Learn about some of the amazing student startup companies at the University of Utah. Students from all departments are inventing new products and starting businesses.
U alum and inventor Dolly (Holt) Casper’s company NovaBio Technologies won the grand prize and $150,000 at the international OneStart competition recently. NovaBio, formerly known as Ligadon, is developing a coil-shaped and biodegradeable device that holds together tendons and ligaments like a “Chinese finger trap.” It distributes tension, decreasing risk of reruptures and the need for […]
How many of us have lost a pair of sunglasses while out on the water? U students Chase Maires (Marketing B.S.) and Stuart Jardine (Entrepreneurship & Strategy B.S.) are no strangers to this problem. Both love to be on the water and have spent lots of time boating. Their solution? Aurora Sunglasses, a startup company […]
More than 20 teams of University of Utah students participating in the university’s fifth annual Bench-2-Bedside competition unveiled their projects Wednesday night at the Utah State Capitol Rotunda. Judges rated the medical innovations, and the results are in. Cinluma won the $15,000 grand prize. The team of Kris Loken, Timothy Pickett, Brian Charlesworth, Jennwood Chen, […]
Two University of Utah student medical startup companies are heading to one of the nation’s top business plan competitions this month. The companies, Veritas Medical and 6S Medical, will be competing for more than $1 million in prizes in the 15th Annual Rice Business Plan Competition at Rice University, April 16-18. The winner of the […]
After hearing his aunt, a primary care nurse, tell stories of catheters causing clotting and infections, Nate Rhodes, a recent graduate, decided to come up with a solution. With a few classmates, he developed a new type of catheter — a tube inserted into patients to remove and deliver fluids — that emits bacteria-killing light […]
Mechanical engineering student Carter James has been designing and selling real products for almost as long as he’s been studying at the U. He started his first project designing a minimalist bottle opener several years ago. James raised $11,409 for that product through crowdfunding and fulfilled about 450 orders. “Most bottle openers are pretty much […]
Lindsey Wright, a doctoral student in piano performance at the U, is making learning the piano easy and affordable for elementary school students in Utah. Wright observed that Utah schools were cutting the funding for music programs. In response, Wright created U-Play Piano, an online computer-based piano curriculum that is much more affordable and engaging […]
While some may dream about hacking into computers to clear their student debts, one group of EAE students is aiming to make that dream possible — in the video-game world, at least. “Cyber Heist” is a two-player game where players take the role of either a hacker or thief and work together to break into […]
Mechanical engineering students Jessica Kuhlman, Scott Ho and Andy Thompson developed a mechanical leech to replace biological ones used in post-surgical tissue reattachment treatment. Addressing biological leech drawbacks, the cost-effective device reliably reduces blood pooling and pressure, precisely injects anti-coagulants into the therapy site, and eliminates the “ick” factor. The mechanical leech was named runner-up […]
Can a game get you walking your pet, even if it’s a virtual pet? U MBA student and co-founder of StepPets, Tim Cooley, is developing a game where players compete with pets they earn by walking more and more each day. The players earn, raise and train their virtual pets in a fun and exciting […]
