Fellows | SPARK

Introducing Cohort 8

Alex Barker PhD

Automated Deep Learning Approach to Enable Detection of In-utero Disease

Cathy Bodine PhD, CCC-SLP

Skywalker: Innovations in Mobility

Christina Coughlan PhD

Plasma Exosomes as Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease

Jose Diaz-Miron MD

The Mini 3mm Laparoscopic Port

Achim Klug PhD

Hearing Restoration for Age-Related Hearing Loss

Traci Lyons PhD

Development of a Novel SEMA7A Targeted Therapy to Treat Cancer

Aakriti Pandita MD

AI Documentation Assistant

Karin Payne PhD

A Regenerative Biomaterial Therapeutic to Treat Osteoarthritis

Cohort 7

Juan-Pablo Idrovo MD

Gastrostomy Tube Guardian

Jessica Rove MD

Colorado Chest Tube

Sujatha Venkataraman PhD

Development of Gated Dual-antigen Targeting CAR-T Cell Therapy to Treat ATRT, an Aggressive Brain Tumor in Children

Zhirui Wang PhD

Bivalent CD47 Immunotoxin for Targeted Therapy of T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Other CD47+ Cancers

Rui Zhao PhD

Developing a First-in-class Allosteric Eya2 Tyrosine Phosphatase Inhibitor for Brain Cancer Therapy

Cohort 6

Evalina Burger-Van Der Walt MD

Novelty Cages Accommodating Individual Endplate Architecture

Luke Duncan MS, MBA

Microbicidal Polymer Spray

Norman Friedman MD

Efficient Obstructive Sleep Apnea Diagnosis

Adam Green MD

Development of a Device for Intact Pill Delivery to Patients Unable to Swallow

Brian Herrmann MD

Efficient Obstructive Sleep Apnea Diagnosis

Steven Lammers PhD

Development of a Device for Intact Pill Delivery to Patients Unable to Swallow

Ji Ma PhD

Novelty Cages Accommodating Individual Endplate Architecture

Daewon Park PhD

Microbicidal Polymer Spray

Vikas Patel MD

Advanced Cervical Fixation

Mark Rentschler PhD, PE

Efficient Obstructive Sleep Apnea Diagnosis

Cristin Welle PhD

Vagus Nerve Stimulation to Treat Multiple Sclerosis

Liping Yu MD

A Simple Multiplex Assay to Screening Multiple Autoimmune Diseases Simultaneously in Children

Cohort 5

Andrew Bubak PhD

Neurokinin-1 Receptor Antagonists as Antiviral Agents against Herpes Simplex Viruses

Eduardo Davila PhD

Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy Switch

Quentin Diot PhD

Radioactive Foil Therapy for Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer

Peter Gottlieb MD

Vaccine for Type 1 Diabetes

Jim Lambert PhD

Novel Small Molecules as Breakthrough Therapy for Melanoma

Ken MacLean PhD

Formate Treatment of Cystathionine Beta Synthase Deficient Homocystinuria

Aaron Michels MD

Vaccine for Type 1 Diabetes

Maria Nagel MD

Neurokinin-1 Receptor Antagonists as Antiviral Agents against Herpes Simplex Viruses

Yiqun Shellman PhD

Therapeutic Potential of Targeting MCL1 to Improve Cancer Therapies

Richard Tobin PhD

Therapeutic Potential of Targeting MCL1 to Improve Cancer Therapies

Sujatha Venkataraman PhD

Development of Gated Dual-antigen Targeting CAR-T Cell Therapy to Treat ATRT, an Aggressive Brain Tumor in Children

Rajeev Vibhakar MD, PhD, MPH/MSPH

Novel Therapeutic Antibody against a Fatal Brain Tumor in Children

Zhirui Wang PhD

Bivalent CD47 Immunotoxin for Targeted Therapy of T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Other CD47+ Cancers

David Westerly PhD

Radioactive Foil Therapy for Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer

Cohort 4

Diagnostic and Therapy for Breast Cancer

Team Members

Traci Lyons, PhD - learn more
Virginia Borges, MD - learn more
Alan Elder, MS - learn more
Steve Anderson, PhD - learn more
Richard Duke, PhD - learn more

Diagnostic and Therapy for Breast Cancer

Team Members

Virginia Borges, MD - learn more
Traci Lyons, PhD - learn more
Alan Elder, MS - learn more
Steve Anderson, PhD - learn more
Richard Duke, PhD - learn more

