Nakamura will give a free, public talk about his work on Monday, April 18, 2022, at 4 pm at Rauch Planetarium. The talk also will be livestreamed on the and will be available on the after the event.

Nakamura, recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics and a University of California-Santa Barbara materials professor, is recognized for scientific innovations and commercialization of efficient solid-state light-emitting diodes (LEDs). His LEDs have revolutionized electronics and lighting at more than 10 times the efficiency of incandescent lighting, more than twice the efficiency of fluorescents and a durability of 30 to 40 years. His innovations have enabled efficient use of energy, reduced the burden on the environment and helped create sustainable lighting worldwide.

Solid-state lighting and electronics are estimated to save $98 billion in cumulative energy consumption by 2030 in the United States, or the energy equivalent of 30 1-gigawatt power plants. Worldwide, the effects are five times greater.

“Dr. Nakamura is a world-class scientist dedicated to the viability of LED technologies. His work and perseverance are inspiration to us all. The University of Louisville celebrates his research and its positive influence. In a world where energy use must be environmentally responsible, he is an outstanding winner of the Leigh Ann Conn Prize,” said Neeli Bendapudi, president of UofL at the time the award was announced.

The Leigh Ann Conn Prize for Renewable Energy includes a medal, $50,000 and a series of campus events, including the public lecture and research meetings with faculty, staff and students. Administered by ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, the prize is named for the late daughter of Hank and Rebecca Conn, who are center supporters and the prize benefactors.

“The impact of Dr. Nakamura’s work is massive and exactly what Leigh Ann thought mattered most — What good is innovation if it never changes the world?” Hank Conn said. “LED lighting touches people in all economic strata, saving energy and money with global reach. It is exciting to recognize this outstanding scientist, his innovations and their translation into clearly impactful technology.”

In February 2021, the university took a significant step in that direction with the opening of the . The center provides various employee-centered resources and opportunities for personal and professional growth. Coaching circles allow employees to gather and collaborate on significant topics, such as anti-racism initiatives. Well-being retreats and mindfulness initiatives are also offered to cultivate a strong community of care. Award programs, which honor employee achievements and milestones, are also part of the center’s many efforts.

From the goals set in the Strategic Plan came seven initiatives to maintain a thriving spirit for UofL employees and ensure the institution is, indeed, a “Great Place to Work.” They are outlined below.

Web Improvement
The is a multi-year initiative aimed at revamping and improving the entire digital presence of the university. The effort marks the first funded, comprehensive web initiative in ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s history and is the largest concurrent “reset” of UofL websites, systems and platforms.

The project focuses on enhancing the daily lives of students, faculty and staff by modernizing and improving all university web-based experiences, as well as the processes behind developing and maintaining them. This digital overhaul will allow the university to attract new students, foster a stronger relationship with the community and provide staff with opportunities to further develop and implement current technology in their professional capacities.

Metrics and guiding strategies of the project will be routinely re-evaluated and the response with the web realigned accordingly.

Digital Transformation
To prepare the UofL community for engagement in the evolving global market, the university has undertaken a broad array of digital transformation projects designed to provide the digital and mobile on-demand solutions and services required to efficiently work, learn and create, as well as training opportunities for high-demand workforce applications.

The implementation of Microsoft Teams and other Office 365 applications has improved efficiencies in academic and operational services. Every active UofL student, faculty member and employee now have access to the Adobe Creative Cloud at no cost thanks to a university enterprise license. Creative Cloud is an industry standard platform for creating documents, videos, audio, graphic design, photos, illustrations, websites and mobile apps.

±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s provides training for these and other software applications to faculty, staff and students at little to no cost. Many training programs come with badges, certificates or other credentials upon completion.

The Employee Success Center and the DTC announced in March that UofL employees and students have no-cost access to LinkedIn Learning. The platform includes more than 16,000 virtual courses designed to refine and develop technical, business, software and creative skills.

Workday
In order to simplify and enhance the day-to-day lives of employees, the university is transitioning from PeopleSoft human resources software to a newer, more accessible system. Information Technology Services identified the system that would best address employees’ needs. After working with various members of the campus community and engaging more than 77 stakeholders across 20 departments for feedback, the software was selected as the best system for the university.

