UT Dallas chemistry doctoral students Ikeda and Orikeda Trashi doubled down on a cancer therapy platform—and took home first prize at the April 16 UTD Big Idea Competition.
Hosted by UTD’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Big Idea pitch event has been running since 2007, with tracks for both current students and alumni. This year more than $62,000 was awarded after a record 125 applicants signed up to take part.
Twins pitched a cancer therapy platform
The Trashi twins earned first place and a $12,000 prize in the student competition for Biodelivera, a platform delivers cancer therapy directly to tumors by using “virus-like particles.”
“For the first time, we’re showing a delivery system that can precisely only target the cancer cells, has a deep infiltration to tumor tissues, and is cheap to manufacture,” Ikeda Trashi said during the sisters’ pitch. “This is a game changer for cancer therapy.”
One of the judges, RequisSalons owner and UTD MBA graduate Ruchika Arora Nagrath, said of the Trashis’ platform, “If there is a solution out there, which [they] have probably cracked, and if it gets implemented, I can only imagine the smiles it’ll bring to the families, to the patients and make this—the most difficult phase of your life—a little more tolerable.”
Other prizes for video game analytics and more
Second place in the Big Idea student track—and the Audience Award—went to UTD computer science senior Prakul Singh, for Zephyr Technologies Inc.
“Zephyr watches the video of a game and automatically generates any statistic that the coach wants,” Singh said in a statement. “Our goal is to become the best analytics platform for every team on the planet.”
Third place—and the Best Presentation Award—went to Gather Connect, a platform developed by computer science senior Aryan Nambiar, software engineering junior Solomon Gheevarghese, and computer science junior Barakah Oyugi.
“According to a study, over 77% of students say they long for more genuine face-to-face connection, proving that in the screen-filled world, genuine connection has never mattered more,” Nambiar said in a statement. “That’s why we built Gather, a single platform that connects college students to the events that they actually want to go to. No more fragmented group chats, Instagram stories or word-of-mouth to find out what there is to do. Gather gets students off their phones into real-life experiences. No more endless scrolling, just real events, real people and real memories.”
Additional student track Big Idea awards went to Jared Heymann, an executive MBA student and founder of Ouroloop, who snagged fourth place and Best Use of Technology; quantum information senior Christopher Ezernack, founder of Neural Entropy Diagnostics, who earned the Early Research Award; and Christopher Anthony, an MBA a UTD innovation and entrepreneurship graduate student, who received the Best Social Impact Award for nonprofit work aiding veterans.
Sweat-evaporating backpack takes home top alumni prize
In the Big Idea alumni track, 2004 UTD graduate Brice Sokolowski won the top prize for developing Vaucluse Backpack Ventilation Gear, an ergonomic backpack insert that helps reduce sweating.
“After trying to find a good backpack,” Sokolowski said during his pitch, “I decided to patent an attachable backpack ventilation frame that you can simply put on your favorite backpack to increase airflow, which allows you to remove and evaporate all of that sweat so you’re much more comfortable.”
Judge Jeff Williams, a partner at Interlock Partners, said the Vaucluse Backpack stood out as a winner.
“He’s built the product,” he said of Sokolowski. “He’s in-market. He seems to have a very reasonable business strategy. It’s defensible. He’s got a patent … and so we like it. We like the opportunity for growth … the different models down the road and the different sizes that can be made for the different brands of the backpacks. … It’s a pretty exciting idea.”
Second place in the Big Idea alumni track went to 2-24 UTD graduate Amrit Rathie, who pitched POWERPercept, a line of smart insoles for diabetic care and athletic performance.
Entrepreneurship and the UTD ecosystem
Caruth Chair and Jindal School Dean Dr. Hasan Pirkul said the Big Idea event spotlights what UTD is all about.
“Entrepreneurship is such an important part of our modern university ecosystem,” Pirkul said in a statement. “Universities have always created ideas. They created companies; they created businesses always. And in the last 20 to 30 years, we have formalized it.”
In addition to Arora Nagrath and Williams, the other judges were Mike Covert, CEO and founder of Ignite Partnership; Paul Johnson, CEO of HEXA Innovation; and Doug Moore, founding partner and CEO of Americas for Turbostart.
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