Coulter Translational Research Partnership Program

Coulter Translational Research Partnership

Supports University of Michigan engineering and clinical teams in translating discoveries into practical health solutions.

The Coulter Translational Research Partnership Program is housed in the University of Michigan Department of Biomedical Engineering and was established with a $20 million endowment from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation in 2006. The program is the flagship translational funding mechanism within U-M BME, designed to bridge early biomedical engineering discoveries to clinical and commercial readiness. Since its founding through 2023, Coulter-funded teams have launched 22 start-up companies and raised more than $544 million in angel and venture capital.

The program awards approximately $1.2 million per year distributed across ten multidisciplinary teams, implying a typical individual award in the range of $100,000–$150,000 per team. Eligible applicants must be U-M faculty: at minimum one engineering faculty principal investigator — typically affiliated with BME — paired with at least one clinically active faculty co-PI. The annual cycle (FY25 cohort announced August 2024) supports allowable work including pre-clinical testing, prototype validation, benchtop manufacturing strategy development, animal model studies, and early clinical validation. No matching funds or revenue thresholds are required.

Applications are managed through U-M BME and evaluated by the Coulter Oversight Committee chaired by Department Chair Mary-Ann Mycek. Managing Director Tom Marten (tmarten@umich.edu) coordinates applicant engagement. The program does not publish a public RFP portal; prospective applicants should contact the BME department directly. Teams that advance IP toward licensable assets or spinout formation represent the strongest competitive fit, consistent with the program's track record of producing 22 companies from fewer than two decades of cohorts.