The Mid-South , backed by a four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, spans a four-state network of Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia. The hub is led by Vanderbilt University, with UofL leading efforts in Kentucky to transform academic discoveries into real-world products that advance human health and catalyze a medical innovation economy.Ěý

“UofL is a top-tier, Carnegie Research-1 university, and we are proud of our strong track record as a driver of health innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Kevin Gardner, executive vice president for . “We are excited to expand that work with the Mid-South Hub, joining our partner institutions to accelerate technologies and companies that can save and improve lives, creating opportunity here and throughout our region.”

NIH’s REACH program focuses on bringing basic science discoveries to market by providing entrepreneurial training for innovators on how to bring technologies to market; feedback from federal and industry experts; funding to support early-stage product definition studies; and project management support

UofL’s role in the new hub follows years of state leadership, since launching Kentucky’s first REACH program in 2015. The REACH efforts began at UofL and expanded statewide in 2019 through collaboration with KY Innovation, University of Kentucky and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures. Over nearly a decade, Kentucky REACH programs have coached more than 400 innovative faculty, staff and students across Kentucky public institutions and funded 45 technologies, leading to 18 new products and 11 patents filed.

“UofL has provided consistent leadership in driving these innovations from lab to market across the Commonwealth,” said Jessica Sharon, director of innovation programs and lead for the UofL Hub program. “Through this new Hub, we are very excited to work with our regional partner universities to train more innovator teams, helping them learn the product development process and lens.”

REACH is part of UofL’s unique suite of prestigious, grant-backed programs aimed at supporting the translation of research into viable commercial products. UofL is one of only a handful of universities in the country to host each of these innovation-associated programs — and it’s the only one to receiveĚýallĚýof them.

With the new Mid-South REACH Hub, UofL will expand on this programming by leveraging already strong partnerships with regional institutions. Last year, UofL partnered with Vanderbilt on a $15 million effort backed by the National Science Foundation to launch a new regional hub aimed at accelerating product innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development. The resulting NSF Mid-SouthĚýInnovation CorpsĚý(I-Corps) Hub, one of only 10 across the U.S., is part of the operational backbone of the NSF’s , which helps translate academic research for the marketplace while expanding access and inclusion.Ěý

“Diverse perspectives are essential to turn university ideas into lifesaving tools in the hands of doctors,” said Vanderbilt lead, Robert Webster. “So many students and faculty share this vision—to their very core—but lack the business, legal and practical insights they need to get started…ĚýWe know what it feels like and what it takes, and we can’t wait to help others unlock the potential of their ideas–and themselves–as innovators and entrepreneurs.”Ěý

NIH will contribute $4 million toward the Hub over four years, with more than $8 million in additional matching funds from partnering universities, state economic development entities and public-private partnerships.ĚýKentucky matching funds are supported by the state Cabinet for Economic Development’s KY Innovation, UofL and UK. In addition to Vanderbilt and UofL, the other partner institutions are, Jackson State University, George Mason University and UK.

The competition, STAT Madness, pits UofL against other biomedical technologies developed by university research teams in a March Madness-style bracket competition. .Ěý

The , invented by a multidisciplinary team that includes researchers from UofL’s School of Medicine and J.B. Speed School of Engineering, helps extend the useful life of heart tissue samples. That means more time for research and improved preclinical testing of new drugs for effectiveness and toxicity.

Biomedical researchers use slices of heart tissue to test new drugs and gene therapies. Currently, those slices only last up to 24 hours, but the UofL system can keep them up to six days.Ěý

“This system will save time and costs of clinical trials during phase one research, which includes testing for toxicity and proof of efficacy,” said Tamer M. A. Mohamed, who led the research. “In addition to drugs, we have demonstrated the system’s effectiveness in testing gene therapy.”