Caleb Stine
Track
Innovation
Faculty Mentor
Jennifer Munson
Associate Professor
How will the Innovation Fellowship help you advance and grow as a professional?
The Innovation Fellowship will provide a wealth of commercialization and entrepreneurial experience that will enhance my leadership skills and help me to move forward with creating a responsible and sustainable business. It will also provide invaluable relationships with the excellent network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and economic resources that our region offers. I am especially excited to further my professional goal of improving healthcare for cancer patients with the resources this fellowship will provide.
Briefly describe the technology you are working to commercialize. What problems does your technology solve? What impact do you expect it to have on the marketplace?
I am working on technology that will help physicians to treat patients with brain tumors by predicting where the cancer will progress using MRI scans. By informing physicians on where the tumor will or will not progress, neurosurgeons will be better able to plan treatment, and radiation oncologists can deliver more targeted doses and regions of radiation therapy. The end goal is improved survival and quality of life for patients.
What got you interested in pursuing technology commercialization efforts?
During graduate school, I researched the impact of biophysical forces on brain tumor invasion but I found something lacking: the translation of my research from the lab to the bedside. I became interested in pursuing commercialization efforts when I realized that it was the vehicle to accomplish this. Being able to take the research that I am passionate about and transform it into something that patients will one day benefit from motivates me.
What commercialization activities and training opportunities have you already engaged in through Virginia Tech and other relevant organizations? How have these resources assisted you in advancing your commercializtion efforts?
At Virginia Tech, I have taken the Launch Startup Labs series which gave me an initial foothold into what commercialization was about and a quick guide on what to expect as I pursued startup endeavors, I received a Proof of Concept award from LINK + LICENSE + LAUNCH which allowed me to pursue preliminary market research to build out a business model and start to de-risk it, and I have participated in a Regional NSF I-CORPs Short Course where I performed customer discovery activities to start understanding what the end users' needs were. I have also participated in the Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program (RAMP) which provided expert classes on a range of entrepreneurial topics, a mentoring network, customer discovery interviews, and opportunities to pitch and present the technology and business plan.
Who will you be working with during this fellowship at Virginia Tech? What expertise and skills do your collaborators and mentors bring to help you advance your training and professional development?
I will be working with Dr. Jennifer Munson, with additional mentorship from Dr. Russell Rockne and Dr. John Rossmeisl. Dr. Munson has over a decade worth of research experience with fluid flow's impact on brain cancer and other diseases. Her lab measures, manipulates, and models fluid flow in a variety of ways using in vitro, in vivo, and in silico methods. Dr. Munson also has extensive experience in mentoring both students and faculty and has developed an accomplished network of collaborators. Dr. Rockne has spent the last 15 years studying mathematical oncology with specific interest in brain cancer and MRI. His expertise in mathematical modeling will help to inform the technology itself. Dr. Rossmeisl is a researcher and veterinarian who has experience with clinical treatment of brain tumors in canines. His insight will help to inform drug delivery uses for the technology.