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Sixteen teams of University of Colorado faculty, researchers and graduate student innovators competed for a combined $1.5 million in startup funding grants.

Pulse 2.0—ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø startup BioLoomics, the company pioneering the directed evolution of target degrading antibodies using human cells, recently announced it has raised $8.7 million in seed financing to advance its proprietary platform technology and antibody degrader programs.

ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø Today—The Compliant Legged Articulated Robotic Insect (CLARI) comes from a team of engineers at ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø. The little, squishable robot that can passively change its shape to squeeze through narrow gaps—with a bit of inspiration from the world of bugs. Ultimately, the team wants to develop shape-changing robots that can move through a complex, natural space—in which the machines will need to bounce off obstacles like trees or even blades of grass or push through the cracks between rocks and keep going.

Daily Camera—ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø researchers have created a new method to produce clean fuel that could someday give consumers a more environmentally friendly option at the gas pump. In addition to transportation, the new method could open doors to clean and sustainable energy sources for industries, including steelmaking and ammonia production.

Cyberguy—ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø startup Point Designs is working to help the healthcare industry through cutting-edge technology in the form of finger prosthetics. The team at Point Designs is combining clinical care with innovative additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, to give hope to people who have received medical denials in the past when it comes to missing fingers or hands.

College of Engineering and Applied Science—Svenja Knappe and her colleagues have developed a helmet that contains 128 sensors and is customizable for different sizes of the human head. Knappe founded the Boulder-based company FieldLine and has begun to bring these sensors to market. In the not-so-distant future, they could aid in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of neurological conditions like epilepsy, autism and traumatic brain injuries.

ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø Today—Chemists at ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø have developed a new way to recycle a common type of plastic found in soda bottles and other packaging and are working with Venture Partners at ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø to bring it to real-world applications. The team’s method relies on electricity and some nifty chemical reactions, and it’s simple enough that you can watch the plastic break apart in front of your eyes.

ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø Today—In 2016, Pfizer began collaborating with Sabrina Spencer, a global leader in time-lapse cell imaging and member of the CU Cancer Center, to study how cancer cells respond to their potent new drugs called CDK2 inhibitors.

ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø researchers have identified a surprising new player in ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)—an ancient, virus-like protein. With funding from the ALS Association, the National Institutes of Health, and Venture Partners at ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø, Alexandra Whiteley's lab is now working to understand the molecular pathways involved and to find a way of inhibiting the rogue protein.

NIST—Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and ºÚÁÏÉçÇøÍø have fabricated a novel device that could dramatically boost the conversion of heat into electricity. If perfected, the technology could help recoup some of