Faculty Innovation Awards

Each year faculty across Yale develop new technologies and launch startups addressing global challenges. From improving human health and addressing climate change, to building the future of quantum computing, these companies are poised to change the world. The annual Yale Faculty Innovation Awards are an opportunity to recognize the significant contributions of these faculty investigators who bring these discoveries to market and launch Yale innovation into the world.

“The Yale Faculty Innovation Award makes crystal clear to the entire Yale community that the university appreciates, recognizes and celebrates our faculty launching new startup companies that can change the world.”

— Josh Geballe, Yale Ventures Managing Director

2023 Award Recipients

Joerg Bewersdorf, PhD

Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Cell Biology, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Professor of Physics; Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Cell Biology

Company: PanLuminate  - Dr. Joerg Bewersdorf is a leader in the field of super-resolution microscopy, and inventor of a number of 3-D imaging techniques that resolve individual molecules at the nanometer-scale inside biological cells and tissues.

Pramod Bonde, MD, FACS 

Associate Professor of Surgery (Cardiac)

Company: Pirogon Inc. - Dr. Pramod Bonde is an experienced inventor both in implantable devices and in surgical procedures that improve the function of the heart. Dr. Bonde’s latest invention, licensed to his startup Pirogon, is a device to help save patients from lung injury due to harmful reflux and aspiration. 

Mike Caplan, PhD, MD

C.N.H. Long Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology and Professor of Cell Biology; Chair, Cellular and Molecular Physiology

Company: Estuary - Dr. Michael Caplan’s lab studies the mechanisms responsible for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). His expansive work in this space has resulted in the discovery of potential gene therapy for the most common form of this hereditary disease.  

John Deacon, PhD

Associate Research Scientist 

Company: Cytosolix -  Cytosolix is developing novel oral & IV derivatives of known small molecule oncology drugs that selectively target cancer cells via a universal biomarker of solid tumors - acidity. 

Jon Ellman, PhD

Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Pharmacology 

Company: Onsero - Onsero licensed compounds with unique pharmacological activity developed by Dr. Jon Ellman and his coworkers. Their technology provided this startup company with key intellectual property for developing a new class of medicines to treat complex mental illness. 

Yong-Hui Jiang, MD, PhD

Professor and Chief of Medical Genetics 

Company: Couragene, Inc.

Akiko Iwasaki, PhD

Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Professor of Dermatology and of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases); Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute 

Company: Xanadu Bio, Inc - Dr. Iwasaki’s lab has developed a vaccination strategy involving existing mRNA vaccines as well as a novel vaccine formulation in PACE particles to enhance mucosal immunity to respiratory pathogens, including Covid-19. Together with Dr. Mark Saltzman, they co-founded Xanadu Bio, a Yale spinout that is working to develop this drug delivery platform for next-generation Covid vaccines, as well as other products.

Mark Mamula, PhD

Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology)

Company: Therajan, LLC - Dr. Mamula's central research interests are in investigating the early events involved with breaking immune tolerance to self proteins, both in autoimmune disease and in tumor biology. Recent work in the Mamula Lab has led to the discovery of a canine cancer vaccine candidate.

Aaron Ring, MD, PhD

Associate Professor at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Company: Stipple Bio - The company uses a platform technology developed in Dr. Aaron Ring’s lab at Yale that enables single-cell profiling and target discovery.

Mark Saltzman, PhD

Professor of Neurosurgery Goizueta Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Chemical & Environmental Engineering & Physiology  

Company: Xanadu Bio, Inc - Dr. Saltzman’s lab has developed a drug delivery platform called PACE, which utilizes biodegradable nanoparticles that are specifically formulated to package and deliver nucleic acid therapeutics to patients. Together with Dr. Akiko Iwasaki they co-founded Xanadu Bio, a Yale spinout that is working to develop this drug delivery platform for next-generation Covid vaccines, as well as other products.

Yossi Schlessinger, PhD

William H. Prusoff Professor of Pharmacology; Co-Director, Cancer Biology Institute 

Company: Atias - Dr. Yossi Schlessinger’s lab works on the discovery and development of specific inhibitors of protein tyrosine kinases, amongst other projects.  His recent work has led to the discovery of inhibitors of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) signaling.

Nenad Sestan, MD, PhD 

Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neuroscience, and Professor of Comparative Medicine, of Genetics and of Psychiatry; Executive Director, Genome Editing Center 

Company: Bexorg - Dr. Nenad’s team of collaborators have an interdisciplinary tour de force of blended innovations in biology, engineering, software, data science, and healthcare to both solve the problem of the brain’s fragility as a barrier to mapping the connectome. Bexorg has demonstrated applicability beyond the brain to the whole body. 

Joseph Vinetz, MD, FACP, FIDSA, FASTMH, BS

Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases), Anthropology, and Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases); Affliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health 

Company: Luna  - Dr. Joseph Vinetz founded Luna to address a huge unmet need for multiple diseases, starting with the $6Bn market for leptospirosis [Lept-o-spire-o-sis] vaccines for livestock and companion animals.

Jiangbing Zhou, PhD

Professor of Neurosurgery 

Company: Couragene, Inc - Couragene leverages its breakthrough delivery platforms to develop non-viral genome modification therapies for neurogenetic diseases. Couragene’s lead indication is Angelman Syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by a loss of nervous system function that affects approximately 1 in 12,000 people. 

2022 Award Recipients