional performance while improving sustainability and regulatory alignment. The project integrates academic analytical rigor with translational industry objectives.
Qingsu Cheng, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering: Scalable Automation for Organoid-Based Cancer Research
Patient‑derived cancer organoids recapitulate the tumor microenvironment, but their high‑throughput utility remains limited by labor‑intensive manual procedures that introduce stochastic variability. To overcome this limitation, this project aims to develop a modular, robotic workflow that standardizes organoid handling and eliminates operator‑dependent variability. This system-engineering approach transforms traditionally variable biological protocols into reproducible, automated unit operations.
Priyatha Premnath, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Sandeep Gopalakrishnan, Associate Professor, Biomedical Sciences: Engineering of Selective p21 Inhibition with Radical Scavenging Hydrogel Matrices: A Strategic Academic-Industrial Partnership for Regenerative Wound Therapy
This multidisciplinary collaboration between University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and RxOS Medical integrates expertise in biomedical engineering and wound biology in scavenger hydrogel formulations to develop a novel therapeutic modality for chronic, non-healing wounds. The strategy involved repurposing of known compound to optimized high specificity for p21 protein attenuation without the associated off-target kinase inhibition.
Madhusudan Dey, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Shama Mirza, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Troy Skwor, Associate Professor, Biomedical Sciences: Antimicrobial Compounds from the Bacterium Xenorhabdus szentirmaii
This collaboration with the Microbial Discovery Group focuses on the identification and development of new bacterium-derived antibiotics. New research has shown that the Xenorhabdus szentirmaii genome encodes multiple non-ribosomal peptide synthetases responsible to the generation of new compounds with antibiotic properties. The work focuses on the culture, purification and characterization of these novel agents.