UC BRAID Center for Accelerated Innovation COVID-19 diagnostic project development

PROJECT SUMMARY/Abstract: The University of California Center for Accelerated Innovation created new mechanisms leveraging its diversestrengths in diagnostics, therapeutics, and devices to support translation of promising early-stage inventions forpatient benefit. The Center is a consortium of five UC medical campuses: UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Los Angeles,UC San Diego, and UC San Francisco. Each campus has a thriving research enterprise, nationally rankedmedical school, and translational research institute funded by Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA).The Center taps into the vigor and creativity of California's legendary biomedical and engineering ecosystemand integrates the many successful business, engineering and health sciences programs at our campuses. Ourprogram partners with well-established biomedical companies, venture capital firms, industry organizations andnonprofits focused on medical innovation. The Center is supported by UC Biomedical Research Acceleration,Integration, and Development (UC BRAID), a joint effort of the five UC biomedical campuses designed tocatalyze and accelerate biomedical, clinical, and translational research across the UC system. Together we: 1)Engage University of California heart, lung and blood disease innovators in entrepreneurism through acomprehensive education, training and mentorship program. 2) Solicit and select technologies with highcommercial potential that align with NHLBI's mission and addressed unmet medical needs or significant scientificopportunity. 3) Incubate our most promising technologies in accordance with industry requirements to facilitatetheir translation to commercial products that improve patient care and enhance health. We are now leveragingthis infrastructure and our network to support the development of COVID-19 diagnostic technologies of highpriority to the NIH.