Award Data

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACTThe objective of this Phase II proposal is to further develop a novel device for ocular anesthesia based on thermo-electric cooling. Intravitreal injection therapy (IVT) is one of the most commonly performed procedures in all of medicine, with approximately 7 million injections in the USA in 2016. Ocular anesthesia is required, both for patient safety and for tolerability ...

Chemotherapy may control but rarely cure metastatic cancers. Remarkably, modern immunotherapies, including cell-based therapies, have cured metastatic melanomas and other types of cancers. A major challenge for all cell therapies in general is the need to develop cost-effective and efficient manufacturing and delivery capabilities. We have recently established an innovative cell isolation technolo ...

Project Summary/Abstract Prospective evaluation of a surgical solution for breast cancer-associated lymphedema The proposed project will complete remaining key research and technology requirements that are needed to commercialize a ground-breaking interventional device for treating secondary lymphedema -- a chronic and debilitating disease that currently has no cure and impacts an estimated 15-30% ...

This project develops an ultrasonic fitment tool to improve prosthetics performance for persons with lower-extremity amputations. The goal of this project is to develop a new clinical instrument used in the socket fitting process to optimize the performance of a lower-body prosthetic system and thereby improve mobility, activity, exercise, and quality of life for over 2 million American amputees. ...

Fossil fuels are the dominant energy source in the agriculture sector, comprising a large fraction of farming operational expenditures and emitting CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Despite recent market penetration, renewable energy adoption on farms remains low. Large capital costs, intermittency, and immobility of renewable energy prevents adoption on small and mid-size farms. A particularly detrimental ...

Small farms are critical to the futureof America. Small farms promote and sustain communities, create jobs, improve the health of the land and of the people who live on it. Currently small to mid-sized farms raising pasture-based livestock have been left to invent/build their own feeding/watering systemsand are at a disadvantage to large, fully automated, high-efficiency systems on large scale far ...

Plant parasitic nematodes cause over $125 billion USD a year in food production losses, or over 12% of all crops. Regulatory changes are resulting in fewer options for nematode control for farmers and requiring that new products be more sustainable in use. Optimized through evolutionary processes for biological activity, natural products (NPs) are a rich source of bioactive molecules that are biod ...

We propose to develop a lightweight and affordable one-armed autonomous robot to transfer produce from a wheeled transport robot to a pallet. In-field automation improves efficiency by increasing production and/or reducing labor costs by up to $35M/year for California strawberries alone. Our robot will improve health and safety by reducing worker injuries from repeated lifting and by minimizing ch ...

Improvements in genome engineering tools have enabled unprecedented control over genetic material, allowing for tremendous potential for creating new crop varieties. As the world population climbs, there are increasing demands to efficiently produce and distribute food. This challenge, as well as higher temperatures, drought, flooding, pests, and disease place food security among the top of worldw ...

Summary:The objective of this project is to develop SPLAT FAW, a formulation to disrupt the mating of FAW in corn and other row crops, suppressing the pest's population in the treated area as well as the damage inflicted to the crop. An infestation by FAW can cause 15-73% reductions in corn crop yield, leading to losses between $0.5B and $2B a year. This makes FAW a serious liability for agric ...