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Congratulations to Leo Williams and Kalen Hall – Provost’s Proof of Concept Fund Winner
March 2023
Title: A precision diagnostic for antibiotic resistance using machine learning
Read More >>

Congratulations to Katelynn Montgomery - TRICS Poster Winner
March 2023
Author: Katelynn Montgomery, Biomedical Engineering/Bioinnovation
Title: Characterization of extracellular vesicles from human amniotic fluid and amniotic membrane cells
Read More >>

Congratulations to Biomedical Engineering faculty – Dr. Donald Gaver, Dr. Michael Moore and Dr. Yu-Ping Wang!
November 2022
Congratulations to our faculty who received recognition at the Tulane Research, Scholarship, & Artistic Achievement Awards celebration!
Dr. Michael Moore - Innovation Award
Dr. Yu-Ping Wang - Convergence Award
Dr. Donald Gaver - Special Presidential Award for Academic Leadership

Alumni business featured on WWL-TV
November 2022
Nicholas Pashos, Tulane Bioinnovation graduate and founder of BioAesthetics, along with Billy Heim, Tulane Bioinnovation graduate and BioAesthetics COO, were featured on WWL-TV discussing their areola reconstruction technique for cancer survivors.
Read the full story here >>

Congratulations to Kimberly Ashman, PhD
August 2022
Congratulations to Kimber Ashman on successfully completing her doctoral studies. She presented her dissertation defense, “Expert-in-the-Loop Slide Image Acquisition and Analytics for Clinical Pathology”, on August 25, 2022. 
 
Congratulations to Kaylynn J. Genemaras, PhD
August 2022
Congratulations to Kaylynn Genemaras on successfully completing her doctoral studies. She presented her dissertation defense, “The Application of Electrochemical Techniques for the Point-of-Care Quantification of HIV in Two Novel Microfluidic Devices”, on August 15, 2022.

Congratulations to Asis Lopez, PhD
May 2022
Congratulations to Asis Lopez who have been selected to receive the Tulane 34 Award!

The Tulane 34 Award is presented to 34 graduates (both undergraduates and graduate/professional students) who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate life at Tulane University. Students are recognized for their exemplary leadership, service, and academic excellence.  Named for the year in which the University was founded, 1834, Tulane 34 is among the most coveted university-wide honor bestowed upon students.

The official Tulane 34 Awards Ceremony and Reception was held on Thursday, May 1, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Woldenberg Art Center.

Congratulations to Bioinnovation PhD Candidate Beenish Patel
March 2022
Beenish was selected for the CCTS Predoctoral Clinical/Translational Research (TL1) fellowship awards to begin July 2022-June 2023.  Below are details of her award:

Congratulations to Asis Lopez, PhD
December 2021
Congratulations to Asis Lopez on completing his doctoral studies. He presented his dissertation defense, “Regulatory Tools for Ultrasound Activated Microbubble Products for Neurological Applications: Predicting Vessel Ruptures”, on December 3, 2021.

Congratulations to Owen Richfield, PhD
May 2021
Congratulations to Owen Richfield on completing his doctoral studies. He presented his dissertation defense, “DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS MODEL OF THE GLOMERULUS FOR USE IN GLOMERULUS-ON-A-CHIP DESIGN”, on April 14, 2021.

Congratulations to Bioinnovation PhD Candidate Rani Brooks
April 2021
During this reporting period, Team BioPhoundry, Rani Brooks (Cohort 6) and Jordan Kravitz, were the winners at the 2021 Tulane Novel Tech Challenge.  Bacteriophage, or “phage”, are viruses that prey upon pathogenic bacteria, hijacking their host cells to replicate without causing damage to human cells. Personalized phage therapy, a precision approach to antibiotics, can cure bacterial infections resistant to even the most potent chemical antibiotics. However, the current phage therapy is slow (2-6 months) due to bottlenecks in phage production and purification. BioPhoundry is overcoming these bottlenecks by developing a universal bacteriophage synthesis platform to rapidly produce ready-to-use custom phage. They will receive the Burton D. Morgan Foundation prize of $10,000.

