The Tufts Launchpad | Accelerator (TLA) funding program provides funding and business development support to enable faculty to advance the commercial viability of promising inventions disclosed to the Tufts technology transfer office. Sponsored by the Vice Provost for Research, TLA grants target product development and technology de-risking opportunities to enhance the commercial attractiveness of such inventions to potential investors, established companies, and emerging startups. The Tufts technology transfer office received 20 competitive submissions in the fiscal year 2025 cycle, and the following three projects were selected for funding.

Human Validation Testing of an Advanced Oximetry Sensor
Valencia Koomson, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Pulse oximeters are ubiquitous in healthcare settings for respiratory assessment and measurement of vital signs (e.g. heart rate and oxygen saturation). Inaccurate readings of vital signs can be caused by several factors, including skin pigmentation, blood perfusion, and body mass index. Several studies highlight major inaccuracies in oxygen saturation readings based on skin pigmentation placing patients at high risk for life-threatening complications. The Koomson Lab has developed an oximetry sensor (“ChromaSense”) which provides superior accuracy compared to traditional pulse oximeters by mitigating noise sources due to user variations (e.g. skin tone, perfusion index), environmental perturbations (e.g. motion artifact, sensor placement), and environmental factors. With advanced sensors and intelligent algorithms, it not only offers precise oxygen saturation readings, but also measures heart rate, respiration rate, and heart rate variability. ChromaSense is currently in the proof-of-concept prototype phase. TLA funding will support human validation studies to assess the feasibility, evaluate the design concept, and test the overall functionality of the ChromaSense device.

BenzoTag, a Turn-on Fluorescence System for Biology and Drug Development
Joshua Kritzer, Professor, Department of Chemistry

The current state-of-the-art for cellular fluorescence involves fluorescent proteins such as GFP or self-labeling enzymes such as HaloTag from Promega. The Kritzer Lab has developed an improved version of the HaloTag system (“BenzoTag”) with the potential to complement or even supplant HaloTag for many applications. BenzoTag provides no-wash, turn-on fluorescence in live cells, and turns endpoint assays into real-time kinetic assays. Its first application will be for the real-time measurement of drug penetration into live cells, with many other assays expected to be made possible or enhanced by applying the BenzoTag system. TLA funding will support a program to expand the applications of the BenzoTag system in biology and drug development by synthesizing variants of the paired dye chemical “handles” that make it easy to attach it to any molecule-of-interest (such as drugs), thereby providing increased functionality for the assay.

Biomarker Development for a Personalized Medicine Approach for Psychiatry
Jamie Maguire, Kenneth and JoAnn G Wellner Professor of Neuroscience, Tufts University School of Medicine

Dr. Maguire’s research demonstrates that a subset of patients with depression may have a reduced capacity for endogenous neurosteroidogenesis and may be more amenable to neuroactive steroid (NAS)-based treatments. Dr. Maguire is separately developing novel NAS-based treatments through another program. The overarching objective of this TLA-funded program is to utilize a novel biomarker to stratify depression patients based on a specific underlying neurobiological mechanism (reduced endogenous neurosteroidogenesis) and create a predictive biomarker to identify patients that would be responsive to NAS-based treatments, thereby taking the first step in developing a biomarker for a personalized medicine approach for the treatment of depression. Further, deficits in NAS have been implicated in other psychiatric illnesses, so this biomarker may have utility beyond depression. TLA funding will enable the development of a laboratory developed test in collaboration with LabCorp which will establish a prototype for this biomarker assay, scale up biomarker screening, and accelerate clinical implementation.