Blazer Bridge Fund continues encouraging innovative discoveries; announces 2024 winners

Blazer Bridge Fund provides financial support to innovative ideas and inventions by the UAB community, encouraging advanced discovery. 
Written by: Amy Jones
Media Contact: Tehreem Khan


Blazer Bridge FundBlazer Bridge Fund provides financial support to innovative ideas and inventions by the UAB community, encouraging advanced discovery.

The Blazer Bridge Fund will provide support to six innovative projects by University of Alabama at Birmingham inventors, including a device to prevent neonatal apnea, a tool to help patients in intensive care units remain safely hydrated and continued development of a possible therapeutic target for Alzheimer’s disease, among others.

The Blazer Bridge Fund, an initiative of the Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, was launched in 2023 to identify and assist in the development of promising ideas, discoveries, innovations and technologies from UAB faculty and staff that have commercial potential. 

“We were highly impressed with the quality of applications we received for this year’s Blazer Bridge Fund round, and the six that we selected all have tremendous potential,” said HIIE’s Executive Director Kathy Nugent, Ph.D. “We are especially excited that we awarded funding to inventors from the Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, the School of Engineering, and the College of Arts and Sciences. We take pride in supporting UAB innovation from every corner of campus.”

The six projects selected for the 2024 funding round are:

The BBF brought in 27 applications for its second-ever round of funding, representing 62 inventors in 26 UAB departments and divisions across six schools and ArtPlay Community Education.