{"id":6532,"date":"2025-07-16T14:36:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T18:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/?p=6532"},"modified":"2025-09-17T12:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T16:36:07","slug":"uri-researchers-bringing-innovations-from-lab-bench-to-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/uri-researchers-bringing-innovations-from-lab-bench-to-market\/","title":{"rendered":"URI Researchers Bringing Innovations from Lab Bench to Market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Michael Blanding<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientific breakthroughs don\u2019t just explain the world\u2014they change it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo credit: Beau Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Through both basic research grants and awards targeted towards innovation and entrepreneurship, the federal government enables new discoveries that drive economic growth when scientists move their inventions out of the lab and into the hands of real-world users. At the University of Rhode Island (URI), three engineering professors have taken different paths to transform basic research into life-altering technologies\u2014and the companies to deliver them. The following investigators are highlighted as funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) was instrumental in helping foster innovation and an example of the role NSF has played in innovation in its 75-year history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading\u2014and Rewiring\u2014the Brain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"
Photo credit: Beau Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy goal has always been to prevent disease, disability, pain, and suffering. We\u2019ve got our first trials in humans showing it\u2019s safe and it\u2019s working. Now I\u2019m starting to look for big, big funding to move it along more quickly.\u201d<\/blockquote>Walter Besio\nURI Professor of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering<\/cite><\/div><\/section><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Walter Besio can read your thoughts. A URI professor of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering, Besio developed a device called a tripolar concentric ring electrode, which essentially is a set of tiny, closely spaced rings stacked like a bullseye. The design allows him to pick up clean, high-frequency brainwave signals from the scalp\u2014signals that conventional electrodes can\u2019t reliably detect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt allows you to see things you wouldn\u2019t necessarily be able to see without cracking the hood,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Besio\u2019s breakthrough isn\u2019t just about sensing. The same device can also deliver precisely targeted electrical stimulation to the brain to treat epilepsy, potentially stopping seizures before they begin, as well as noninvasively treating other neurological disorders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besio was working on a dairy farm in Florida when his brother was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident. Determined to help him, he went back to school to study engineering, earning a master\u2019s at the University of Central Florida and a Ph.D. at the University of Miami. His graduate student research led him to an innovative idea. His insight was surprisingly simple\u2014traditional EEG (electroencephalography) electrodes pick up interference from electrical signals in the environment, like those in building walls. But if multiple electrodes are placed close together in concentric rings, they all register that interference equally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Electrode
Photo credit: Beau Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, with simple math\u2014one minus one\u2014I take the difference of the electrodes, and it automatically cancels it out, leaving only the thing that\u2019s directly beneath it,\u201d Besio explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What remains are high-frequency oscillations directly beneath the electrode on the scalp, which are considered markers for seizure activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besio\u2019s work drew the attention of a neurosurgeon who saw the potential for treating epilepsy. After joining URI in 2009, Besio secured a $350,000 grant from NSF\u2019s General and Age-Related Disabilities program to further develop the technology. To prepare for necessary Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, he has conducted years of studies. In 2011, he received a $50,000 NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) grant and joined the program\u2019s first cohort\u2014an eight-week boot camp in commercialization hosted at Stanford University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With help of the program, Besio launched a company, CREmedical<\/a><\/strong>, and earned additional Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, a $6 million NSF grant supported the development of a cap-like device that both records and stimulates brain activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research trials showed that targeted electrical therapy could significantly reduce the dosage of anti-seizure drugs, minimizing drug side effects like dizziness and fatigue. After 22 years and nearly $10 million in federal funding, the system is now in clinical trials at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital and the Barrow Neurological Institute. Researchers already can purchase the system for investigational use, even before FDA approval. And, Besio is seeking venture capital to expand access and explore new applications, from Parkinson\u2019s to ADHD to stroke rehabilitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, he hopes the technology could one day help people with paralysis\u2014like his brother\u2014control a computer, wheelchair, or robotic limb using only their thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy goal has always been to prevent disease, disability, pain, and suffering,” Besio says. \u201cWe\u2019ve got our first trials in humans showing it\u2019s safe and it\u2019s working. Now I\u2019m starting to look for big, big funding to move it along more quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speeding Up the Digital World<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, the bottleneck in computer speed wasn\u2019t processing power, but memory.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\u201cThe CPU was fast, but the memory \nwas slow. It would always lag behind.\u201d<\/blockquote>Distinguished Engineering Professor Ken Qing Yang<\/cite><\/div><\/section><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Photo credit: Beau Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Engineers solved the problem in part by buffering data in a cache, but memory still lagged. Yang came up with an innovative mathematical technique that reduced conflicts to map memory to the cache, significantly speeding up the process. He followed up with another technique that dramatically sped up access for hard drives, resulting in a commercial company VeloBit<\/a><\/strong> that revolutionized storage efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yang studied at Huazhong University of Science and Technology before earning a master\u2019s at University of Toronto and Ph.D. in computer engineering at University of Louisiana.<\/p>\n\n\n

“The NSF grants that paid my stipend and tuition during my graduate\u00a0studies were critical to my\u00a0research. They built a foundation for my entire research career. My work has produced graduates who are now research leaders in\u00a0top U.S. universities and computer companies such as Intel, Cisco, Meta, Western Digital, and more.”<\/blockquote>Professor Ken Yang<\/cite><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n
\"\"
Ken Yang, distinguished professor, electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering
