{"667647":{"#nid":"667647","#data":{"type":"news","title":"It\u2019s All Starting to Click for Gaurav Byagathvalli","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen Gaurav Byagathvalli first encountered genetic engineering as a teenager, he didn\u2019t expect the field would shape the course of his life.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe met researcher Saad Bhamla through a partnership between his high school and Georgia Tech and began working in Bhamla\u2019s lab at the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE). He fell in love with the research, and before long, he was driving to Tech\u2019s campus from his high school in Suwanee to work in the lab until late at night.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EByagathvalli and Bhamla were working on building low-cost medical equipment that would be accessible to more people around the world \u2014\u0026nbsp;part of Bhamla\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/frugal-science-brings-research-opportunities-high-schoolers\u0022\u003E\u201cfrugal science\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E push to democratize access to synthetic biology research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThey wanted to develop a cheaper version of a device that uses electric pulses to allow DNA or RNA through a cell membrane, a process called electroporation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne day in the lab, Byagathvalli had an idea: Could an everyday object do the same thing as one of these expensive devices? Using a phenomenon called piezoelectricity, barbecue lighters produce a small pulse of electricity each time they\u2019re clicked. Byagathvalli and Bhamla thought the small jolt would be enough for electroporation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe were staring at the computer screen, looking at the physics of the lighter, and we realized that it could electrocute cells,\u201d Byagathvalli said. \u201cThat\u2019s what sparked everything else \u2014 the realization that this tiny thing that we use every day could do the same thing as a $5,000 medical device.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EByagathvalli enrolled in Georgia Tech\u2019s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) program, and continued working in Bhamla\u2019s lab, gaining a hands-on education in chemical engineering along the way and continuing to refine the team\u2019s electroporation delivery platform.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter pioneering efforts in designing and developing the electroporation system, the team established a successful collaboration with esteemed researcher, Mark Prausnitz, to integrate the technology with microneedles. The cutting-edge platform resulting from this collaboration embodies Piezo Therapeutics\u0027 vision of leveraging innovation and ingenuity to improve the delivery of vaccines and other therapeutics in the pharmaceutical industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter graduating in January 2023, he announced the founding of Piezo Therapeutics (PiezoTx), a biotechnology startup focused on affordable vaccine delivery.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPiezoTx launched with $2 million in seed funding from Open Philanthropy. Byagathvalli credits its initial success to his co-founders: Bhamla, microneedle pioneer and ChBE Regents\u2019 Professor Mark Prausnitz, and Georgia Tech VentureLab Principal Cynthia Sundell.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe realized that our novel electroporator, combined with microneedle technology, could deliver vaccines at an ultra-low cost and without a battery,\u201d said Byagathvalli, who is the company\u2019s founding CEO. \u201cWe wanted to take it even further, to see how this technology could add value to society. Our mission is to make DNA and RNA vaccines safer, more accessible, and scalable for people all over the world.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the long term, Byagathvalli\u2019s dream is to leverage the team\u2019s technology to deliver a wide range of nucleic acid medicines through partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. He said their platform could close the financial and logistical gap between treatments and people who need them around the world, including in middle- and low-income countries.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is an environment where everyone is pushing the frontier of medicine to see what the next big thing that makes a difference could be,\u201d Byagathvalli said. \u201cI hope our company will encourage people to think outside of the box, to find really unorthodox solutions that will make a difference for the world.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EISyE alumnus has co-founded a biotechnology startup focused on affordable vaccine delivery based on Georgia Tech research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"ISyE alumnus has co-founded a biotechnology startup focused on affordable vaccine delivery based on Georgia Tech research. "}],"uid":"36284","created_gmt":"2023-05-04 12:21:59","changed_gmt":"2023-05-04 20:34:32","author":"chenriquez8","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-05-04T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-05-04T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"670751":{"id":"670751","type":"image","title":"Gaurav Byagathvalli","body":null,"created":"1683232369","gmt_created":"2023-05-04 20:32:49","changed":"1683232406","gmt_changed":"2023-05-04 20:33:26","alt":"Gaurav Byagathvalli","file":{"fid":"253672","name":"Gaurav - Alumni.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/05\/04\/Gaurav%20-%20Alumni.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/05\/04\/Gaurav%20-%20Alumni.png","mime":"image\/png","size":497669,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/05\/04\/Gaurav%20-%20Alumni.png?itok=rrLdIQJ_"}},"670685":{"id":"670685","type":"image","title":"Piezo Therapeutics Vaccine Delivery","body":null,"created":"1682950107","gmt_created":"2023-05-01 14:08:27","changed":"1683215249","gmt_changed":"2023-05-04 15:47:29","alt":"Piezo Therapeutics Vaccine Delivery","file":{"fid":"253591","name":"IMG_5463_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/05\/01\/IMG_5463_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/05\/01\/IMG_5463_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1038860,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/05\/01\/IMG_5463_0.jpg?itok=-Tip8rMP"}},"670687":{"id":"670687","type":"image","title":"Gaurav Byagathvalli, Founder of Piezo Therapeutics","body":null,"created":"1682950212","gmt_created":"2023-05-01 14:10:12","changed":"1683215171","gmt_changed":"2023-05-04 15:46:11","alt":"Gaurav Byagathvalli, Founder of Piezo Therapeutics","file":{"fid":"253593","name":"IMG_5433.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/05\/01\/IMG_5433.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/05\/01\/IMG_5433.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1736734,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/05\/01\/IMG_5433.jpg?itok=J1r7g46R"}}},"media_ids":["670751","670685","670687"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.piezotx.com\/","title":"Piezo Therapeutics"},{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/bbq-lighter-combined-microneedles-sparks-breakthrough-covid-19-vaccine-delivery","title":"BBQ Lighter, Combined With Microneedles, Sparks Breakthrough in Covid-19 Vaccine Delivery "},{"url":"https:\/\/chbe.gatech.edu\/people\/saad-bhamla","title":"Saad Bhamla"},{"url":"https:\/\/chbe.gatech.edu\/people\/mark-r-prausnitz","title":"Mark Prausnitz"},{"url":"https:\/\/venturelab.gatech.edu\/about-us\/","title":"Venture Lab"}],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEmma Ryan, Writer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}