Chancellor’s Translational Research Initiative Fund 2026 awardees

The Office of Technology Management is pleased to announce the 2026 recipients of the Chancellor's Translational Research Initiative Fund.

The program supports early-stage innovations that have strong commercialization potential by providing up to $25,000 per project to help advance these technologies toward licensing, startup formation and future translational funding.

Following a competitive review process, we are excited to recognize this year's awardees:

2026 awardees

• Adam Cross; College of Medicine Peoria, Department of Pediatrics; for FlightPath
• Mohammad Ghashami; College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; for a near-field-assisted tribovoltaic power cell
• Yuwei Jiang; College of Medicine, Department of Physiology and Biophysics; for restoring thermogenic fat function using UIC-developed nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase and estrogen receptor modulators
• Xue-Jun Li; College of Medicine Rockford, Department of Biomedical Sciences; for selective HDAC6 inhibitors for Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease in patient-specific stem-cell models
• Sudip Mazumder; College of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; for a hand-held portable precision-power electrosurgical generator
• Richard Minshall; College of Medicine, Departments of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology; for optimization of nanoparticle formulation of Myr-SBD6 inhibitor peptide for prevention of vWF-dependent microthrombosis
• Terry Moore; Retzky College of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences; for ISGylation blockade as a strategy to enhance immune recognition and suppress metastasis
• Reza Shahbazian-Yassar; College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering; for high-entropy metal adsorbents for rare-earth element recovery from industrial wastewater
• Theja Tulabandhula; College of Business Administration, Department of Information and Decision Sciences; for trust-layer optimization for policy-aligned enterprise AI
• Zongmin Zhao; Retzky College of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences; for new tail-expanding ionizable lipids for tissue-selective mRNA delivery
• Yonghui Zheng; College of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology; for cell-type-specific gene delivery for lentiviral vector-based therapy

These projects reflect the depth and diversity of innovation across UIC and highlight the university's commitment to translating research discoveries into meaningful real-world impact.

Congratulations to all of the 2026 awardees. We look forward to supporting your continued progress.

Save the date: The Office of Technology Management will open applications for the UIC Proof-of-Concept Award in mid-July. Please note a new eligibility requirement: All prospective applicants must have a disclosure submitted by July 30, 2026, to be eligible.

The Proof-of-Concept Award provides targeted support to advance promising early-stage technologies toward readiness for commercialization. Eligibility criteria, application guidelines, informational session dates and other details will be shared soon. Please stay tuned for further announcements.

For more information about the Chancellor's Translational Research Initiative program and other Office of Technology Management funding opportunities, please visit otm.uic.edu.

For more information, please contact:Tamira [email protected]