In 2009, an NEI grant of $65,000 to the Kauffman Foundation supported the inclusion of a Michigan-based fellow in Kauffman’s Entrepreneur Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

Through Kauffman’s highly competitive process, Timothy Marzullo was selected for his innovative research. In early 2009, Tim co-founded "Backyard Brains." whose mission is to expand neuroscience knowledge in the general public through the design and fabrication of inexpensive neurophysiology tools for the secondary school, early undergraduate and amateur scientist markets. The idea began as a self-imposed engineering challenge between Tim and his collaborator Greg Gage to improve neuroscience outreach to local schools. The enthusiastic response from colleagues and educators nationally to early prototypes of the "SpikerBox" and the "Ganglionizer" was sufficiently overwhelming that Backyard Brains was formed to take the project out of the workshop and into the hands of students around the country.

As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Marzullo will learn how to evaluate his research for commercial potential and the process to take promising research forward to commercialization. Each of the Kauffman fellows also benefits from a business mentor, a customized internship experience and intensive entrepreneurship workshops at the Kauffman Foundation, where they have the opportunity to network and learn from each other and from entrepreneurship experts.

Key Metrics and Indicators

• Increased current technology transfer through entrepreneur fellowships
• Funds raised through government grants and private financing

For more information please visit, http://www.kauffman.org/entrepreneurship/entrepreneur-postdoctoral-fello...

Join them on Facebook

Follow them the Kauffman Foundation on TwitterTwitter @ KauffmanFDN

Watch their Latest YouTube Video.