UIC DPI Cycle 2 Seed Funding Program Awards

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the UIC Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) Cycle 2 Seed Funding Program Awards. The number and quality of proposals submitted by UIC faculty continued to demonstrate the enthusiasm for research that supports the DPI mission and promotes commercialization and entrepreneurship within our research enterprise.

A total of ninety-six proposals were submitted for UIC DPI Cycle 2. All proposals were reviewed by at least three UIC faculty, with those proposals scoring in the top 30% advancing to a second round of review conducted by the Office of Technology Management to assess intellectual property and commercialization potential. A final review committee selected the awardees based on the combination of exceptional intellectual merit and research excellence, as well as potential for commercial impact. These seven selections include seventeen faculty from four colleges; three of these are collaborations between colleges.

We extend our gratitude to everyone who participated in this process, to those who submitted proposals and especially to the more than sixty faculty who conducted the first round of peer review. The combined contributions of many faculty and staff have made this a successful program that will advance the DPI mission and research at UIC.

Sincerely,

Joanna Groden, PhD 
Vice Chancellor for Research
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research

TJ Augustine, PhD
Vice Chancellor for Innovation
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Innovation

Winners of the DPI Cycle 2 Seed Funding

Computationally Efficient Vehicle Control via Machine Learning
Erdem Koyuncu
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

Hulya Seferoglu
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

A. Enis Cetin
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

Deep Learning for Keyphrase Extraction: Models and Corpora
Cornelia Caragea
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering

Development of Novel Biased Antagonists of GPCRs to Address Unmet Needs and Health Disparities in Illinois
Steven Ackerman
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and Department of Medicine
College of Medicine

Vadim Gaponenko
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
College of Medicine

Sojin Shikano
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
College of Medicine

Expanding Diagnosis for Oral/Oropharyngeal Cancers Using Exosomes
Lyndon Cooper
Department of Oral Biology
College of Dentistry

Robert Winn
Department of Medicine
College of Medicine

Inhaled Colony Stimulating Factor 1 Receptor (CSF1R) Inhibitor for Asthma Therapy
Gye Young Park
Department of Medicine
College of Medicine

Michael Johnson
Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
College of Pharmacy

Oligomeric Aβ as a Novel Mechanistic Biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease Measured in Human Plasma
Mary Jo LaDu
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
College of Medicine

Smart Contact Lens for Wireless Detection of Infectious Eye Diseases
Danilo Erricolo
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

Mark I. Rosenblatt
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science
College of Medicine

Pai-Yen Chen
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

Victor H. Guaiquil
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science
College of Medicine

Deepak Shukla
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science
College of Medicine

For more information, please contact:
Maryfrances Miley, mileym@uic.edu
Sarah O’Brien, sobrie1@uic.edu