M2D2 Announces 2021 $200K Challenge Finalists!
March 2021
D&P Bioinnovations (Derek Dashti – Bioinnovation Alum) is in the Top 15 M2D2 (Advancing Med Device & Biotech Innovations)  $200K Challenge Finalists.
 
Instapath Awarded Small Business Innovation Research Phase II Award from National Science Foundation
March 2021
Instapath (Dr. David Tulman – Bioinnovation Alum) has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $1,000,000 to continue development of an integrated technology platform that automates the entire process of tissue histology and creates digital pathology images.

Congratulations to Bioinnovation PhD Candidates Katie Hebert and Maryl Wright
February 2021
Maryl and Katie (both in the laboratory of Matthew E. Burow and Bridgette Collins-Burow in the School of Medicine, Section of Hematology and Oncology) were selected for the CCTS Predoctoral Clinical/Translational Research (TL1) fellowship awards to begin July 2021-June 2022. This program provides fellows with a collaborative mentored research experience to develop projects that address health disparities and/or diseases that disproportionately affect the Deep South. The program will also provide partial stipend support, travel, and additional training obligations/opportunities. Selection for these competitive awards is a testament to the track record and rigor of the Bioinnovation program, the leadership and quality of students accepted to the program, and the support and integration with the strong research programs and environment at Tulane that have facilitated this success.

BioAesthetics Announces a $5M Series A to Commercialize NACgraft, a Regenerative Nipple Graft for Breast Cancer Survivors
January 2021
BioAesthetics Corporation (Dr. Nick Pashos – Bioinnovation Alum) today announced that it has doubled its initial Series A funding goal of $2.5 million, closed on Dec. 30, 2020, at $5 million to commercialize its NACgraft biologic matrix— a regenerative nipple graft for breast cancer survivors.

BioAesthetics and Tulane awarded grant to develop new advanced wound-care graft
January 2021
The National Science Foundation has awarded a $250,000 grant to BioAesthetics Corp. (Nick Pashos) to develop a new advanced wound-care product for treating bed sores or pressure ulcers.
 
Congratulations to Benjamin O'Donnell, PhD.
December 2020
Congratulations to Benjamin O'Donnell on completing his doctoral studies. He presented his dissertation defense, “Osteoarthritic Synovial Knee Joint Microphysiological System: Modeling Adipose and Diabetic-Mediated Complications”, on November 19, 2020.

Congratulations to Mitchell L. Fullerton, PhD.
December 2020
Congratulations to Mitchell L. Fullerton on completing his doctoral studies. He presented his dissertation defense, “Translating Ophthalmologic Drug Delivery Systems from the Bench to Clinical Trials”, on November 24, 2020.

Congratulations to Pete Lawson, PhD.
December 2020
Congratulations to Pete Lawson on completing his doctoral studies. He presented his dissertation defense, “Persistent Homology for the Quantification of Prostate Cancer Morphology in Two and Three-Dimensional Histology”, on August 28, 2020.

Congratulations to Benjamin Vinson, PhD.
July 2020
Congratulations to Benjamin Vinson on completing his doctoral studies. He presented his dissertation defense, " CAD/CAM LASER PROCESSING AS A METHOD FOR INTEGRATED FABRICATION OF MICROPHYSIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS", on July 27, 2020.

Congratulations to Bioinnovation PhD Candidate Katelynn Montgomery
April 2020
The winners of the 2020 Novel Tech Challenge are Team Naomi. Congratulations to Katelynn Montgomery, Ann Marie Barfield, and Sara Al-Ghadban! They will receive the Burton D. Morgan Foundation prize of $10,000.

Congratulations to Bioinnovation PhD Candidate Rani Brooks
October 2019
Rani is awarded a Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program Discovery Award in the amount of $280,826 from the Department of Defense on October 4, 2019. Rani’s Project Title: "Toxin-Free Host-Independent Synthesis of Bacteriophage of Gram-Negative Pathogens.” This is award is underwritten by Dr. Lisa Morici at Tulane School of Medicine and Dr. Nicholas Sandoval at Tulane School of Science and Engineering.

