By UA Online Newsroom

​Former Biomimicry Fellows Dr. Emily Kennedy and Dr. Bor-Kai (Bill) Hsiungsuccessfully completed the prototyping and testing of a hedgehog-inspired impact protection technology, using funding provided by the University of Akron Research Foundation’s Spark Fund. This marks the successful completion of the second of six projects funded by the Spark Fund, starting in 2017. Kennedy and Hsiung also collaborated with Dr. K.T. Tan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Nathan Swift, recent Case Western Reserve University graduate; and Douglas Paige, an industrial design professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art. 

Every patient dreads the pain of removing an adhesive bandage. Soon, “ripping off the bandage” to avoid pain could be a thing of the past.  
Spark Fund was created to provide resources and support to develop the proof needed to transform UA technology into a validated prototype that can be licensed to a scalable startup company. In 2017, Spark Fund committed $450,000 in UARF and State of Ohio funding to five projects, all of which are to be completed by the end of 2018.

Spark Fund – a University of Akron Research Foundation initiative to fund prototyping and testing to lead to more technology licenses – has announced $255,000 in funding to support its first three funded projects. 
 
Dr. Abraham Joy, at right, an associate professor of polymer science, and graduate students Kaushik Mishra and Cesar Lopezreceived funding to prototype and iteratively test a light-releasable medical adhesive. The 11-month project aims to produce a fully validated negative pressure wound therapy bandage to start FDA testing, as well as a scaled production process. The team was mentored by Dr. Gopal Nadkarni, an associate professor of mechanical engineering.