Biosciences

探花视频 awards therapeutics funding to advance promising drug development projects

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 18:15:58 +0000

探花视频 awards therapeutics funding to advance promising drug development projects Daniel Corbin 鈥� Mon, 07/14/2025 - 12:15

Venture Partners at 探花视频 has announced the first recipients of a new translational funding program designed to advance promising, early-stage therapeutics with strong commercial potential. The program provides up to $50,000 per project to help 探花视频 researchers generate critical validation data or develop new intellectual property, bringing new treatments a step closer to patients in need.

鈥溙交ㄊ悠� is a world-class destination for bioscience research,鈥� said Hannah Nelson, associate director of licensing at Venture Partners, 鈥渁nd our innovative faculty have created a robust pipeline of novel drugs and therapeutic targets.鈥�

Many promising therapeutic projects reach a stage where they no longer qualify for basic research funding but are still too early for translational grants or private investment. This funding gap can stall progress.

But what is "commercialization?"

The path to commercialization鈥攁lso known as "research translation" or "tech transfer"鈥攃an be challenging, so Venture Partners unites industry partners, entrepreneurs and investors to help researchers, inventors and creators at the University of Colorado bring their groundbreaking discoveries into the marketplace.

Explore the Path to Commercialization

This funding program is designed to bridge that gap by supporting commercially promising drug development efforts. The awarded projects ultimately aim to develop FDA-approved drugs and have a clear path to commercialization, having validated their development approach through customer discovery interviews.

鈥淭his funding supports a critical stage in drug development,鈥� said Justin Stitzlein, venture analyst at Venture Partners. 鈥淥ur goal is to give these teams the support they need to generate compelling data and position themselves for the next stage of development. We believe this kind of early support can unlock significant long-term impact.鈥�

Awardees

Orally Available Obesity Therapeutic

Led by Distinguished Professor Leslie Leinwand (BioFrontiers Institute, 探花视频 Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology), with PhD student Jack Gugel and postdoctoral researchers Thomas Martin and Yuxiao Tan, the team is developing an orally available obesity drug that suppresses appetite without affecting gastric emptying or causing muscle loss. Their compound offers a differentiated mechanism from current GLP-1 agonists such as Wegovy/Ozempic, aiming to improve tolerability and adherence.

Efflux Pump Inhibitor Discovery Platform

Professor Corrie Detweiler (探花视频 Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology) and her team are developing novel small-molecule inhibitors that restore the effectiveness of antibiotics against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Using a host-informed, high-throughput assay platform that better reflects infection conditions, they aim to identify efflux pump inhibitors to treat patients with infections that do not respond to traditional antibiotics alone.

What can we do together?

Disclose and protect your innovation

Engage in entrepreneurial training programs

Find a mentor to advance your innovation

Get funding for your innovation

Find partners and opportunities for your innovation

Explore investing in and partnering with CU researchers

Explore our startups portfolio

Explore our technology portfolio

Venture Partners at 探花视频 has announced the first recipients of a new translational funding program designed to advance promising, early-stage therapeutics with strong commercial potential. The program provides up to $50,000 per project to help 探花视频 researchers generate critical validation data or develop new intellectual property, bringing new treatments a step closer to patients in need.

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How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado鈥檚 economy and national innovation鈥攁探花视频 administrator explains

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 17:39:46 +0000

How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado鈥檚 economy and national innovation鈥攁探花视频 administrator explains Daniel Corbin 鈥� Tue, 07/08/2025 - 11:39

Supporting a Groundbreaking Innovation Pipeline

$8 billion in economic impact, a record-breaking 36 startups launched in a single year and $1.2 billion raised for CU startups and innovations: These are some of the results reported in the latest annual report from Venture Partners.

Read Our Annual Report

From The Conversation

Over the past several months, universities have lost more than $11 billion in funding. Research into cancer, farming solutions and climate resiliency are just a few of the many projects nationally that have seen cuts. The Conversation asked Massimo Ruzzene, senior vice chancellor for research and innovation at 探花视频, to explain how these cuts and freezes are impacting the university and Colorado鈥檚 local economy.

Read on The Conversation Website

The Conversation鈥擮ver the past several months, universities have lost more than $11 billion in funding. Research into cancer, farming solutions and climate resiliency are just a few of the many projects nationally that have seen cuts. The Conversation asked Massimo Ruzzene, senior vice chancellor for research and innovation at 探花视频, to explain how these cuts and freezes are impacting the university and Colorado鈥檚 local economy.

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Scientists develop method to build tiny custom microrobots

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 20:30:46 +0000

Scientists develop method to build tiny custom microrobots Daniel Corbin 鈥� Mon, 07/07/2025 - 14:30

Explore CU Innovations for Licensing and Partnership

Venture Partners manages a portfolio of over 1,000 technologies from university investigators and manages licensing partnerships with companies of all sizes鈥攆rom startups to the Fortune 500鈥攖o bring these inventions to market.

