Kevin Wang – UF Innovate

AI Could Help Strawberry Growers Find, Remove ‘Runners,’ Reducing Labor and Saving Time (UF/IFAS)

sooyoungryu — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:36:14 +0000

With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), farmers may soon find it easier to remove strawberry runners, which could save time and labor, University of Florida research shows.

Growers need all the help they can get to reduce production costs for an industry estimated at $500 million a year in Florida.

Strawberry plants can grow special stems called runners. These runners grow out from the main plant and make little baby plants – also known as “daughter plants.”

FDA Approves Blood Test Developed by Abbott, USAMMDA for Traumatic Brain Injury

Sara Dagen — Mon, 06 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved a blood test the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity at Fort Detrick worked on with Abbott Point of Care, which can detect signs of traumatic brain injury more quickly than a previous test by UF startup Banyan Biomarkers. Banyan’s biomarkers are used in the new device.

The i-STAT Alinity, a device created by Abbott, can test blood samples on a specific cartridge that USAMMDA developed and can deliver results in about 15 minutes. The device detects if a blood sample has elevated levels of specific biological markers, which indicate a brain bleed or injury.

If the sample has those elevated biological markers, the person can be transported from areas of combat to a hospital for a CT scan, USAMMDA product manager Damien Hoffman said.

USAMMDA develops new vaccines, drugs, devices, and other medical support equipment and leads medical product development for the U.S. Army. Abbott Point of Care is a division of Abbott Laboratories, a medical devices and healthcare company.

In 2018, UF startup Banyan Biomarkers received FDA approval for a blood test that detects the presence of two specific biomarkers — UCH-L1 and GFAP — to determine if a person has a mild brain injury. Banyan’s technology, which provides results in 3-4 hours, was discovered by a team of UF researchers, including Drs. Kevin Wang (Department of Psychiatry) and Ron Hayes (Department of Neuroscience) in the College of Medicine.

In 2019, Abbott received licensure from Banyan to use the company’s biomarkers on Abbott’s i-STAT Alinity device.

BioMérieux Receives CE Mark for Biomarker Assay for Mild TBI

Sara Dagen — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

BioMérieux has obtained the CE Mark for its assay to detect two biomarkers associated with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). On commercial products, the presence of the CE Mark indicates the manufacturer or importer of that product affirms it complies with European Union legislation.

In a statement, the company said that the commercial launch of the test in selected European, North African, and South American markets is planned for the last quarter of 2023; the firm plans to launch the test in the rest of the world throughout 2024 and 2025.

BioMérieux signed an agreement with UF startup Banyan Biomarkers in 2017 to commercialize Banyan’s TBI assay. In 2018, Banyan’s GFAP and UCH-L1 biomarker-based brain trauma indicator test received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance.

Banyan Biomarkers licensed technology discovered by Kevin Wang, Ronald Hayes, and Stanislav Svetlov and their team of inventors in the College of Medicine and IFAS. The company incubated at UF Innovate | Accelerate at Sid Martin Biotech.