Evan LernerTeam Behind Nanotech Glaucoma Implant Takes Home President’s Innovation Prize
Avisi Technologies, the startup established by 2017 Y-Prize winners VisiPlate, is the recipient of the 2018 President’s Innovation Prize.
Along with the President’s Engagement Prize, the Innovation Prize provides $100,000 in funding for Penn seniors “to design and undertake post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference in the world.”
VisiPlate previously earned $10,000 in the 2017 Y-Prize, proposing to use nanoscale plates, developed in the lab of Igor Bargatin, Class of 1965 Term Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, to help drain the fluid buildup that can lead to blindness in glaucoma.
Rui Jing Jiang, Brandon Kao and Adarsh Battu for Avisi Technologies (VisiPlate): Kao, a senior in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Wharton seniors Jiang and Battu will use the President’s Innovation Prize to further the development of Avisi Technologies, a health-care startup that is creating a revolutionary treatment for the second-leading cause of blindness in the world: glaucoma. VisiPlate, Avisi’s nanoscale ocular implant, has the potential to transform the industry paradigm for glaucoma treatment and vision-loss prevention. The three have been working on VisiPlate since October 2016 and are being mentored by Jeffrey Babin, Associate Professor of Practice in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics.
Continue reading about Avisi Technologies and the winners of the 2018 President’s Engagement Prize, at Penn Today.