Submitted by sws139 on Tue, 05/04/2021 - 18:18
Office for Innovation

Lab Bench to Commercialization (LB2C) Grant Program

Eberly College of Science Lab Bench to Commercialization (LB2C) Grant Program

The Eberly College of Science is committed to fostering technology development and bringing academic research to the marketplace. The Lab Bench to Commercialization (LB2C) Grant Program is a source of competitive funds for researchers with official appointments in the College of Science. Program highlights:

  • One year of funding ($15,000-25,000) to support translational research aimed at advancing the commercial potential of an ongoing research project.
  • Request for proposals are typically solicitated annually in April/May, with funding cycles beginning July/August.

Researchers who apply for funds should be prepared to take the next steps in translating their intellectual property (IP), including developing strategies for continued development and market commercialization (may include third party licensing or startups). Successful applications must demonstrate that funding will significantly impact development activities for existing IP and/or research that may be commercialized. Subject inventions may include a tangible product, therapeutic, process/method, software program, or significant improvement of a current market product.

Contact Emily Kuhns for more information.

Past recipients of the Lab Bench to Commercialization grant program:

  • Joyce Jose (BMMB) and colleagues: Her project will focus on developing a rapid, cost-effective, and adaptable assay for screening antiviral drug candidates.
  • Sally Mackenzie (BIO) and colleagues: Her project will focus on establishing a technology proof of concept for increasing crop plants’ yield by altering their epigenetics.
  • Lauren Zarzar (CHEM) and colleagues: Developing a method for producing new kinds of color-shifting materials based on a recently discovered optical effect that uses reflective structures at the microscale to generate iridescent structural color. Invent Penn State IP Navigator.
  • Ganesh Anand (CHEM) and colleagues: Investigating vulnerabilities on a virus that could be tapped to design targeted antibodies for use in antiviral therapies.
  • Joseph Cotruvo (CHEM) and colleagues: Developed a method for using a biological protein to detect and selectively capture rare earth elements (lanthanides) for industrial use. Find out more from the Invent Penn State IP Navigator.
  • Paul Cremer (CHEM) and colleagues: Developed a method utilizing temperature gradients to assess protein phase behavior, which enables high-throughput testing and accurate predictions of colloidal stability for therapeutic protein formulations. Find out more from the Invent Penn State IP Navigator.
  • Kenneth Keiler (BMB), John Alumasa (BMB), Sarah Ades (BMB), and colleagues: Developed novel antibiotic compounds by exploring inhibitors of a new transcription factor target.
  • Benjamin Lear (CHEM) and colleagues: Developed a method to use thermally cured thermoset compounds (e.g., silicone, rubbers, epoxies) in additive manufacturing. Find out more from the Invent Penn State IP Navigator and research video.
  • Xin Zhang (CHEM) and colleagues: Developed novel fluorescent protein tags to facilitate the detection of misfolded proteins and insoluble protein aggregates. Find out more from the Invent Penn State IP Navigator.
  • John Asbury (CHEM) and colleagues: Developed a novel type of transient absorption spectrometer that produces a higher signal-to-noise ratio, is easier to operate, requires less physical space, and can be manufactured/sold at a lower price point compared to current state-of-the-art spectrometers. Find out more from the Invent Penn State IP Navigator.
  • James Marden (BIOL), Scott Medina (BME), and colleagues: Developed novel recombinant lectins from environmental sources for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Find out more from the Invent Penn State IP Navigator.
  • Yu Zhang (STAT) and colleagues: Created a software computational tool that uses functional maps of the human genome to predict disease-specific cell types and genes underlying disease association. Find out more from the Invent Penn State IP Navigator and research video.
  • Susan Hafenstein (BMB) and Scott Lindner (BMB): developed versatile display scaffolds for CryoEM approaches. Invent Penn State IP Navigator
  • Suvrath Mahadevan (ASTRO) and colleagues: Developed a ball lens microscope for external use with a cell phone.
  • Sarah Assmann (BIOL), Philip Bevilacqua (CHEM), and colleagues: Developed a kit to determine the 3D structure of RNAs inside the cell. Find out more from the Invent Penn State IP Navigator.
  • Frank Pugh (BMB) and colleagues: Optimized a technology that characterizes epigenetic modifications on a genome-wide scale. Find out more from the Invent Penn State IP Navigator.
  • Mauricio Terrones (CHEM/PHYS), Siyang Zheng (BME), and colleagues: Developed a diagnostic device that uses a specially tuned carbon nanotube filter to capture and enrich viruses. Find out more from the research video.
  • Yanming Wang (BMB), Gong Chen (BIOL), and colleagues: Characterized a potential pharmaceutical therapeutic that allows the body to naturally fight cancer cell growth and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
  • Greg Ferry (BMB), Thomas Wood (CHE), Costas Marana (CHE), and colleagues: Refined a biological process by which methane could be cleanly converted to several products including a precursor to plastic or clean fuel.
  • Scott Phillips (CHEM) and colleagues: Developed an inexpensive, easy to use, microfluidic device composed of paper useful for diagnosing a wide variety of contaminants, such as detecting lead in water or pesticides on fruit.
  • Mauricio Terrones (CHEM/PHYS) and colleagues: Developed a thin graphene film that can be woven into fabrics or chemically altered to provide a wide range of properties. Find out more from the Invent Penn State IP Navigator.
  • Stephen Benkovic (CHEM), James Marden (BIOL), and colleagues: Developed a screen for new boron compounds displaying anti-fungal activity useful in agriculture and environmental settings.