Q&A: BioAesthetics co-founder and CEO, Nick Pashos, on Transforming Nipple Reconstruction
August 2019
Bioinnovation alumn, Nick Pashos, talks about Transforming Nipple Reconstruction.  Read more >>
 
Congratulations to Bioinnovation PhD Candidate Maryl Wright
July 2019
Maryl is awarded a Diversity Supplement grant, a 2 year award, in the amount of $65,748 from the  National Institutes of Health on July 25, 2019. Project Title: "Kinase mediated suppression of metastasis in breast cancer."
 
PhD grad’s mission is saving lives
May 2019
During his doctoral studies at Tulane, Derek Dashti developed an organ regenerative implant technology designed to regenerate a damaged esophagus to treat esophageal cancer. It’s a platform for regenerating other organs as well. Now he and his team are accruing honors and accolades for their work.  Read more >>

Congratulations to Dr. Donald Gaver, Director of the Bioinnovation PhD program and Biomedical engineering professor
May 2019
Biomedical engineering professor Donald Gaver to help find better treatment for respiratory disease
Read More >>

Congratulations to Samantha L. Kurtz, PhD.
April 2019
Congratulations to Samantha Kurtz on completing her doctoral studies. She presented her dissertation defense, “Diffusion Kinetics, Ductal Targeting, and Efficacy of Transpapillary Drug Delivery for Breast Cancer Prevention”, on April 24, 2019.

Congratulations to Derek C. Dashti, PhD.
April 2019
Congratulations to Derek Dashti on completing his doctoral studies. He presented his dissertation defense, "Bioengineering an Anti-inflammatory Decellularized Electrospun Polycaprolactone/Chitosan Hollow Tube for Organ Repair: 1st Therapeutic Application for the Esophagus", on January 23, 2019.

Congratulations to Bioinnovation PhD Candidate Jessica Motherwell
March 2019
The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant of $50,000 to Jessica to support of her project entitled “I-Corps:  High-Content Tissue Assay for Oncology Drug Screening.”

Congratulations to Bioinnovation PhD Candidate Owen Richfield
January 2019
Owen is awarded a National Research Service Award Fellowship in the amount of $54,032 from the National Institutes of Health on January 7, 2019.  Owen’s Project Title:  Development of a computational biomechanics model of the glomerulus to assess risk of mechanical stress-induced glomerular injury in conditions of reduced afferent arteriole vasoconstrictive response."

Bioinnovation Student Wins Three Minute Thesis Competition
December 2018
Samantha Kurtz, a graduate student in the Bioinnovation program, won the Tulane University Three Minute Thesis Competition. Samantha will participate in the regional competition in February, 2019.
Watch the Video >>

Congratulations to David Tulman, PhD.
November 2018
Congratulations to David Tulman on completing his doctoral studies. He presented his dissertation defense, “Quantitative Evaluation and Optimization of Video-Rate Structured Illumination Microscopy (VR-SIM) for Clinical Applications in Point-of-Procedure Tissue Assessment”, on November 26, 2018.

Congratulations to Karolina A. Kosakowska, PhD.
November 2018
Congratulations to Karolina A. Kosakowska on completing her doctoral studies. She presented her dissertation defense, “Controlled Self-Assembly of Non-Linear Amphiphilic Polymers for the Therapeutic Drug Delivery Application: Polymer Architecture and the Transdermal Route”, on November 26, 2018.

43 North 2018 semi-finalist
August  2018
D&P Bioinnovations (Derek Dashti) is a 43 North 2018 semi-finalist. The semifinalists will take part in live video pitches and reviewed by a panel of over 40 volunteer judges through the remainder of July. Up to 20 semi-finalists will be selected to participate in 43North Finals on October 3 at Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo.  Read more >>

Congratulations to Alexej Gossman, PhD
July 2018
Congratulations to Alexej Gossman on completing his doctoral studies. He presented his dissertation defense, "Regaining Control of False Findings in Feature Selection, Classification, and Prediction on Neuroimaging and Genomics Data", on July 11, 2018.

