A UNC biomedical engineering professor’s knack for entrepreneurial resourcefulness helped him jumpstart the development of an innovative face mask device – and a new startup company.

Funded by the U.S. EDA Sprint Challenge award, the new hub will boost economic development in the Research Triangle by providing startups with entrepreneurial advisers, a joint talent network and access to service providers.

How are a new group of UNC graduate students and postdoctoral fellows accelerating the pace of progress for faculty inventors-turned-entrepreneurs? The insights they deliver are adding up to breakthrough therapies, disruptive treatments and novel technologies.

UNC-affiliated startup RainBio is changing the landscape of ocular gene therapy with its novel treatment to reverse and prevent blindness in children with rare genetic diseases.