Seven New York state businesses have been awarded funding to participate in the Cornell Center for Materials Research JumpStart Program, through which they will collaborate with Cornell faculty members to develop and improve their products.

The program is supported by Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), with the ultimate goals of revenue growth and job creation. JumpStart projects receive up to $5,000 in matching funds for project costs that include faculty and research staff time, facilities, services, supplies and materials.

Since the program’s inception in 2005, 87 companies have benefited.

This semester’s projects include:

• Íko Systems (Ithaca) and Re-Nuble (Brooklyn), in collaboration with Neil Mattson, professor and greenhouse extension specialist in the Horticulture Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science, will develop weed-free growth media that have been recycled and infused with Re-Nuble organic nutrients formulated specifically for use in the Íko grow system, a climate-controlled herb garden. Iko Systems was started by a team of engineers, designers and botanists at Cornell.
• Ionica Sciences (Ithaca) was awarded a second semester of funding to collaborate with Christopher Umbach, professor of materials science and engineering, to improve a system that detects the “Raman scattering” of laser light passing through a sample, which reveals molecular structure and can identify organic molecules. The first test under development is an assay for Lyme disease in humans and animals.
• Lab141 (Brooklyn and Syracuse) will collaborate with Anil Netravali, professor of fiber science and apparel design, to perform microscopic analysis and seam strength and repeated washing trials on fabric samples joined by an adhesive bonding technology.
• Optimax Systems (Ontario) will collaborate with Rebecca Williams and Teresa Porri from Cornell’s Biotechnology Resource Center’s imaging facility to develop new methods to inspect materials used to make optical devices by using micro X-ray CT scanning and Raman spectroscopy, which measures the wavelengths of light emitted by molecules hit with laser light to identify them.
• Vital Vio (Troy) will collaborate with Warren Zipfel, professor of biomedical engineering, on the characterization of phosphorous wavelength conversion coatings for use on antibacterial LED lamps.
• Zymtronix Catalytic Systems (Ithaca) will collaborate with Umbach to characterize specific porosity and strength characteristics of porous customizable materials for biomanufacturing.

NYSTAR supports collaborative industry/academic partnerships to foster integrated approaches for developing and commercializing innovative technologies and serves as a resource for small and startup technology companies.