Milwaukee-area colleges and universities continue to try to bring their faculty's inventions to the marketplace. A frequent aim of the innovative technology is to improve public health.
But economic challenges to commercialization remain.
On April 21, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin held their first in-person First Look Forum in a few years. Seven faculty members from the three schools gave quick pitch presentations about their inventions to potential investors.
Dr. Pradeep Chaluvally-Raghavan of the Medical College is working on a new way to diagnose and treat ovarian cancer, which is the fifth-leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the U.S. Chemotherapy and targeted drug therapy are often tried. But 80% of patients relapse within three years. Chaluvally-Raghavan reported early success with using disease-fighting antibody clones.
He told the audience: "So, the overall message is the antibody we use to treat ovarian cancer significantly inhibited the growth and metastasis."
Metastasis is the forming of new tumors elsewhere in the body.
At Marquette University, physical therapy professor Sheila Schindler-Ivens is working on a device to improve leg movement of stroke victims. She said some recovering victims settle for developing a stiff-legged gait or walk.
So Schindler-Ivens and her team are working on CUped, which compels use of paralyzed limbs during pedaling but is not an exercise bicycle.
"So that stroke survivors can practice using their stroke-affected limb. Through practicing, they can regain movement and outcomes will be better," she said.
Schindler-Ivens already is part of a startup company called Venus Rehabilitation Technologies.
At UWM, biological science professor Ching-Hong Yang said he's nearing the finish line with a product called RejuAgro. It's a biological (natural) control aimed at inhibiting crop diseases in apples, pears and citrus fruits. Yang said RejuAgro is an alternative to two other types of disease-fighters.
"Antibiotics and chemical. These are potent, but have downsides. One is costly. The other is environmentally damaging," he said.
Yang said he plans to submit his biological control agent to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approval later this year.
Researchers say a key issue for these and other projects is enough money to keep the work going and get the products to market.
Tom Still of the Wisconsin Technology Council moderated the First Look Forum. The council is the nonprofit science and technology advisor to the governor and the Wisconsin Legislature, and watches the flow of research funding.
Still said the good news for innovators is the COVID-19 pandemic did not harm the investment climate.
"Health in general probably accounted for 60% of the dollars invested in venture and angel capital in Wisconsin the last three years," Still told WUWM.
Still also said low interest rates on money accounts had more investors putting their money into research and startups, with hope of an eventual return.
But Still said now, there are some unusual pressures. "Inflation is one. Rising interest rates is another because investors might look for other places to go. And general unsettlement in different places around the world. We have Ukraine, and the supply chain issues in China and elsewhere. There are a lot of things that could get in the way," he said.
But Still said there was a lot of innovation during the worst days of the pandemic, and he hopes overall investors are willing to follow up on things that improve life.
