Winners of the BWH "Shark Tank" competition pose with ABC's "Shark Tank" personality Kevin O'Leary (center). From left: Benjamin Humphreys, Tracy Young-Pearse, O'Leary, Aditi Hazra and Jeff Karp.

Winners of the BWH “Shark Tank-style” competition pose with ABC’s “Shark Tank” personality Kevin O’Leary (center). From left: Benjamin Humphreys, Tracy Young-Pearse, O’Leary, Aditi Hazra and Jeff Karp.

On June 4, the Brigham Research Institute, along with Brigham Innovation Hub, held its “Shark Tank-style” competition in Bornstein Amphitheater, where BWH scientists competed for funding for their novel research projects. Excitement was in the air as BWHers gathered to hear innovative project pitches, as well as catch a glimpse of ABC’s “Shark Tank” venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary, who volunteered his time to co-moderate the event.

“This event provided an avenue to broadly publicize and support highly innovative projects by BWH scientists that may eventually lead to discoveries that will improve patient care and treatment,” said co-moderator Christine Seidman, MD, director, Brigham Research Institute.

Eight BWH scientists, selected from a pool of 70 applicants, were each given five minutes to pitch their research projects to a 14-person judging panel, followed by an intense question-and-answer session. Seidman and O’Leary both served on the panel, which was comprised of BWH scientists and prominent business industry leaders. After thoughtful deliberation, the judges selected four winners, who each received $50,000 grants to advance their ideas:

Aditi Hazra, PhD, Channing Division of Network Medicine, pitched a study to prevent unnecessary cancer treatment in women with ductal carcinoma in situ, the most common type of non-invasive breast cancer.

Benjamin Humphreys, MD, PhD, BWH Renal Division, pitched work focused on targeting scar tissue to treat heart failure and chronic kidney disease.

Jeff Karp, PhD, BWH Biomedical Engineering Division, presented ways to stabilize bacteria living in the gut as a way to treat intestinal diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease.

Tracy Young-Pearse, PhD, BWH Department of Neurology, presented work on better understanding why some parts of the brain are resistant to Alzheimer’s disease.

View more photos from the event.