MIT-CHIEF 2018 China Initiative Prize
May 2018
D&P Bioinnovations (Derek Dashti) was awarded the MIT-CHIEF 2018 China Initiative Prize.
Read more >>

Biomedical Engineering Teams Shine at 2018 Novel Tech Challenge
May 2018
Jessica Motherwell and Nick Hodges scored the runner-up $4,000 prize in the competition’s experienced division for their product called MesoVue — a tissue on a chip device for preclinical drug screening.
Read More >>

Winner of Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission (JEDCO) Challenge
May 2018
Great piece on Instapath Inc. featuring COO David Tulman.  Instapath is a start up company in Jefferson Parish that has developed new imaging technology to aid in the evaluation of possible cancer biopsies.  Read more >>
 
Instapath was selected as Semi-Finalists to the 2018 Rice Business Plan Competition
April 2018
Instapath was selected as Semi-Finalists to the 2018 Rice Business Plan Competition, winning the $25,000 Texas Medical Center Accelerator Prize and the $15,000 Women’s Health and Wellness Prize. Instapath was also automatically admitted to the TMCx accelerator in Houston, TX. Read more >>

2017 Flatley Challenge winners announced
January 2018
Vybe Software and D&P Bioinnovations (Derek Dashti) to receive $10,000 and 5,000 square feet of workspace. Read More >>

Congratulations to Nicholas Pashos, PhD
December 2017
Congratulations to Nicholas Pashos on completing his doctoral studies.  He presented his dissertation defense, “Generation and Characterization of a Novel Biologically-Derived Accelular Nipple-Areolar Complex Allograft”, on December 13, 2017.

Bioinnovation PhD Candidates Kaylynn Genemaras and Samantha Kurtz Awarded NOBIC Internships
August 2017
Fourth-year Bioinnovation PhD candidate Samantha Kurtz and third-year Bioinnovation PhD candidate Kaylynn Genemaras have joined the New Orleans BioInnovation Center's team of life science experts in technology, business, research, and law develops programs to help launch and grow tomorrow’s leading bio and healthcare companies. Sam will serve as the BioFund Research Associate and Kay as the NOBIC Commercialization Intern. Read More >>

Bioinnovation PhD Candidate takes internship in the Tulane Office of Technology Transfer
August 2017
Tulane's Office of Technology Transfer facilitates the university-wide endeavor to translate research. The office oversees intellectual property and commercialization of student and faculty projects and connects researchers with industry professionals. Fourth-year Bioinnovation PhD candidate Mitchell Fullerton will be interning for the 2017-2018 academic year. Read More >>

Tulane Team Wins International Business Model Competition
May 2017
For the last five years, the International Business Model Competition has brought together top student-led startups from around the world to compete for cash. A New Orleans-based biotech startup from Tulane, Instapath Bioptics, took home the $30,000 grand prize at the 2017 competition in Mountain View, CA. Read More >>

Tulane Bioinnovation PhD Student Nicholas Pashos Lands Silicon Valley Biotech Deal
April 2017
A team from one of the nation’s hottest biotech sectors tapped Tulane Bioinnovation PhD student Nicholas Pashos to join an intensive, four-month program in San Francisco to fast-track high-potential startups. Biotech accelerator IndieBio will invest $250,000 in Pashos’ company BioAesthetics to help him develop his innovation that aims to transform breast reconstruction surgery. Pashos invented an experimental graft that he hopes plastic surgeons can use to regenerate a nipple and areola for complete breast restoration after cancer treatment. Read More >>

Winners named in 2017 Novel Tech Challenge
April 2017
The judges of the Tulane Novel Tech Challenge awarded grand prizes to Instapath (experienced category) and Thoraco Therapeutics (novice category) on April 19 in the third annual competition sponsored by the Burton D. Morgan Foundation. Read More >>

Instapath Biopics LLC Wins $10K ‘Get Started Louisiana’ Pitch Competition
March 2017
Instapath Biopics LLC, that offers an imaging system that rapidly displays important biopsy features for diagnosis, allowing patients to avoid having to wait the standard two weeks for diagnosis, was named the winner of the “Get Started Louisiana” pitch competition, Wednesday, March 22, at the Contemporary Arts Center as part of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week. Read More >>

