Accelerating research into practice

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

Three pioneering teams from the University of Newcastle (UON) have been accepted into CSIRO’s ON Prime 4 pre-accelerator program, giving researchers an innovative pathway to commercialising their work.

Accelerating research into practice

ON Prime is CSIRO’s part time pre-accelerator program which embraces a ‘get-out-of-the-building’ approach to learning, by encouraging hands-on, practical learning and business model development. All teams who participate have access to experienced Facilitators and 80+ strong ON Mentor network of business leaders, entrepreneurs who've been there and done it before.

UON has a strong history with ON Prime, sitting equal second for the total number of graduate Prime and Accelerate teams for a research institute.

The three successful UON teams are:

CyanoScreen

Recent research has highlighted the need for novel, biodegradable, UVA absorbing compounds for use in the drug and cosmetics industry. Currently commercialised solutions rely on harvesting biodegradable UVA absorbing compounds from slow growing algae that produce varying amounts of the active ingredient, shinorine.

By mining the genetic resources of cyanobacteria that live in high UVR environments, we can develop a library of UVA absorbing compounds with properties tuned to the requirements of the client. Testing of these UVA absorbing compounds, and their analogues, will provide the blueprint and chemical characterisation required prior to large scale industrial synthesis.

HealtheMove

Millions of people suffer from aches and pains due to musculoskeletal injuries from work and sport. Utilising the latest biomechanical research, HealtheMove uses discreet wearable sensors to quantify human movement to provide user-specific feedback on postures and movements that increase injury risk. Our goal of developing this device is to prevent injury by identifying risky movement behaviours before an injury occurs, saving the individual and healthcare system from the personal and economic burden of injury. HealtheMove is accessible to individuals who may use it to recover from injury or improve their sport performance to give them a competitive edge.

Mamas and Bub App

Aboriginal women want healthy pregnancies and to grow strong healthy babies. There are a number of barriers that make it difficult for an Aboriginal woman to access antenatal care and care for her baby. A community led app for Aboriginal women during and post pregnancy to support social and emotional well-being, smoking cessation, adoption of a healthy lifestyle and support the development of their baby involving family and social networks may improve access to timely and preventative health care during this vital time.


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