Our faculty members translate discoveries into marketable solutions
Cameron R. Bass
Associate Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering
MVTrak LLC: Developing an in-ear device to monitor the severity of head impact, providing information that may be used to assess and prevent concussions.
John Board
Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Stingar: The goal of the STINGAR project is to enable low friction generation of threat intelligence, data sharing, and action on threat intelligence for the higher education community..
David J. Brady
Michael J. Fitzpatrick Professor of Photonics
Aqueti: Builds high-resolution cameras for broadcast and consumer markets and provides cloud services for high-resolution media. Brady is CEO.
Centice: Co-founded by Brady—builds field laboratories for chemical analysis. Centice instruments are used by first responders in drug enforcement and security.
Applied Quantum Technologies: Provides order-of-magnitude improvements in cost, size, performance or power consumption for optical sensing systems. AQT merged with Blue Angel Optics, which Brady founded, in 2008.
Ashutosh Chilkoti
Alan L. Kaganov Professor of Biomedical Engineering
PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals: Founded by Chilkoti, PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals has licensed an intellectual property portfolio related to the use of elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) for protein purification, capture, and drug delivery from Duke. To date, PhaseBio has raised ~ $65 million in venture capital funding. The company develops ELP fusions to improve the stability, bioavailability, activity and ease of administration of proteins and peptides, with the goal of achieving greater potency, fewer side effects and better patient compliance. PhaseBio has launched and completed multiple clinical trials of ELPs fused to peptide drugs for treatment of diabetes and heart disease. On October 18, 2018, PhaseBio announced the pricing for their initial public offering of 9,200,000 shares at five dollars per share, for total gross proceeds of approximately $46 million.
Sentilus: Focuses on the use of a “non-fouling” polymer brush technology developed in the Chilkoti Group for detection of protein analytes that radically departs from conventional technology. This polymer coating eliminates the largest source of assay noise—non-specific binding—and thereby maximizes signal-to-noise (S/N) in heterogeneous immunoassays. Sentilus, co-founded by Chilkoti, was acquired after only two years by industry giant Immucor.
BioStealth: Born out of Sentilus technology. When Sentilus was acquired by Immucor, they returned all fields of use of the technology outside of human in vitro diagnostics. BioStealth, co-founded by Chilkoti, will develop and commercialize the non-fouling coating technology in other current areas of interest, including research diagnostics and tools, veterinary diagnostics, and biomaterials.
GatewayBio: Focused on the design of the next generation of polymer conjugates of protein and peptide drugs that improve their efficacy.
Isolere Bio: Developing IsoTag™ by fusing an antibody-binding domain to a stimulus-responsive biopolymer, to provide a fast and inexpensive alternative to the current “gold” standard, protein A chromatography.
Lawrence Carin
James L. Meriam Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Signal Innovations Group (SIG): Founded by Carin, created technology to interpret data and enhance the effectiveness of national defense, public safety, and commercial surveillance systems. In 2014, SIG was acquired by BAE Systems.
Infinia ML: An artificial intelligence company founded by Carin, Infinia ML has built machine learning algorithms that help businesses and organizations make sense of big data.
Leslie Collins
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
New Folder Consulting: The company, co-founded by Collins, developed and distributed statistical signal processing tools for decision-making and pattern recognition.
Ai-RGUS: Ai-RGUS develops software that uses advanced computer vision algorithms to automatically inspect security camera video footage, ensuring that all cameras in the system are continuously producing clean, actionable, footage. The core technology was developed at Duke through a collaboration between the Pratt School of Engineering (Dr. Leslie Collins, Dr. Jordan Malof) and Duke's Office of Information Technology, led by Chief Information Officer Tracy Futhey.
Richard B. Fair
Lord-Chandran Professor of Engineering
ALL, Advanced Liquid Logic: Spun off from Fair's lab at Duke. He assisted in the founding of the company, which developed and manufactured digital microfluidics-based research and diagnostic products. Acquired by Illumina, Inc., which develops life science tools and integrated systems for analyzing genes, in 2013.
Aaron Franklin
Addy Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Tyrata: Founded in 2018 based on a printed electronic sensor capable of wirelessly measuring the tread thickness of a tire. Tyrata now has a portfolio of tire tread monitoring technologies under development, including a drive-over system for use by large fleets, and provides data analytics solutions for improving vehicle safety and the efficiency of tire use.
Versametrics: A measurement systems company seeking to make highly versatile electronic characterization tools more available. These affordable, precise electrical characterization systems can enable new research or accelerate and expand studies.
Ken Gall
Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
MedShape: A fully functioning medical device company developing implants for foot and ankle reconstruction based on shape-memory materials. MedShape’s sports medicine division was acquired by Conmed (NASDAQ: CNMD).
