George Washington University has entered a new $3.2 million corporate research agreement with US Patent Innovations, LLC (USPI) to support further development of adaptive cold plasma devices for cancer therapies and explore using these devices to combat the spread of COVID-19.
This agreement is a continuation of a cooperation between Michael Keidar, a pioneer in cold plasma research and the A. James Clark Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Jerome Canady, a surgical oncologist and a trailblazer in low temperature hybrid and cold plasma technologies. Dr. Canady is also the Chief Science Officer at the Jerome Canady Research Institute For Advanced Biological and Technological Sciences (JCRI-ABTS), and CEO of Plasma Medicine Life Sciences (PMLS), a division USPI.
The new four-year collaboration builds on a record-setting corporate research agreement with JCRI/ABTS and USPI signed in 2017 and aims to continue introducing engineering breakthroughs into the medical context. University-corporate partnerships like this expand research and its real-world impact by creating a bridge between basic and translational research, said Tom Russo, GW’s assistant vice president of industry and corporate research.
"Researchers love to do the research, but a lot of time, that’s where their skill set ends. They don’t have the capacity, or sometimes the desire, to turn that research into a product. It’s not their expertise, it’s not using their resources most effectively," Mr. Russo said. "That’s why it’s important to bring someone else in who knows how to do that, but doesn’t have the basic research skills. It’s a good marriage."