Innovation Catalyst Funds awarded to nine faculty from June 2025 cycle

Vanderbilt University announced nine recipients of the Innovation Catalyst Fund awardsfor the June 2025 cycle, continuing its mission of accelerating translational research and driving innovative solutions to real-world challenges by providing faculty with crucial pre-seed funding across diverse disciplines.

The newly selected projects span cutting-edge work in health care, engineering and technology solutions, demonstrating the university's commitment to addressing complex societal challenges.

This cycle's recipients include:

• Katherine Aboud, research assistant professor of special education: From Prototype to Clinical Platform-Finalizing BRILLIANCE for Individualized Noninvasive Brain Stimulation
• Xiaoguang Dong, assistant professor of mechanical engineering: Esophageal stents integrating wireless soft actuators for restoring peristalsis to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease
• William Lineaweaver, professor of plastic surgery: VanderCell-A Novel Device for Harvesting Live Skin Cells
• A. Scott McCall, assistant professor of medicine: Pulmonary fibrosis treatment with nebulized prodrug HIF2-antagonists

• Leon Scott, assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery: Telescope-Real-Time Machine Learning for Hospital Readmission Prediction
• Sahar Takkouche, assistant professor of medicine: TRYM Smart Intake Bot
• Nicholas Voutsinas, assistant professor of radiology and radiological sciences: Development and Evaluation of a Custom 3D-Printed Ultrasound-Compatible Model for Vascular Access Training
• Chase Webber, associate professor of medicine: Developing an AI Platform to Provide Point-of-Care Educational Decision Support to Academic Medical Centers
• Sharon Weiss, professor of electrical engineering: Porous Silicon on Paper Platform for Point-of-Care Diagnostics

"We are thrilled to support our faculty at a pivotal moment when they are poised to advance Vanderbilt inventions out of their labs and into the real world.  The first steps in this process are always the hardest, and we admire the entrepreneurial spirit of the teams involved," Bob Webster,senior associate provost for commercialization and technology transfer, said. "These projects seek to produce lifesaving medical devices, diagnostics and therapies, improve medical training and logistics, and even enhance how the human brain works as it learns.  Each has the potential to powerfully impact society, and we look forward to the success of the Vanderbilt innovators involved."

The Innovation Catalyst Fund began accepting applications for the next cycle on Oct. 1. All full-time faculty at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center are eligible to apply.

About the Innovation Catalyst Fund

The Innovation Catalyst Fund's goal is to propel faculty research ideas toward market and real-world impact. The program provides support for proof-of-concept commercialization, advancing early-stage projects with high innovation potential and developing research projects with societal relevance.

The Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation manages the fund in consultation with university academic leadership and Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Office of Research. The Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization coordinates the submission and review process in collaboration with deans across Vanderbilt's schools and colleges.

For more information about the Innovation Catalyst Fund, visit the Innovation Catalyst Fund websiteor email [email protected].