Vertera: Created the first spinal fusion implants based on porous polymer technologies. Acquired by Nuvasive (NASDAQ: NUVA).
Deep Blue Medical Advances: Developing a novel hernia mesh with integrated suture-like extensions that eliminates the key point of failure for conventional mesh fixation and provides superior anchor strength to address the unacceptably high rate of hernia occurrence and recurrence.
Restor3D: Developing 3D printing of polymers and metals to create unique patient-specific and surgeon designed implants on-demand across multiple fields of medicine.
Lacuna: Developing a shape memory catheter that deploys itself into restricted spaces and prevents mechanical occlusion of the drainage ports.
Michael Gehm
Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Quadridox: Founded by four university professors to transition promising, state-of-the-art tools and technologies into meaningful solutions, Quadridox is developing groundbreaking X-ray simulation tools that open up new capabilities for system design, algorithm developing (including ML/AI) and testing and evaluation. In parallel, the company is developing novel X-ray systems that provide enhanced sensitivity and material specificity for security, government and commercial applications.
Charles Gersbach
Rooney Family Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Locus Biosciences: Relies on the CRISPR-Cas system to target bacteria and destroy their DNA, enabling the design and development of powerful antimicrobials that avoid the pitfalls of antibiotic resistance and leaves non-target bacteria unharmed.
Element Genomics: Developing a high-throughput platform for understanding gene regulatory elements in order to identify new drug targets for common diseases. Acquired by UCB in 2018 for $30 million.
Tune Therapeutics: Tune is developing its proprietary TEMPO platform for targeting and adjusting gene expression up or down to desired levels with the potential to reverse pathways of cancer, genetic disease, and aging by changing cell fate and function at will.
Joel Greenberg
Associate Research Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Quadridox: Founded by four university professors to transition promising, state-of-the-art tools and technologies into meaningful solutions, Quadridox is developing groundbreaking X-ray simulation tools that open up new capabilities for system design, algorithm developing (including ML/AI) and testing and evaluation. In parallel, the company is developing novel X-ray systems that provide enhanced sensitivity and material specificity for security, government and commercial applications.
Warren M. Grill
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Deep Brain Innovations (DBI): DBI’s Temporally Optimized Patterned Stimulation (TOPS) technology is being developed to deliver highly efficient and effective brain stimulation to treat neurological disorders. Grill is the founder and chief scientific officer.
NDI Medical (Neuro Device Innovations): Grill is a co-founder of the hybrid venture capital and commercialization firm focusing exclusively on innovative neuro device technologies that are intended to restore lost neurological function, prevent damage and reduce the painful effects of disease and injury.
Roarke Horstmeyer
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Ramona Optics: Co-founded with colleagues from Caltech, is building gigapixel microscopes and associated software for the automated lab of the future.
SafineAI: Co-founded with Duke graduate students, is building intelligent microscopes to automate blood analysis.
Joseph A. Izatt
Michael J. Fitzpatrick Professor of Engineering
Bioptigen Inc.: Provides leading-edge optical coherence tomography imaging technology for research and clinical diagnostic markets. Leica Microsystems acquired Bioptigen in June 2015.
Jungsang Kim
Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Applied Quantum Technologies, Inc: The company, co-founded by Kim, seeks applications of optical micro-electromechanical systems in various applications, as well as novel imaging and spectroscopy instrumentation in the visible and X-ray domains.
ionQ: Kim is a co-founder and chief strategy officer for the company, which is to create scalable quantum computers using ion traps.
Jeffrey L. Krolik
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Strad Corp.: Develops signal processing technology for surveillance and sensing applications.
Michael D. Lynch
Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
DMC Ltd.: Co-founded by Lynch, offers companies a simplified design space and tools for genetically designing microbes to efficiently produce high-value products from carbohydrate feedstocks.
David Needham
Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Lindy Biosciences: Founded by former graduate student Deborah Bitterfield, Lindy Biosciences was born from technology developed in the laboratory of Professor David Needham that dries and preserves proteins in a glassified form that retains the molecules' properties as workhorses of biology. The technology produces spherical, dense, stable particles of a therapeutic protein ideal for long-term storage, or for non-standard formulations such as high-concentration suspensions. These suspensions allow high-dose biologics that would normally have to be given by a lengthy IV infusion to instead be given in a single subcutaneous injection. Dr. Needham is a scientific advisor for the company.
Mark L. Palmeri
Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
MicroElastic Ultrasound: Founded in 2016 with support from the Duke-Coulter Translational Research Partnership and currently developing a handheld device that measures the elasticity of skin for use in evaluating elective dermatological treatments and for tracking skin manifestations of difficult to manage diseases such graft-versus-host disease.