Tulane Student Innovation Teams Complete NSF I-Corps Program
December 2016
Two teams of graduate student innovators from Tulane University recently completed the intensive National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program. This competitive nationwide program prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research. Read More >>

Bioinnovation PhD Candidate leads STEM Challenge Team to Victory
December 2016
Third-year Bioinnovation PhD candidate Mitchell Fullerton captained a high school team for the GMiS STEM showdown. The competition is sponsored by stem and aims to attract under represented minorities into STEM fields. Mitchell received a scholarship and a trip to the GMiS Conference in California. Read More >>

D&P Bioinnovations Selected for MassChallenge 2016 Accelerator
May 2016
Today Tulane Bioinnovation PhD Candidate Derek Dashti announced that his company, D&P Bioinnovations, will join MassChallenge Boston, the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet. One of 128 startups participating, D&P Bioinnovations will benefit from mentorship, office space, and a vast network of experienced entrepreneurs, corporate partners, and investors. In November, all MassChallenge Boston startups will compete for $1.5M total in cash awards with no equity taken. Read More >>

Doctoral student Asis Lopez Named to National Board of STEM Group
April 2016
The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) announces the election of Asis Lopez, a Tulane doctoral student, to its board of directors. Read More >>

Bioinnovation PhD candidates win big at the 2016 Rice Business Plan and Tulane Business Model Competitions
April 2016
Derek Dashti and Karolina Kosakowska of Dashti's company D&P Bioinnovations were among only 15 out of 750 international applicants to advance to the semi-finals at the Rice Business Plan Competition, where they were awarded fifth place, $2,000 and an invitation to participate in the prestigious EFN virtual accelerator program this summer. In addition, Nicholas Pashos and David Tulman, representing Pashos' company BioAesthetics, brought home the $25,000 Women’s Health and Wellness Prize and first place in a challenge round for $1,000. This very same weekend, Samantha Kurtz, representing BioAesthetics, was awarded third place and $2,500 at the Tulane Business Model Competition. Read More >>

Bioinnovation PhD fellows present their ‘novel’ ideas
April 2016
Kaylynn Genemaras of Cyclic Solutions, Samantha Kurtz of NanotHERapy, and Nicholas Pashos of BioAesthetics were three of among eight student teams to participate in the 2016 Novel Tech Challenge at Tulane University. Throughout the academic year, each group received support and guidance from faculty mentors and experienced entrepreneurial alumni and parents to advance their technologies. Pashos' BioAesthetics was awarded the first-place experienced team prize for his acellular, tissue-engineered nipple-areola construct for patients undergoing post-mastectomy breast reconstruction. Read More >>

Extra Extra! Bioinnovation fellow Nicholas Pashos reveals “his invention that has doctors talking"
February 2016
Nicholas Pashos of BioAesthetics was featured in the evening news discussing his doctoral research into the regeneration of the nipple-areolar complex for patients who have had a mastectomy. This technology is poised to change the lives of women and men facing breast cancer: "There are 2.8 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States, so this is a huge community and I think that hopefully, I can help out at some point," said Pashos, who works in the Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at Tulane Medical School. Read More >>

D&P Bioinnovations Named a Finalist in Global Startup Open
November 2015
The annual Startup Open is a competition for new startups that honors the GEW 50 -- 50 of the most promising ventures from around the world selected based on their growth potential, creativity, level of development, and pitching skills. D&P Bioinnovations, founded by Tulane Bioinnovation PhD candidate Derek Dashti, has been named to the GEW 50 out of more than 800 global applicants. D&P is developing an implantable medical device to regenerate a damaged esophagus. These startups now compete for a grand prize trip to the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Congress. Read More >>

Tulane spinoff's pitch for better breast reconstruction wins $25,000 prize
November 2015
Nicholas Pashos, a Bioinnovation fellow in his fourth year and co-founder of BioAesthetics, took home $25,000 in seed funding after being named winner of the New Orleans BioInnovation Center's 2015 BioChallenge pitch competition. BioAesthetics is dedicated to Nick's doctoral research of developing a skin graft technology of the nipple and areola complex for use on breast cancer survivors who undergo mastectomies. Read More >>

