During a visit to Illinois Institute of Technology’s Mies Campus in Chicago, Governor J. B. Pritzker announced that the State of Illinois would be providing $1.5 million to the Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) to renovate 2,770 square feet of existing Illinois Tech wet lab space to create a specialized multi-tenant laboratory called the Neurotissue and Organoid Innovation Laboratory (NOIL) for advanced research in translational neurotechnology.
Credit: Illinois Institute of Technology
During a visit to Illinois Institute of Technology’s Mies Campus in Chicago, Governor J. B. Pritzker announced that the State of Illinois would be providing $1.5 million to the Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) to renovate 2,770 square feet of existing Illinois Tech wet lab space to create a specialized multi-tenant laboratory called the Neurotissue and Organoid Innovation Laboratory (NOIL) for advanced research in translational neurotechnology.
“Our state is a national hub for entrepreneurship and innovation because of leaders like Illinois Tech paving the way forward for the talent and technology of tomorrow. The more that we can do to support your mission here at Illinois Tech, the better off we’ll all be in the state of Illinois and in the United States,” says Pritzker. “This investment creates opportunities to advance IIT’s research and to provide a range of much-needed scientific, regulatory, and business development services to startups investing in cutting-edge research.”
Pritzker selected Illinois Tech as one of eight wet labs across the state to receive funding through the Rebuild Illinois Wet Lab Capital Program, and Illinois Tech will match the $1.5 million that the state provided.
Pritzker says he believes this funding for Illinois Tech serves as an investment not just in the university but in its broader community, which includes its partner institutions such as Malcolm X College, whose representatives attended the governor’s announcement.
“Today’s grants are an exemplification of what happens when a very supportive government helps higher ed do what it does best by bringing people together and by doing cutting-edge research that solves the grand challenges of our times while at the same time empowering diverse learners with the skills so that they can thrive in the future world,” says Raj Echambadi, president of Illinois Tech.
NOIL will offer researchers, medical startups, and companies across the country access to advanced equipment and facilities to conduct fundamental studies supporting the development of novel medical therapies.
“Our goal for the laboratory is to enhance the state of Illinois’s regional capabilities to attract, support, and facilitate growth of small businesses, startups, entrepreneurs, and university collaborators who are part of a rapidly growing ‘neurotech’ sector,” says Executive Director of the Pritzker Institute, Robert A. Pritzker Endowed Chair in Engineering, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering Philip Troyk. “From state-of-the-art visual prosthetics to Illinois Tech’s brain atlas project, this new facility will allow Illinois Tech and the state of Illinois to play a central role in the development of truly life-changing biomedical advances.”
NOIL is a crucial component of the newly formed Functional Neural Technology Center, which will provide “one-stop-shop” services to growing companies, entrepreneurs, and emerging academic collaborations that are pursuing cutting-edge clinical translation in the field of neurotechnology.
The renovated wet lab will provide the facilities essential to advance the development of neural implant technology such as the world-leading visual prosthesis developed at Illinois Tech. It will also serve the emerging field of bioelectronic medicine, which promises to substitute traditional drug therapies by creating implanted neural-modulation medical device interfaces to nerves that control human organs.
The remodeling of wet labs for specialized neural tissue and organoids will provide new fundamental and functional wet laboratory space for multiple users and create an unprecedented capability within Chicago for the support of collaborative neural technologies research.
Troyk, who has developed a first-of-its-kind visual prosthesis system, says, “Making that transition from an idea to a clinical deployment is not easy. Illinois Tech is launching an initiative that will assist those who are developing these novel therapies in order to navigate the pathway from concept to clinic.”
As part of the Illinois Tech and City Colleges of Chicago partnership, Malcolm X College will provide its students with opportunities to learn and conduct research in the renovated wet lab space.
David Sanders, president of Malcolm X College, says, “Illinois Tech has a history of working with City College faculty to develop transfer agreements and offering City College students generous scholarships. Our involvement in the wet lab research space is the next step in our powerful, powerful relationship.”