Workday is an industry leader that provides a unified system for Human Capital Management. The implementation of the modern cloud-based system will offer timely and cost-effective functionality to employees while simplifying and standardizing numerous human resources processes across the university. The functionality of the software will improve hiring processes, reduce payroll calculation and processing errors, upgrade security and provide users with a more positive overall HR and payroll experience.

Brand Evolution
At the direction of the Office of the President and in support of the university’s Strategic Plan, UofL has refreshed its identity to include the addition of a strategic brand framework and messaging guidelines to complement the existing core brand visual standards.

More than just a logo, colors or tagline, the represents the core of who we are — from what it feels like to be a part of the Cardinal Family to the interactions that our faculty and staff have with students, families, fans and supporters.

Throughout the summer and fall of 2021, the Office of Communications and Marketing hosted several workshops to share ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s new brand positioning and messaging with faculty, staff and students. These sessions also included the rollout of an extensive toolkit for communicators across campus and coincided with the formation of the UofL Brand Council. Comprised of the top-level communicators in each school/college and key administrative units, the council is responsible for developing and managing communications and marketing strategies to improve overall brand awareness, perceptions and engagement.

The official brand rollout to the entire university will take place Friday, Jan. 14, 2022.

Grand Challenges
UofL is dedicated to creating and applying knowledge that improves lives. By harnessing our research and scholarship efforts behind three of our time, we will find solutions that make a difference and lead to thriving futures here and beyond. The three Grand Challenges, as identified by a president-appointed subcommittee are: 1.) empowering our communities; 2.) advancing our health; and
3.) engineering our future economy.

Throughout the past year, the UofL Office of Research and Innovation has expanded or launched programming aimed at celebrating and supporting researchers and their work in the Grand Challenges. That work is now the focus of the office’s research and innovation town hall meetings, where UofL researchers can share their projects and find collaborators.

R&I, in partnership with the UofL College of Arts & Sciences, Office of Diversity and Equity and ATHENA program, also launched a new program called Ascending Stars that provides mentorship, funding and other support to high-performing associate professors who focus on work in diversity, inclusion and empowering our communities.

Other efforts have focused on giving researchers better tools. UofL recently selected a new Electronic Research Administration system called Cayuse, for example, meant to minimize the administrative burden of conducting research and facilitate the growth of UofL research programs.

Cardinal Anti-Racism Agenda
In the summer of 2020, the Office of the President announced a goal for the university to become the “premier anti-racist metropolitan research university in the country.” To guide us toward this goal, UofL has launched the .

While the university has taken many strides toward service to a more racially and socio-economically diverse workforce and student population, it is appropriate as a higher education institution to explore and to grow for the purpose of being a model for the communities we serve.

UofL has already established a few key commitments, including the recruitment and retention of more Black employees and students, building intentionally anti-racism curriculum across all disciplines, ensuring diverse representation on boards and committees, developing budgets that reflect the priority of diversity and equity and more. The in partnership with the , leads the charge to engage our community for more potential items to add to the anti-racism agenda.

Additionally, a vice president of diversity and equity will be named in 2022. This position will report directly to the university president, serving as a member of the President’s Cabinet, senior leadership team and other key institutional committees.

Total Rewards and Compensation Studies
Finally, the Strategic Plan identified fair and equitable compensation for faculty and staff as a critical aspect of ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s commitment to being a great place to learn, to work and in which to invest. To honor this commitment, the Office of Human Resources is leading the . These studies will assess both employee wages and Total Rewards, which is the total of benefits offered including health care, tuition remission, paid leave and more.

The comprehensive studies are divided into a six-phase approach that will be accomplished over the next 18 to 24 months with assistance from Segal, an outside human resources consulting firm with extensive experience in conducting higher education compensation studies. Findings from the studies will provide the necessary framework for employee salaries and benefits moving forward.

, which supported the program at its inception in 2014, has extended that support through 2026 with a new grant for $5.5 million over five years.

Children in the clinical and research programs of the Center for Pediatric NeuroRecovery are treated with innovative, science-based therapies such as activity-based locomotor training, neuromuscular electrical stimulation and transcutaneous spinal stimulation. These therapies have led to improved strength, abilities and overall health for the children in ways their families thought would not be possible.

