The inaugural Nanotechnology New Ventures Competition was held on the campus of Purdue University on Friday, March 25.
LightSprite, led by Notre Dame physics professors Steven Ruggiero and Carol Tanner, finished second and received $15,000.
Ruggiero and Tanner launched LightSprite for creating a platform designed to characterize nanoparticles and pathogens, a process that has environmental applications in invasive species detection as well as monitoring geometrical characteristics of proteins.
The five finalists who presented that day were selected by judges from an initial list of 23 entries. To compete, contestants were required to be affiliated with the state of Indiana through a public or private university or college, or another state-supported organization.
(Here is a previous news story with more details on this reserch: http://physics.nd.edu/news/18479-research-of-profs-tanner-and-ruggiero-featured/ .)