Technology Initiator Fund

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The Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health seeks proposals for funding to establish the early-stage development of new technologies with significant potential for impact in precision health. 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

This funding opportunity is released in Fall 2026. Applications for this cycle are due by November 9, 2026 at 11:59 PM.

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"