Announcing the 2025 Kahn and Massey Grand Challenge funded teams

ANN ARBOR – The University of Michigan Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation announced today the winners of the 2025 Kahn Pediatric Critical Care and Massey Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Grand Challenge programs. Nine multidisciplinary teams were selected to be funded this year, resulting in a combined total of $1.2 million in research support provided across both programs.

Held annually, Weil Institute Grand Challenges are unique funding mechanisms that support early-stage, high-risk research projects and innovations. The events span multiple months, beginning with an informational kickoff session and two rounds of proposal submissions before culminating in the “Wolverine Den” pitch day competition. At every stage of the process, participating teams have access to valuable feedback from field and industry experts, and specialists in proposal development and product commercialization, which they can then apply to improve their work for the Grand Challenge, as well as future funding applications.

Ultimately, the support provided by the Weil Institute Grand Challenges serves as a springboard that enables all teams—even those who do not receive funding—to reach pivotal next steps in their journey to a groundbreaking research discovery or potential bedside application.

Congratulations to this year’s winning teams! The projects, detailed below, span the spectrum of innovation from novel devices to predictive analytics. In keeping with the Weil Institute’s mission for scientific integration and collaboration, the teams also comprise multiple disciplines, uniting physicians with engineers, entrepreneurs, chemists, and more under the shared goal of bridging gaps in how we diagnose, monitor and manage our most gravely ill and injured patients.

The Kahn and Massey Grand Challenges were made possible through the support of philanthropist Mark Kahn and the Joyce and Don Massey Family Foundation, respectively.

2025 Kahn Pediatric Critical Care Grand Challenge Funded Teams

Nitric Oxide Releasing Intravascular Catheters

Central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are among the most common and costly of healthcare-associated infections and pose a major risk to vulnerable patient populations such as those in pediatric cardiac intensive care units. This Kahn Grand Challenge team is developing a novel central line catheter that integrates a localized, safe, sustained Nitric Oxide-releasing surface to proactively prevent the formation of hazardous biofilm within the catheter. The successful development of this technology has the potential to revolutionize pediatric critical care by significantly reducing CLABSIs, preserving catheter patency, and ultimately saving lives while lowering healthcare costs.

Team: Alvaro Rojas-Pena, MD (Surgery); Orsolya Lautner-Csorba, PhD (Surgery); Gabe E. Owens, MD, PhD (Pediatric Cardiology); Mark E Meyerhoff, PhD (Chemistry)

Auto-Sizing Soft Robot Face Mask for Non-invasive Respiratory Support in Pediatrics

For children and adults alike, emergency respiratory intervention begins with the bag valve mask (BVM). Sizing and using the BVM is a key competency for healthcare providers, yet this deceptively simple technique is fraught with challenges, with poor mask sealing being a primary failure mode in BM. 

This Kahn Grand Challenge project team is developing a replacement for the BVM that automatically sizes to the face and is self-sealing. The researchers envision their proposed device providing hands-free airway management, with set-and-forget operation, achieving an ease of use that ensures superior clinical care and outcomes.

Team: Mark Draelos, PhD (Robotics, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences); Xiaonan (Sean) Huang, PhD (Robotics); Brent Gillespie, PhD (Robots, Mechanical Engineering)

Expediting Bedside use of a Novel Microfluidics-Based Platform for the Identification of Subphenotypes in Critically Ill Pediatric Patients

Through previous rounds of Kahn funding, this project team tested and validated a novel microarray platform to identify two subphenotypes in children with Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (PARDS)and/or Acute respiratory failure (ARF) that can be distinguished with great accuracy. 

Now, with their latest competitive renewal grant, the team aims to further refine the function of their platform’s biosensor and improve the automation of its fluidic system. Their goal is to move into a beta prototype of the device incorporate, refine and iterate the fully automated fluidic cartridge system recently developed in the Kurabayashi lab at NYU. This will allow for validation of the real-time use of the platform in PARDS patients, strengthening future applications for follow-on funding.

