Visionaire Granted NSF SBIR Phase I Award

Visionaire, a startup at the EnterpriseWorks tech incubator in the University of Illinois Research Park, recently received a $256,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award from the National Science Foundation.

Visionaire Products plans to use this funding for developing an early prototype and testing.

Visionaire’s founder, Dr. Leanne Labriola, is a serial entrepreneur; she also serves as CEO and co-founder of Innsight Technology.  Both companies were founded at EnterpriseWorks. Leanne Labriola has a DO, MBA, Ph.D. and is a professor in bioengineering. Dr. Labriola is the principal investigator in several national clinical trials and is working on translational research initiatives in collaboration with the Bioengineering Department at CMU and UIUC.

In June, Labriola received an AWARE grant to fund proof-of-concept prototyping for the device.

Visionaire Products is developing a customized kit for ocular fluid biopsy. Ocular fluid biopsies are critical for the diagnosis of certain infections that can cause ocular inflammation. The kit includes a customized needle and specialized collection vial that is specifically designed to handle small amounts of ocular fluid for obtaining accurate results. The device will enable general ophthalmologists to perform this procedure more safely.

Visionaire participated in the National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps, a partnership between the Technology Entrepreneur Center in the college of engineering and EnterpriseWorks.

Read more about how Visionaire won the SBIR award here.

To learn more about SBIR funding and to for more resources on how Illinois startups can get funding, check out the FAST Center at Illinois.

I-Corps provides education and funding to faculty and student entrepreneurs. Learn more about I-Corps here.