Acadia researcher Dr. Kirk Hillier was recently announced as one of five finalists for the inaugural BioInnovation Challenge. His work is on the development of natural pheromones for the management of insects.

The BioInnovation Challenge, presented by BioNova, Nova Scotia’s life science association, was created to ease the transition from research laboratory to market. The finalists are vying for a prize package that includes $10,000 in seed funding and an advisory services package valued at more than $20,000.

The other finalists include:

Dorothy Easy
Jellett Rapid Testing Ltd.
The Rapid Rabies Screen, a device to quickly identify rabies infected animals

Dr. Daniel Boyd, Dr. Bob Abraham and Dr. Sharon Kehoe
Dalhousie University and the QEII Health Sciences Centre
Development of OccluRad particles for the treatment of fibroid tumors

Ed Rushton
THORASYS Thoracic Medical Systems Inc.
Further development of the TremoFlo™ device to improve the diagnosis of asthma and other respiratory diseases

Florentin Wilfart
DMF Medical Inc.
ZeroSorb, a toxin removal device to improve the safety of operating room anaesthesia systems

The finalists were selected based on their product’s innovation, the perceived market pull and commercialization potential. For the final round, the finalists will pitch to The Commercialization Council, a panel of local and international industry experts at BioPort Atlantic on September 28. BioPort Atlantic is the region’s premier life science industry event and is held each year in Halifax.

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