Chemical engineering alumnus, professor win first place and $100K in Alabama Launchpad Life Sciences Division finals
Published: Jun 29, 2026 9:25 AM
By Joe McAdory
Co-founded by former Auburn graduate student researcher Yuan Tian, right, and Elizabeth Lipke, the Uthlaut Endowed Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, the biotech business venture develops tissue engineered 3D tumor models designed to improve the reliability of preclinical cancer drug testing.
Auburn Engineering‑based startup VivoSphere won first place and $100,000 in non-dilutive funding at Alabama Launchpad’s 2026 Cycle 1 Life Sciences Division finals on May 14 in Birmingham.
Co-founded by former Auburn graduate student researcher Yuan Tian (PhD ’20, chemical engineering) and Elizabeth Lipke, the Uthlaut Endowed Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, the biotech business venture develops tissue‑engineered 3D tumor models designed to improve the reliability of preclinical cancer drug testing.
“Dr. Lipke and I share a vision to create real-world impact by reducing late-stage drug failure through earlier, more accurate predictions of human biology at scale,” said Tian, VivoSphere’s chief technology officer. “Winning the Alabama Launchpad award enables us to hire talented team members, establish industrial partnerships, accelerate our readiness for product launch, and build momentum for fundraising. All of these steps will help us expand our impact in line with our vision.”
Tian said many of the pharmaceutical drugs that reach the clinical stage fail, which is devastating for patients and costly for the industry.
“A major cause of this problem is that traditional drug testing methods involve using flat 2D cell cultures in a dish,” he said. “But here’s the catch: cancers don’t grow in isolation. Tumors exist within complex 3D environments, interacting with neighboring cells and their surroundings.”
VivoSphere utilizes tissue-engineering technology to replicate these conditions by creating miniature versions of human tissues, allowing researchers to study the intricate interactions between cancer cells, normal cells and the extracellular matrix. This level of detail is not possible with 2D cultures.
“Moving the VivoSphere technology out of our lab and into the hands of other people who want to use it is a critical step in maximizing the impact of our research on the lives of people in our state,” said Lipke, recently elected as an American Association for the Advancement of Sciences Class of 2025 Fellow and lead developer of the college’s upcoming biomedical engineering programs.
“Through the Alabama Launchpad program, we had the opportunity to work with a team of excellent mentors. Learning from them and from the judges was an invaluable part of the program, preparing us to ask the right questions and successfully take the next steps. This Alabama Launchpad funding enables us to make our plans a reality and contribute to the growth of the biotechnology sector in our state.”
Since launching in 2022, VivoSphere won the 2023 Alabama Launchpad Concept Stage finals in Auburn and has since then received close to $1 million in non-dilutive fundings, including National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grants to support commercial product development
VivoSphere wasn’t the only Auburn Engineering startup making headlines this month. The BreadBoard Company, founded by Joseph Rusk, a senior in electrical and computer engineering, captured first place and $75,000 in Alabama Launchpad’s Technology Division Finals on May 7.
A program of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, Alabama Launchpad is the state’s most active early‑stage seed fund, providing entrepreneurs with mentorship, expert guidance and the chance to compete for funding that helps turn early‑stage ideas into successful startups.
“Throughout the Launchpad program, we received great mentorship across all aspects of building a business, and we really tried to stay coachable and learn as much as we could,” Tian said. “More importantly, we’ve brought on an incredible team at VivoSphere, and during the pitch, we made a clear case for why VivoSphere is the one to get it done.”
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