WRAL-TV’s Renee Chou emcees the 2019 Lulu eGames
Casey Boutwell, an NC State alumnus and former employee, and his startup company NIRSleep took home $25,000 in funding for winning first place in the Daugherty Track of the Lulu eGames. He earned his MBA from NC State’s Poole College of Management in 2016 while working for the university.
Boutwell was a licensing associate for the Office of Research Commercialization from 2013 to 2016 and worked for the ASSIST Center from 2016 to 2018.
“I would not be able to successfully commercialize this technology if it weren’t for the skills I acquired at NC State,” says Boutwell, CEO of NIRSleep. “NIRSleep’s success is predicated upon my experiences at NC State.”
The Daugherty Track of the Lulu eGames is open only to startups who are currently licensing IP from NC State.
In addition to the $25,000 Boutwell received, Joshua Pierce, an NC State chemistry professor and founder of Synoxa Sciences Inc., was awarded $15,000 for second place, and Murthy Guddati, an NC State civil engineering professor and founder of INDTI, was awarded $10,000 for third place.
NIRSleep is working to create an easy-to-use, wearable sensor that uses infrared light to noninvasively measure the oxygen concentration in a user’s brain.
2016 NC State alumnus and first-place winner of the 2019 Lulu eGames
As the startup’s name suggests, the sensor is initially being developed to dramatically improve the ease of sleep monitoring. Current technology is not only cumbersome but often requires that the physician assessments be conducted in a clinic, which results in a much different experience than a person would have during a normal night’s rest.
“With NIRSleep we can monitor patients in a remote setting, such as in the comfort of their home,” Boutwell says. “Extending care beyond the clinic will transform sleep disorder diagnosis, and help millions of Americans recover and perform better.”
The NC State patent NIRSleep licensed focuses on sleep applications and describes a new technique to noninvasively monitor brain activity.
But there are also a number of other potential health applications, including monitoring patients with critical brain injuries for cerebral hypoxia — a lack of oxygen to the brain — while whizzing through the air miles above sea level during aeromedical transport.
Second-place winner Synoxa Sciences Inc. is working to develop small molecule antibiotics that are effective against multidrug-resistant, life-threatening bacterial infections.
Left to right: Tom Miller, NC State Senior Vice Provost for DELTA, Continuing Education, Engagement and Outreach and the Entrepreneurship Initiative; Allan Moorman, Synoxa Sciences Inc. Chief Technology Officer; Joshua Pierce, NC State chemistry professor and founder of Synoxa Sciences Inc.; and Raj Narayan, associate director of the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science.
Third-place winner INDTI is developing a new technology to help ensure the safety of aging bridge infrastructure.
Left to right: Tom Miller, NC State Senior Vice Provost for DELTA, Continuing Education, Engagement and Outreach and the Entrepreneurship Initiative; Murthy Guddati, civil engineering professor at NC State and co-founder of INDTI; Vivek Samu, civil engineering postdoctoral research scholar at NC State and co-founder of INDTI; and Raj Narayan, associate director of the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science.
The Richard L. and Marlene V. Daugherty Centennial Campus Entrepreneurialism Endowment (Daugherty Endowment) was established in 2008 to fund early-stage companies. The Daugherty Endowment has invested over $350,000 in 36 companies — nearly two-thirds of which remain in business today — and two research projects.
The Daugherty Endowment has been a contributing partner of the Lulu eGames since its 2016 launch, with the primary goal being to increase the success of startup companies based on NC State IP. The Daugherty Endowment Track is open to officially registered startup companies who’ve licensed NC State intellectual property in the past three years — meaning their licenses must be currently active. The funds allocated to winning companies can be used for critical early-stage business expenses.
The Daugherty Endowment Track at the Lulu eGames is made possible by a partnership with the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science.
“The Daugherty Endowment is an important element of NC State’s commitment to supporting startup companies,” says Raj Narayan, associate director of the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science.
“The Endowment reflects Dick Daugherty’s long-term vision to enable the acceleration of successful startups based on promising NC State inventions. This is a partnership focused on helping very early stage companies make progress as they implement their business development complementary to their research innovation. These companies are developing products that will have a positive impact and touch the lives of many, well into the future. It is a wonderful example of NC State’s ‘Think and Do’ strategy.”