UiO:Life Science' board of directors has decided to admit six new teams to the innovation programme SPARK Norway on 2 February 2024. Their decision is based on the conclusions from the evaluation process.
The new teams:
- Blood-based test for solid cancer early detection
Project leader: Carmen Herrera, Section for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo
Team members: P?l Falnes (UiO) and UiO Growth House - Mathematical biomarkers to predict treatment response in breast cancer
Project leader: Leonard Schmiester, Department of Biostatistics Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, UiO
Team members: Alvaro K?hn-Luque (OUS), Arnoldo Frigessi (UiO/OUS), Aleix Prat (Hospital Clinic Barcelona), Fara Brasó-Maristany (Hospital Clinic Barcelona), Vessela Kristensen (OUS/UiO), Youness Azimzade (UiO) - EvoMab: germinal center guided affinity maturation of therapeutic antibodies
Project leader: Johanne Jacobsen, Department of Immunology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, UiO
Team members: Valgerdur Bj?rnsdottir (UiO) - Autologous cell-based therapy for coagulation factor deficiency
Project leader: Giacomo Roman, Department of Haematology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital
Team members: Maria E. Chollet (UiO/OUS), Anindita Bhattacharya (UiO/OUS), Knut Lauritzen (UiO/OUS), Christian Qvigstad (UiO/OUS), Gareth Sullivan (OUS), Per Morten Sandset (UiO/OUS), Benedicte Stavik (OUS) - PharmaChip
Project leader: Steven Ray Wilson, Section for Chemical Life Sciences - Biomolecules, Bio-inspired Materials and Bioanalytics, University of Oslo
Team members: Fr?ydis Sved Skottvoll (SINTEF), Aleksandra Aizenshtadt (UiO), Stefan Krauss (UiO/OUS), Stig Pedersen-Bjergaard (UiO), Michal Mielnik (SINTEF) - Ligament balancing in total knee arthroplasty - a systematic approach to Bellemans technique
Project leader: Lars Engseth, Department of Orthopaedics - Ullev?l, Institute of Clinical Medicine, UiO and Oslo University Hospital
Team members: Stephan R?hrl (OUS/UiO), J?rgen Gr?nsund (UiS/Moreld Capnor)
- SPARK Norway now has a portfolio 19 active teams – so-called SPARKees
Mentors and milestone plans next
UiO:Life Science received 15 applications in the seventh open call for SPARK Norway fall 2023.
Each of the admitted projects is now assigned a mentor, advisors and project coordinator who is responsible for following up individual projects. The projects start with setting up milestone plans that respond to the challenges identified by the evaluation committee.
Facts SPARK Norway
- a two-year innovation programme to further develop ideas within health-related life sciences for the benefit of patients and society
- the aim of the programme is to get more innovation out of basic research
- researchers from UiO and affiliated research groups at OUS or Ahus can apply UiO:Life Science to be included in the programme through annual calls
- researchers who are admitted to the SPARK Norway programme receives mentoring from seasoned experts from academia, hospital, industry and venture capital funds, milestone-based funding, guidance and education
- established in the fall 2017 and funded and managed by UiO:Life Science
- based on the prestigious Stanford SPARK programme
- supported by UiO's top management, Inven2 and OUS. Representatives from the clusters Oslo Cancer Cluster, The Life Science Cluster, Nansen Neuroscience Network and Norway Health Tech, as well as the Association of Pharmaceutical Industry in Norway (LMI), Centre for Digital Life Norway, Aleap, Sharelab and Norwegian Medicines Agency.
- the initiative to establish the SPARK programme in Norway originally came from Oslo Cancer Cluster and the Norwegian Inflammation Network. The other two European SPARK programmes – SPARK Berlin and SPARK Finland – were closely involved when UiO:Life Science established the programme at UiO.
- Read more on uio.no/life-science/spark
The applications were evaluated by a committee based on the criteria in the call
- Unmet medical need/need in the market
- Novelty/uniqueness of the new solution
- Strength of Proof-of-Principles
- Market potential and fit
- IP strategy
- Strength and motivation of the team
- Fit with SPARK Norway