UAB teams took first and second place and a combined $150,000 prize money in the annual Alabama Launchpad business plan competition.

Innovative Composite Solutions, a team led by Selvum Pillay, an assistant professor of engineering, won first place and $100,000. Innovative Composite Solutions specializes in the design, development and manufacture of high-end thermoplastic composite components for the military, aerospace, mass transit and other high-demand industry sectors.

A thermoplastic composite material is a lightweight, recyclable, heat-reversible and fiber-reinforced plastic.  The company provides turnkey solutions for the replacement of metal components and structures in applications that demand improved performance.
 
Spectrum Phenom X, a team led by Sharney Logan, the director of Business Development for the UAB Center for Biophysical Science and Engineering, placed second in the Alabama Launchpad business plan competition and won $50,000.

The group, a joint venture between UAB and the University of Alabama, develops and applies high-throughput phenotyping techniques to streamline the analysis of complex genetic diseases, such as cancer and obesity.  These techniques provide a quantitative and genomic assessment of how variant genes can change activities of cellular pathways that can trigger specific disease processes.

Visit www.alabamalaunchpad.com for more on the competition.