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The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) announced that seven University of Colorado companies and three researchers are among the awardees of the Proof of Concept and Early-Stage Capital and Retention grants through OEDIT’s Advanced Industries Accelerator Program.

CU Boulder College of Engineering & Applied Science—CU Boulder researchers are exploring using sodium-ion batteries as an alternative to lithium-based energy storage. Chunmei Ban, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, and her research team are developing new electrolytes and studying how they interact with battery electrodes to enhance performance and longevity.

Founded by CU Boulder Professor Larry Gold in 2000, SomaLogic revolutionized protein measurement by developing a faster, cost-effective process to monitor the vast number of proteins in the human body.

JILA—Flari Tech Inc., a startup rooted in cutting-edge JILA research, has clinched one of the prestigious 2024 Lab Venture Challenge (LVC) grants from the ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ18, advancing its pioneering work to build a breathalyzer for diagnostics use targeting life-threatening diseases such as lung cancer.

CU Boulder Today—Go to the doctor to provide a blood sample and you’re typically faced with a needle and syringe and hours or even days of waiting to get results back from a lab. CU Boulder researchers hope to change that with a new handheld, sound-based diagnostic system able to deliver precise results in an hour with a mere finger prick of blood.

CU Boulder College of Engineering & Applied Science—Anthony Straub is making major advances in water purification technology for industry and human consumption on Earth and in space, with his work on a nanotechnology membrane process taking a major step toward commercialization, thanks to a new NASA grant.

News-Medical—Patients who go to the doctor to provide a blood sample are typically faced with a needle and syringe and hours or days of waiting to get results back from a lab. CU Boulder researchers hope to change that with a new handheld, sound-based diagnostic system to deliver precise results in an hour with a mere finger prick of blood.

Fourteen teams of University of Colorado entrepreneurs, faculty researchers and graduate student innovators will compete for a combined $1.25 million in startup funding grants in this year’s Lab Venture Challenge (LVC) Showcases. Judges from Venture Partners at CU Boulder’s entrepreneurial network will hear Shark Tank-style pitches across two nights, one for innovations in biosciences and another for physical sciences and engineering.

Photonics Online—A new variant of liquid crystal is at the core of CU Boulder startup Polaris Electro-Opstics' technology. Designed as a seamless drop-in enhancer of silicon photonic chips, Polaris's modulator technology paves the way for the next generation of optical interconnects critical to the future of data center disaggregation.

CU Boulder Today—An international team of researchers led by an engineer at CU Boulder has revealed the underlying mechanism behind battery degradation. Their discovery could help scientists to develop better batteries.