The Office of Technology Licensing has announced the 2025 recipients of the GT NEXT awards, a grant that helps students advance their inventions toward market readiness. Providing early momentum for promising technologies, the grants help students move their research toward real-world impact. 

This year’s selection committee chose projects focused on artificial intelligence, therapeutic drug development, data privacy, energy efficiency, and cancer treatment.

Awardees

Ryan Kern
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Project: 3-HPT Derivatives for Cancer Treatment

Kern is developing small-molecule chemotherapy drugs to treat metastatic breast cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer. His team has shown promising in vitro results and will use GT NEXT funding to evaluate the compounds in vivo.

“The ultimate goal is clinical use,” Kern said. “We want to translate this research from the lab bench into patient care.”

James Read
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project: Compute-in-Memory Neural Processor

Read’s team is building a chip that performs AI computations inside memory, reducing energy consumption by up to 80 times compared to GPUs (graphics processing units). The funding will support fabrication of a prototype through GlobalFoundries’ 28-nanometer process.

“Our compute-in-memory circuits let us run AI models without shuttling data back and forth between memory and processors,” Read said. “GT NEXT funding lets us fabricate the prototype chip that proves this concept.”

Jianming Tong
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project: Private Inference as a Service

Tong is developing a privacy-preserving infrastructure for AI systems that does not require hardware modifications. The system supports real-time privacy in sensitive sectors such as healthcare and finance. GT NEXT funding will support testing and validation.

“The future of AI will demand not only performance, but trust,” Tong said.

Ali Zamat
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Project: Membrane-Bound Immunotherapy Using GATEs

Zamat is developing an mRNA-based cancer therapy that trains tumors to activate immune responses. GT NEXT funding will support early testing in head and neck cancer models.

“This strategy could lead to safer, more precise treatments,” Zamat said. “We hope to expand GATEs to other cancers and eventually autoimmune disease.”

Ashkan Zandi 
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project: VibraScope — Radiation-Free Detection of Lung Nodules

Zandi is developing VibraScope, a radiation-free platform that uses chest-surface vibrations and AI analysis to detect lung nodules. GT NEXT funding will support testing with patient-derived models to validate the technology.

“This approach could make lung cancer screening more accessible,” Zandi said. “Our goal is to move VibraScope closer to clinical use.”

About GT NEXT

GT NEXT provides early-stage funding to graduate students and postdocs with at least one year of research experience. Eligible applicants must submit a new invention disclosure tied to Georgia Tech-owned intellectual property. Funding can be used for project-related expenses such as materials, equipment, and prototyping. Salary, tuition, travel, and overhead are not allowed.

Awardees are required to submit progress updates at six and 12 months and may be invited to present at Tech Meet, a showcase for emerging Georgia Tech technologies.

To learn more or submit an invention disclosure, visit the Office of Technology Licensing website.