UWM Research Foundation announces nine new Catalyst Grants

Early-stage research projects range from asthma to language analysis

The research team investigating a new treatment for asthma are Douglas Stafford (from left), director of the Milwaukee Institute for Drug Discovery; Alexander Arnold, assistant professor; and Distinguished Professor James Cook. They are using equipment at the new Southeastern Wisconsin Applied Chemistry Center for Excellence. (Photo by Troye Fox)
The research team investigating a new treatment for asthma are Douglas Stafford (from left), director of the Milwaukee Institute for Drug Discovery; Alexander Arnold, assistant professor; and Distinguished Professor James Cook. They are using equipment at the new Southeastern Wisconsin Applied Chemistry Center for Excellence. (Photo by Troye Fox)

Nine new research projects, including developments for a new cancer therapy and a high-power density battery to continue medical operations during power outages, have received Catalyst Grant funding from the UWM Research Foundation.

The Catalyst Grant Program invests in promising early-stage research at UWM, fostering commercialization of new technology. Now in its seventh year, the Catalyst Grant Program has awarded more than $3.7 million in seed funding for 67 projects.

A total of $181,000 across five unique projects are backed by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation. These grants support promising research and development in areas where UWM has the greatest potential to impact the regional economy through commercialization activities.

The other four projects are supported by GE Healthcare Catalyst Grants, totaling $199,190. These grants focus on research in advanced computational imaging and related technologies.

This program is part of a larger effort by GE Healthcare aimed at building a pipeline of Wisconsin-based medical imaging software developers and researchers to drive the next generation of healthcare technology globally.

Bradley/Herzfeld Winners

  • Dave Clark (English) is developing software that allows for automated control of language style, clarity and translation. With help from partners Scott Graham and William Keith, he hopes to contribute to standardizing complex, idiosyncratic languages.
  • Doug Stafford, James Cook and Alexander Arnold (Chemistry) are testing an innovative therapeutic strategy for asthma that is based on a novel mode of action that reduces the potential for adverse effects.
  • Carol Hirschmugl (Physics) is testing a new material, graphene monoxide, which may have applications in electronics and flexible circuits.
  • Xiaohua Peng (Chemistry) is testing a new cancer therapy to determine whether the drug will reduce tumor size while also causing less damage to healthy cells in the body.
  • With a previous Bradley Catalyst grant Valerica Raicu (Physics) developed a tool to help assess the structure of a drug target. Building on this idea, he hopes to improve the instrument and make it more cost effective.

GE Healthcare Winners

  • Jake Luo and Timothy Patrick (Health Informatics and Administration) are developing a medical image knowledge base using natural language processing and ontology-based knowledge integration methods.
  • Adel Nasiri (Electrical Engineering) proposes a cost-effective, compact system with a high-power density battery to improve reliability and efficiency of CT machines.
  • Jun Zhang (Electrical Engineering) has obtained funding for two projects. The goal of the first is to develop methods to reduce the complexity and cost of controlling the temperature of CT detector systems. On the second project he is working toward resolution enhancement of several medical imaging applications.

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