We are excited to announce the 17 early-stage student innovator teams that have been accepted into our Summer 2022 E-Team Grant Program! Teams were chosen based on the potential for their innovation to have a significant positive social, health, or environmental impact. Eleven teams will receive a $5,000 Stage 1 grant. An additional six teams have been selected to advance to the next stage of the program and will be awarded $20,000 Stage 2 grants to support the development of their innovations.
From wearable spinal monitoring technology to a medical assistive eating device, the members of the Summer 2022 E-Team cohort are designing groundbreaking technological solutions to a variety of challenges. Gum & Gums, a team from Montclair State University, is developing an autonomous device that flosses all of your teeth simultaneously. Another example is GismoPower, a team from the New College of Florida that is developing a portable solar system canopy on wheels, delivering a high-powered charger that can be stored on a driveway for both renters and homeowners.
Read more about this cohort and their exciting innovations.
Stage One
Environment
SafeStoreBattery | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
SafeStoreBattery is developing a packaging device that requires disposal of a used battery to access a new battery, improving disposal and convenience and reducing safety and environmental hazards.
Healthcare/Medical
3D-OPS | University of California-Davis
3D-OPS is developing a technique to 3D print artificial tissue, which simulates spider silk from the Nephila Clavipes spider, for use in surgical applications.
AM Therapeutics | Purdue University-Main Campus
AM Therapeutics is developing a therapeutic glove that uses heat, vibration, and compression to treat joint pain in the hands of individuals with arthritis and related conditions.
CurveAssure | Johns Hopkins University
CurveAssure is developing a wearable spinal monitoring technology to enable at-home analysis that provides physicians with information which allows them to enable faster data-driven patient care and surgical decision-making.
Gum & Gums | Montclair State University
Gum & Gums is developing an autonomous device that flosses all of a user’s teeth simultaneously.
MicrobeBlaster | University of Massachusetts Amherst
MicrobeBlaster is developing a biofilm coating that prevents bacteria from making and maintaining contact on the surface of implantable medical devices.
Pediafeed | Johns Hopkins University
Pediafeed is developing a safer, simpler, and more secure pediatric feeding tube to address the most common complications—such as displacement—that are associated with current long-term assisted feeding.
RexSim | Montana State University
RexSim is developing an electrocardiogram (ECG) didactic and manual skills training platform to measure the knowledge and skills fundamental to ECG performance for clinicians working in ECG test administration and interpretation.
SteadyScrib | Northwestern University
SteadyScrib is developing a manual writing tool designed for people with Parkinson’s disease, concentrating on counteracting writing-inhibitive Parkinson’s symptoms.
UroDeflect | Johns Hopkins University
UroDeflect is developing a catheter for patients who suffer from urinary system injuries that integrates a balloon and elastic funnel to create a pressure gradient which diverts enough urine to allow the body to heal.
Infrastructure/Building
EASEEbot | New York University
EASEEbot is developing a drone that safely and noninvasively flies around a building, auto-generating a 3D model using advanced computer vision and AI techniques for building scientists to lower inspection costs, increase safety, and generate higher-quality reports.
Stage Two
Environment
GismoPower | New College of Florida
Currently, going solar is limited to rooftop and ground-mount, permanent systems. GismoPower is developing the MEGA (Mobile Electricity Generating Appliance), a portable solar carport on wheels with an integrated EV charger that rolls in and out of garages onto driveways, for both renters and homeowners alike.
Healthcare/Medical
DioTeX | Johns Hopkins University
In combat situations, early signs of hemorrhage are masked by the body’s stress response to battle, making it difficult to diagnose internal bleeding. DioTeX is developing a device to accurately diagnose internal hemorrhaging by using a drop of safely obtained patient blood.
Glow Ink Solutions | Medical University of South Carolina
The carbon black ink used by surgeons to mark tumors can be hard to detect if placed in a location that is difficult to visualize. Glow Ink Solutions is developing an injectable biomarker that glows to make it easier for surgeons to detect marked tumors during surgery.
Nephra | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Heightened potassium or hyperkalemia is a common challenge for patients with chronic kidney disease and is associated with an increase in mortality due to cardiac events. Nephra is developing predictive algorithms that can be used for kidney disease patients.
PulseFlex | Dartmouth College
Currently, there is no technology available on the market that gives patients with hypertension a means of continuously monitoring their cardiac health at any time. PulseFlex is developing a flexible, wearable sensor that can accurately and continuously monitor vital cardiovascular signs, such as blood pressure and heart rate, giving patients with hypertension a way to monitor their cardiac health anywhere and any time.
SteadiSpoon™ | Southern Methodist University
For people who suffer from Parkinson’s disease and essential tremors, current motorized solutions for hand tremors are expensive, not machine washable, and require charging. SteadiSpoon™ is developing an affordable self-stabilizing eating utensil designed to help people who suffer from Parkinson’s and essential tremors.
The E-Team entrepreneurial journey
Each Stage 1 team will take part in our intensive Pioneer training program, where they will learn the steps needed to advance their projects out of the university lab and into the market.
“Our Pioneer workshop will provide innovators with the opportunity to build on their existing entrepreneurial skills, connect with and receive feedback from industry-leading mentors, and discover new pathways for their venture,” said E-Team Program Officer Sarah Wharmby.
The Stage 2 teams will take part in the Propel training workshop, where they will work to develop and validate their business model through customer discovery interviews and prototype development and establish their intellectual property portfolio. Propel helps early-stage innovators map and validate the pathway for their venture, digging into business model design and creating action plans to engage stakeholders and de-risk their venture.
About the E-Team Grant Program
Through the E-Team program, we have trained over 500 student teams and more than 1,300 student innovators. Our teams have raised close to $700M+ in follow-on funding and have launched 400+ ventures since taking part in our program.
Learn more about VentureWell’s E-Team Grant Program, which supports student-led science- and engineering-based teams from across the nation in bringing their high-impact innovation out of the lab and into the market.