Explore CU Technologies

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have created a new way to build and control tiny particles that can move and work like microscopic robots, offering a powerful tool with applications in biomedical and environmental research. The study, published in Nature Communications, describes a new method of fabrication that combines high-precision 3D printing, called two-photon lithography, with a microstenciling technique.

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探花视频 scientist receives $1.25M award for cancer research

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 19:54:56 +0000

探花视频 scientist receives $1.25M award for cancer research Daniel Corbin 鈥� Wed, 06/18/2025 - 13:54

探花视频 College of Arts and Sciences鈥擡dward Chuong, a University of Colorado Boulder assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology and a BioFrontiers Institute scientist, has been awarded $1.25 million by the New York City-based Cancer Research Institute (CRI) to pursue his cancer immunotherapy research.

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Federal tech-transfer law pays tremendous dividends as research universities spark regional economies

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 15:52:19 +0000

Federal tech-transfer law pays tremendous dividends as research universities spark regional economies Daniel Corbin 鈥� Mon, 06/16/2025 - 09:52

Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)鈥擜ccording to a new report, American research universities like the University of Colorado in recent decades have become engines of innovation for state and regional economies, thanks in large part to the federal Bayh-Dole Act, which incentivizes technology commercialization.

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University of Colorado ranks among Top 20 U.S. universities for granted patents

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Thu, 08 May 2025 17:11:40 +0000

University of Colorado ranks among Top 20 U.S. universities for granted patents Daniel Corbin 鈥� Thu, 05/08/2025 - 11:11

CU Connections鈥擳he University of Colorado has secured the No. 18 position on the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) 2024 Top 100 U.S. Universities Granted U.S. Utility Patents list, reinforcing CU鈥檚 standing as a national leader in research, innovation and real-world impact. At 探花视频, 53% of the campus鈥檚 patents have been licensed commercially.

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Two 探花视频 scientists win prestigious honor

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 20:36:26 +0000

Two 探花视频 scientists win prestigious honor Daniel Corbin 鈥� Thu, 03/27/2025 - 14:36

探花视频 College of Arts & Sciences鈥擨van Smalyukh, professor of physics, and Thomas Blumenthal, professor emeritus of molecular, cellular and developmental biology (MCDB), are among the 471 scientists, engineers and innovators who have been recognized for scientifically and socially distinguished achievements by the world鈥檚 largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

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Venture Partners annual report highlights a record year for innovation

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 13:06:32 +0000

Venture Partners annual report highlights a record year for innovation Daniel Corbin 鈥� Thu, 01/09/2025 - 06:06

FY 2023-24 was another tremendous year for innovation and entrepreneurship at the CU. University researchers, inventors and creators began working with Venture Partners at 探花视频 to advance 144 breakthrough innovations, and 36 CU startups were launched through Venture Partners based on campus discoveries.

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A vaccine against weight gain? It鈥檚 on the horizon

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 18:53:52 +0000

A vaccine against weight gain? It鈥檚 on the horizon Daniel Corbin 鈥� Tue, 01/07/2025 - 11:53

New 探花视频 research suggests a surprising tool that could help with weight loss: Exposure to beneficial bacteria. With assistance from Venture Partners, a new startup Kioga will pursue new microbe-based ingredients for preventing weight gain and promoting health.

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Colorado鈥檚 life sciences ecosystem raised $1.47 billion in 2023

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 20:22:37 +0000

Colorado鈥檚 life sciences ecosystem raised $1.47 billion in 2023 Daniel Corbin 鈥� Sat, 12/21/2024 - 13:22

Colorado Bioscience Association鈥擟olorado's life sciences ecosystem raised $1.47 billion in 2023, demonstrating the resilience of life sciences companies and organizations in the state during a challenging year for U.S. life sciences fundraising.

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Biosciences

探花视频 awards therapeutics funding to advance promising drug development projects

But what is "commercialization?"

Awardees

Orally Available Obesity Therapeutic

Efflux Pump Inhibitor Discovery Platform

What can we do together?

Off

How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado鈥檚 economy and national innovation鈥攁 探花视频 administrator explains

Off

Scientists develop method to build tiny custom microrobots

Off

探花视频 scientist receives $1.25M award for cancer research

Off

Federal tech-transfer law pays tremendous dividends as research universities spark regional economies

Off

University of Colorado ranks among Top 20 U.S. universities for granted patents

Off

Two 探花视频 scientists win prestigious honor

Off

Venture Partners annual report highlights a record year for innovation

Off

A vaccine against weight gain? It鈥檚 on the horizon

Off

Colorado鈥檚 life sciences ecosystem raised $1.47 billion in 2023

Off

How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado鈥檚 economy and national innovation鈥攁探花视频 administrator explains