Graduate students turn biomedical research into business ideas

Have a great idea. Develop a comprehensive commercialization strategy. Conduct market analysis. Consider patenting your intellectual property. Pitch your startup or invention before a panel of business-minded judges.

It’s not “Shark Tank”; it’s the Health Sciences and Technology Hokie Pitch competition. And in an unprecedented outcome, an original innovation went before the judges – and won. 

“In the history of this competition, this has never happened before,” said Michael Friedlander, executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Virginia Tech’s vice president of health sciences and technology, and a judge for the competition. “Seeing a Virginia Tech student’s real world, previously developed innovation not only enter the field but rise to the top is a significant accomplishment. It adds another example of how the innovation and commercialization program through TBMH inspires our students’ creativity to extend their academic work to real-world solutions in the health sciences.”

Each year, first-year students in Virginia Tech’s Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health (TBMH) Graduate Program take a course centered on commercializing research-informed biomedical technologies.

During the course, they form teams, select an existing biomedical innovation, and simulate a commercialization plan that considers the business and legal frameworks that govern the translation of scientific discoveries into clinical applications.

After months of refining, the teams pitch their commercialization plans to a panel of judges in hopes of taking home the $2,500 top prize.

Typically, students conduct their research and base their business plans on an existing, externally developed innovation. For the first time, a team built its commercialization plan around a biomedical innovation developed by one of the student competitors.

The medical device pitched by winning team OncoLac was co-invented by team member Benjamin Siedlarz ’22, a current graduate student who as an undergraduate trained in the lab of Professor Carla Finkielstein of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. 

Siedlarz was inspired to develop a cancer diagnostic tool after his mother’s central nervous system lymphoma was found only at the onset of outward symptoms. This detection timeline is typical. Unlike breast and colorectal cancer, for example, there are no regular screening tests for lymphomas. 

The device detects lactate, which appears at heightened levels in the tumor microenvironment in a range of cancers. It works by pairing a graphene-based biosensor with an electrochemically active NAD/NADH redox mediator and enzyme complex to measure lactate levels. Siedlarz said development involved discussions with peers, chemical engineers, microelectronics specialists, and research faculty to explore the potential of graphene nanotechnology.

The idea originated as a project for the 2021 launch of Virginia Tech’s NanoEarth, part of a network of 16 National Science Foundation-funded centers supporting cutting-edge nanotechnology research. To build the prototype, Siedlarz collaborated with co-inventor Samir Zuberi and Finkielstein to purify protein for the functional device, and Associate Professor Vinh Nguyen of Virginia Tech’s Center for Soft Matter and Biological Physics to generate graphene field-effect transistors.

“My hope is that affordable, real-time cancer screening can be easily accessible for all,” Siedlarz said. “If we can identify the cancers early, then fewer treatments will be required, which reduces the economic burden that illness can pose on cancer patients and their loved ones.”

Seidlarz’s vision reflects the broader goals of the course, which challenges students to think of practical applications for scientific discoveries.

The competition introduced a new $300 bonus prize for placing teams that built their pitch around a therapeutic drug. The supplemental award applies to drug-focused projects, distinguishing them from pitches centered on medical devices, novel processes, or other types of biomedical innovations. Third place team MitoCore earned the bonus prize.

“Therapeutic drug development represents some of the most demanding work in the life sciences,” said Rob Gourdie, professor at the institute and leader of the commercialization course. “It requires biological understanding, careful safety considerations, and long-term thinking about regulation and clinical use. By encouraging students to engage with drug-focused projects, our hope is to get them thinking about how a discovery in the lab can evolve into a medication that is approved for patients.”

This year’s teams included:

• OncoLac (first place, $2,500 prize) is a portable cancer screening device that measures elevated lactate levels in urine, a biomarker typical of many cancers. Team members include Kennedy Butler, Hailey Levan, Benjamin Siedlarz, and Christy Vilcas, with business mentor Erik McNair and student mentor Yunruo “Trista” Ni.
• Ovy (second place, $1,500 prize) is a novel point-of-care microfluidic biochip system that detects ovarian cancer by measuring electrical signals generated when biomarkers such as CA-125, TTR, and Apo A-1 bind to antibodies on the chip. Team members include Mysha Alabbi, Zihui Ou, Ranya Ridha, and Mario Rodriguez Jr., with business mentor Jessica Gilbertie and student mentor Seun Imani.
• MitoCore (third place, $1,000 prize plus $300 therapeutic drug bonus) pitched a cardioprotective drug that improves recovery after a heart attack by blocking an enzyme that triggers harmful free radical buildup during restored blood flow, reducing damage and preserving healthy cardiac tissue. Team members include Aidan Erwin, Goeun Jang, Zachary Moore, John Mutersbaugh, and Kailynn Roberts, with business mentor Spencer Marsh and student mentor Rowan Maisonneuve.
• Aurelia pitched a foldable polypropylene device that opens beneath the cervix to support the uterus from inside, using external stabilization to treat postpartum hemorrhage. Team members include Reese Dunkenberger, Shubhangi Garg, Lucas Peretti, and Neeharika Yallayi, with business mentor Francis Farrell and student mentor Caleb Townsend.
• Photovis pitched a precision RNA therapy that targets overactive microRNA let-7b to restore healthy retinal cell signaling and prevent early cell death in patients with diabetic retinopathy. Team members include Samantha Hall, Shadman Khan, Jade Riddle, and Emily Thompson, with business mentor Christie Wills and student mentor Eddie Rygalski.
• ReMind Therapeutics pitched a drug that targets stroke-induced cognitive decline by inhibiting the astrocyte-driven SPAK pathway that can cause neuroinflammation and demyelination to preserve memory and protect the brain after stroke. Team members include Sara Do, Patrick Fubio, Matthew Urbano, and Ayda Woldegerima, with business mentor Marty Muscatello and student mentor Max Albrecht.
• TraneXabio’s core product delivers a precise dose of topical tranexamic acid directly to a wound while applying compression, enabling faster, more reliable control of severe hemorrhage in trauma settings. Team members include Christiana Donkor, Paige Eversole, Sofia Killar, and Pranjal Singh, with business mentor Cynthia Lawrence and student mentor Alec Beck.

In addition to Friedlander, judges included Fourd Kemper, principal attorney at Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black; James Ramey, managing director at Middleland Capital's VTC Ventures; Harvey Brookins, vice president at the National Bank of Blacksburg; and Kiyah Duffey of VT Innovation and Partnerships.

The semester-long course featured lectures from leaders in biomedical research, entrepreneurship, and venture development, giving students practical insight into every stage of the commercialization process. Lecturers included Gourdie; Ramey; Ryan King, chief of staff, Roanoke College; Mason Wheeler, doctoral candidate, Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program; Mark Van Dyke, biomedical engineering professor, University of Arizona; Mark Mondry, director, Virginia Tech’s LAUNCH; Samy Lamouille, assistant professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, and co-founder, Acomhal Research; Spencer Marsh, co-founder, Tiny Cargo; and Jessica Gilbertie, associate professor of microbiology, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, and founder, Qentoros.

This year’s Hokie Pitch competition was sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black, and the National Bank of Blacksburg.