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ODAT supports innovations that address health impacts of COVID-19

In response to the pandemic, CTSI’s Office of Discovery and Translation (ODAT) has selected five UMN innovations related to COVID-19 for the 2020 Translational Grant Program.

ODAT utilizes its Translational Grant Program to support the innovation of new products and services in targeted areas of human health. Previous Translational Grant Program annual RFAs have focused on rare diseases (2017), innovations for informal caregivers (2018), and early-stage therapeutics (2019).

“ODAT strategically deploys the Translational Grant Program RFA to respond to healthcare trends and emerging unmet needs,” said ODAT’s Assistant Director, Sandra Wells, PhD. “With the support of CTSI, our office was able to quickly mobilize our 2020 Translational Grant Program RFA to support innovations that contribute directly to the fight against COVID-19. We will also continue to support innovations that address cascading impacts from the pandemic through our other funding programs.”

The projects selected for 2020 ODAT Translational Grant Program awards take a holistic approach to COVID-19 healthcare impacts for both patients and healthcare providers. These projects will receive ODAT funding, guidance from the ODAT Program Management team, and access to medical device and therapeutics development experts. The focus area and dates for the 2021 Translational Grant Program RFA will be announced in early 2021.

2020 awardees

COVID-19 Prevention: Innovations that aim to reduce the spread of COVID-19

Project title: A high flow hood to mitigate droplet and aerosol transmission
Chris Hogan MD, Kumar Belani, MD, and Soraya Beiraghi, DDS

Project title: MNmask: University of Minnesota's novel method for N95 alternatives
Linsey Griffin, PhD, and William Durfee, PhD

COVID-19 Diagnosis: Solutions that aim to address challenges of current diagnostic testing methods

Project title: Easy wearable devices based on cationic biopolymer membranes for point-of-care collecting/self-sampling high loads of viral particles
Conrado Aparicio, PhD

COVID-19 Treatment: Innovations that focus on the treatment of clinical complications in severe cases of COVID-19, ARDS and Stroke

Project title: Development of a T3 formulation for patients with COVID-19-induced ARDS
Robert Schumacher, PhD, David Ingbar, MD and Timothy Rich, MD

Project title: A novel steerable microcatheter to Improve COVID19 stroke outcomes
Arthur Erdman, PhD, Andrew Grande, MD, and Timothy Kowaleski, PhD

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