The University of Utah is excited to announce the recipients of the third annual Innovation Awards. The awards recognize the efforts U students, staff, faculty and startups have made to pursue impactful research and contribute to the university’s culture of innovation.

The recipients will be acknowledged on Oct. 13, along with those who have accomplished the following in fiscal year 2025:

Received a patent
Completed Ascender Grant milestones
Completed the first and second phases of the I-Corps program
Received SBIR/STTR funding

Startup of the Year: Trace AQ

Trace AQ, a University of Utah spinout, delivers advanced forecasting and air quality solutions to provide accurate and reliable intelligence to communities, corporations and health care systems, targeting an issue especially prominent in Salt Lake City. These advanced forecasts allow Trace AQ’s customers to adjust their outdoor lifestyles around the times when local air quality will be the best, maintaining their respiratory health and safety.

The company started as a National Science Foundation project in the University of Utah’s chemical engineering department, with several of its team members focusing their research on wildfire smoke behavior. Co-founded by Heather Holmes, Derek Mallia, Taylor (Kai) Wilmot and Victor Gill, joining as the founding CEO, Trace AQ has translated the team’s academic insight in atmospheric modeling, air quality analysis and wildfire behavior into a successful commercial platform that directly improves the respiratory health of their clients.

The spinout has also worked with the Venture Hub’s Energy Accelerator to build their business model, closing their $1.25 million seed round and moving their research beyond the lab into real-world applications. In commercializing their cutting-edge translational technology, Trace AQ has well-earned the Startup of the Year Award.

Founders of the Year: Vahe Bandarian and Karsten Eastman

Vahe Bandarian and Karsten Eastman, co-founders of the University of Utah startup Sethera Therapeutics, have developed their PolyMacrocyclic Peptide (pMCP) Discovery Platform, revolutionizing peptide-based drug treatment. This kind of drug treatment utilizes a chain of amino acids that bind to cell surface receptors in the body and regulate biological processes and treat diseases from there. Sethera Therapeutics’ pMCP Discovery Platform is designed to engage multiple targets at once, and it allows company partners to modulate intricate biological pathways, install complex functionalities and engineer peptides according to their goals and needs.

Bandarian and Eastman’s enzymatic cross-linking technology places their company in a unique position in drug discovery. They have both leveraged their many years of biochemical research on enzymatic transformations at the University of Utah to commercialize and translate their findings, ranking them among the most notable researchers of the year.

Innovator of the Year: Alana Welm

Alana Welm, the senior director of basic science at the Huntsman Comprehensive Cancer Center and chair of the University of Utah’s Department of Oncological Sciences, works on developing groundbreaking models of human breast cancer that have become a standard for studying metastatic behavior and treatment response. These models have been shared with over 200 labs globally, cultivating a vibrant international research community and fostering interdisciplinary partnerships. Welm’s discoveries have not only advanced a scientific understanding of breast cancer but have also moved into tangible products and therapeutic strategies that directly impact patients.

Dr. Welm’s pioneering work has driven the translation of discovery into tangible products and therapeutic strategies that have the potential to drastically transform patient outcomes, marking her as a well-deserved recipient of an Innovator of the Year Award.

Breakthrough of the Year: Tommy Gambles

Tommy Gambles, postdoctoral research associate in the College of Pharmacy at the U and co-founder of Thera-T Pharmaceutics, has helped develop a new class of immunotherapy for blood cancers that could significantly improve patient outcomes. Thera-T Pharmaceutics specializes in immunotherapy, a method of treating cancer, autoimmune disorders, and other diseases. Gambles’ research focuses on overcoming cancer cell resistance and overstimulation of immune cells in immunotherapy. His discoveries and development of his company’s Multi-Antigen T-Cell Hybridizers (MATCH) technology allow immunotherapy to target multiple molecules on a cancer cell’s surface and lower the side effects of T-Cell overstimulation.

Gambles’ translational, problem-solving research addresses a serious health challenge and holds a clear potential for impact in the coming years. Gambles’ dedication and commitment to his research are well-deserving of his results, placing his discoveries among the most impactful this year.

Investigator on the Rise: Tao Gao

Tao Gao, assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Utah, has developed a novel electrochemical absorption and desorption process for lithium extraction, enabling efficient and sustainable lithium recovery from brines and leachates. This is especially important here in Utah, as the Great Salt Lake is among the most promising domestic sources for lithium production. Extraction proves difficult, however, because it uses a large amount of water where water resources are scarce and critical to the environment. Gao’s innovation offers a sustainable solution to this local and worldwide issue, significantly reducing water usage, chemical input and carbon emissions in the lithium extraction process.

Gao has also engaged with both academia and industry partners in a collaboration with NexGen Materials to accelerate his innovation and reached out to local stakeholders to further the impact of his technologies. His work embodies the U’s vision of translation-driven research and contributes to the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship fostered within the university.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Bob Palais

Bob Palais, research professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Utah, has devoted decades of experience to his study of DNA melting analysis. His long-term efforts and work with Wittwer Labs have led to the development of high-resolution melting methods for DNA analysis that provide a rapid, inexpensive means of mutation scanning, genotyping and sequence matching through the use of saturation dyes. Palais’s dedication and commitment to his research and innovation amplify the mentality of persistence, progress and collaboration at the U and place him as a well-deserved recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Global Impact: Wes Sundquist

Wes Sundquist, Samuels Professor and co-chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Utah, has labored for over 12 years to turn an antiviral treatment into a twice-a-year therapy to prevent HIV infection in high-risk individuals. His lab laid the groundwork in studying and defining the structure of one of HIV’s proteins, the capsid, and then collaborated with Gilead, a biopharmaceutical company, in drug development.

Sundquist was voted one of TIME’s Most Influential People in 2025, and he has displayed an extraordinary dedication and commitment to his research, which has led to an innovative solution to a pressing global challenge. His work is revolutionizing HIV prevention and perfectly exemplifies the U’s environment of collaboration and partnership that fuels innovative and novel discoveries.

Excellence in Innovation Graduate Student Award: Prince Minkah

Prince Minkah, recipient of the Skaggs Graduate Research Fellowship, has tackled the issue of therapy resistance in aggressive solid tumors. His research, focusing on developing selenium-functionalized sulfated hyaluronic acid (sHASe) compounds as novel therapeutics for head and neck cancers, marks a significant in-progress innovation in translational cancer research. His discovery has allowed Minkah to move from molecular design to preclinical validation and begin navigating intellectual property processes. Through his research, Minkah has showcased his entrepreneurial mindset, resilience and overall excellence as a graduate student.

Excellence in Innovation Undergraduate Student Award: Brynne Byars

Brynne Byars, a biomedical engineering student at the University of Utah, has collaborated with Sunac Therapeutics on the lab’s translational research in finding a cure for osteoarthritis. With a goal to build a career in intellectual property law, Barrs is dedicated to the mission of research translation, innovation and collaboration, pushing for progress and discovery in her field. Her hard work and commitment to her schoolwork, research and career mark her as a well-deserving recipient of this award.