UCLA’s Innovation Fellows is a campus-wide program aimed at advancing entrepreneurial excellence and startup culture among faculty. The program is designed to advance innovative faculty projects into new startups or non-profits through a series of workshops and 1:1 coaching meetings.
eyeHERFI
eyeHERFI produces retinal screening images to prevent diabetic retinopathy and provide early warnings for heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.
Akanksha Prasad – Fellow, Ophthalmology
Storyfairy
Storyfairy is an interactive storytelling app for parents and children, employs state-of-the-art AI models to generate diverse stories in text and images.
Xiang ‘Anthony’ Chen – Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Chunxu Yang – Master student, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Nlighten
Nlighten is a comprehensive ML-assited tool that enables state-of-the-art calculations and optimization for user-defined multi-dimensional parameter space.
Sergio Carbajo – Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Randy Lemons – Ph.D. student
Jack Hirschman – Ph.D. student
Quantitative Lung Fibrosis Score
Build a QLF score for patients with chronic lung disease that provides better information for clinical trials and clinical care. The system and algorithm used is patented.
Grace Hyun Kim – Professor-in-Residence, Radiological Sciences
Jonathan Goldin – Co-inventor, Department of Radiological Science
Matthew S. Brown – Co-inventor, Department of Radiological Science
Pang Yu Teng – Computer engineer, Department of Radiological Science
Rarity
Rarity is a Ultra-Rare disease ADA SCID business model that focuses on the commercialization plan for the high-profile gene therapy “cure” of Don Kohn’s for severe-combined immunodeficiency (SCID) or “baby in a bubble” syndrome.
Paul Ayoub – graduate in lab of Donald Kohn
Donald Kohn – Distinguished Professor MIMG, MD in Pediatrics Hematology Oncology
Roger Hollis – Project Scientist VIII
Paul Ayoub – PhD Student in Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Ferrobotix
Ferrobotic technology achieves decentralized & personalized diagnostic test using a portable, tablet-sized platform capable of conducting complex testing and comprehensive metabolic panels on small blood samples.
Sam Emaminejad – Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Xuanbing Cheng – Researcher, Ph.D Candidate
Wenzhuo Yu – Researcher, Ph.D Candidate
Jiarui Cui – Project Engineer, Master’s Student
Ben Yang – Project Engineer, Undergraduate Student
Satellite-based information on water use
A software that analyses data to provide information on crop water consumption and advice on irrigation.
Mekonnen Gebremichael – Professor, Step I
ABioME
ABioME has developed a clinically validated probiotic to treat food addiction and obesity.
Arpana “Annie” Gupta – Associate Professor, Director, Neuroimaging Core, UCLA Microbiome Center, Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
Tien Dong – Assistant Professor, Director of Bio Repository Core, UCLA Microbiome Center, Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
Trusetics
Trusetics is leveraging AI and Synthetic Data to create dynamically updated fraud detection model for the financial services industry.
Guang Cheng – Professor, Statistics
Connected Hearts
Connected Hearts provides dementia care training centered on communication and the emotional connection between the care giver and patient.
Lené Levy-Storms – Associate Professor & Hartford Faculty Scholar, Departments of Social Welfare and Medicine/Geriatrics
Susan Kohler – Speech-Language Pathologist
ConnectDrive
ConnectDrive is a next generation autonomous driving platform which provides “vehicle-to-everything connectivity. Autonomous vehicles will send and receive information to other vehicles, infrastructure (e.g. traffic lights), and pedestrians.
Jiaqi Ma – Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Nudge
Nudge is a behavior compliance solution which helps patients with medication adherence and almost anyone trying to stick with a healthy habit.
Akihiro Nishi – Assistant Professor, Epidemiology, School of Public Health
DropletPharm: Revolutionizing radiopharmaceutical production
Radiopharmaceuticals are used in medical diagnosis and therapy. High manufacturing cost prohibit the use of niche Radiopharmaceuticals. DropletPharm is creating a desktop factory for the inexpensive, just-in-time production of radiopharmaceuticals.
R. Michael van Dam – Professor, Molecular & Medical Pharmacology
Clincy Cheung – Graduate Student, Materials Science and Engineering
Jason Jones – Postdoctoral Scholar, Molecular & Medical Pharmacology
Travis S. Laferriere-Holloway – Graduate Student, Molecular & Medical Pharmacology
Joanne Lu – Graduate Student, Physics & Biology in Medicine
Districting
Districting is a web-based platform to make the political redistricting process accessible to policymakers and those involved in making decisions about electoral districting.
Sierra Burkhart – Academic Director
UCLA Geospatial
Michael Shin – Professor
Department of Geography
Project by Warren Comulada
This project is a virtual reality experience to reduce anxiety in children prior to surgery.
Warren Comulada – Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
Project by Liang Gao
This project features high-resolution, real-time flash imaging LIDAR systems.
