studentfocus                                                                                                                                                          Sam M. Walton College of Business, UAF Business                                                                                Perspective Spring Supplement 2009

A student team from the Walton College at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville turns a UAMS breast cancer test into a winning business plan at the national competition level.

The team members include three managerial MBA students, Jared Greer, Bessie Williams and Chris Elizer, and an honors undergraduate student, Jordan Greer.

A relatively simple breast cancer screening test that uses a womans tears and is being patented by the University of Arkansas for Medical sciences (UAMS) helped students in the Walton College of Business win a national business plan competition.

The potential product already has attracted investors interest, and the students business plan has won several awards, including first place and a $10,000 award at the University of Cincinnati Spirit of Enterprise MBA Business Plan Competition.

The students formed Tears for Life, LLC, a medical diagnostic-equipment company that has an exclusive license from UAMS to commercialize the technology. Tears for Life is developing a noninvasive test kit that can reliably screen for breast cancer using proteins found in tears. This honor marks the first time that our university has won first place in a national business plan, said Carol Reeves, Ph.D., faculty sponsor and holder of the Cecil and Gwendolyn Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship.

Even more significant, the team has been approached by venture capitalists who are interested in meeting with the team to discuss investment opportunities. The screening test was invented by Suzanne Klimberg, MD, and Larry Suva, Ph.D., both of UAMS. Klimberg is the director of the UAMS Breast Cancer Program, while Suva is the director of the UAMS Center for Orthopaedic Research.

The Tears for Life team received technical/scientific help from Klimberg and Suva, while Mike Douglas, Ph.D., director of UAMS BioVentures, advised the team on the business aspects of their plan. This technology has enormous potential, said Dr. Douglas, whose UAMS BioVentures program helps UAMS researchers get their innovations patented and commercialized. UAMS is very excited about the Tears for Life product.

Teams from more than 30 universities applied for the University of Cincinnati competition and 20 were accepted. The Tears for Life team won this competition. Second place went to Brown University, while the University of Oregon, Cornell University and Boston University rounded out the top five. This is a great win for the Walton College, said Walton College Dean Dan Worrell. Where others see turmoil in the current national economy, these young students see opportunity.

The Tears for Life team also took first place and $20,000 in the recent Donald W. Reynolds Arkansas Governor’s Cup competition as well as first place and another $20,000 in the Tulane University Business Plan Competition in April. The team received an automatic bid to the Global Moot Corp Competition, the super bowl of business plan competitions, held in May at the University of Texas. Also, the team won the Lightning Round and $1,500 at the University of Louisville in February, where the teams were given 60 seconds to convince judges that their business was worth a follow-up meeting.

This has been a tremendous learning experience, Jared Greer said. The Walton College and Dr. Reeves have done such a great job creating an opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship that we feel very well prepared to compete with the other universities from around the world.