Tulane teams win big in international NIH Neuro StartUp Challenge
May 2015
For the second year in a row, two teams led by Tulane graduates and graduate students (including Bioinnovation PhD fellow Mitchell Fullerton) are among the winners of the Neuro StartUp Challenge, an international competition designed to bring National Institutes of Health medical inventions to market. Tulane's Estia Pharmaceuticals and Vascular Therapeutics were among only 13 teams selected as winners of the challenge, which attracted more than 70 teams. Read More >>

Bioinnovation fellow places in national and international business model competitions
April-May 2015
Derek Dashti of D&P Bioinnovations placed second out of over 50 high-potential ventures across the country in the 2015 Tulane Business Model Competition and seventh of 8,832 teams representing 15 countries in the 2015 International Business Model Competition. These funds will support the development and commercialization of Derek's PhD research of an implantable, bioresorbable medical device to regenerate a diseased or damaged esophagus. Read More >>

Winner selected in first Novel Tech Challenge
April 2015
A device to help regenerate an esophagus took home the top prize at the inaugural Novel Tech Challenge at Tulane University. The winning entry will aid injuries caused by diseases such as cancer, says Derek Dashti, a doctoral student studying bioinnovation at Tulane. Read More >>

Tulane Bioinnovation PhD students awarded a VentureWell E-Team Stage 1 Grant
November 2014
Derek Dashti and Nicholas Pashos, representing their company D&P Bioinnovations, were awarded a Stage 1 E-Team grant to support Derek's doctoral research project. Derek and Nick were one of 50 student teams from across the country to be awarded this grant by VentureWell. This program provides $5000 in funding and an experiential workshop on how to better articulate the opportunity for their innovation in the marketplace. Read More >>

Team of Tulane Biomedical and Bioinnovation students awarded $44,000 at international Rice Business Plan Competition
April 2014
Bioinnovation fellow Derek Dashti worked with a team of Tulane Biomedical Engineers to represent the startup company Tympanogen, LLC in the global Rice Business Plan Competition. Tympanogen has developed a gel patch technology for the non-surgical repair of chronic eardrum perforations. This year 500 international teams submitted and 42 teams were invited to the Business Plan Competition. Of those 42, Tympanogen was awarded 5th place, $44,000 and an interview by FORTUNE Magazine. Read More >>
Earlier in the week, Tympanogen also won 1st place and $25,000 in Tulane's Business Model Competition and has advanced to the International Business Model Competition in Provo, UT. Read More >>

Forbes ranks New Orleans top "Brainpower City" in the nation
April 2014
The New Orleans metro area’s population of college graduates grew by 44,000 from 2007 to 2012, a 20.3% increase, nearly double the national average of 10.9%. (The percentage of college grads in the U.S. stood at 19.4% in 2012, up from 18% in 2007.) In addition, numerous technology, videogame and media businesses have chosen to establish operations in the metro area during this time, including General Electric, Paris-based Gameloft and the satellite communications company Globalstar, which in 2010 moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Covington, a prosperous suburb of the Crescent City. Read More >>

IGERT brings new Bioinnovation Program to Tulane and New Orleans
November 2012
For only the third time since its 1997 inception, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award has been granted to a Louisiana higher education institution. Tulane University, a first-time recipient of this grant, is one of 18 schools across the country to receive the award this year. IGERT is NSF’s flagship interdisciplinary training program educating U.S. PhD scientists and engineers by building on their disciplinary foundations. Read More >>

Seeking scientists with business sense
September 2012
Donald P. Gaver is looking for serious science students who possess a penchant for taking entrepreneurial risks. Gaver, the Alden J. “Doc” Laborde professor and chair of biomedical engineering, is directing a new interdisciplinary PhD program in bioinnovation at Tulane University. Read More >>

Science and Entrepreneurship
Summer 2012
The innovative spirit of New Orleans is showing up in new and surprising ways. The city is on the verge of becoming a hub of bioinnovation. Its bioscience is poised to be as inspired as its food, music and architecture... The ideal candidate for the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship, a new PhD program in bioinnovation directed by Gaver and funded by the National Science Foundation, is a top-notch scientist as well as a driven entrepreneur. Read More >>