SBA Names Finalists for InnovateHER Business Challenge

Monday, January 25, 2016

Vibronix finalist in nationwide competition

Second-year Krannert School of Management MBA student Adam Beal is Vibronix’s Vice President of Finance and is responsible for financial projections, business planning, business development and strategy.

Vibronix was selected after SBA officials received more than 180 semifinalist nominations in the InnovateHER: Innovating for Women Business Challenge. The challenge was launched in August with over 200 local competitions, including at Purdue, to highlight innovative products and services designed to empower the lives of women and families.

Vibronix, which won the Purdue competition, is commercializing an intraoperative breast cancer assessment tool called MarginPAT. The tool helps remove a tumor within one surgical operation and eliminate the risk of a second operation.

The 10 finalists will pitch their products and ideas to a panel of expert judges at the national competition on March 17 in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with Women’s History Month.

The company was founded by Ji-Xin Cheng and Pu Wang aiming to development advanced imaging and sensing technologies for disease treatment and diagnosis. Cheng is a professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical engineering at Purdue. Wang is a graduate from the Weldon School of Biomedical engineering.

Beal received his BS in Microbiology from Colorado State University and has founded several companies with over $3 million in career sales.

Other members of the Virbonix team are Rui Li, a PhD candidate from the Weldon School of Biomedical engineering and Lu Lan, a PhD student from the Weldon School of Biomedical engineering.

Timothy Peoples, the Entrepreneur in Residence and the Regulatory Affairs Officer for the Purdue Foundry, is the company's advisor.