B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D., has received grant funding from the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) for his work to develop specialty catalysts for pharmaceutical applications.

Gupton, who is VCU's Floyd D. Gottwald, Jr. Chair in Pharmaceutical Engineering and professor and chair in the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, received $150,000 in matching funds through the Commonwealth Research Commercializaton Fund (CRCF) program administered by Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology.

This year, VCU is one of three universities and 26 small technology-based businesses to receive CRCF grants, which seek to commercialize research in clean energy, cybersecurity, data analytics, life sciences and unmanned systems.

Gupton is a research leader in developing new technologies to make pharmaceutical manufacturing more cost-efficient. His research, which focuses on novel approaches to producing active pharmaceutical ingredients, is improving global access to medications and helping boost drug manufacturing in the U.S.

In a statement about the 2020 CRCF grant recipients, Gov. Ralph Northam said these entrepreneurs and innovators are on the front lines of bringing new products and technologies to market, while driving job creation and supporting Virginia’s economic recovery efforts.