From optical lenses and infrared vision to at-home diagnostics

Faster ways to manufacture custom lenses. At-home tests that could help parents determine whether a child has strep throat. Infrared cameras that operate without bulky cooling systems.  These are the innovations developed by this year’s Kavanaugh Fellows, MIT scholars selected to advance promising research toward real-world applications through dedicated support and entrepreneurial training.

This year’s recipients are John Zhang, Maximiliano Jara Fornerod, and Xinyuan Zhang.

All three projects remove longstanding barriers to practical technologies. John Zhang’s “radical optics” could dramatically reduce the time and cost required to manufacture custom lenses. Fornerod is developing CRISPR-based strep detection that could save a trip to the doctor’s office. And Xinyuan Zhang’s infrared detector can match the performance of leading thermal cameras at room temperature, eliminating the need for power-hungry cryogenic cooling.

The yearlong Kavanaugh Translation Fellowship Program gives researchers time and resources to turn laboratory discoveries into viable products and companies.

Founded in 2016 by the Saks-Kavanaugh Foundation, the program has supported startups such as Stratagen Bio, which develops MRI-based tools for quantitative biomarker assessment; Sublime Systems, which produces low-carbon cement; and Lightfinder, specializing in handheld spectrometers for health care, manufacturing, and telecommunications.

Bart Kavanaugh, who runs the philanthropic organization with his wife, Betty Saks, reflected on the fellowship’s purpose: supporting researchers with transformative ideas as they work to bring them to market.

“I was very, very fortunate in my younger years to have some people who supported me,” he said May 29 at a reception at MIT, where the winners were announced. “So we’re back here today trying to support the next generation of people to develop whatever it is that they’re developing.”

Kavanaugh highlighted the low rate at which new ideas become successful startups, even at MIT, a place with “no shortage of fantastic ideas.”

“The majority of those people who choose to start businesses or bring that product to another business, the majority are going to fail,” he said. “The selection process that you’ve all gone through is based on our best judgment of who the winners will be.”

Attending the MIT reception were current and past fellows and faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), which manages the fellowship.

Department Head Polina Anikeeva noted that one of the fellows, John Zhang, was a return applicant. “He applied last year, learned a lot from this process, and came back so unrecognizable that the committee didn’t remember him. So something to learn from John,” she said.

Zhang recently received his PhD in mechanical engineering and will begin a postdoctoral appointment in DMSE in June. His radical optics project builds on his doctoral work, in which he used electrostatic forces to precisely shape membrane surfaces. The technology uses electric fields to sculpt liquid resin into precise optical forms that are then hardened with ultraviolet light, enabling faster and lower-cost manufacturing of custom lenses.
 
Zhang has already gained entrepreneurial experience as a member of the first MIT cohort of the Emerson Consequential Scholars Program, which provides training in team building, branding, and fundraising. As a Kavanaugh Fellow, he plans to build relationships with potential partners and customers while exploring pathways to commercialization.
 
A postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Fornerod develops electrochemical biosensors using CRISPR. With his strep diagnostics tool, called Sensopore, he hopes to give families a way to determine at home whether a sore throat is caused by strep, potentially avoiding unnecessary trips to the doctor.

The project uses CRISPR enzymes programmed to recognize a DNA sequence unique to Group A Streptococcus, the bacteria responsible for strep throat. When that DNA is present, the CRISPR system triggers a reaction that generates an electrical signal. Early proof-of-concept work demonstrated the platform’s ability to detect prostate cancer biomarkers.

With the fellowship, Fornerod plans to validate the technology using clinical samples, improve sensor performance and reproducibility, and integrate its components into a compact prototype device suitable for at-home testing.

Xinyuan Zhang is a graduate student in DMSE. Her technology could make infrared imaging more practical by eliminating the cooling systems used in today’s most sensitive detectors.

The project is built on a manufacturing technique known as atomic lift-off, which enables the fabrication of ultrathin crystalline membranes that were previously extremely difficult to produce at scale. These membranes are highly sensitive to small temperature changes. This allows them to register infrared signals at room temperature and reduces the need for complex, power-intensive hardware.

With Kavanaugh support, Zhang plans to further develop the technology; build and test prototype detector arrays; explore applications in defense, automotive, and health care; and develop a commercialization strategy.

All three scholars will begin the yearlong fellowship on July 1.

Learn more about the Kavanaugh Fellowship on its website.