Photo credit: Beau Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He joined URI in 1988, receiving a $60,000 NSF Research Initiation Award, that allowed him to set up his lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, he has been continuously funded by the NSF for 36 years, receiving more than a total of $4 million. His disk cache research began in the early 2000s, when he came up with the concept of \u201ccontent locality\u201d to access data most important to a user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s say you watch a Celtics game, and afterwards you want to know everything about Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, the popular scorers,\u201d he explains. \u201cBut you are not as interested in less popular players.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yang\u2019s system prioritized frequently accessed data, placing it in faster memory for quicker retrieval. Rather than relying solely on hard disk drives (HDDs) that use magnets to store data on a spinning disk\u2014requiring the system to wait every time the disc spun around to access it\u2014 Yang\u2019s technology placed that popular data on solid state drives (SSDs) that store data in semiconductor chips, achieving a balance between speed and cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe basically use a fingerprint of data and find how often it\u2019s accessed,\u201d Yang explains. \u201cWe cache the popular data in high-speed memory, so you can access it in terms of microseconds instead of milliseconds\u2014a three-order magnitude of difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo credit: Beau Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With URI\u2019s support, Yang patented the technology in 2007, and partnered with Boston-based venture capitalist Duncan McCollum, who became CEO of VeloBit when launched in 2010, with graduate student Jin Ren \u201911, the company\u2019s first employee. Because of the market potential of the new technology, the team raised $5 million in venture capital, releasing a product the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, hundreds of companies adopted the technology to speed up access to customer data, inventory, and financial records\u2014often extending the life of existing hardware and saving money. In 2013, Western Digital acquired VeloBit for an undisclosed amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, Yang helped launch three more startups, all based on his patented inventions. In a distinguished career, Yang has been granted over 20 U.S. patents, authored more than 130 papers, was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers\u2014one of the highest honors in his field. In addition to the research and products themselves, Yang says, the research grants he has been awarded during his career have helped support a dozen Ph.D. students, who have gone on to create their own innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are professors at top U.S. universities, research leaders and engineers at big companies such as Intel, WD, Meta, Xerox, and Adobe etc.,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m most proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weaving Medical Treatment into Everyday Life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kunal Mankodiya, professor of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering
Photo credit: Beau Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in a small town near Ahmedabad, India, Kunal Mankodiya was surrounded by his family\u2019s textile business. At the same time, he was drawn to biology and medical sciences in his studies. As a graduate student in Germany, he found a way to combine the two, integrating sensors into fabric to create wearable health devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now a professor of biomedical engineering at URI and director of the Wearable Biosensing Lab<\/a>, Mankodiya creates clothing that can help doctors diagnose and monitor diseases in daily life environments. A $600,000 NSF CAREER award in 2017 helped him grow     the lab and long-term vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would not have accomplished anything without federal and state research funding,\u201d he says. \u201cIt essentially changed my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His first project was a smart glove, designed for people with Parkinson\u2019s and other diseases that cause mobility issues. Patients wear it at home to complete finger exercises, generating data that an app transmits to physicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to wear the gloves 24\/7,\u201d he says. \u201cYou perform exercises two or three times a week\u2014just for a few  minutes at a time. We use signal processing and algorithms to define the severity of symptoms through telehealth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, his team expanded to smart shoes as well. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Photo credit: Beau Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The data from gloves and shoes can help doctors titrate medications more accurately, avoiding overdoses and missed doses between clinic visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With help from a 2019 NSF Partnerships for Innovation Tech Transfer grant, the project became the foundation for a startup, WellAware<\/strong>. One of his former Ph.D. students, Nicholas Constant \u201915, MS \u201917, PhD \u201921, now leads the company full-time, aiming to bring early cognitive screening tools to rural and underserved communities. WellAware received a couple of SBIR and other state funds for clinical validation, helping towards commercialization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His lab has also helped inspire other students to spinoff several other companies, including Pison<\/strong>, co-founded by David Cipoletta \u201914 MS \u201919, which uses wrist-worn chips to detect electrical muscle signals for gesture control, recently striking a deal with Timex. Another company, WellFit<\/strong> Wearables<\/strong>, spearheaded by current doctoral student, Vignesh Ravichandran MS \u201921, Ph.D. \u201926, focuses on gastrointestinal monitoring for endurance athletes using a sensor belt. The project recently took advantage of an NSF I-Corps award to conduct customer discovery interviews with more than 110 health professionals about knowing the real-world problems associated with gut health and how the device could be useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most recently, his lab has partnered with undergraduate business alum and URI rowing captain Nicole Jones \u201924 on AnalytIQ<\/strong>, which aims to monitor cardiovascular stress in rowers.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cWe work closely with doctors and clinicians. As a technologist and engineer, we can propose thousands of things, but they\u2019re not going to help anybody if their requirements are different and not met.\u201d<\/blockquote>Kunal Mankodiya\nProfessor of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering<\/cite><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"
Professor Kunal Mankodiya (left) and his research team of URI students.
Photo credit: Beau Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

With nearly $16 million in NSF funding the lab is expanding to cover the full human lifespan, from neonatal monitoring to stroke rehab and chronic kidney disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPursuing translational research constantly pushes you to think differently\u2014which is a good thing\u2014because in the scientific world you want to find ways to make impacts through translation and entrepreneurship and serve societal needs.\u201d Mankodiya says. \u201cIn the process of technology translation, you are challenged to think beyond boundaries and learn real problems existing in outside lab environments such as patients homes, clinics, and hospitals. That mindset\u2014of thinking beyond boundaries\u2014is something I strive to pass on to my student innovators and entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Michael Blanding Scientific breakthroughs don\u2019t just explain the world\u2014they change it. Through both basic research grants and awards targeted towards innovation and entrepreneurship, the federal government enables new discoveries that drive economic growth when scientists move their inventions out of the lab and into the hands of real-world users. At the University of Rhode […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":701,"featured_media":6520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-momentum-spring-25-body","category-momentum-spring-25-cover"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/701"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6532"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6627,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6532\/revisions\/6627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}