Author Archives: Mary Romeo

SPARK Calgary expands to become SPARK Alberta

The SPARK program based out of the University of Calgary’s W21C Research and Innovation Centre has now expanded to the province-wide SPARK Alberta thanks to a new grant from Alberta Innovates. Now digital health researchers at Alberta institutions have access to expert support to help translate innovative ideas into improved care for patients. “Our aim […]

SPARK Africa initiative launches at collaborative meeting

As scientists in Africa look to build their own biotechnology ecosystem, SPARK at Stanford in collaboration with the African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology (AIBST) held a multi-day educational bootcamp and conference on March 27-31, 2023 to bring African scientists together and launch the SPARK Africa initiative to support African innovation. Held in beautiful […]

SPARK GLOBAL welcomes new programs

SPARK GLOBAL is excited to announce that two new international programs have officially joined the network! In January, SPARK Denmark was established at five of Denmark’s largest universities thanks to a grant of 44 million DKK from Novo Nordisk Foundation. SPARK Denmark includes the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, Aalborg University, the University of Southern […]

SPARK Africa co-director Tulio de Oliveira named in Nature’s 10

SPARK Africa co-director Tulio de Oliveira was recognized as one of 10 people who helped shape science in 2021 by Nature magazine in December. Prof. de Oliveira, who is founder and director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) at University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and colleagues discovered the SARS-CoV-2 variant now […]

SPARK Africa Director Collen Masimirembwa receives fellowship award

Congratulations to Prof. Collen Masimirembwa, director of SPARK GLOBAL Africa, who was awarded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Calestous Juma Science Leadership Fellowship as part of the inaugural 2021 cohort. The Calestous Juma Science Leadership Fellowship recognizes outstanding scientists tackling some of the greatest challenges in global health. It is awarded to scientists permanently […]

SPARK Taiwan held its annual Translational Medicine Symposium

SPARK Taiwan held its annual Translational Medicine Symposium late last month, at which SPARK founder and co-director Daria Mochly-Rosen and SPARK scholars and advisors shared their stories. This year’s theme was COVID-19 vaccine efforts of SPARK GLOBAL and beyond. SPARK Asia Director Jane Tseng kicked off the symposium introducing the topic and speakers. Dr. Mochly-Rosen […]

BioInnovation Spotlight Podcast Partners with SPARK Europe

The BioInnovation Spotlight @ LifeScience ORG podcast has partnered with SPARK Programs in Europe to showcase early-stage translational life science research across the continent. The podcast focuses on innovative research from recent spinout and pre-spinout groups and is hosted by podcast producer and science communicator, Dr David Kirk. David talks to the scientific founders about their journey […]

Tribune Therapeutics spins out from SPARK Norway

A SPARK Norway project led by researchers Ole Jørgen Kaasbøll and Håvard Attramadal forms the basis of a new startup company, Tribune Therapeutics, focused on fibrosis. Dr. Kaasbøll, who led the SPARK project, will become Chief Scientific Officer at Tribune. Dr. Kaasbøll and Dr. Attramadal are both researchers at Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of […]

SPARK Japan receives patent award

Research Studio powered by SPARK, the SPARK Japan program headquartered at University of Tsukuba, was recently awarded the IP BASE Award from the Japan Patent Office. Research Studio won the 2nd IP BASE Award for Ecosystem development along with Zero One Booster Inc., an accelerator. The Ecosystem award is given to communities or organizations who […]