Bresette and School of Medicine excel at EQ competition

Nathan Bresette, a doctoral student in the Informatics PhD Program through the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics (MUIDSI), an interdisciplinary program supported by the University of Missouri School of Medicine, recently joined nearly 50 other teams of undergraduate and graduate students from across campus at the Entrepreneur Quest (EQ) competition. Hosted by the Division of Research, Innovation & Impact, the EQ program helps students launch and grow business ventures while at Mizzou.

Bresette’s venture, “RgentAI,” is an AI-powered RStudio assistant that provides context-aware code help, debugging and insights for researchers. The program understands a given user’s specific environment, including their datasets, variables, code and packages. Additionally, it’s designed to streamline the entire data workflow, including data cleaning and transformation to visualizations, statistics and modeling.

RgentAI was first born after his School of Medicine advisors, Ai-Ling Lin, PhD, and Changyu Sun, PhD, encouraged him to explore entrepreneurial opportunities on campus.

“Dr. Lin emboldened me to pursue my startup from the very beginning and she truly values entrepreneurial thinking,” said Bresette. “Dr. Sun consistently challenges me and taught me the valuable lesson of how to break complex problems into smaller and simpler ones. I’ve applied this approach to my business, research and everyday life.”

RgentAI’s timeline has been fast paced, beginning with its inception in early July 2025. Bresette launched the beta version of his first product in mid-August, followed by a second product reveal in early September.

Through the EQ program, Bresette utilized workshops and mentoring to help refine his business idea based on customer needs. Collectively, EQ competitors took advantage of industry and marketplace resources available at Ellis Library and tested their ideas using customer interviews and surveys. Teams also received services through the School of Law’s Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic and coaching from campus and community experts.

On September 23, EQ semifinalists presented a three-minute pitch of their venture idea. Bresette and RgentAI was named one of 10 finalists and will now contend for a $30,000 prize pool at the closing pitch competition on November 18.

Thanks to the tutelage from Dr. Sun and Dr. Lin, Bresette is optimistic for both the EQ final and his future after the School of Medicine.

“Dr. Lin has provided me so many opportunities and supported me throughout the entire EQ process,” said Bresette. “She’s one of the leading researchers in Alzheimer’s disease and she’s entrusted me with significant research projects since day one. Dr. Sun has improved my critical thinking approach and that’s translated into many aspects of my life. I’m grateful for their mentorship and it has allowed me to grow as a researcher and scholar.”

Since the 1960s, the University of Missouri has been a leader in biomedical informatics research. Today, students can learn more about information technologies that integrate into healthcare systems through Graduate Programs offered through BBME at the Mizzou School of Medicine.