“We went from feeling hopeless to hopeful after just one conversation with Dr. Behrman,” said Kylee Hoelscher who, with her husband and older daughter, moved from California to Louisville in 2016 so their then-6-year-old daughter Eden could continue therapy.

“This is the only program in the world that offers hope for children with a spinal cord injury,” Hoelscher said. “When she started, Eden could not even sit up on her own and attended school at home. Now she goes to school independently and has sleepovers with friends. She rock climbs. She plays tennis. What they’re doing for her is life-changing.”

“We are grateful to Kosair Charities for their continued support for the Center for Pediatric NeuroRecovery, a remarkable program that gives hope for recovery to children with spinal cord injuries – hope and care they can find almost nowhere else,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapdudi. “This support, along with that of other pediatric research and clinical care programs at UofL, will help us fulfill our commitment to advancing our health, not only for children in Louisville and Kentucky, but the world over.”

In addition to the multi-year, $5.5 million in new funding for pediatric neurorecovery, Kosair Charities has designated $900,000 this year for other pediatric programs at UofL:

• $475,000 for the , led by Melissa Currie, professor of pediatrics, to support education, research and advocacy to help curb all forms of child maltreatment.
• $225,000 to purchase cardiorespiratory monitors at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, led by Tonya Robinson. These cardiorespiratory monitors provide real-time and trended vital signs, allowing for a comprehensive evaluation of an infant’s current status and of changes occurring before a devastating event. The monitors assist in determining the causes of medical events and help prevent them from happening again.
• $200,000 for pediatric cancer immunotherapy research at , directed by Jason Chesney, that will allow the center to build on the cancer immunotherapy drug discovery work begun in 2020 that already has revealed new small-molecule inhibitors.

“Everything we do is for children, whether it be with spinal cord injuries, cancer, those born prematurely, or vulnerable – every child who has specialized needs – they are the motivation behind everything we do,” said Keith Inman, president of Kosair Charities. “There’s no better investment than the children in our community, and we simply cannot do this work without partners like the University of Louisville. The partnership of UofL and Kosair Charities helps ensure so many children have the healthiest lives possible.”

At the Center for Pediatric NeuroRecovery, the funding from Kosair Charities will support further advances in therapy for children with spinal cord injury, as well as research and training for future researchers and providers. It also will enable the program to accept younger and medically complex children, develop a teen-focused, recovery-based program and study neuromodulation, a way to stimulate the spinal cord and improve mobility and health.

“Children with spinal cord injury are at risk for multiple medical and health complications. This grant from Kosair will allow us to expand our focus to improve areas of their health beyond movement,” Behrman said. “This will not only get these children physically better, but help them have a healthy life.”

The Madson family also relocated to Louisville for this program, moving from the Minneapolis area to ensure their son Luke could continue the therapy, based at .

“The more Luke moves, the more alive he is,” Sarah Madson said of her now-2-year-old son, who was the youngest child to start the program at 15 months. “When we arrived, he was crawling on the ground, maybe doing little circles, with no forward movement. He is now walking in a walker everywhere and engaging with the world. This program has meant everything to us.”

The grant announced today brings Kosair Charities’ total support for the center to $13 million.

In April, UofL and Kosair Charities celebrated a milestone of topping $50 million in gifts from Kosair Charities to UofL since 1982. The grants announced today bring that total to $56.8 million.

Launched in 2020, is the only robotics research center in Kentucky. The institute is a collaboration of researchers and students working to provide solutions for manufacturing, health care and logistics challenges.

“LARRI is moving from a virtual institute to a physical institute facility,” said Dan Popa, director of LARRI and professor of electrical and computer engineering in ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s . “This facility will provide space for collaborative ventures among students, faculty and community and industry partners and will help our faculty take advantage of nationally competitive funding opportunities and new cross-disciplinary educational programs.”

LARRI’s 12 dedicated faculty members, postdoctoral staff, affiliated faculty and more than 50 student researchers are investigating human-robot interaction, automation and robotics for industry, networked robots and autonomous vehicles, planning and control for mechatronic systems and other areas.

