Bernstein Among Finalists for Innovation Award

Jonathan Bernstein, MD, professor of medicine and director of clinical research in the division of immunology, allergy and rheumatology, along with research colleague Anastasios Angelopoulos, PhD, of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, are finalists for the Cincinnati Business Courier’s 2014 Innovation Awards program.

Bernstein and Angelopoulos are co-founders of A&B Sensor Technologies, a local company designed to bring unique catalyst-based optical sensing devices to market. The researchers have developed a non-invasive method of measuring blood-glucose in diabetics which overcomes the problem of signal interference by the high humidity in human breath. This problem has prevented implementation of other point-of-care approaches to chemical breath analysis.

Other UC finalists in the Innovation Awards competition include engineering’s Mark Schulz, PhD, and Vesselin Shanov, PhD, for their startup company General Nano LLC. Schulz and Shanov are lab directors of UC Nanoworld Laboratories, an interdepartmental research laboratory group which includes faculty from engineering, arts and sciences and medicine. The labs develop innovative smart materials, sensors and devices by intersecting the various disciplines of science and engineering.

The Innovation Awards program celebrates innovative companies and people that show how new ideas can be developed into fuel for the Tristate’s economic engine. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center startups Airway Therapeutics LLC and Assure Health are also among the finalists. Winners will be announced at an event on April 10, 2014, and will be featured in a Business Courier supplement to the April 11 weekly print edition.