Liang Gao – Assistant Professor
Department of Bioengineering
MitoRejuvenation
MitoRejuvenation aims to reverse or delay aging to reduce age-related diseases and develop diagnostic tools related to aging and diseases.
Ming Guo – Professor
Department of Neurology
uTheraPatch
uTheraPatch is an anti-bacterial patch for tissue regeneration.
Mahdi Hasani – Project Scientist
Department of Dentistry
Department of Bioengineering
Gay Sexuality and Social Policy Institute
Gay Sexuality and Social Policy Institute is an academic center dedicated to understanding the complexities of gay male sexuality and empowering global gay communities through research, policy analysis, and community mobilization.
Ian Holloway – Assistant Professor
Department of Social Welfare
Lookin Inc.
Lookin Inc. develops high-performance terahertz scanners for quality control of lithium-ion battery electrodes.
Mona Jarrahi – Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project by Justin Karlin
This project aims to create a novel serum tears preparation device.
Justin Karlin – Assistant Professor
Stein and Doheny Eye Institutes
BioCartography
BioCartography is a new way to stain and image biological specimens to improve the information for research and diagnostic purposes..
Roy Wollman – Professor
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
PolyPro
PolyPro is a microbial system to turn plastic waste into value.
Oliver Brandenberg – Postdoctoral Scholar
Department of Human Genetics
Undocumented Migration Project
The Undocumented Migration Project establishes a center for under-represented student, art exhibition, cultural education and resources.
Jason DeLeon – Professor
Department of Anthropology and Chicana/o Studies
Scribe VR
Scribe VR is concept for a virtual reality application for immersively composing, ideating and self-expression in 360 degree space.
Maja Manojlovic – Continuing Lecturer, Faculty Advisor for WII Pedagogy
UCLA Writing Programs
CO2Concrete
CO2Concrete turns CO2 emissions into construction materials (concrete blocks) and products without a need for carbon capture.
Iman Mehdipour – Assistant Project Scientist
Laboratory for the Chemistry of Construction Materials
Aminopeptidase enhancers as a novel therapeutic avenue in dementia
Research with modifying targeted protein levels in the body to reduce neuro-degradation.
Liting Deng – Postdoctoral Scholar
Department of Neurology
Geschwind Lab
Novel Vaginal Drug Delivery Device
A vaginal drug delivery tool.
Tamara Grisales – Assistant Clinical Professor
Leena Shankar – Assistant Clinical Professor
A Novel Orthopaedic Surgical System
A surgical assist arm for orthopedic surgical procedures.
Nelson SooHoo – Professor
UCLA Orthopedics
Re-entry Communications Technology
Developing technology to reduce communication black outs for vehicles traveling at hypersonic speeds.
John Koulakis – Assistant Project Scientist
UCLA Putterman Research Group
ChatterBaby
ChatterBaby is a new technology tool that helps decipher the meaning of infant cries.
Ariana Anderson – Assistant Professor-in-residence
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois is an online social change platform that connects and empowers sociologists and grassroots social activists to collaborate on today’s most pressing social justice issues.
Karida Brown – Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology, UCLA School of Letters and Sciences
Division of Social Sciences: Du Boisian Scholar Network
XRA IV
XRA IV is a platform that brings live theatre and augmented reality together to create a next-generation entertainment experience.
Jeff Burke – Professor-in-residence and Associate Dean
Department of Theatre
Center for Research in Engineering, Media and Performance
BESSTT
BESSTT (Building Educational Solutions for Students, Teachers and Trainers) offers research-based educational assessment tools that improve student learning outcomes.
Li Cai – Professor, Co-Director
Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
Pediatric Covered Stents
Pediatric Covered Stents are stents designed specifically to meet the needs of pediatric heart patients.
Daniel Levi – Professor
Department of Pediatric Cardiology
David Geffen School of Medicine
Desktop Sculptures and Archeology
Desktop Sculptures and Archeology is a web platform for artist and archeol- ogist providing modestly priced and modestly sized art objects, enabling cultural preservation, education and activism.
Hirsch Perlman – Professor
Department of Art
School of Arts and Architecture
Archive of Healing, Ritual, and Transformation
The Archive of Healing, Ritual, and Transformation is a searchable database of world-wide approaches to healing.
David Shorter – Professor
Department of World Arts and Culture
School of Arts and Architecture
Rocket Project
Rocket Project is a four-year program that teaches university students how to build rockets and become the space engineers of the future.
Mitchell Spearrin – Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
mWellness
mWellness is an app that monitors patient mental health, allowing for early intervention and prevention of mental health crises.
Alexander Young – Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
EarlyDiagnostics, Inc.
EarlyDiagnostics, Inc. is an accurate, affordable and non-invasive tool for early cancer detection.
Jasmine Zhou – Professor
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine