2024 ORC Impact Report

NC STATE

Success Formula: ‘Jump In and Do It’

Between Wolfpack Investor Network & Harbright Ventures Sees Continued Growth Regional Innovation Training Hub Promotes Statewide Collaboration

A MESSAGE

FROM OUR NEW LEADERSHIP

Dear Innovators, Partners, and Friends,

We are excited to share our annual impact report for 2024 with you!

This release is designed to highlight the exciting startup companies and research innovations spinning out of NC State into the real world. It represents the collaborative efforts of the ORC team, NC State innovators and entrepreneurs, and our supporters within the regional community who have shared their time and expertise to achieve a shared goal of translating cutting-edge university research to the market where it can see true, tangible impact.

NC State was recognized on a global level in 2024 when it was announced as the awardee of a $30 million, five-year award from the Bezos Earth Fund to establish a sustainable protein research hub at NC State. One of only three such centers across the world, the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein is designed to support advances in sustainable protein production that will help to feed the world’s growing population.

We have also seen exciting advancements from several NC State startups in the past year. BioResource International Inc. (BRI), a biotechnology company developing enzymes for feed additives, was acquired by Novus International in March. Founded in 1999, the startup flourished from a small lab on Centennial Campus to the establishment of global distribution agreements for its product, highlighting a successful commercialization pathway for academic researchers and their work.

NC State startup Sonovascular also saw significant gains, announcing the successful treatment of a first patient with its catheter-based system to treat venous thromboembolism. Formed in 2018, the medical device company has been able to leverage support from the Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN) to pursue the clinical trials needed to bring its system to market, and we are excited to see the startup’s continued growth and impact.

2024 was also a time of transition for the ORC team, as Assistant Vice Chancellor Wade Fulghum and Assistant Vice Chancellor Kultaran Chohan both announced their departures from NC State. We are grateful for their commitment to commercialization excellence over the years and the growth ORC saw under their leadership. We look forward to building upon their work while also targeting new initiatives that can support inventors and startup founders and further increase the impact of NC State research and startup companies.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to innovation at NC State.

Tim Martin

Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor, New Ventures and Investments

Brian

Interim

Eller

Assistant Vice Chancellor, Technology Licensing

ABOUT US

HISTORY AND MISSION

NC State’s Office of Research Commercialization (ORC) acts as the steward of all intellectual property generated and owned by the university. Since its formation in the 1980s, it has worked to promote economic growth by facilitating the commercialization of research discoveries, leading to the launch of over 250 startup companies and 600 commercialized products. ORC’s mandate includes protecting and promoting university-owned research discoveries and innovations, engaging with industry partners, and supporting the launch and growth of startup companies commercializing university intellectual property.

OFFICE OF

TECHNOLOGY LICENSING

The Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) consists of ORC’s licensing and finance and operations professionals. The Licensing team is tasked with strategically managing invention disclosures submitted by faculty, staff, and students from all colleges, departments, and units on NC State’s campus. Their responsibilities include the evaluation of new inventions, managing patent protection for novel innovations, identifying potential technology licensing partners, and working to negotiate license agreements that enable technology commercialization.

The Finance and Operations team plays a critical role in assisting innovators and industrial partners with license payment, billing, and royalty collection and distribution, as well as maintaining compliance with federal sponsors. The team also manages the patent application process and correspondence, oversees reporting and tracking of products that arise from NC State intellectual property, and records and reports NC State commercialization data to internal and external stakeholders.

OFFICE OF

NEW VENTURES & INVESTMENTS

The Office of New Ventures & Investments (NV&I) consists of ORC’s New Ventures, Creatives Services, and Investments professionals who work to accelerate the formation and growth of NC State research-based startup companies.

The New Ventures and Creative Services teams support university faculty and student innovators and entrepreneurs seeking to launch a new company to commercialize university-owned research. Their work includes strategic planning and business model support, assistance with new company incorporation, entrepreneurial training, development of logos and websites for new startups, and connections to startup funding and mentorship resources. The Investments team plays a key role in the operation of the Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN), an angel investor network that supports NC Stateaffiliated startup companies.

OUR IMPACT

BY THE NUMBERS

NC State is creating real-world impact through innovative ideas and action. Our faculty, students and staff are at the forefront of progress, and the Office of Research Commercialization helps accelerate those ideas to the market. See how we are making a difference locally, nationally and globally.

1.7B FINANCING RAISED BY NC STATE STARTUPS

250 STARTUPS LAUNCHED + + +

8.5K TOTAL JOBS CREATED

AUTM FY22 | UNIVERSITIES WITHOUT MED SCHOOL

#3 STARTUPS LAUNCHED #2

ACTIVE LICENSES AND OPTIONS

#5 TOTAL LICENSES

#7 #1 #8 TOTAL OPTIONS

TOTAL DISCLOSURES RESEARCH EXPENDITURES

1.6K COMMERCIALIZATION AGREEMENTS

2K PATENTS ISSUED + + +

5K INVENTION DISCLOSURES

BY: MICK KULIKOWSKI

The Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein launched today at North Carolina State University. The Bezos Earth Fund awarded NC State $30 million over five years to lead a center of excellence to create a biomanufacturing hub for dietary proteins that are environmentally friendly, healthy, tasty and affordable. The Earth Fund has committed $100 million to establish a network of open-access research and development centers focused on sustainable protein alternatives, expanding consumer choices.

The center will engage partners from academia and industry to research, create, and commercialize new technologies, provide training for the emerging industry workforce, and gauge consumers’ protein preferences.

“As a land-grant university in a state with significant animal agriculture, NC State is uniquely positioned to help shape the future of sustainable food production,” said Chancellor Randy Woodson. “We’re thankful for the support from the Bezos Earth Fund that will help drive economic and workforce development in this critical area of sustainable protein production in order to feed a growing world population in an economically and environmentally sustainable way. The state legislature’s funding of the Food Innovation Lab in Kannapolis and new facilities in the College of Engineering have made NC State incredibly competitive for this grant.”

Protein is essential to human health, whether it comes from animal or plant sources. Without the amino acids in protein, our cells, tissues and organs can’t function. And as the global population expands, the health of both humans and the planet will increasingly depend on widespread availability of proteins that taste good and are produced in ways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect nature.

“Food production is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, so it’s critical we find ways to feed a growing population without degrading the planet,” said Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the Earth Fund. “Sustainable protein has tremendous potential but more research is needed to reduce the price and boost the flavor and texture to ensure nutritious, affordable products are available. It’s about choice.”

The grant funding will support research on

“As a land-grant university in a state with significant animal agriculture, NC State is uniquely positioned to help shape the future of sustainable food production. We’re thankful for the support from the Bezos Earth Fund that will help drive economic and workforce development in this critical area of sustainable protein production..."

- Chancellor Randy Woodson

three types of sustainable proteins: plantbased products; precision fermentation to produce proteins and nutrients that can be used in food formulations; and cultivated meat grown from animal cells.

“Feeding a growing world requires producing tasty proteins that won’t further degrade nature,” said Andy Jarvis, the Earth Fund’s Director of Future of Food. “These centers will advance open-source, sustainable protein R&D to benefit consumer choice while protecting our planet.”

“This effort is all about expanding the sustainable protein knowledge base and ecosystem,” said Rohan Shirwaiker, James T. Ryan Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at NC State, principal investigator on the grant, and co-director of the center. “The center’s capabilities and partnerships will add a new dimension to expand NC State’s biotechnology and advanced manufacturing expertise.”

The center will also provide more reasons for biomanufacturing firms to locate in North Carolina, generating jobs and economic growth. The grant funding will help prepare the workforce for jobs in advanced food technology through various university and community college partnerships, while industry partnerships will support food production and processing, including small companies and start-ups.

“This is a significant opportunity for North Carolina to not only be a state with a thriving animal-sourced foods sector, but also one where it is a powerhouse in complementary proteins, building new industry and driving economic growth for the state,” said Bill Aimutis, co-principal investigator on the grant and co-director of the new center who has extensive experience working with sustainable protein producers and start-up companies. “With the center we are looking to develop solutions that will provide greater diversity of choices for consumers that are both tasty and sustainable.”

NC State will work with academic partners N.C. A&T State University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Duke University, and Forsyth Tech Community College on the research, workforce development, and community engagement efforts. More than 20 industry partners will also be part of the center, which will facilitate technology transfer and student internships and mentorships.

This announcement builds on the Bezos Earth Fund’s $1 billion grant commitment to help transform food and agricultural systems to support healthy lives without degrading the planet, which also includes efforts to reduce emissions from livestock.

TStartup Success Formula: ‘Jump In and Do It’

BY: ALICE MANNING TOUCHETTE

ransforming from scientist to entrepreneur was a family affair for 2024 CALS Distinguished Alumni Award winner Giles Shih. For the founder and strategic advisor of Big Ripple Innovations and co-founder of BioResource International Inc. (BRI), curiosity, ingenuity, family and science came together at NC State University to launch his successful international business career.

“It took a couple decades from incubating those early laboratory concepts at NC State’s Centennial Campus into ultimately developing a very good business that was able to bring innovation to the animal health and nutrition space,” Shih says. Working on a waste processing project on the NC State Lake Wheeler Poultry Education Unit back in 1978, poultry science Professor Jason Shih, Giles’ father, noticed that feathers mixed in with chicken waste tended to disappear during the anaerobic digestion process. On a mission to pioneer sustainable practices in poultry farming, the elder Shih hypothesized that there was something in the poultry waste capable of breaking down the keratin protein in the feathers. Working with graduate student Mike Williams at the time, Shih was able to isolate a microbe in the poultry waste that produced a robust enzyme capable of breaking down feather proteins. This discovery led to six patents and laid the groundwork for future innovations.

In 1999, Shih’s son Giles, now armed

with a master’s degree in microbiology from NC State and a doctorate in microbiology and molecular genetics from Emory University, faced a pivotal decision: pursue an academic career or venture into industry. His father suggested they co-found a company (BRI) to commercialize his patents related to the enzyme discovery. They licensed the patents from NC State and recruited his recently-graduated doctoral student J.J. Wang to explore how they could use their know-how to make a difference in the poultry industry.

“In the beginning it was just the three of us out there in that 300 squarefoot lab and incubator space on the Centennial Campus. And we struggled for a while, like all startups do, and went through a couple of different iterations,” Shih recalls. “We had a breakthrough when we found that not only could this enzyme break down chicken feathers, but it was also good at breaking down vegetable proteins, such as soybean, which is a key ingredient in poultry feed.”

The novel discovery that adding the enzyme to feed could help supplement the chicken’s natural digestion process resulted in a new patent for NC State and BRI. And the product that resulted from that innovation ensured the chickens gained more nutrients from the feed and enabled farmers to use less protein to grow chickens to the same size in a sustainable manner.

“In our industry, there’s this key metric

known as feed conversion ratio — basically the amount of feed needed to grow one pound of chicken. It’s a very simple but very effective tool to measure how efficient you are as a poultry grower,” Shih says. “Anything you can do to improve that ratio makes the process more efficient and saves money. So we pivoted into that realm and created a nice niche product (Versazyme) that became widely adopted by the poultry industry.”

BRI made another breakthrough in 2008 when it signed a distribution agreement with Novus International, a leading animal health and nutrition company, to distribute Versazyme around the globe. Versazyme’s ability to improve feed efficiency was a game-changer in poultry and swine production. Subsequent to that partnership with Novus, BRI was able to develop additional products to help their customers reduce feed costs.

Under Shih’s leadership, BRI scaled its production from a few kilograms of product samples to truckloads of commercial products. They leveraged their contract manufacturers’ stateof-the-art facilities in Taiwan and BRI’s blending plant in North Carolina near Research Triangle Park to become a global supplier of feed additives for poultry and swine producers, enabling more efficient and sustainable farming.

During the company’s development, Shih and his BRI colleagues remained in close contact with NC State’s

poultry science and animal science departments, collaborating on several trials for its products.

After 15 years of growth and innovation, Novus International acquired BRI earlier this year.

“It’s been an amazing journey for me as a scientist to take something from the lab and develop a sustainable business around it,” Shih says. “And it made a lot of sense for us to integrate with Novus International after being such close partners with them. They have a great team in place and have continued to maintain operations in North Carolina.”

Through the 25 years from starting up to selling BRI, Shih has learned a lot about business and entrepreneurship, and the importance of maintaining a pipeline to industry for graduates of NC State.

“We’ve had the good fortune to recruit a lot of very talented NC State alumni who work in animal nutrition, biochemistry and microbiology. Several of them are still with the company and have taken on leadership roles in BRI. It’s very satisfying to see that growth and follow their career progression,” Shih says.

As founder and strategic advisor of Big Ripple Innovations, a consulting firm helping entrepreneurs achieve success across a range of industries and stages, Shih hopes to continue developing new business ideas and is currently mentoring entrepreneurs at NC State and around the Research Triangle as they begin their business journeys.

“Persistence and grit are key,” Shih says. “My advice to the graduate and undergraduate students interested in entrepreneurship is to jump in and do it. Get a good team around you and keep a growth mindset — know that you’re going to miss the mark some of the time. But keep moving forward. Those experiences will only make you better.”

“Persistence and grit are key. My advice to the graduate and undergraduate students interested in entrepreneurship is to jump in and do it. Get a good team around you and keep a growth mindset — know that you’re going to miss the mark some of the time. But keep moving forward. Those experiences will only make you better.”

- Giles Shih

Partnership Between Wolfpack Investor Network & Harbright Ventures Sees Continued Growth

BY: AMY PARKER

The Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN) and investment group Harbright Ventures recently marked two years of a partnership that has delivered tangible benefits for the entrepreneurial community at North Carolina State University.

Investment opportunities for researchbased startups in the Triangle and throughout North Carolina remain less robust than in higher-density ecosystems such as Silicon Valley or Boston, posing a significant challenge to young companies seeking to grow and stay within the state. WIN – an early-stage angel investment group affiliated with NC State and established in 2017 – connects angel investors with exciting startups with ties to NC State and serves as a critical source of capital within the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The network partnered with Triangle-based venture capital Harbright Ventures in 2022 to expand support for both its accredited investor members and its portfolio companies. Harbright – with its specific focus on funding early-stage, high-growth startups – has strengthened WIN-related deals through its thorough review of investment opportunities and has provided increased capacity for the network.

Since the partnership began, WIN has seen a notable rise in membership, with 74 new members joining the network over the last two years.

“To put that in perspective,” said Robert Ross, founding partner of Harbright Ventures, “half of the current network were not members when the partnership was established.” The intentional recruitment efforts by both partners have significantly contributed to the growth of the network and its expanded operation. Harbright has increased its role in WIN-related investment deals, acting as lead investor for several deals, committing over $4 million of its own funds to companies pitching to the network, and holding board seats with some portfolio companies. By introducing new deal types such as debt, WIN investors are also receiving returns earlier, which encourages participation in additional deals.

Harbright has also fostered increased opportunities for NC State students to participate in the due diligence process that precedes WIN investments. These internships provide students with experience and exposure to angel investing while also empowering WIN members to make more informed investment decisions. Lisa Chang, WIN’s director of diligence,

highlighted the strong community the partnership has created by pointing to a WIN member and entrepreneur who successfully sold his company and subsequently donated funds to the network to support student intern positions. “WIN members really feel a connection to WIN,” she said, “and they are willing to provide support beyond membership dues, through either inkind contributions or direct funding to expand our programs.”

Ross and Harbright co-founder and venture partner John Leachman expressed excitement about expanding their firm’s partnership with NC State. Leachman praised the quality and sophistication of technologies spinning out of the university, noting the number of NC State innovations that “have a useful purpose for human health or the environment, and the companies also happen to be investment-worthy…to see both things simultaneously, and to have the ability to play a small role in seeing that technology come to fruition is really exciting.” The level of institutional support for startups within the university was also noted as impressive by the Harbright team; Ross cited Lumata Health, a WIN portfolio company that received support from the network in 2022.

The number of NC State innovations that “have a useful purpose for human health or the environment, and the companies also happen to be investment-worthy…to see both things simultaneously, and to have the ability to play a small role in seeing that technology come to fruition is really exciting.”

- Robert Ross and John Leachman

A tech-enabled healthcare services company, Luamata is commercializing a system that improves outcomes for patients with vision-threatening chronic eye conditions. Co-founder and CEO Dr. Landon Grace is an associate professor at NC State and has been able to lead the company to tremendous growth while on sabbatical from his faculty position, expanding Lumata from 40 employees to over 200 in less than one year.

Other WIN portfolio companies have also seen notable advancements. Sonovascular – a medical technology company launched in 2018 based on intellectual property developed at NC State – announced successful treatment of its first patient with its SonoThrombectomy™ System. The innovative system utilizes ultrasound technology to more effectively reduce and remove blood clots in critically-

ill patients affected by deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. The company initially received support from WIN in 2023 and secured follow-on investment of nearly $2M from investors, including WIN, in October 2024. Following initiation of Sonovascular’s first-in-human trial in August, the system has since been used to treat six patients with excellent results, an exciting development as the company continues the clinical trials

necessary to fully transition its system to market.

Flux Hybrids, another WIN-backed startup, is also gaining traction. Launched in 2020 by three NC State engineering students, Flux Hybrids has developed a system that rapidly converts conventional commercial trucks into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, dramatically increasing gas mileage without compromising horsepower and performance. And the business world is taking notice; the company founders – Cody Biedermann, Clay Dowdey, and Micah Ulrich – were named to Forbes’ 2025 30 Under 30 list for Transportation & Mobility, which highlights transformative technologies that improve transportation efficiency. The company received support from WIN in 2023 but its founders had previously participated in NC State’s entrepreneurial programming for students. This “shows the health of our ecosystem,” noted Chang, “and our ability to drive really interesting ideas into real-world application.”

As the WIN and Harbright teams look to the year ahead, they are formulating the launch of new initiatives to

maintain the network’s momentum. This growth mindset has led to the WIN model being touted as a gold standard by a national university angel investment group. Chang and the Harbright team stressed the key role of WIN director Abby Phillips in sustaining and growing the network. “Abby has been the stabilizing force behind WIN since its inception,” commented Chang. “As the only fulltime employee of WIN ...her dedication to well-thought out growth still allows for the very high-touch concierge services we provide to our members and portfolio companies.”

The partnership’s next goal will be the establishment of a WIN fund, which will generate increased capital by attracting investment from family offices and institutions who want to support NC State-affiliated companies in addition to individual investors. By expanding its engagement with other funders, this new addition has the potential to leverage larger amounts of capital for even greater impact, potentially including companies at much earlier stages of development. WIN also plans to grow its geographic reach beyond the Triangle region. The network hosted multiple events

in Charlotte during 2024 and plans to prioritize increased outreach throughout the state over the next year. Recruiting new members will also continue to be a priority; WIN is currently growing at a rate of three new members per month according to Ross, and membership is open to any accredited investor, not just NC State alumni. “A member of the WIN advisory board is actually a UNC alumnus and also a Carolina Angel Network member,” Chang added, “so we are happy to work with anyone who has a passion for the ideas and companies coming out of NC State”.

Through its initial launch and exciting growth, WIN has established itself as a pillar of the NC State entrepreneurial ecosystem by leveraging a passionate community of alumni and supporters seeking to invest in groundbreaking solutions to our world’s largest challenges. With increased support for startups, greater engagement with investors, and fruitful opportunities for students, the network’s continued collaboration with Harbright points to the potential for even greater impact in the future.

2.1M NEWLY INVESTED

37 NEW MEMBERS

6 COMPANIES FUNDED

1 SUCCESSFUL EXIT IN 2024

VQ Biomedical

Raleigh, NC: (Medical Device): Developing a revolutionary oxygenation catheter to safely and effectively deliver oxygen directly into the bloodstream without the need for external blood circulation. Co-founder and Lead Development Engineer Stewart Farling is an NC State alum and the company received investment from WIN in November 2024.

SWIR Vision Systems

Durham, NC: (Electronics Manufacturing): Novel image sensor technology that delivers affordable, infrared imaging cameras with full HD resolution. Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Allan Hilton is an NC State alum and the startup was acquired by onsemi in July 2024 to enhance its intelligent image sensing product portfolio.

Wolfpack Connection

Have a founder, executive, or board member who is a NC State alumnus, faculty, staff, student, or parent, or have licensed NC State University intellectual property.

Funding

Raising seed or Series A equity capital of $250,000 to $5 million or syndicating later-stage equity financings with an existing or new lead investor.

Location

To help build economic development and support the land grant mission of the university and the company must be location in the Uinted States.

WIN 2024 BY THE NUMBERS

Regional Innovation Training Hub Promotes Statewide Collaboration

BY: AMY PARKER

NC State continues to lead collaborative efforts to train academic entrepreneurs throughout the Carolinas as part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Mid-Atlantic I-Corps Hub, a partnership with eleven other leading research institutions aimed at leveraging NSF’s I-Corps programming to create and sustain a diverse, inclusive innovation ecosystem in the United States.

NC State offers multiple opportunities each year for university-affiliated research teams to learn how to assess commercial applications of

their research innovations through its I-Corps regional training program. Teams from other institutions throughout the state have received support from the NC State training, and seven universities throughout the state have partnered to access NC State’s entrepreneurial training for faculty and students. The NC State program has run 24 total cohorts and trained over 190 teams since its launch in 2017, and 39 new startups have been formed following participation in the program. Participating teams have also gone on to secure 24 SBIR/STTR awards and have generated $65.1

million in follow-on funding.

NSF’s I-Corps Teams Program, which provides $50,000 in grant funding and challenges participants to complete 100 interviews with potential customers and partners of a new technology over seven weeks to inform commercial pathways, also plays a key part in training researchers to build market-relevant solutions. This training program is only available to teams who have completed NC State’s regional I-Corps program or have prior NSF funding for their project. Regional I-Corps Collaborators

Startups

have been launched by I-Corps participants 39

$65.1 Million

in follow-on funding generated by I-Corps teams

have been trained since the program's inception in 2017 190 Teams grants awarded to companies following I-Corps participation 24 SBIR/STTR

FOUR TEAMS WITH TIES TO NC STATE WERE ACCEPTED INTO THE NSF NATIONAL I-CORPS TEAMS PROGRAM IN 2024

10Kelvin

commercializing a novel semiconductor lithography for the fabrication of semiconductor microarrays.

Nicelle Technologies

using advanced textile fiber solutions to enable sustainable manufacture of acrylic fibers into apparel grades and low-cost grades of carbon fiber precursor.

utilizing resonance-tracking technology to harvest vibrational energy to power EVs, hybrid & gasoline cars.

Autonomous UAV Charging

developing an autonomous wireless charging system for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT

Cosmic Eats

NC State-affiliated startup Cosmic Eats received a $274,885 NSF Phase I SBIR in 2024 to further develop a more efficient and sustainable way of producing mushrooms in a novel farming set-up. The company has received over $3M in follow-on funding since participating in I-Corps.

Elysia Creative Biology

CEO and founder Eli Hornstein was awarded an Activate Fellowship in 2024. This two year, $200,000 Fellowship provides early-stage technical founders from across the United States with funding, resources, and mentorship to commercialize research innovations.

Sonovoice

NC State startup Sonovoice was awarded a $275,000 NSF Phase I STTR in 2024. The award will be used to further develop the startup’s voice evaluation and monitoring system that has the potential to improve the diagnosis and treatment of voice disorders.

NC State to Serve as Clemson’s Mentor Institution for New NSF ART Program

Clemson University was one of 18 academic institutions nationwide selected for the National Science Foundation's Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program.

BY: MATT SIMPSON

“We look forward to working closely with Clemson to help bolster research commercialization across the Carolinas”

- Kultaran Chohan, former Assistant Vice Chancellor for Technology Licensing and Executive Director of the Office of Research Commercialization at NC State

“We are excited to join forces with NC State as they serve as mentors, providing invaluable research-translation training and support”

- K.C. Wang, STRIDE Executive Director, Clemson University

NC State University has been chosen as Clemson University’s mentor for a brand-new program launched by the National Science Foundation to address “a long-standing gap between academic research and the products, services and solutions Americans need,” the NSF announced.

NC State will provide Clemson with research-translation training and support and help foster a campuswide culture for research translation.

“We look forward to working closely with Clemson to help bolster research commercialization across the Carolinas,” said Kultaran Chohan, acting assistant vice chancellor for research commercialization and executive director of the Office of Research Commercialization at NC State. “As a fellow land-grant university, we know how crucial commercialization — moving innovations and discoveries from the lab to the marketplace for the benefit of

the public — is to our common goals and mission.”

Clemson was one of only 18 academic institutions nationwide to secure part of the more than $100 million that the NSF granted as part of its first-ever Accelerating Research Translation (ART) investment.

Each ART grantee, according to an NSF news release, was partnered with a “mentoring institution of higher education that already has a robust ecosystem for translational research” — or, in other words, institutions like NC State, where we have proven mechanisms in place to turn academic discoveries into tangible, realworld benefits.

Consistently ranked among the top five U.S. universities without medical schools for licensing and startup activity, NC State is currently second in the nation for active licenses and options. To date, over 200 startup companies have been launched based on NC State intellectual property.

“We’ve earned a reputation as one of the top universities in the country for research commercialization, and being chosen as

an ART program mentoring institution clearly shows that,” Chohan said.

Clemson is slated to receive $6 million over four years to anchor an ambitious suite of programs collectively termed STRIDE — which stands for Stimulating Translation of Research via Intentional Development and Ecosystem.

“We are excited to join forces with NC State as they serve as mentors, providing invaluable research-translation training and support,” STRIDE Executive Director

K.C. Wang said in Clemson’s news release about the ART funding.

Launched by NSF’s Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate, the ART program seeks to build capacity and infrastructure for translational research at U.S. institutions of higher education. The program is authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act.

BY: AMY PARKER

Commercialization Network Grows

The Office of Research Commercialization Advisors (ORCA) Network is designed to better connect university research teams and startup companies with relevant subject matter experts and advisors from the startup community. ORCA features a network of 88 active members, with 20 new members joining in 2024.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ORCA NETWORK AND WAYS TO GET INVOLVED, VISIT

Startups Leveraging A Spark of Funding

BY: AMY PARKER

Through its SparkPlug Program – and with support from NC State’s Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology, and Science (KIETS) – ORC provides annual awards to NC State startups formed within the last five years that are pursuing federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business

Technology Transfer (STTR) funding, a critical funding mechanism that supports small business research and technology development. SparkPlug funds can be used to engage with professional grant writers to bolster the competitiveness of SBIR/STTR proposals.

$172,500 total in funds have been deployed to 22 startups since the program’s inception in 2019 and awardees have gone on to secure $7.2 million total in SBIR/STTR funding.

2024 Funded Companies

BioSensys

a startup launched by graduates of NC State’s Technology Entrepreneurship Commercialization (TEC) Program, is developing a wearable sensor for continuous lactate monitoring in intensive care units.

Nicelle Technologies

a startup spun out from NC State’s Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science, is developing advanced textile fiber solutions to reduce cost and the environmental impact of synthetic fibers.

Soteria Formulations

a startup with ties to NC State’s Plant Sciences Initiative, is developing microplastic-free and biodegradable targeted delivery platforms to enhance the performance of diverse agricultural compounds.

Structeryx

a startup launched from NC State’s Department of Civil, Construction, & Environmental Engineering, is commercializing a technology that enables self-healing of fiber-reinforced composites with applications in aerospace, naval, wind energy, and transportation.

NC State Startups and Innovations Highlighted at CES 2024

BY: AMY PARKER

The NC State Office of Research Commercialization (ORC) attended CES 2024 in Las Vegas in January to showcase NC State University innovations and startup companies with applications in the tech space. The international trade show features the latest cuttingedge technologies and products each year and provides opportunities for companies both large and small to showcase groundbreaking

technological advances to potential customers, partners, and investors from across the globe.

ORC continued its partnership with the local firm The Trade Show Manager to host a North Carolina Startup Pavilion on the trade show floor at Eureka Park, an expo space at CES exclusively for early-stage, high tech startups from around the world.

Three NC State startup companies and one research team were featured in the pavilion booth along with an NC State Engineering Research Center.

ClearSens – an NC State startup engineering the future of ultrasound technology through commercialization of its glass-based ultrasonic transducer technology – was featured in the pavilion for the second year in a row. The company was launched out

“The comprehensive perspective we’ve been able to get at CES is unparalleled. The scope and scale of this event is staggering, but the value in attendance if you’re targeted and proactive is extremely high.”

- David Roberts, Associate Professor of Computer Science

of NC State’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2019 by researchers Omer Oralkan and Feysel Yalcin Yamaner to develop unique ultrasound transducers that are lowcost, low-profile, have high acoustic pressure, and are optically transparent. With a variety of applications for its transducers, ClearSens has received over $2 million in federal SBIR/STTR funding since 2021 to develop a wearable system for divers to reduce the risk of decompression sickness.

The Pavilion also featured two first time CES attendees.

Startup SonoVoice was founded in 2022 based on technology jointly developed by researchers at NC State and Duke University. Its voice evaluation and training platform utilizes a portable device and smartphone application to improve the accessibility and accuracy of evidence-based voice evaluation and training for singers and other professionals with high voice

demands. SonoVoice founder and CEO Sandeep Bhatt commented that he attended the show as a guest of the Startup Pavilion to “share our vocal health innovations with investors and commercialization partners”, adding that “[SonoVoice] also attended the two-day Digital Health Summit where we met other companies – both established and startup – developing technologies to lower healthcare costs, improve health equity and empower individuals to take control of their care and wellbeing.”

The company is a graduate of NC State’s Andrews Launch Accelerator and was the recipient of an NC IDEA Micro Grant in 2023. It is currently pursuing prototype development and completing user studies.

David Roberts and Alper Bozkurt also attended CES to showcase their wearable EKG for dogs. Their specific software innovation enables realtime measurement of canine cardiac activity with existing low-cost, generic hardware. “Not only have we been able to showcase our novel technologies to a wide audience and make some great new connections, but we’ve also been able to see a number of highlevel trends in technologies related to ours that have helped us better understand the market landscape and customer interests,” Roberts said when asked about his experience. “The comprehensive perspective we’ve been able to get at CES is unparalleled.

The scope and scale of this event is staggering, but the value in attendance if you’re targeted and proactive is extremely high.” The team received funding from NC State’s Chancellor’s Innovation Fund (CIF) and 2ndF Research Commercialization Fund in 2023, and is currently expanding its prototype device for testing on other commercially available collars.

Bozkurt is the co-director of NC State’s Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST), which was also represented at CES for a second straight year. An NSF-funded engineering research center founded in 2012 that is developing flexible, self-powering and wearable devices to improve health monitoring across multiple fields, ASSIST is creating self-powered sensing, computing, and communication systems to enable data-driven insights for a smart and healthy world.

Please contact Zach Williams (zdwillia@ncsu.edu) if you would like to learn more about how you can get involved in future trade show opportunities.

Hernia Mesh Product with NC State Ties Changing Tissue Repair Surgery

BY: ALEX BROWN

T-Line Hernia Mesh is a novel ravel-resistant, warp-knitted mesh used to combat problems in tissue repair surgery. With the help of NC State's Office of Technology Licensing and Duke University’s Office for Translation & Commercialization, the technology was successfully

patented and licensed for launch as a commercially-available product that is positively impacting the lives of hernia patients.

More than 1.5 million abdominal hernia surgeries are performed across the globe each year to repair the

weakened muscle and connective tissue associated with the condition. Hernia patients have often faced the difficult reality that at any moment after surgery internal sutures could tear free from the nearby muscle, causing significant pain and potential long-term health complications.

More than 1.5

million

abdominal hernia surgeries are performed across the globe each year to repair the weakened muscle and connective tissue associated with the condition.

Deep Blue's T-Line Hernia Mesh received FDA regulatory approval in 2020 and is now actively being used in clinical sites in the United States.

NC State professor of textile engineering Dr. Jon Rust and former Duke University associate professor of surgery Dr. Howard Levinson recognized an opportunity to dramatically improve the comfort and safety of hernia patients and began working together in 2015 to create a novel mesh that would withstand tension and avoid breakage. The inventive process was extensive and required several adjustments, including modifying the meeting point of the extensions to the body of the mesh, transitioning from a sharp “V” shape to a flat connection to improve mesh durability. The doctors created a prototype that was initially tested on the carcass of a pig by weaving the mesh extensions throughout the muscle and pulling to create tension. This testing yielded exciting results: the mesh never tore, even when the muscle did.

The technology transfer offices at both NC State and Duke helped to

accelerate this innovation into the hands of surgeons who treat hernia patients. Both offices worked to facilitate connections with medical device companies to help Dr. Rust fully understand the market need and modify the technology accordingly.

Dr. Levinson continued developing the technology and founded the company Deep Blue Medical Advances (Deep Blue) to bring the device to market. He remains the Chief Medical Officer at the company to this day.

The technology was licensed to Deep Blue in 2017 and integrated into a product, the T-LineHernia Mesh. To continue development, Deep Blue secured over $4 million in translational funds through Duke, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and the National Institutes of Health.

The company also received support from NC State’s Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN) and Duke Capital Partners (DCP), member-based

investment groups of accredited NC State and Duke alumni investors, that invested in Deep Blue to accelerate its path to market. Both groups of investors have supported Deep Blue in multiple fundraising rounds and a DCP member sits on the company’s Board of Directors.

The T-Line Hernia Mesh product received regulatory approval from the FDA in 2020 and is now actively being used in clinical sites in the United States. With the success of this product, Deep Blue now plans to extend the technology to other clinical areas such as breast reconstruction.

While the commercial impact of his innovation can continue to grow, Dr. Rust is proud to have contributed so positively to the well-being of hernia patients that can now benefit from a more permanent solution to an agonizing problem.

Meet Five Wolfpack Women Who Are Innovative Entrepreneurs

Five women who lead startups based on NC State research — and also either hold degrees from the university or teach here — shared their insights and perspectives as researchers and startup founders this past March for Women’s History Month.

BY: MATT SIMPSON AND CAMERON FEUERHELM

A startup launched out of NC State’s Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2019, SelSym has secured over $3M in grant funding to commercialize novel platelet-mimetic therapeutics for the treatment of uncontrolled bleeding.

“Ashley Brown Founder of Selsym Biotechnology

“The opportunity to commercialize lifesaving technologies is both what drew me to entrepreneurship and what excites me about forming a startup company… Several role models have inspired me, and continue to inspire me, throughout my career. One that stands out is Dr. Fran Ligler, who is a “serial inventor.” The breadth of Dr. Ligler’s inventions and her knowledge about the patent process have been extremely inspiring to me.”

“Seema Nandi CEO of Selsym Biotechnology

“I didn’t always envision entrepreneurship as a part of my career, but I became drawn to it over the course of my time in the Biomedical Engineering program. As part of my dissertation work, I was able to take part in the development of innovative technologies that had the potential to really impact patient care and outcomes in the hemorrhage control space, and the more I learned about the opportunities for spinning technology out of university labs to develop them for commercial use, the more excited I became by the chance to translate our synthetic platelet technology out of the laboratory and into the clinic where it could have a significant positive impact for patients.”

A startup with strong ties to NC State’s Plant Sciences Initiative, Hoofprint has raised $5 million to support the development of probiotics to increase feed digestibility and decrease methane in cattle.

“

Kathryn Polkoff Co-Founder and CEO of Hoofprint Biome

“I have always been drawn to the applied side of research, and seeing the impact of my work in a realworld application. But what gets me so excited about entrepreneurship is that with a company and with a commercial product, the magnitude of that impact becomes exponential. You are building a solution to real problems, and putting everything you have into seeing it used widely in the world — what more could you want from a career?”

A startup launched from NC State’s Department of Psychology, Teen Health Research has received over $400,000 from the National Institutes of Health to develop Let's Talk, a platform designed as a tool to guide families through important conversations about sexual health in a fun and interactive way.

“

Laura Widman Founder and CEO of Teen Health Research

“I have been working with an amazing team of students and colleagues for over 15 years to better understand adolescent relationships and sexual development. I’ve published almost 100 journal articles and even authored an undergraduate textbook in human sexuality. Yet none of these academic publications were of very much help to my sisters when my nieces and nephews started approaching adolescence.

Too often the research that’s done in a university setting ends up sitting on a dusty shelf or being filed away on a computer or in a journal article somewhere. I was drawn to entrepreneurship as a way to get the exciting findings from my team and other researchers out of the university and into the hands of kids and families who might benefit from these insights.”

A startup launched from NC State’s Department of Food, Bioprocessing, & Nutrition Sciences that has since spawned two additional companies, SinnovaTek has over 70 employees and has raised more than $5 million to support its advanced food processing equipment and technology for the delivery of high quality, healthy foods through sustainable methods.

“

Amanda Vargochik Co-Founder and CIO of Sinnovatek

“Entrepreneurship is challenging without access to funding and a safety net. Much of the intrinsic inertia around funding is geared towards a very specific demographic that deselects women and people of color. There are increasingly more funding avenues trying to correct this, but there is still a long way to go, with many seemingly innocent, invisible barriers that exclude these groups…Another significant consideration is support systems. Entrepreneurship often demands erratic and long hours, which can strain personal lives. With a husband and young children, having reliable childcare has been crucial for how well I can perform at work. Without a husband who goes above and beyond, supportive parents and in-laws, and an understanding team at work, I likely would not have been able to continue.”

"Some advice I would give researchers looking to form a startup company is that early on in the company, we took an I-Corps class that NC State offered, specializing in identifying market fit for a technology. Strong market fit is one of the most important pieces in the application of new technology. I’ve seen many times when a technology developer or researcher was in love with the idea of their technology, how it works, and what it can do. That’s fantastic, but until you can clearly communicate how it can solve a problem for your customer in words they can understand and with an economic impact that is feasible, commercial progress will be difficult."

NC State Startups Gaining Traction

BY: AMY PARKER

NC State Startups Leverage Funds from One NC:

Eight startups with ties to NC State received funding from the One NC Small Business Program in 2024 to support their federal small business innovative research grants. Administered by the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the One NC Small Business Program was created in 2006 and has awarded over 430 small businesses to date throughout the state. NC State startups received $480K total in funding from the program.

Startups Sponsoring University Research:

As startups formed to accelerate development of university research discoveries launch and target growth within industry, the university can continue to play a role in the development of new innovations through startup sponsored research. Because it provides access to expert researchers and specialized equipment, the university can partner with these external companies for joint research and development. 82 startups commercializing NC State-owned intellectual property have sponsored research at NC State since 1997, totalling over $33 million in research dollars. Sponsored research from 2018 to 2023 involving NC State startups totalled $11.7 million, up from a total of $7.3 million during the previous five year period.

Sonovascular Sees Treatment Success:

Sonovascular, a medical device company with ties to NC State’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the University of North Carolina at CHapel Hill Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, announced the start of a first-in-human trial for its therapeutic ultrasound-based solution for vascular care in 2024. The company’s SonoThrombectomy device, which is used to more effectively treat deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, was successfully used to treat a patient in Santiago, Chile in August.

TreeCo Recognized for its Forests of the Future:

NC State forestry startup TreeCo was featured in a 2024 Washington Post article on the future of paper production. The company, which has secured over $50 million in investments and external funding, was highlighted for its CRISPR gene editing technology that has the potential to breed healthier and more sustainable forests.

Ummino Readies For Prebiotic Product Expansion:

Ummino, a biosciences startup with ties to NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, achieved self-affirmed generally accepted as safe (GRAS) status in 2024 for the enzyme used to produce its Hummino product, a prebiotic that bolsters gut and immune health for adults. The venturebacked company is collaborating with food and specialty nutrition companies to integrate its prebiotic into their existing product lines and is in the process of establishing its first commercial partnership.

Helixomer Accelerating Preclinical Development for Anticoagulant:

NC State drug development startup Helixomer received a $2M Direct-to-Phase-2 SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support the development of its novel, RNAbased anticoagulant and reversal agent for better regulation of bleeding and clotting in patients. The company was launched in 2020 from NC State’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering and is currently de-risking preclinical development for its products to target the over $10 billion global heparin market.

FY2024 NEWLY LAUNCHED

STARTUPS

AVEX Motion

College of Engineering, Biomedical Engineering

AVEX motion is commercializing an exoskeleton based rehabilitation system as a tool to improve outpatient therapy through quantified measurements and data analytics.

College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, College of Sciences, Animal Science, Chemistry Mintrition Technologies

Mintrition is developing a cellulose-based zinc nutritional supplement for animal feed that can promote gut health in livestock.

Biosensys

College of Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Biosensys is developing a wearable sensor that will enable more effective and accurate continuous lactate monitoring in intensive care units.

Flip Biosystems

College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Biological & Agricultural Engineering

Flip Bio is commercializing a bioengineered composting system that can also capture carbon.

mithrilAI

College of Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering

mithrilAI is developing the first siliconproven artificial intelligence circuits designed to thwart hardware attacks and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of AI models for safety- and security-critical applications.

College of Textiles, Textile, Engineering, Chemistry & Science Nicelle Technologies

Nicelle is commercializing a technology that promotes sustainable manufacturing of acrylic fibers into apparel grades and low-cost grades of carbon fiber precursor.

OA LLC

College of Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering

OA is developing an open access system for instrumentation and sciences to help connect researchers with geographically dispersed research resources.

Soteria Formulations

College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, College of Engineering, College of Natural Resources, Entomology & Plant Pathology, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Forestry & Environmental Resources

Soteria is developing bio-based, biodegradable, and microplastic-free agricultural formulations for targeted delivery and increased performance of agricultural compounds that increase yields while minimizing environmental impact.

Structeryx

College of Engineering, Civil, Construction, & Environmental Engineering

Structeryx is commercializing a technology that enables self-healing, thermal regulation, and electromagnetic modulation of lightweight fiber composites for applications in aerospace, auto, civil, naval, and energy infrastructure.

TNT Eco Materials Company

College of Textiles, Textile Engineering, Chemistry, & Science

TNT is revolutionizing home construction through the use of sustainable, plantbased construction materials in the 3D printing of houses.

TNX

College of Sciences, Chemistry

TNX is commercializing a photo polymerization technology that has the potential to dramatically lower the costs necessary for micro- and nanofabrication of materials.

TerraSafe Materials

College of of Natural Resources, Forest Biomaterials

TerraSafe Materials is a material science company developing new materials, coatings, and applications for truly sustainable packaging.

Veracity Nuclear

College of Engineering, Nuclear Engineering

Veracity Nuclear is commercializing nuclear reactor simulation software to optimize the operational efficiency of nuclear reactors.

WearTech

College of Engineering, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

WearTech is developing a wearable posture trainer that utilizes nanowire strain sensors to reduce and prevent lower back pain.

College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Plant & Microbial Biology, Food, Bioprocessing, & Nutrition Sciences Ummino

Ummino is commercializing an enzyme producing bio-derived lactosamine, a fiber found in human breast milk. Its prebiotic product will be used to create functional beverages and snacks to promote adult gut health.

Catalyzing Creative Concepts to Solve Commercial Challenges

The Chancellor’s Innovation Fund has selected six more research projects to support this coming year.

BY: MATT SIMPSON

NC State University research helps turn today’s ideas into tomorrow’s solutions. That’s core to our land-grant mission. The Chancellor’s Innovation Fund (CIF), a competitive internal seed fund, has proven to be a powerful way we support that mission.

Chancellor Randy Woodson established the CIF in 2010 to help more NC State research bridge the gap

between public and private funding — and ultimately turn into technology that both benefits consumers and addresses pressing problems.

The CIF awards a select few of NC State’s best and brightest innovators tens of thousands each year to support short-term, commercially focused research projects. Over the course of the project — and for as long as needed afterward — awardees

also receive help from the Office of Research Commercialization (ORC), which manages the CIF. ORC comprises business experts, intellectual property lawyers and others who can get researchers to start thinking more like startup founders — and make sure they’re in the right place and in touch with the right people at the right time.

Starting last year, thanks to the

generosity of local entrepreneur Bill Spruill, researchers selected for CIF support also gain resources and counsel from Spruill’s 2ndF Research Commercialization Fund.

To date, 81 CIF projects have been awarded a total of $4.5 million. Past CIF winners have gone on to secure

nearly $150 million in total funding since completing their respective projects. CIF projects have also led to the execution of 66 licensing agreements — which have generated $5 million in revenue for the university — and helped launch 37 NC State research-based startup companies.

2024 CIF WINNERS

Building Biocompatible Batteries

Batteries as we know them have never exactly been environmentally friendly. And today’s latest lithium batteries can fuel raging fires that bring billions of dollars worth of damage each year. Past attempts to invent greener, more sustainable batteries have all failed to yield voltages high enough for most practical applications.

But Amay Bandodkar, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, believes he’s figured out how to pull it off. Bandodkar has developed a non-toxic battery made of environmentally benign materials. His biocompatible battery has a long shelf life; is non-flammable and lighter than lithium batteries; and can operate under extreme temperatures and pressures.

CIF and 2ndF support will be used to help demonstrate the batteries are comparable to commercial lithium batteries in price and performance, which will include manufacturing a pilot run with an industry partner.

2

This year’s winners are working on better ways to purify biologics; build non-toxic, non-flammable batteries; deliver cutting-edge cancer treatments directly to tumors; increase crop yield for corn farmers; protect hardware from hackers; and help surgeons repair heart valves.

Purifying Biomanufactured Therapies Faster

Purity, safety and efficacy are paramount for every pharmaceutical drug. But the purification process for modern-day biologics — gene therapies or vaccines powered by engineered proteins, antibodies and viruses — is complicated, lengthy and relatively inefficient. Biomanufacturing companies currently use a process called resin column chromatography to purify their products.

Longtime research partners Ruben Carbonell and Behnam Pourdeyhimi, in collaboration with Cristiana Boi and their colleagues Jinxin Fan and Joseph Lavole, have developed a new class of nonwoven membranes to replace resin columns and, in turn, speed up purification. They’ve shown their all-membrane process could cut processing time for antibodies by 70% or more. The membrane devices are designed to be disposed of after each use — eliminating the need to clean and sanitize the massive equipment found in plants today. The technology can be scaled up or down and is designed to work with all biologics.

Carbonell, the Frank Hawkins Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Pourdeyhimi, the William A. Klopman Distinguished Professor of Materials, and their team will use CIF and 2ndF support to make larger batches of membranes, many of which will be shared with potential industry partners to help accelerate adoption.

4

Fighting Food Insecurity Protecting Hardware from Hackers

Humans have grown maize — commonly called corn — for nearly 9,000 years, and to this day, it’s still one of the most consumed crops worldwide. As global food insecurity continues rising steadily, Anna Whitfield knows corn production will remain crucial to feeding future generations. That’s why Whitfield, a Reynolds Distinguished Professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology and the director of the Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security faculty cluster, wants to make corn plants more disease-resistant and drought-tolerant.

How? By turning an old foe of farmers — maize mosaic virus — into their friend. Whitfield and two postdoctoral researchers, César Xavier and Deepjyoti Singh, have developed a brand-new viral vector — an engineered virus reprogrammed to carry genes into cells — that could make it faster and more efficient for crop science companies to deliver RNA to targeted genes of interest and ultimately to increase crop yields. She and her team’s MMV delivery system is designed to carry a much bigger payload than existing genetic modification tools can. Compared to other plant viruses, MMV can incorporate larger nucleic acid sequences.

Since addressing food security is the driving goal, the team will first and foremost concentrate on corn. But Whitfield says their rhabdovirus-based vector has the potential to work with other crops, too. Viral vectors already have a limited presence in agricultural biotech today, but their instability — or unpredictability — has hampered them. Whitfield hopes her team’s viral vector will prove to be more stable than previous, failed attempts others have tried to create for corn. If their MMV delivery system successfully meets safety standards, it would be the first FDA-approved viral vector for corn on the market.

The team will use CIF and 2ndF support to connect with potential partners and obtain the proof-of-concept data needed to commercialize the technology.

The average security breach costs organizations close to $4.5 million each, according to IBM. Meanwhile, it’s estimated that cybercrimes have increased 15% a year since the late 90s. And it’s not just software that’s susceptible to hackers and other bad actors. Hardware has inherent vulnerabilities, too.

Microarchitectural attacks exploit weaknesses in chip design. Prometheus, a platform invented by professor Samira Mirbagher Ajorpaz, is poised to become the latest line of defense against microarchitectural attacks. Powered by AI, Prometheus presents a tool chipmakers can use to identify vulnerabilities preemptively — prior to fabrication. Software development companies also stand to benefit, as Prometheus could enhance malware detection.

Ajorpaz will use CIF and 2ndF support to expand the functionality of Prometheus, as well as refine its user interface. Ajorpaz, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and her team will also work with potential customers and industry partners to develop targeted demos.

Delivering Immunotherapies Directly to Tumors

Many cancer patients now have more than merely chemotherapy to choose from to treat their tumors. Modern immunotherapies have revolutionized cancer treatment by programming a patient’s own immune system to target and destroy cancerous cells. As it stands, though, only about 25% of cancer patients successfully respond to immunotherapies. By and large, these groundbreaking therapies are currently delivered intravenously, which results in low retention rates for some tumors.

Instead of using an IV, researchers are looking for ways to inject cancer-killing drugs directly into tumors. David Zaharoff, an associate professor in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, and his Ph.D. student Siena Mantooth have developed an injectable hydrogel that aims to maximize the amount of therapeutics that tumors retain. Their novel platform is designed to be adapted as needed — and could one day treat any type of solid cancer. Solid cancers account for nine out of every 10 diagnoses, which equates to 18 million cases annually.

Preliminary experimental data in mice shows that with their approach, a single injection of the hydrogel mixed with an immunotherapy can eliminate tumors and prevent the cancer from growing back.

CIF and 2ndF support will be used to connect with oncologists and assess the clinical feasibility of the hydrogel. Mantooth and Zaharoff still need to generate additional preclinical data on their platform’s safety and efficacy. If they receive approval to conduct large-animal trials later this year, though, it could get them through FDA review much faster.

6

Helping Heart Surgeons

If the heart’s mitral valve seal gets loose, blood can begin to leak or pump in the wrong direction. Severe blood leakage, called regurgitation, causes the heart to overwork — and can lead to heart failure. When leaks become severe, many patients opt for a surgically implanted ring or clip that reinforces the “annulus” around the valve, making backward blood flow much less likely. Medical advancements have made these procedures gradually less invasive, but for some patients, surgery is still too risky.

NC State University Faculty Scholar Joseph Tracy, a professor of materials science and engineering, might have found a way to make surgery a safer option for many more of the millions of Americans who have mitral valve regurgitation. Together with Dr. Muath Bishawi, a cardiac surgeon and clinical researcher at Duke University’s School of Medicine, Tracy and his now-former student Matt Clary, who recently earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering, have developed a magnetic device that could make it simpler for surgeons to anchor a metal ring around the mitral valve’s annulus.

A large part of open-heart surgery’s inherent risk stems from the need to temporarily stop a patient’s heart. The team’s device is designed to be implanted while the heart is actively beating.

With CIF and 2ndF support, the researchers will finish developing a functional prototype and also assess the FDA’s regulatory path to eventual clinical trials.

NC STATE HIGHLIGHTS

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Ahmed El-Shafei was honored with the Innovator of the Year award, and Jack Wang received the Entrepreneur of the Year award.

BY: AMY PARKER

NC State University is a national leader in generating impactful research innovations. Our talented faculty and student researchers have made discoveries we’ve helped transform into real-world solutions ranging from new software for mobile phone security to coatings that extend the shelf life of produce.

For over 30 years, NC State has held an annual Celebration of Innovation. The

event recognizes the achievements of faculty inventors and startup founders — climaxing with the Chancellor announcing the award winners of the Innovator of the Year and Entrepreneur of the Year. This year’s celebration was bittersweet, though, as it marked Chancellor Randy Woodson’s final time as host, after a decade of leadership that championed commercialization and technology transfer — and ultimately transformed the university’s

landscape of research and innovation.

Chancellor Woodson hosted the Celebration of Innovation, now in its 33rd year, on Oct. 8, at his residence on Centennial Campus, The Point. He announced Ahmed El-Shafei as 2024’s winner of the Innovator of the Year award and Jack Wang as the winner of the John S. Risley Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Ahmed El-Shafei, professor and program director of polymer and color chemistry in the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science, was recognized with the Innovator of the Year award for his groundbreaking work in developing a high-impact, sustainable dyeing and finishing technology for the textile industry.

A highly accomplished researcher in polymer and color science, El-Shafei’s most remarkable invention has the potential to revolutionize the dyeing process for cellulosic fibers such as cotton, linen and rayon.

It is estimated that the textile industry is responsible for up to 20% of global water pollution primarily

Jack Wang, associate professor and director of the Forest Biotechnology Group in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, was recognized with the John S. Risley Entrepreneur of the Year award for his work co-founding and growing TreeCo Inc., an NC State startup company revolutionizing the forestry industry through the power of genome editing.

A molecular geneticist by training, Wang co-founded TreeCo in 2019 with renowned CRISPR researcher Rodolphe Barrangou. Their vision: Combining decades of tree genetic

Innovator of the Year

DR. AHMED EL-SHAFEI

DEPARTMENT OF TEXTILE ENGINEERING, CHEMISTRY, AND SCIENCE

due to processes like dyeing and finishing, which are resource and time intensive, and the subsequent discharge from these processes that flows into rivers and streams poses a grave environmental threat. El-Shafei’s innovative technology enables the dyeing of cellulosic fibers without the harsh salt or alkali used in conventional methods, resulting in zero harmful discharge. His method represents a 75% reduction in dyeing time which leads to a four times higher throughput, and this improved process results in dramatic savings in material expenses.

El-Shafei’s technology has been licensed to two prominent U.S. manufacturers who are actively collaborating with partners from

across the globe to commercialize the technology for rapid adoption. A third company is also incorporating the innovation to enhance an existing commercial product with exciting results. “Dr. El-Shafei has demonstrated exceptional vision and dedication through his pioneering development in the textile industry,” noted one partner. “His invention represents a true milestone in sustainable textile production, tackling the long-standing effluent problem associated with dyeing cellulosic fabrics. With his innovative approach, Dr. El-Shafei stands to elevate the textile industry to new heights of ecological sustainability and economic viability.”

Entrepreneur of the Year

DR. JACK WANG

DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES

insights with advanced genome editing techniques to breed healthier and more sustainable forests. TreeCo’s innovative approach uniquely utilizes CRISPR technology to enable precise breeding to enhance traits such as tree growth and adaptation at an unprecedented scale and speed. In addition to growing more-resilient trees faster, TreeCo also aims to improve genetic properties that could breed trees with the ideal wood composition for applications ranging from pulp and paper to biofuels and novel bioproducts. Using a machine learning model his team created, Wang and colleagues have identified

key genetic targets for commercially relevant traits and phenotypes — resulting in a comprehensive, valuable intellectual property catalog of insights and know-how that positions the company at the leading edge of innovation.

The startup’s technological advantage and early entry into the market have established TreeCo as a key R&D player in the forestry market. TreeCo has already secured over $50 million in investments and external funding and has shown that it can target multiple genes simultaneously in several tree species.

Two NC State Faculty Elected Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors

The NAI Fellows Program was established to highlight academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

BY: D'LYN FORD

Craig Yencho, a renowned sweetpotato and potato researcher with North Carolina State University, has been selected as a 2023 fellow in the National Academy of Inventors. NAI fellows are honored for the societal and economic impact of their inventions.

Yencho is the co-recipient of more than 55 U.S. and international plant patents. He has participated in the development and release of 45 sweetpotato and potato varieties.

Yencho is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor at NC State

and faculty member in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Department of Horticultural Science. He serves as program leader for the university’s sweetpotato and potato breeding and genetics programs.

For more than 20 years, Yencho has conducted research in Africa, leading multinational teams focused on improving sweetpotatoes in Sub-Saharan Africa and developing new genomic tools that African sweetpotato breeders can use on the continent.

In 2005, Yencho and colleague Ken

Pecota released the Covington sweetpotato, a variety now grown in 90% of North Carolina sweetpotato fields and on 20% of U.S. sweetpotato acreage. Covington sweetpotatoes have generated over $3.5 billion in revenue for North Carolina sweetpotato growers. The crop is exported to Europe and used in a variety of products, including vodka. Yencho and Pecota received NC State’s 2021-22 Innovator of the Year award.

BY: BURGETTA EPLIN WHEELER

Kenneth Adler, professor of cell biology in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, has been elected to the rank of fellow at the National Academy of Inventors.

Adler, one of the world’s foremost researchers in the field of airway disease, is a top-ranked biomedical scientist who has spent decades investigating the lungs, respiratory airways and the problem of excess inflammation that occurs in severe diseases, including chronic bronchitis, asthma and cystic fibrosis.

His work has resulted in 10 U.S.-issued patents, four foreign patents and more than 120 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

“Speaking for most, if not all, biomedical researchers, we go into this field with the hope of developing new treatments or therapies for a number of diseases,” Adler said. “I’m one of the fortunate ones in that discoveries made at the basic science bench have translated into a potential drug that has already moved to clinical trials and offers the possibility of treating

“Dr.

Adler is one of the few research scientists to have seen his laboratory discoveries translated into actual drugs tested in clinical trials."

- Chancellor Randy Woodson

diseases in which current therapies are lacking or not particularly effective.”

Election as a National Academy of Inventors Fellow is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to academic inventors.

“The College of Veterinary Medicine is so fortunate to have Dr Adler on our faculty,” said Dr. Kate Meurs, dean of the college. “He is a gifted and innovative scientist but also an outstanding mentor to our trainees and early career faculty. I am so particularly grateful for all he has done to train the next generation of biomedical researchers!”

Adler discovered the role of the MARCKS protein in excessive mucus production in respiratory diseases and developed a peptide to inhibit it. He then co-founded a startup to commercialize the peptide for treatment of multiple diseases without effective treatment options.

“Dr. Adler is one of the few research scientists to have seen his laboratory discoveries translated into actual drugs tested in clinical trials,” NC State

Chancellor Randy Woodson said in his nomination letter. “Over his 30-plus years at NC State, he has become one of the world’s foremost researchers in the field of airway disease, and his innovative peptides have the potential to help the many patients suffering from severe respiratory diseases.”

Adler also has won the prestigious MERIT Award from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which less than 1 percent of NIH-funded investigators are selected to receive.

The MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award supports researchers “who have demonstrated superior competence and outstanding productivity in research endeavors.” He also is a recipient of the O. Max Gardner Award, the highest faculty award presented by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors to a faculty member recognized as having “made the greatest contribution to the welfare of the human race.”

NC State Hosts National Academy of Inventors Conference

NC State hosted the national event that recognizes outstanding academic inventors and celebrates the impact of their research discoveries.

BY: AMY PARKER

North Carolina State University recently hosted the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Annual Conference in Raleigh for the first time in the conference’s history.

The NAI Annual Conference is a national event that brings together renowned academic innovators, government officials, and academic and research institute leaders who drive initiatives at the forefront of research commercialization.

The Annual Conference was hosted in downtown Raleigh June 16th through 18th, and event panels and presentations were centered around the meeting theme of “Unlocking Innovation: Keys to Societal Solutions”, with a particular focus on the innovation ecosystem and the role it plays in the successful translation of academic research discoveries into impactful solutions to real-world problems.

NC State was also well-represented

during the main conference proceedings with Chancellor Randy Woodson participating on the President’s Panel on pivotal topics across innovation with Munir Eldesouki, President of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, and Teik Lim, President of the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

The event also features a closing reception to induct newly elected NAI Fellows into the Academy, recognizing

Photos courtesy of Mark Skalny Photography and the National Academy of Inventors

innovators from across the country whose work has had a profound impact on society. Election to NAI Fellow is the highest professional distinction granted solely to academic inventors and to date, NAI Fellows hold more than 63,000 U.S. patents and have 13,000 licensed technologies. Their innovations have generated over $3 trillion in revenue and generated 1 million jobs.

Two NC State faculty inventors were inducted into the 2023 Class of Fellows during the event: Dr. Craig Yencho, a renowned sweetpotato and potato researcher with over 55 U.S. and international plant patents, and Dr. Ken Adler, a leader in airway disease research with 10 U.S. patents, four foreign patents, and over 120 publications.

NAI is also an advocate for the recognition and encouragement of the next generation of innovative

63,000 U.S. patents

Their innovations have generated 1M jobs

13,000 licensed technologies

Their innovations have generated over $3 trillion in revenue

researchers, from early-career faculty to graduate students, and undergraduate students to K-12 students.

The 2024 Annual Conference featured the induction of the 2023 Class of NAI Senior Members. Senior Membership provides national recognition for faculty inventors who are rising stars in their field and have research discoveries with the potential to greatly impact our society.

NAI’s annual event works to highlight student inventors as well. Its annual student showcase identifies and celebrates K-12 and university inventors, with the Genspiration Prize being awarded to the student inventor or inventor team that demonstrates the greatest potential for positive social impact.

The conference also played host to the “Change Your Game” exhibit,

a mobile learning exhibit from the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. This interactive, hands-on, mobile STEM lab provided an opportunity for local middle school students from various schools in Raleigh to experiment to solve invention challenges centered around sports, with a goal of fostering an inventive identity in young students.

The NAI Annual Conference was co-hosted by NC State’s Office of Research Commercialization in partnership with NAI along with generous support provided from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

Learn more about National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and how it supports inventive excellence: https:// academyofinventors.org/

NAI Fellows have

NAI Fellows hold more than

2024 Daugherty Endowment Awardees

BY: AMY PARKER

The Daugherty Endowment awards ventures that have licensed NC State technology in the past three years. This category is made possible through The Richard and Marlene Daugherty Entrepreneurialism Endowment and the Kenan Institute

for Engineering, Technology and Sciences and is held in partnership with NC State’s Centennial Campus’ Office of Partnerships and Economic Development and the Office of Research Commercialization.

Officially registered startup companies who have licensed NC State intellectual property in the past three years were allowed to compete in the Daugherty Endowment track, offering $50,000 in prize money to winners of this track.

$25,000 First Place: NC Solar Inverters

NC Solar Inverters is developing hardware to help US inverter manufacturers double reliability, reduce lost energy by 50%, and cut costs by 10% or more. We do this through novel circuit topologies using silicon carbide devices.

$15,000 Second Place:

MithrilAI Corp

MithrilAI Corp. is a semiconductor company that designs trusted AI/ ML hardware for safety- and security-critical applications. Leveraging our breakthrough research, the hardware we develop can detect and mitigate cyber-attacks that are trying to steal information or cause disruptions in hardware execution flow in AI/ML systems.

$10,000 Third Place:

Teen Health Research

Teen Health Research Inc. is an early-stage woman-owned startup focused on empowering teens and families to develop the communication skills they need for happier, healthier relationships. We are building an app platform called The Talk that will revolutionize how parents and teens communicate about sexual health and relationships, fostering open dialogue within families for more fulfilling connections.

The Provost Picks a Winner with New

Howling Cow Ice Cream Flavor

BY: EMILY PACKARD

IHollifield and Cartrwright received support from NC State's Chancellor's Innovation Fund after discovering a way to convert coffee beans into a direct food additive.

fans around the state. It is one of only three named flavors produced by Howling Cow, including WolfTracks (Chancellor’s Choice) and Tuffy’s Toffee (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean’s Choice).

“This collaboration with Provost Arden has been in the works for more than a year, and we’re very excited for our new ice cream to debut,” said Carl Hollifield, director of NC State’s Dairy Enterprise System. “This is a great flavor that people will enjoy for a long time.”

Caramel Mocha Latte will replace the previous Provost’s Pick, Coco Choco Cafe. The toasted coconut could no longer be sourced after the COVID-19 pandemic. Without coconut, Caramel Mocha Latte is something that even more people can enjoy, since it does not contain any tree nuts. The ingredients in this new flavor are also more readily sourced, therefore making production much easier.

that came out of the dairy plant, and uses micro-ground coffee beans instead of a coffee flavoring or extract,” said Hollifield. “We get to bypass the brewing process, and still have a great coffee flavor.”

Proceeds from each scoop of Caramel Mocha Latte sold at the N.C. State Fair and other places serving Howling Cow will directly benefit NC State’s Dairy Enterprise System, a farmto-fork dairy foods program within the College of Agriculture and Life Science and the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences. It is a self-funded academic program that supports teaching, research and extension from the sale of Howling Cow milk and ice cream products.

More than 70 NC State students across all colleges are employed by the Dairy Enterprise System, and faculty members can use the university’s Lake Wheeler Dairy Farm and processing plant for teaching and research.

f you scream for ice cream, you’ll have a Howling Cow over Caramel Mocha Latte, the latest flavor from NC State’s favorite creamery.

Caramel Mocha Latte — the Provost’s Pick — came from a collaboration between Howling Cow and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Warwick Arden, and will make its debut at the N.C. State Fair Oct. 17-27. There, the NC State Food Science Club will serve up 4,000 gallons of ice cream, including Caramel Mocha Latte to attendees looking for a sweet treat.

With a creamy coffee ice cream base, swirls of rich caramel and large fudgy, chocolate chunks, Caramel Mocha Latte is sure to be a hit for ice cream

In addition to the N.C. State Fair, all other locations serving Howling Cow will carry Caramel Mocha Latte, including Talley Market in Talley Student Union, and the Howling Cow Dairy Education Center and Creamery.

Hollifield, along with fellow dairy processing expert Gary Cartwright, helped make the coffee flavor in Caramel Mocha Latte truly outstanding. The two received support from NC State’s Chancellor’s Innovation Fund out of the Office of Research Commercialization after discovering a way to convert coffee beans into a direct food additive.

“The coffee used in this ice cream is part of a licensed NC State technology

So how will Caramel Mocha Latte make its way to the taste buds of thousands of Howling Cow fans? The cows at the dairy farm produce the milk for Howling Cow ice cream, and the raw milk is brought to Schaub Hall for pasteurization. Next, the ice cream mix with the Caramel Mocha Latte coffee base is created and frozen, then a swirl of caramel and chunks of chocolate are added. Finally, the ice cream is packaged into three-gallon tubs and sent to various destinations, including the N.C. State Fair.

From the farm to the fair, Caramel Mocha Latte, the Provost’s Pick, is NC State through and through. And it’s sure to be a howling success.

“The sea provides a natural treasure hunt,” note the editors of a new edition of Seashells of North Carolina. “At any time, a group of shells lying inconspicuously in the sand may contain a rarity, just waiting to catch the shell enthusiast’s eye.”

For decades, beachcombers and

“Seashells of North Carolina” Updated and Expanded

BY: CARRIE CLOWER

malacologists alike have turned to Dr. Hugh Porter’s classic guide to identify and learn about shells sprinkled along the Carolina coastline. The new Seashells is now available in bookstores, the result of a partnership of North Carolina Sea Grant, who published the 1997 edition, along with The University of North Carolina Press,

the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and the North Carolina Shell Club.

“When we needed a reprint, we decided it was time to gather a team of scientists and editors to review the existing text and add updates for scientific names and descriptions,

along with two dozen more species,” says Katie Mosher, who earlier this year retired as NC Sea Grant’s communications director, and who managed the update. “UNC Press saw it as a great fit for the Southern Gateways Guides, and the museum and shell club were eager to join us.”

The book is already getting good reviews.

“This comprehensive guide brings scientific information to the public and includes descriptions that are useful even for people who are new to shell identification,” says Liz Baird, president of the North Carolina Aquarium Society. She notes that the book is, “a professional, accurate, and valuable resource for the state.”

The new edition builds upon the research and collection of Porter, who joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences in the 1950s. He also was widely known as “Mr. Seashell” for his extensive knowledge and passion for mollusks. He and his wife, Dorothy “Pinky” Porter, helped co-found the NC Shell Club, which still honors him through an award to a club member. At the club’s annual shell show in May, the crowd was already excited about the new edition coming in June.

This edition of Seashells contains a new series of illustrations by Georgia Minnich to identify shell shapes as a first step, which then lead the beachcomber to the descriptions and photos for final identification. “The addition of a unique visual shell index will make shell identification easier than before,” says Ed Shuller, one of the club experts on the book team.

Introductory information explains shell biology and geographic distribution. Readers also will find valuable the

index of scientific and common names featuring the updated scientific nomenclature.

Dr. Erika Young, the coastal and marine education specialist with NC Sea Grant, worked with Mosher to update Seashells. “I think this edition is concise enough for the casual beachcomber and specific enough for research purposes,” says Young. “My most pivotal learning experience about NC’s shells was Dr. Hugh Porter’s display at IMS as a graduate student. It was an honor to work on this book and continue his legacy for mollusk lovers everywhere!”

The Porter collection is now housed at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, part of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Curators Dr. Arthur Bogan and Jamie Smith have made regular use of it for 20 years to create educational materials and conduct research on mollusks.

“The Institute of Marine Sciences’s mollusk collection represents about 50 years of collecting marine mollusks of the North Carolina Coast,” says Bogan. It played a large part in updating the book.

Porter passed away in 2014, but his legacy lives on. Dr. Douglas Wolfe, who spent much of his NOAA career at the Beaufort Lab, knew Porter well from the shell club. “It is appropriate to recognize and honor his many contributions,” notes Wolfe, in his biography of Porter for the club’s website, which emphasizes his impact on the field of malacology.

Seashells of North Carolina officially launches for purchase through local bookstores and ebook platforms, with UNC Press taking individual orders as well as requests for bulk orders.

Splendid!™ Blue Highbush Blueberry

“A rare southern highbush blueberry that combines incredible sweetness and flavor with genuine ornamental value…This tidy highbush blueberry naturally grows as a neat, rounded mound of dusky blue foliage that looks great with other plants and any color of home - even difficult-to-complement red and orange brick.”

*As seen on Spring Meadow Website. Available for purchase through Spring Meadow Nursery springmeadownursery.com/plantfinder/splendid-blueblueberry-86160

Ornamental Sweetpotato Cultivars

Sweet Caroline Mahogany

“Heart-shaped leaves retain their color well in full sun. The habit is more mounded, but it does trail as it matures through the season.” - description from NC State cultivar catalog

“Great foliage component plant in combinations; excellent heat tolerance and good vigor, the heartshaped leaves catch the eye..far more saturated mahogany red and retains color well in full sun.” - description from Proven Winners page.

Licensed to and made available by Proven Winners provenwinners.com/plants/ipomoea/sweet-caroline-sweetheartmahogany-ornamental-sweet-potato-vine-ipomoea-hybrid

Sweet Caroline Red Hawk

“Great foliage plant in combinations, excellent heat tolerance and good vigor.” - description from NC State cultivar catalog

Licensed to and made available by Proven Winners provenwinners.com/plants/ipomoea/sweet-caroline-red-hawkornamental-sweet-potato-vine-ipomoea-hybrid-0

Miss Violet Butterfly Bush

“Light up the landscape with the electric purple color of 'Miss Violet' buddleia. Pure, saturated color, luxuriously long flower spires, and a refined, semi-dwarf habit set it head and shoulders above the rest.”

*Description from Spring Meadow product page Available for purchase through Spring Meadow Nursery springmeadownursery.com/plantfinder/miss-violet-05840

Puffer Fish® Hydrangea

“Fluffy white blooms engulf the entire plant, nearly obscuring the foliage. The flowers open and mature to a pure white. As the blooms age, they turn lime green and, for a bit of surprise, a fresh sprig of white flowers emerges from the tip of the panicle.”

*Description from Spring Meadow product page

Available for licensing through Spring Meadow Nursery springmeadownursery.com/plantfinder/puffer-fish-41860

Perfecto Mundo® Double Pink Azalea

“Everything you want in an evergreen azalea: showy, pure pink, double blooms for weeks in spring, late summer, and fall, improved hardiness, and handsome foliage.That's why we call Perfecto Mundo azaleas "the total package."

*Description from Spring Meadow product page Available for licensing through Spring Meadow Nursery springmeadownursery.com/plantfinder/perfecto-mundo-62250

Dandy Man Color Wheel® Rhododendron

“Three colors in one plant! Enjoy a changing palette of color. Deep red buds begin to appear in late spring, opening to reveal ruffled pink blooms. Those age to crisp white, creating the effect of three different colors at once. Handsome evergreen foliage, excellent disease resistance, and heat tolerance make this NCSU hybrid an adaptable, widely usable broadleaf evergreen.”

*Description from Spring Meadow product page

Available for licensing through Spring Meadow Nursery springmeadownursery.com/plantfinder/dandy-man-color-wheel-61100