“In a state with so many innovative manufacturing businesses and in a city that is a leader in health care innovation, LARRI is a vitally important collaborative and research resource,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “And for our students, LARRI provides an opportunity to learn and practice with the emerging technologies that will allow them be leaders in engineering innovation.”

“LARRI was formed to conduct state-of-the-art research in robotics and automation and help meet regional and national workforce needs in these technology areas,” said Speed School Dean Emmanuel Collins. “This new facility enables LARRI to expand its research footprint and provides more collaborative space for its researchers. This center already is excelling and we expect its progress to accelerate with the addition of this new space.”

Several key research projects at LARRI focus on health care, including interactive robots to help individuals on the autism spectrum, a specialized chair to improve function in children with spinal cord injuries and an automated nursing assistant.

“The theme is not robots replacing humans. It is humans and robots working together,” Popa said. “Humans do certain things; robots do other things. ARNA, the nursing assistant robot, will not replace nursing staff, but perform helpful basic tasks to alleviate overwork and stress and improve patient care.”

LARRI’s new space, made possible by the estate of Shih-Chung Chen, is located in the J.B. Speed School Innovation Center on Arthur Street, next to the Engineering Garage, a creative makerspace and workshop where students can explore, build and test their ideas, and around the corner from General Electric’s FirstBuild, a similar makerspace.

LARRI already has during the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency competition in the new space. The JPL team used the space as a base of operations for testing and preparation for the competition and demonstrated their robots for LARRI faculty, students and staff.

UofL detected the variant, a Brazilian strain known as P.1, early in April in a wastewater sample from western Jefferson County. Once researchers received the results, they alerted the Louisville Metro Department of Health and Wellness as well as the state, which confirmed a positive case in the same zip codes with different testing methods a week later.

“The ability to detect viruses early, such as in this case, gives officials more time to take precautions and contain their spread,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, professor of medicine and director of , which leads the wastewater research. “With pandemics, every second counts. In as little as one week, the virus can spread significantly, and then it becomes much harder to contain. This work gives us more time and an opportunity for targeted testing.”

UofL researchers began testing wastewater last year as part of the , a groundbreaking partnership to track COVID-19 in Louisville Metro.

The Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District has sent weekly samples from 12 sites representing multiple neighborhoods and five wastewater treatment facilities that aggregate the entire county.

Those samples are taken to the , where pharmacology and toxicology assistant professor Josh Fuqua and his team process the samples and isolate viral RNA, and to the UofL Genomics and Bioinformatics Core facilities, where computer science and engineering professor Eric Rouchka analyzes the virus sequences to detect variants.

UofL recently announced the expansion of this work, backed by an . That expansion goes one step further than previous work — from identifying whether disease exists in a neighborhood to estimating how prevalent it is there.

Bhatnagar said understanding that connection could “revolutionize the way we track and contain pandemics, and not just COVID-19.”

Rather than rely solely on direct testing, such as with nasal swabs, wastewater testing can give health departments another tool to gauge the severity of community infection and to identify areas where the infection is prevalent. The tool also is faster, more efficient and less invasive.

“This is cutting-edge work – and the fact that it’s being done right here in Louisville – right here at UofL – places us at the forefront of public health innovation,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. “It shows we’re doing the work to keep our city and cities around the world safe.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Co-Immunity Project has conducted ongoing testing and surveys to better understand the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19. In the past year, UofL researchers have tested more than 12,000 people for COVID-19 infection and antibodies, beginning with frontline health care workers. They also have worked to gauge how local citizens feel about COVID-19 vaccines, with 91% of Jefferson County residents in a recent poll saying they would like to be vaccinated.

“This is one more example of how UofL has led the charge in finding new and innovative ways to detect, contain and fight COVID-19,” said Kevin Gardner, ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s executive vice president for research and innovation. “Developing these new, more efficient tools for tracking pandemics, such as wastewater monitoring, is a big step in advancing health for our community and beyond.”

The Co-Immunity Project needs 2,000 residents to undergo random testing for COVID-19 infection and antibodies the week of May 17-23 as part of this ongoing research. To learn more, , call 833-313-0502 or email covidsupport@louisville.edu.