Team: Heidi Flori, MD (Pediatrics); Mary Dahmer, PhD, (Pediatrics); Katsuo Kurabayashi PhD (Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan; Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering); Yujing Song PhD, (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering); Andrew Stephens PhD, (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine); Nadine Halligan MS, (Pediatrics); Adrienne Fueredi, PhD Student (Biomedical Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering)

Hemodynamic-Directed CPR for Pediatric Cardiac Arrest using Neural Networks and Wearable Sensor

Studies indicate that a hemodynamic-directed CPR (HD-CPR) strategy guided by diastolic blood pressure (DBP) may improve return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) rates and survival with good neurologic outcome in animal models and in sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) patients. However, implementation of an HD-CPR strategy has been hindered by inaccurate real-time DBP detection during CPR due to compression-induced waveform artifacts that confound current monitoring algorithms. 

For their Kahn Grand Challenge-funded project, this team is proposing an artificial intelligence (AI) solution paired with a wearable sensor to enable accurate, real-time, and noninvasive detection of diastolic blood pressure during chest compressions. Leveraging advanced neural network algorithms, the team’s AI-enabled innovation could allow for personalized HD-CPR to optimize sudden cardiac arrest outcomes in pediatric patients.

Team: Cindy Hsu, MD, PhD, MS (Emergency Medicine, Surgery); Thomas Sanderson, PhD (Emergency Medicine, Molecular and Integrative Physiology); Kenn Oldham, PhD (Mechanical Engineering); Robert Sutton, MD, MSCE (Critical Care Medicine, Clinical Resuscitation Science, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)

2025 Massey TBI Grand Challenge Funded Teams

Using biomarkers to guide prehospital triage of patients with acute TBI, a feasibility study

It can be challenging to identify TBI severity in the prehospital setting because emergency medical services (EMS) providers currently only use subjective, non-specific clinical features to determine patient risk. Recent advances in point-of-care whole blood TBI biomarkers now produce lab-quality results within 15 minutes and help identify TBI severity. 

With the support of Massey funding, this team’s study seeks to determine the feasibility of EMS brain injury biomarker measurement paired with clinical features to provide superior triage of TBI patients in the prehospital setting and the utility of prehospital notification of patients with TBI requiring time-sensitive intervention.

Team: Regina Royan, MD, MPH (Emergency Medicine); Brian Stamm, MD, MSc (Neurology); Lauren Mamer (MD, PhD); Frederick Korley, MD, PhD (Emergency Medicine); Cindy Hsu, MD, PhD, MS (Emergency Medicine); Tina Brent, MD (Emergency Medicine); Nate Hunt, MD (Emergency Medicine); Carmen Gherasim, PhD (Pathology)

Low intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation for the treatment of traumatic brain injury

TBI affects over a million patients annually in the United States and usually lead to cognitive challenges and long-term sleeping disorders. In most cases, patients need to receive proper therapy during the golden hours to improve treatment outcomes. However, existing treatments like deep brain stimulation require skilled neurosurgeons to implant electrodes that can hardly be applied during the golden hours. Transcranial magnetic stimulation cannot reach deep brain structures like the hypothalamus that is important for sleep-awake cycle regulations. Transcranial direct current stimulation usually leads to mixed outcomes due to the lack of target specificity in modulating the brain. On the contrary, low intensity focused ultrasound (LIFUS) provides a target specific noninvasive neuromodulation method with high penetration depth that can be applied during the golden hours to achieve better outcomes. 

In this Massey Family Foundation sponsored project, the team will develop a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guided LIFUS brain stimulation that can be applied in different specified brain regions like injured cortex and hypothalamus for TBI treatment. The physiology, efficacy, and safety of the LIFUS neuromodulation therapy will be studied in a controlled cortical injury mouse model. Effects of ultrasound parameters will be explored to improve the treatment outcomes.

