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Capstone Course and Project

Entrepreneurial skills are highly valuable throughout your career. The Capstone Course for the MMB program will help you develop these skills through concepts of entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, strategy, and innovation, as well as vital skills that are necessary for the business world. This course serves as a culminating experience that calls on students to use the knowledge, skills, and abilities they developed throughout the program. 

Course Objectives

  • Introduce concepts and skill development in:
    • Idea generation      
    • Technology evaluation
    • Regulatory affairs    
    • Intellectual property         
    • Finance                  
    • Business strategies and models    
    • Commercialization 
    • Identifying unmet needs    
    • Marketing              
    • Evidence-based entrepreneurship
  • Refine the development of key professional skills valued by the bioscience industry
  • Reinforce understanding of science concepts and techniques 
  • Provide students with an opportunity to display their knowledge, skills, and abilities developed throughout the MMB program 

Student-Centered Learning

Course presentations, discussions, and assignments are designed to familiarize students with the many dimensions of entrepreneurship and new venture initiation. Centered on discussion rather than lectures, the course includes problem-solving exercises, case studies, individual and group activities, and guest presentations.

Student-teams complete a semester-long capstone project to refine skills in the identification of new ventures and turning ideas into reality. Briefly, students create a proposal for the formation of a company that fulfills an unmet need. They then develop a comprehensive, customer-validated business model and creates an investor pitch for both the solution and the company that will provide the solution. Each team is paired with a mentor who provides guidance throughout the process.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify, evaluate, or develop:
    • Industry and market trends to exploit opportunities
    • Sources that support financial sustainability
    • Value propositions, business ideas, and/or models relevant to the bioscience industry
    • Recognize the interaction between different business areas (e.g., ideation, financing, accounting, management, and marketing)
  • Learn and apply evidence-based entrepreneurship strategies
  • Design and develop a comprehensive business plan for a new enterprise
  • Persuasively communicate the value of a product, service, or technology and a company’s financial feasibility 
  • Refine critical thinking, data analysis, decision-making and other professional skills highly valued by the bioscience industry
  • Show integrity, courtesy, reliability, and respect for others through teamwork

Past Capstone Projects

Spring 2022

Juiced Up: A Trusted CBD Beverage Brand Centered Around
Education Based Marketing

Team Members: 
Rachel Brunjes, Ben Jones, Jamie Levi, Logan Miller, and Danyal Wasti

LIVARI: Live and Restore Intimacy
Team Members: 
Caycie Etris, Pauline Lee, Billy Marx, Mila Parker, and Dilán Rivera

microbite: Innovating Aquaculture One Bite at a Time
Team Members: 
Natalie Faulkner, Daniel Onuoha, Emily Sugg, Ramya Vijapurapu,
and Daniel Watson

Pro-Bone-Os: A Daily Delight To Keep Your Dog Right!
Team Members: 
Karly Dugan, Madison Frye, April Nettesheim and Alex Rojas

Algae Hive – See What All The Buzz Is About!
Team Members: 
Jordan Bischoff, Olivia Helvey, Lara Queck, Cat Sweeney and Maggie Thraen

Periodont: In The Pursuit Of Purrfect Teeth
Team Members: 
Allison Eble, Hannah Kennel, Jamal Koledoye and Michelle Sanchez

YEATS: Yeast Driven. Human Focused.
Team Members: 
Shannon Harris, Mitch Killar, Anarita Lynch, Caleb Ocampo and Emily Vernon.

TickTrack: Empowering the World to Get Back Out There
Team Members: 
Hank Beggs, Grace Carrell, Monica Driscoll, Jennifer Massengill and Leslie Shannon

TakeRoot: An Online Tool to Enable Consumers to Make Informed, Personalized Decisions About Their Microbiome Health
Team Members: 
Alex Burd, Drew Dispennette, Travis Kernodle and Kristine Newman

Aster Therapeutics, Asternib: Get the Life You Love Back!
Team Members: 
Rivers Baker, Mark Buckles, Anne-Claire Den Hartog, Carly Elkins and Ryan Larsen

Udderly Clean: The Natural Solution to Mastitis
Team Members: 
Chris Carlin, Sarah Grigg, Briggs Hagler, Jacob Hyman and Megan Mackowiak

TRACne: Find the Face of Tomorrow
Team Members: 
Andrew Harmon, Caty Metcalf, Abigail Nails, Esteban Niaves Nava and Jake Trimble

OTC In-Home Dx: Gonorrhea Screening Test
Team Members: 
Hannah Seddon, Katie Sandlin, Ryan Overcash and Vincent Green

XHemplify: Multifunctional Tool for Increasing Yield and Quality of CBD
Team Members: 
Brooke Peery Garner, Hannah Webb, David Majeski and Swetha Srinivasan

SEEDS: STEM Enriching Experiments for Developing Students
Team Members: 
James Rebenski, Mackenzie Nelson, Melody Paye, Sterling Riggs and Zach Jernigan

NC Brew Labs: Improving Beer, Helping Brewers
Team Members: 
Molly Harris, Shweta Murthy, Ryan Randall, Lavanya Rao and Priyanka Vala

Transforming the Plant Transformation Lab
Team Members: 
Sai brahma prakash Penugonda, Emily Potisek, Danny Schmitt and Saurabh Vishhwanath

FarmFridge: Grow. Taste. Live Well.
Team Members: 
Paul Gibson, Jacob Vasser, Gowri Vridhambal and Richard Young