Technology Initiator Fund

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The Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health seeks proposals for the early-stage development of new technology that has significant potential for impact in precision health. This might include technologies to improve therapeutic targeting, increase the accuracy or speed of measurements, automate a fabrication process, or other translational capabilities, as well as more basic approaches that expand our understanding of human health and its functioning. This year, BIPH anticipates awarding multiple Technology Initiator projects in the range of $30,000–$40,000 per award.

Apply

All proposals should be submitted by e-mail to biph@nd.edu as a single PDF file containing all of the elements listed below:

  1. Title page, including contact information for the PI(s)
  2. Two-page project narrative, including:
    • short summary
    • goals/aims
    • research plan
    • milestones
    • other personnel and resources leveraged
  3. Bibliography (no page limit)
  4. Detailed budget, with justification
  5. Two-page CV for all PIs

Deadline

Applications for this cycle were due by March 2, 2026 at 11:59 PM. Stay tuned for future opportunities.

Criteria

All proposals will be reviewed for:

  • scientific excellence
  • relevance to program objectives
  • feasibility and impact of the technology proposed
  • potential for technology translation (if applicable)
  • capacity to attract sustainable external support or leverage existing resources

Questions?

Please direct questions to biph@nd.edu.

Award Winners

2026

  • Principal Investigator: Saurja Das Gupta, Chemistry and Biochemistry/Bioengineering and Marya Lieberman, Chemistry and Biochemistry "A Novel Fluorogenic RNA-Based Detection Platform for Toxic Heavy Metals"
  • Principal Investigator: Scott Howard, Environmental Engineering and Thomas D. O'Sullivan, Environmental Engineering "Noninvasive wearable sensing to diagnose hemorrhagic shock"
  • Principal Investigator: Bradley D. Smith, Chemistry and Biochemistry "High Performance Fluorescent Near-Infrared Dyes"
  • Principal Investigator: Yichun Wang, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Yamil Colón, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; and Maria Del Pilar Perez Romero, Bioengineering "Chiral Carbon Nanomaterials for Host-Sparing, Broad-Spectrum Viral Envelope Inactivation"
  • Principal Investigator: Pinar Zorlutuna, Bioengineering and  Kaiyu Fu, Chemistry and Biochemistry "Multiplexed Biosensing of Circulating Tissue-Specific Extracellular Vesicle Biomarkers for Aging-Induced Disease Prediction"