Arthroscopic Instruments to Support New Surgical Methods in Hip Arthroscopy

Team Members

Omer Mei-Dan, MD - learn more
Jacob Segil, PhD - learn more

Arthroscopic Instruments to Support New Surgical Methods in Hip Arthroscopy

Team Members

Omer Mei-Dan, MD - learn more
Jacob Segil, PhD - learn more

Non-Invasive Detection of Tissue Inflammation Using Molecular Imaging

Team Members

Joshua Thurman, MD - learn more
Felix Poppelaars, MD, PhD - learn more
Michael Holers, MD - learn more
Catherine Foss, PhD - learn more
Martin Pomper, MD - learn more

Gene Therapy for Glaucoma

Team Members

Ram Nagaraj, PhD - learn more
Mina Pantcheva, MD - learn more
Mi-Hyun Nam, PhD - learn more

Gene Therapy for Glaucoma

Team Members

Ram Nagaraj, PhD - learn more
Mina Pantcheva, MD - learn more
Mi-Hyun Nam, PhD - learn more

A Novel Therapeutic Approach to Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause

Team Members

Michael Wempe, PhD - learn more
Steven Nordeen, PhD - learn more
David Orlicky, PhD - learn more
Thomas Anchordoquy, PhD - learn more

A Novel Therapeutic Approach to Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause

Team Members

Michael Wempe, PhD - learn more
Steven Nordeen, PhD - learn more
David Orlicky, PhD - learn more
Thomas Anchordoquy, PhD - learn more

Cohort 3

An ultra-compact CT scanner for point-of-care imaging

Visit Dr. Altunbas's website.

LPL activators as novel therapeutics for neurological conditions

Team Members

Kimberley Bruce, PhD - learn more
Philip Reigan, PhD - learn more

Multifunctional Nanoclusters for Detection and Treatment of Bladder Cancer

Team Members

Thomas Flaig, MD - learn more
Jared Brown, PhD - visit website
Won Park, PhD - visit website

Methods for understanding functional heterogeneity among single cells

Team Members

Jay Hesselberth, PhD - visit website
Mandy Richer, PhD

iSense: A First-in-Class Therapy for Insufficient Pupil Dilation

Learn more about Dr. Ifantides here.

Novel inhibitors of trimethylamine lyase for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Team Members

Kristi Kuhn, MD - learn more
Sabrina Fetchner, PhD - learn more

Repositioning neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R) antagonists as antiviral agents against human herpesviruses

Team Members

Maria Nagel, PhD - learn more
Andrew Bubak, PhD - learn more

Oral Biofilm Disruption and Selective Inhibition of S. mutans Biofilms

Learn more about Dr. Nair's research here.

IL2-CCR4 Bispecific Immunotoxin Targeting Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma

Learn more about Dr. Wang's research here.

Tools & Resources

CU Campuses

CU Anschutz

SPARK Colorado

Meet our SPARK Fellows

Introducing Cohort 8

Cohort 7

Cohort 6

Cohort 5

Cohort 4

Cohort 3

Innovations

Meet our SPARK Fellows

Introducing Cohort 8

Alex Barker PhD

Cathy Bodine PhD, CCC-SLP

Christina Coughlan PhD

Jose Diaz-Miron MD

Achim Klug PhD

Traci Lyons PhD

Aakriti Pandita MD

Karin Payne PhD

Cohort 7

Juan-Pablo Idrovo MD

Jessica Rove MD

Sujatha Venkataraman PhD

Zhirui Wang PhD

Rui Zhao PhD

Cohort 6

Evalina Burger-Van Der Walt MD

Luke Duncan MS, MBA

Norman Friedman MD

Adam Green MD

Brian Herrmann MD

Steven Lammers PhD

Ji Ma PhD

Daewon Park PhD

Vikas Patel MD

Mark Rentschler PhD, PE

Cristin Welle PhD

Liping Yu MD

Cohort 5

Andrew Bubak PhD

Eduardo Davila PhD

Quentin Diot PhD

Peter Gottlieb MD

Jim Lambert PhD

Ken MacLean PhD

Aaron Michels MD

Maria Nagel MD

Yiqun Shellman PhD

Richard Tobin PhD

Sujatha Venkataraman PhD

Rajeev Vibhakar MD, PhD, MPH/MSPH

Zhirui Wang PhD

David Westerly PhD

Cohort 4

Traci Lyons, PhD

Virginia Borges, MD

Omer Mei-Dan, MD

Jacob Segil, PhD

Joshua Thurman, MD

Ram Nagaraj, PhD

Mina Pantcheva, MD

Michael Wempe, PhD

Steven Nordeen, PhD

Cohort 3

Cem Altunbas, PhD

Kimberley Bruce, PhD - PI

Tom Flaig, MD - PI

Jay Hesselberth, PhD - PI

Cristos Ifantides, MD, MBA

Kristi Kuhn, PhD - PI

Maria Nagel, PhD - PI

Devatha Nair, PhD

Zhirui Wang, PhD

Innovations