Nimmi Ramanujam
Robert W. Carr, Jr., Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Calla Health: Calla Health Foundation was founded in 2019 and aims to improve women’s access to cancer prevention. The company innovates on low-cost tools for breast and cervical cancers. The company’s flagship product, the Pocket Colposcope, was developed in Ramanujam laboratory at the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies within Duke. The company is also developing image processing algorithms for automated cervical precancer diagnosis and technologies for female reproductive health.
Zenalux Biomedical: A research and development company that aims to make optical spectroscopy widely available for medical practitioners who are interested in real-time, non-destructive biological tissue diagnostics. Ramanujam and Greg Palmer initially developed a Monte Carlo-base model for the extraction of tissue optical properties and intrinsic fluorescence at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Later at Duke, the two used the algorithms to develop the Zenascope, a portable tissue spectrometer with real-time feature extraction.
Xiling Shen
Hawkins Family Associate Professor
Xilis Inc.: Building a patient-derived screening platform to increase the precision of personalized cancer therapies to overcome drug resistance after standard chemotherapy fails, with the added goal of developing a drug response database for cancer drug discovery.
Daniel J. Sorin
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Realtime Robotics: Developing computer processors design specifically for robotic motion planning. In the proof-of-concept microchip, the company was able to create motion plans for a robotic arm up to 10,000 times faster than existing approaches, while consuming a small fraction of the power. The technology is theoretically capable of motion planning in real-time, and could fundamentally change the way robots are programmed in manufacturing, and other industrial applications. In October 2017, the company secured $2 million in seed funding, followed by raising $31 million in Series A in 2021.
David R. Smith
James B. Duke Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Carillon Technologies: Carillon Technologies partners with both government and government contractors to accelerate the identification, adaption and deployment in advanced commercial technologies in key areas such as tactical communications, advanced autonomous systems, directed energy and space technology. Dr. smith is on the Technical Advisory Board.
Echodyne Corp.: By creating the world’s lightest, smallest, and lowest cost high-performance electronically scanning radar, Echodyne—co-founded by Smith—wants to reinvent the way the world uses radar, from security to drone navigation and autonomous cars.
Evolv Technology: Co-founded by Dr. Smith and develops security devices for public spaces and events. The stylish, easily relocatable scanning devices may look a bit like traditional X-ray scanners, but use millimeter waves to detect threats without the need for clothing removal and can be tailored to focus on specific threat levels.
Kymeta: Founded by Smith's former graduate student Nathan Kundtz, the company leverages Metamaterials Surface Antenna Technology (MSA-T) to create satellite user terminal products. Smith is an advisory board member.
Lumotive: Lumotive is developing solid-state lidar for the automotive industry based on a revolutionary metamaterial-based beam-steering technology to provide perception systems for the emerging self-driving car industry. Dr. Smith is on the Technical Advisory Board.
Metacept: Dr. Smith is the CEO of Metacept, a company that provides design and engineering services for complete electromagnetic systems, with extensive experience in transitioning metamaterials to real-world applications.
MetaVC: Dr. Smith is chief scientist and incubation partner for MetaVC, a venture fund launched to invest in startups commercializing metamaterials, a budding area of materials science that could improve the performance and reduce the size and weight of devices such as lenses and sensors.
Pivotal Commware: Smith is a member of the Technology Advisory Board. The company is focused on using metamaterials for Holographic Beam Forming for terrestrial communication applications, well-suited to a wide range of mobile 4G and 5G applications, including those for ships, planes, trains, and connected cars.
Tuan Vo-Dinh
R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Minutia: Minutia aims to develop stem cell-derived transplants that can communicate transplant status in vivo and that are resistant to common transplant challenges. Initially, Minutia is focusing on enabling a functional cure for Type 1 Diabetes.
Adam P. Wax
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Lumedica, Inc.: Founded in 2014 to commercialize low-cost biomedical imaging technologies developed in Wax’s laboratory.
Oncoscope: Founded to commercialize early cancer detection technologies in the field of optical imaging pioneered by Wax. Closed in 2015, after its technology was licensed by the publicly-traded company Spectrascience.
M2 Photonics Innovations: Founded in 2010 to commercialize technologies developed in Wax’s laboratory. Participated in a Phase I STTR project aimed at developing holographic imaging technology of red blood cells for point-of-care diagnosis of malaria using patented Duke technology (U.S. Patent No. 8,508,746).
Stefan Zauscher
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
QATCH Technologies: Based on research from the laboratory of Stefan Zauscher (scientific advisor) and founded by former postdoctoral associate Zehra Parlak, QATCH Technologies develops innovative devices for biomolecular sensing and flow measurements. For example, the company’s proprietary microfluidic shear wave resonator technology can determine, at a very early stage of development, if a biopharmaceutical drug formulation is injectable or if there will be viscosity related manufacturing problems.