Celebrating Innovation: Flinn Foundation Awards Ten Arizona Research Teams $100K in Seed Grants

We are pleased to share exciting news from our partner, the Flinn Foundation. Each year, the Flinn Foundation supports approximately 10 research teams affiliated with Arizona universities, research institutions, and healthcare systems, developing innovative products or services to address significant clinical needs with seed grant funding.

Research projects must be directed by investigators from Arizona nonprofit academic or medical research institutions or health systems and address significant clinical needs in diagnostics, medical devices, therapeutics, precision medicine, and healthcare delivery.

Through its Seed Grants to Promote Translational Research Program, the Flinn Foundation has awarded each of this year's recipients a $100,000 grant over 18 months and programmatic benefits. The grants aim to help research teams de-risk their products or processes, refine designs, acquire key validation data, gather stakeholder feedback, and secure additional funding to achieve positive patient impact.

In addition to providing funding, the program invites project leaders to quarterly check-ins and workshops, facilitates connections with research and industry experts, and provides membership in Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee during the 18-month grant period.

The Flinn Foundation is funding nine of this year’s $100,000 seed grants, while the Tom and Catherine Culley Charitable Trust is contributing $100,000 to support the proposal for an early detection test of specific (head and neck) oropharyngeal cancers, as referenced below.

Mary O’Reilly, Flinn Foundation Vice President of Bioscience Research Programs, said the sophistication of commercialization strategies among the Arizona research community has advanced yearly.

“This program continues to showcase the strength and diversity of the bioscience ecosystem in Arizona,” O’Reilly said. “The 82 proposals reflect the breadth of expertise and the expanding number of institutions creating innovative ways to deliver better health care to Arizonans and beyond.”

‍

Announcing the 2025 Awardees

The Flinn Foundation announced the 2025 awardees this month. The initiative’s tenth cohort was selected in an open competitive process among 82 proposals from 13 universities, health systems, and research institutes.

These exceptional teams will utilize their grants to advance their groundbreaking research and move closer to clinical application.

• Arizona State University with Mayo Clinic, and Xcellerant Ventures: Ammolite: A Novel White Light LED Technology with Optimized Spectrum to Reduce Light Discomfort and Improve Migraine Symptoms

• Arizona State University with Exodigm Biosciences: Live-Cell RNA Detection Probes for Cell Sorting and Therapeutic Applications

• Arizona State University with Banner Health, and the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix : NuTag: Fast and Precise Intraoperative Brain Tumor Diagnosis

• University of Arizona with AdaptiveSN: Coupling AI to Green Light Therapy: Developing an Easy-to-use and Portable Device to Treat Chronic Pain Using Photoneuromodulation with Personalized Medicine

• University of Arizona with K1C Consulting: Development of a Wearable Carpal Arch Space Augmentation Device to Treat CTS

• University of Arizona with Precision Epigenomics, Midwestern University, Next Steps Biotech, and Da Vinci Health Group: Molecular Approach for Oropharyngeal Cancer

• University of Arizona with People Science, Rajant Health, and Army Research Labs: New Date. The First Accurate Due Date Predictor

• University of Arizona with the University of Minnesota, NYU Langone, Tulane University, and the VA Medical Center: Predictive Diagnostics for Immunomodulatory Therapy in Inflammatory and Fibrotic Disease

• University of Arizona with Banner Health; ADMdx: Regenerating the Parkinson’s Brain: Assessing the Effect of Allopregnanolone on Striatal Dopamine Transporters

• University of Arizona with University of Dundee; Agenus, Inc.: Superior Multi-Targeted WNT Inhibitors Towards Colorectal Cancer

• Arizona State University with Mayo Clinic Arizona: “A Point-of-Care Test for the Rapid Diagnosis of Valley Fever”

• University of Arizona with Aspiro Therapeutics: “Developing a Novel Therapy to Treat Obstructive Lung Diseases”

• University of Arizona: “Transcranial Acoustic Electric Imaging of Deep Brain Stimulation Currents”

‍Advancing Arizona's Bioscience SectorSince commissioning the Arizona Bioscience Roadmap in 2002, the Flinn Foundation has been pivotal in advancing Arizona's bioscience sector. The roadmap's second goal is to increase the ability of research-performing institutions to turn bench research results into improved disease and illness prevention, detection, and treatment.Since 2013, the Flinn Foundation has awarded 83 seed grants totaling about $9.5 million. After the grant period, the foundation provides the cohort’s most promising projects with an additional $100,000 in follow-on funding after a pitch event before an independent review panel.

Here at Freeway PHX, we are thrilled to see continual local investment in biotech research and global collaborations among the greatest minds in science innovation. Thank you to the Flinn Foundation for their continual stimulation of the Valley’s bioscience corridor, and congratulations to this year’s esteemed cohort of grant winners.