Eating disorders affect an estimated 9% of Americans — nearly 30 million people — and can impact a person’s eating behaviors and perceptions about food and their bodies. The UofL prototype technology, dubbed Awaken Emerse, helps users virtually face and overcome their associated fears, such as the fear of gaining weight.

“Research shows exposure treatment can be really effective in taking back control over these devastating and life-altering fears,” said Christina Ralph-Nearman, a assistant research professor, researcher and co-inventor of the technology. “Our virtual simulation allows people to do that in a safe way.”��

In a pilot study, Awaken Emerse — invented by Ralph-Nearman and researcher Cheri Levinson — was shown to be effective in helping participants face their fears of gaining weight. The new grant, $125,000 through the NEDA’s Feeding Hope Fund, will support work by the inventors, along with Andrew Karem of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, to expand the platform to be more inclusive of all body types and sizes, ethnicities, races and gender identities and to further test outcomes in a clinical setting.����

“Eating disorders don’t just affect one type of person — there are a multitude of factors that can influence them,” said Levinson, associate professor and director of the Eating Anxiety Treatment (EAT) Lab. “Treatment and prevention options should reflect that full range of experience.”

The NEDA grant comes on the heels of some $11.5 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support Levinson’s work to better understand and address some of the most devastating effects of eating disorders. That research will investigate how eating disorders may develop in childhood and adolescence, their contribution to suicidal behaviors and how innovative personalized treatments, like VR simulation, may offer hope.

“Despite the high prevalence of eating disorders, there still aren’t many options for treatment and prevention,” she said. “This work will not only create new options by leveraging technology, but open previously unopened doors for treating people on a personal, individual level.”

Work to develop the VR technology has also been supported by the UofL Office of Research and Innovation’s intellectual property and new ventures teams. This includes patenting, coaching by entrepreneur-in-residence Alice Shade, and training and financial support through two innovation development programs: KYNETIC, focused on furthering biomedical technologies, and PRePARE, focused on technologies that address a health or societal problem resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

KYNETIC is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH) and part of the national NIH Proof-of-Concept Network. The program offers entrepreneurial education and proof-of-concept/product development grants to accelerate the translation of research innovations into biomedical products by investigators throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky.�� ��

The goal is to advance the most promising biomedical research innovations — including pharmaceuticals, devices and apps — from the state’s eight public universities and the Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS).

In this cycle, KYNETIC awarded roughly $40,000 grants to each of the following research teams:

• Christina Ralph-Nearman and Cheri Levinson, University of Louisville
• Melissa Smith and Corey Watson, University of Louisville
• Stuart Williams, Maxwell Boakye and Michael Voor, University of Louisville
• Daniel Boamah, Kimberly Greene and Austin Griffiths, Western Kentucky University
• Jamie Fredericks, Eastern Kentucky University
• Mark Fritz and Guigen Zhang, University of Kentucky��
• Jill Kolesar and Chris Richards, University of Kentucky
• Brittany Levy, University of Kentucky

KYNETIC is led by UofL, the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures. Launched in 2019, the KYNETIC program builds on UofL’s strong history of translational research support, which includes a prestigious for turning research into products.

“These programs help to drive UofL research from lab to market – impactful research with the power to improve and even save lives,” said Jessica Sharon, UofL’s director of innovation programs who helps lead KYNETIC. “The UofL projects selected for KYNETIC funding in this cycle embody that goal.”

The pre-application window for KYNETIC’s Cycle 8 is currently open. The deadline is July 18, 2023, by 5 p.m. Pre-applications can be��.

KYNETIC Project Managers are available for consultation before you submit your pre-application and throughout the application process. You can find more information��.

The event, hosted by the UofL , honored faculty and staff from five schools and colleges for accomplishments in developing new technologies, working with industry and launching research-backed startups.

“We like to say UofL’s ‘igniting innovation’ — and that’s absolutely true,” said president Kim Schatzel, giving opening remarks at the event. “Since joining the UofL community, I’ve seen that our campus is full-to-bursting with creativity and ideas, some with the power to transform the way we live and work. If UofL is igniting innovation, our innovators are the spark, and the work they do has a lasting and positive impact here on our campus and well beyond.”

Six major awards were also presented, including Innovator of the Year. This year, that honor went to School of Medicine researcher Nobuyuki Matoba, recognized for his work to tackle devastating diseases, inflammatory bowel disease and cancer, through groundbreaking new vaccines, immunotherapeutics and treatments that leverage protein engineering and plant-based biotechnology.����

In addition to Matoba, major awards were also presented to:��

• • Dan Popa, of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, who won the Catalyst Award for his work to build an environment that encourages innovation at the Louisville Automation and Robotics Research Institute (LARRI);
  • Geoff Clark, Joe Burlison and Kenneth Palmer, of the School of Medicine, who won the Industry Partnership Award for their longstanding commercialization relationship with Qualigen Therapeutics;��
  • Cheri Levinson and Christina Ralph-Nearman, of the College of Arts and Sciences, who won a Trailblazer Award for their work to develop novel virtual reality and personalized treatment tools for eating disorders and launch a startup, Awaken Digital Health Solutions, to drive them to market;
  • Kunal Kate, of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, who won a Trailblazer Award in part for his work with the Kentucky MBDA Advanced Manufacturing Center to help minority-owned businesses leverage cutting-edge technology;��
  • Noppadon Sathitsuksanoh, of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, who won the night’s final Trailblazer Award for his work to develop new ways of producing sustainable fuels and chemicals from waste materials;

Over the past two years, 57 of the honorees earned new patents, 28 had their technology optioned or licensed to a company and 68 were awarded innovation grants, such as or , aimed at driving technologies to market. In the past fiscal year, the work of these innovators led to one new startup, 319 agreements, 49 new patents and $15.6 million in innovation-related income.

UofL Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation Kevin Gardner, whose office organizes the event, said those numbers represent real-world impact — and more, impact that can save and improve lives.��

“The innovations our researchers are developing have the potential to diagnose, treat and cure disease and overall make the way we live and work better,” he said. “What we celebrate reflects what we value as an institution — and with awards like these, we show that we value entrepreneurship and innovation.”

KYNETIC is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH) and part of the national NIH Proof-of-Concept Network.

The program offers entrepreneurial education and proof-of-concept/product development grants to accelerate the translation of academic innovations into biomedical products by investigators throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky.����

KYNETIC awarded grants to the following applicants��or teams, three of which are from UofL:

• Andrea Behrman, University of Louisville
• Levi Beverly��(PI), Robert Buchanan (Co-PI), Craig Grapperhaus (Co-PI), University of Louisville
• Christina Ralph-Nearman��(PI), Cheri Levinson (Co-PI),��University of Louisville
• Daniel Boamah��(PI), Kimberly Green (Co-PI),��Western Kentucky University
• Andrew Long��(PI), Steven Wilkinson (Co-PI),��Northern Kentucky University
• Mark Fritz, University of Kentucky
• Kip Guy, University of Kentucky
• Jill Kolesar, University of Kentucky

The KYNETIC program is led by the University of Louisville, the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures.

The pre-application window for KYNETIC’s Cycle 7 is currently open. The deadline is 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 13. Pre-applications can be��.

KYNETIC Project Managers are available for consultation before you submit your pre-application and throughout the application process. You can find more information��.