Twenty-three teams from 11 universities have been accepted into the Winter 2021 cohort of Lab2Market at Dalhousie University – the biggest representation of institutions in the program’s history.

Modeled on I-Corps in the U.S. and ICURe in the U.K., Lab2Market started last year as a Canadian program that helps academic researchers assess whether their research could be the foundation of a business. Halifax-based Dalhousie, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Ryerson University in Toronto are all piloting Lab2Market with the goal of making it a national program.

Dal on Monday unveiled the fifth cohort in these pilot programs, and the third being offered at the Halifax university. It includes researchers working in such areas as pharmacology, plant science, chemical and petroleum engineering, and neuroscience.

“After the Fall 2020 cohort, we saw 85 percent of participants identify that their research had commercial potential with 91 percent interested in starting their own company,” said Alice Aiken, Dal’s Vice-President of Research and Innovation. “This demonstrates the value of this program in supporting our researchers to think like entrepreneurs.”

Each team in the 16-week program will receive hands-on support, access to mentorship, a tailored curriculum, and the opportunity to receive $15,000 in funding. Each research team includes three participants: a graduate student or post-doctorate fellow, a supervisor or primary investigator, and an industry mentor from a related business sector.

The following are the participants, their universities, and their descriptions of their projects:

  • Colin McCormick, Dr. Raymond Klein, Dalhousie – “A video-game-like cognitive assessment tool.”
  • Raghad Kassab, Dr. Pedram Sadeghian, Dalhousie – “Recycled plastic waste to create different forms of Sustainable Sandwich Structures for use in construction.”
  • Niluni Wijesundara, Dr. Vasantha Rupasinghe, Dalhousie – “Arvacrol-incorporated Honibe lozenges for the management of bacterial sore throat.”
  • Sean MacIsaac, Dr. Graham Gagnon, Dalhousie – “Tunable, High Throughput UV Exposure Device to support Ultraviolet disinfection and oxidation technologies for surfaces and fluids.”
  • Alireza Ghasemi Ghodrat, Dr. Ghada Koleilat, Dalhousie – “Highly sensitive sensors with applications in the healthcare industry.”
  • Dr. Rafaela Andrade-Vieira, Dr. James Fawcett, Dalhousie – “A muscle performance molecular test to provide detection of patient recovery and risk stages both in and out of hospital.”
  • Subin Rajendran, Dr. Beth Mason, Dalhousie University/ Verschuren Centre for Sustainability – “Downstream processing for fish-derived peptide bioproducts.”
  • Surangi Dharmawansa, Dr. Vasantha Rupasinghe, Dalhousie – “Anthocyanin-based healthy food products and ingredients to boost immunity and manage inflammation-based chronic disorders.”
  • Dr. Dina Saleh, Dr. Donald Smith, McGill University – “Weather-based predictor of cannabinoid metabolites (CBD &THC) in hemp crops.”
  • Dr. Karim Soliman, Dr. Heather Sheardown, McMaster University – “An intraocular injectable platform for long-term treatment of retinal diseases.”
  • Alireza Vahedi Nemani, Dr. Ali Nasiri, Dalhousie – “3D-Printing for Remote Industries (3DPRI) focuses on the needs of industries working in remote areas, such as the offshore and oil and gas industries.”
  • Jin Chen, Dr. Bipul Hawlader, Memorial – “A numerical tool to provide solutions for advanced numerical analysis of geotechnical engineering problems.”
  • Salar Salahi, Dr. Ali Nasiri, Memorial – “An autonomous defect recognition and correction (AIDRAC) system for robotic welding and additive manufacturing using digital image correlation and machine learning.”
  • Dr. Bo Liu, Dr. Bing Chen, Memorial – “A mobile soil-flushing and enhanced oxidation (MSFEOP) system for the remediation of petroleum brownfields.”
  • Dr. Zhiwen Zhu, Dr. Baiyu Zhang, Memorial – “Lipopeptide production using fish waste as substrate.”
  • Adrian Nash, Dr. Dae Kun Hwang, Ryerson – “Microfluidic Hydrogel-based biomolecule detection through the development of a device for rapid, inexpensive, and portable point-of-care diagnostics.”
  • Dr. Vahid Abolhasannejad, Dr. Birsen Donmez, Dr. Mohammad Abdoli-Eramaki, Ryerson University/University of Toronto – “Automated driver drowsiness control technology using artificial intelligence-based decision support system.”
  • Lázaro Andrés Castanedo, Dr. Chérif F. Matta, St. Mary's University/Mount Saint Vincent University – “Designing a novel class of super-antioxidant cell-protectants from carbon nanotubes functionalized with natural phyto-phenols.”
  • Pachari Detpunyawat, Dr. Ian Gates, University of Calgary – “Sustainable development of late-life post-Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) reservoirs for energy recovery.”
  • Dr. Cora Woolsey, Dr. Scott Bateman, University of New Brunswick – “STRATUM: A Digital Archaeological Field Notes Tool: mobile platform geared toward use by field technicians and project managers.”
  • Dr. Kyle Briggs, Dr. Vincent Tabard-Cossa, University of Ottawa – “Parallelization of solid-state nanopores for high-throughput digital biosensing.”
  • Dr. Moein Shayegannia, Dr. Nazir Kherani, University of Toronto – “Point-of-care breath and saliva analysis for early-stage disease diagnosis.”
  • Dr. Eduard Wisernig, Dr. Bruce Kapron, University of Victoria – “Augmented reality navigation assistant for sailboats.”