Team: Chengzhi Shi, PhD (Mechanical Engineering); Joseph Wider, PhD (Emergency Medicine); Luis Hernandez-Garci, PhD (Radiology, Biomedical Engineering); Kenn Oldham, PhD (Mechanical Engineering); Tianye Zhang, PhD Candidate (Mechanical Engineering)

Novel Approach of Targeting Thrombo-inflammation and Cerebral Microthrombosis in Traumatic Brain Injury

Thromboinflammation is a condition in which thrombosis (blood clotting), inflammation and vascular leakage combine and exacerbate each other, leading to tissue damage and organ dysfunction. It occurs in a broad range of diseases and disorders and is one of the underlying mechanisms of secondary injury in TBI.

Previously, this research team identified a potentially promising target for modifying both thrombotic and inflammatory processes, with a low risk for—junctional adhesion molecule-A (JAM-A). Supported by the Massey Grand Challenge, the team will explore the role of JAM-A in post-TBI thromboinflammation and microthrombosis and validate the beneficial effect of targeting JAM-A in preventing secondary brain injury.

Team: Anuska Andjelkovic-Zochowski, MD, PhD (Pathology); Thomas Sanderson, PhD (Emergency Medicine, Molecular and Integrative Physiology); Joseph Wider, PhD (Emergency Medicine, Molecular and Integrative Physiology); Chenshuo Ma, PhD (Biomedical Engineering); Svetlana Stamatovic, MD, PhD (Pathology)

Development of Therapeutic Approach for Mitochondrial Restoration following Traumatic Brain Injury

Mitochondria have been identified as a contributor to the overall progression of secondary brain injury. In previous preclinical models, the project team identified a novel molecular pathway showing that critical mitochondrial lipids are disrupted following acute TBI. These disrupt the proper function of mitochondria and lead to progressive cell injury and eventual cell death and brain damage.

Supported by the Massey Grand Challenge, the team seeks to develop and test a new therapeutic approach focused on replenishing functional mitochondrial lipid homeostasis, with the end goal of providing new therapeutic options for forward translation.

Team: Thomas Sanderson, PhD (Emergency Medicine, Molecular and Integrative Physiology); Joseph Wider, PhD (Emergency Medicine, Molecular and Integrative Physiology); in collaboration with Brain Health Molecular Solutions, LLC.

Leveraging Machine Learning for Enhanced Detection of Traumatic Brain Injury using a Microfluidic Device

Rapid and accurate diagnosis of TBI during the golden hour is essential for improving patient outcomes. However, current methods of diagnosing TBI are unsuitable for point-of-care applications due to their equipment and training requirements. 

This Massey Grand Challenge team has developed a portable immunoassay platform that can be used at the point-of-injury to detect even low concentrations of TBI biomarkers in whole blood during the early stages. With Grand Challenge support, the team now aims to integrate machine learning algorithms to improve the precision and adaptability of their platform, further lowering the limit of detection and enhancing its applicability in diverse clinical settings as well as in the home and in resource-limited environments such as battlefields.

Team: Mark Burns, PhD (Chemical Engineering); Frederick Korley, MD, PhD (Emergency Medicine); James Ashton-Miller, PhD (Mechanical Engineering); Zeynep Deniz Lal (Chemical Engineering); Sanaz Habibi, PhD (Chemical Engineering); Alyssa Schubert, PhD (Michigan Institute for Data Science); Brian Johnson (Chemical Engineering); Faezeh Shanehsazzadeh, PhD (Mechanical Engineering)

About the Weil Institute

The team at the Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation is dedicated to pushing the leading edge of research to develop new technologies and novel therapies for the most critically ill and injured patients. Through a unique formula of innovation, integration and entrepreneurship that was first imagined by Weil, their multi-disciplinary teams of health providers, basic scientists, engineers, data scientists, commercialization coaches, donors and industry partners are taking a boundless approach to re-imagining every aspect of critical care medicine. For more information, visit weilinstitute.med.umich.edu.