Four U of A-Banner Health teams earn funding to advance patient care through Big Idea Challenge Joint Translational Research Accelerator
Four teams of researchers and clinicians across the University of Arizona and Banner Health have been selected to receive up to $250,000 each to advance promising health discoveries toward clinical use and improved patient care.
The judging panel for the Big Idea Challenge: U of A and Banner Health Joint Translational Research Accelerator included six experts representing academic research, clinical medicine, biotechnology, digital health and technology commercialization.
Leslie Hawthorne Klingler, U of A Office of Research and Partnerships
The teams were selected through the inaugural Big Idea Challenge: U of A and Banner Health Joint Translational Research Accelerator, a collaboration designed to support research with the potential to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of major diseases.
The accelerator builds on the University of Arizona’s original Big Idea Challenge, launched in 2025 to support transdisciplinary research addressing complex global challenges, by extending that model to pair the organizations’ strengths and accelerate discoveries toward patient care.
The winners were chosen following a competitive call that drew 53 proposals. Submissions represented a range of career stages, from undergraduate researchers to senior faculty and practicing clinicians, and disciplines spanning medicine, pharmacy, engineering, business, the sciences and optical sciences.
Ten finalist teams presented their projects on Sept. 16 during a public, venture-capital-style Pitch Day before a panel of researchers, clinicians and biotechnology and commercialization experts.
The six judges for the pitch day included experts representing academic research, clinical medicine, biotechnology, digital health and technology commercialization. The judges were: (from left) Vignesh Subbian, Dr. Sandesh Dev, Eric Prossnitz, Alex Schauss, Rebecca Ewald and Jeffrey Jacob.
Matthew Matusak, special for Banner Health
"The Big Idea Challenge was born from a conviction that our boldest researchers can take on society's grandest challenges when they work together and have the resources to match their ambition," said Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, senior vice president for research and partnerships at the University of Arizona. "This accelerator extends that vision beyond our original program at the U of A to other areas of health research, beyond those originally funded last year — from earlier cancer detection to AI-powered wound care — pairing University of Arizona scientists with Banner Health's frontline clinical expertise to move this research closer to the patients who need it most. That is where research has its greatest impact: when discovery is translated into solutions that improve people’s lives.”
Projects submitted to the accelerator were required to address at least one of five priority areas: cardiovascular disease; cancer; immunological diseases and immune-mediated therapies; artificial intelligence in health; and neurovascular diseases and treatments. The program is designed for early-stage translational projects that can generate preliminary data, validate technologies or therapeutic strategies and position teams to compete for significant external funding.
The 53 proposals reflected broad participation across the university, including the College of Medicine – Tucson, College of Medicine – Phoenix, R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy, College of Engineering, Eller College of Management, College of Science, James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences and University of Arizona Cancer Center, as well as Banner Medical Group.
"The Big Idea Challenge reflects Banner Health’s commitment to advancing innovative research that improves patient care," said Dr. Corey Casper, senior vice president and chief research officer at Banner Health. "As we celebrate more than a decade of collaboration with the University of Arizona, these projects demonstrate how partnerships between leading researchers and clinicians can accelerate discoveries and bring them directly to the patients who need them most."
At Pitch Day, teams had eight minutes to present their projects followed by seven minutes of questions from the judging panel. Judges considered the potential impact on patient care, scientific feasibility, strength of the collaboration between the U of A and Banner Health, prospects for future funding or commercialization and the feasibility of progressing toward human clinical trials.
The judging panel included experts representing academic research, clinical medicine, biotechnology, digital health and technology commercialization:
- Alex Schauss, commercialization partner with Tech Launch Arizona and CEO of AIBMR Life Sciences.
- Jeffrey Jacob, chairman of the board of directors at Research Corporation Technologies (RCT)
- Eric Prossnitz, distinguished professor and chief of the Division of Molecular Medicine at the University of New Mexico.
- Rebecca Ewald, vice president and lifecycle leader for oncology assays at Roche Diagnostics.
- Dr. Sandesh Dev, associate professor of medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and acting associate chief of staff for research and development at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System.
- Vignesh Subbian, interim director of the BIO5 Institute and associate professor at the University of Arizona.
Each of the four projects selected will receive up to $250,000 over two years. Continued funding will depend on the teams meeting annual project milestones. The U of A Office of Research and Partnerships will also provide the remaining six finalist teams with $5,000 capacity grants to continue advancing their proposals.
The projects are scheduled to begin Oct. 1. The winning teams will also receive support in identifying future federal, philanthropic and industry funding opportunities, while Tech Launch Arizona and Tech Parks Arizona can provide guidance on commercialization, intellectual property and industry partnerships.
The four projects selected for funding are:
Advancing Noninvasive Endometrial Cancer Detection: Bridging Clinical Validation to Commercial Readiness
Researchers and clinicians are developing "ENDOguard," a noninvasive vaginal swab biomarker test paired with machine learning to identify endometrial cancer risk and eliminate unnecessary painful biopsies. The project seeks to address rising endometrial cancer rates and the reliance on painful, invasive biopsies for women with abnormal uterine bleeding who mostly have benign disease. With accelerator funding, the team will validate the ENDOguard vaginal swab biomarker panel in patient samples and establish clinical implementation workflows in primary care and women's health settings.
(From left) Principal investigator Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz, a professor in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, and Dr. Andrea Molina had their proposal on endometrial cancer detection selected at the pitch event.
High Resolution Diagnostics for Aggressive B-Cell Lymphomas
Another team demonstrated their work developing "DZsig," a rapid digital gene expression profiling test to accurately diagnose aggressive "Dark Zone" B-cell lymphomas. The project addresses the lack of commercial diagnostic tests for these lymphomas, which are currently missed by standard techniques. With accelerator funding, the team aims to complete CAP/CLIA clinical validation of the DZsig gene expression test and deploy it across the Banner Health system.
The team is led by principal investigator Dr. Lisa M. Rimsza, (center in plaid blazer), chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson and medical director of the Arizona Molecular Clinical Core.
Closed-Loop AI-Powered Smart Bandage for Wound Infection: Human Predictive Analysis and Large-Animal Therapeutic Efficacy
Another team presented a closed-loop, AI-powered "smart bandage" that continuously monitors wounds to detect early infection and deliver targeted electrical stimulation therapy. This addresses reactive care that detects infection only after damaging biofilm has already formed. The funding will provide resources for the team to collect continuous sensor data from human patient wounds, demonstrate closed-loop electrical stimulation therapy in an animal model and prepare an FDA 510(k) submission package.
The team's principal investigator is Dr. Geoffrey C. Gurtner, (not pictured), professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at the College of Medicine – Tucson. The team members who presented were (from left) Abdel Alsharif, Philipp Gutruf, Kellen Chen, Maria G. Mora Dinos and Fleur Maturo.
Accelerating Clinical Translation of Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (LoFUS) for Neuropathic Pain: IDE-Enabling Studies and First-in-Human Evaluation
This proposal for a non-invasive low-intensity focused ultrasound (LoFUS) platform aims to modulate the dorsal root ganglion and treat chronic neuropathic pain without surgery or implanted hardware. The team’s work seeks to address this pain, which is inadequately managed by current medications or invasive surgeries, and intends to complete computational and animal model studies and perform an FDA-ready first-in-human feasibility trial.
(From left) Shannon McCabe, Dr. Ugur Kilic, principal investigator Dr. Julie G. Pilitsis, professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the College of Medicine – Tucson, Nan Kuei Chen and Justin Carter.