The company, Talaris Therapeutics Inc., has listed its shares on the NASDAQ Stock Market exchange under the ticker symbol “TALS.”Ěý

Talaris is working to develop and market , which is intended to help transplant recipients to stay off immunosuppression drugs they would otherwise need for the rest of their lives. The therapy was invented at UofL by researcher and innovator Suzanne Ildstad, who founded the company and now serves as its chief scientific officer.

The therapy is designed to prevent organ rejection without the morbidity and mortality that has been associated with the use of lifelong anti-rejection medicines. Talaris has an exclusive license to the technology, which was developed by Ildstad’s lab at UofL, through .

Immunosuppressants help prevent rejection of the transplanted organ, but can cause serious side effects, including high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, neurological effects, increased risk of infection and decline in kidney function over time.

With this therapy, the goal is “helping organ transplant recipients no longer be dependent on immunosuppressive drugs, resulting in a greatly improved quality of life,” Ildstad said previously. “The support and research infrastructure at UofL have been invaluable in our journey to this important juncture.”

FCR001 consists of stem and immune cells taken from the organ donor and processed at Talaris’ GMP cell processing facility, then infused into the organ transplant recipient. The goal is to create a durable “dual immune system” (part donor-derived and part recipient) in the transplant recipient where these two immune systems coexist, recognizing both the recipient’s own body as well as the donated organ as self.

“This technology could help transplant patients live fuller, healthier lives,”Ěýsaid UofL Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, Kevin Gardner.Ěý“This UofL research, in the hands of strong industry partners and backed by sophisticated life sciences investors and now public shareholders, is a big step in advancing our health.”Ěý

Talaris has secured significant funding over the past two years. In 2019, the company closed a , which it used to hire staff and initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial for its therapy — the last step before applying for FDA approval.

A year later, it to support that trialĚý as well as two other Phase 2 trials that are expected to begin in the second half of 2021, including a planned Phase 2 trial of FCR001 in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis, a severe form of the rare autoimmune disease scleroderma.

UofL researchers already are testing wastewater to determine whether coronavirus infection exists in different neighborhoods around Jefferson County. This new work goes one step further, with the goal of estimating how many people within those neighborhoods are infected. If virus levels are high in the wastewater, it may be a signal of widespread infection in the community.

“This could revolutionize the way we track and contain pandemics, and not just COVID-19,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, professor of medicine. “It gives us an invaluable tool that could offer a clearer view of where and how the virus spreads.”

Researchers at ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s , where Bhatnagar is director, began testing wastewater last year as part of the Co-Immunity Project, a groundbreaking partnership with the to track COVID-19 in Metro Louisville.

As part of that effort, the from 12 sites representing multiple neighborhoods and five water quality treatment centers that aggregate the entire county to the UofL Center for Predictive Medicine for virus analysis.

In this new work, MSD and other community partners will continue collecting wastewater samples over the next six months. After analysis, UofL will also send the results to the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System, which will help inform efforts across the U.S.

As with previous rounds of COVID-19 testing conducted through the Co-Immunity Project, researchers will recruit participants by sending letters to selected households across Jefferson County. They hope to continue to enroll a few thousand people every month and will compare their COVID-19 infection and antibody results with wastewater samples from the same area, with the goal of finding how they correlate.

“The aim of the project is to figure out whether we can estimate how many people in a given area are infected by simply testing the community wastewater,” said Ted Smith, associate professor of medicine and a lead on the wastewater epidemiology project. “Additionally, this is a passive and comparatively low-cost way to monitor community infection and has the additional benefit of being inclusive of all communities in our city and is a promising step to ensuring public health equity.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Co-Immunity Project has conducted ongoing testing and surveys to better understand the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19. In the past year, UofL researchers have tested more than 12,000 people for COVID-19 infection and antibodies, beginning with frontline health care workers. They also have worked to gauge how local citizens feel about COVID-19 vaccines, with in a recent poll saying they would like to be vaccinated.

“This is critically important work in our fight against COVID-19,” said Kevin Gardner, ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s executive vice president for research and innovation. “Our hope is that by working with the CDC, we can develop these new, more efficient tools for tracking pandemics and take a big step in advancing health for all of our community.”

Last year, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), then-Senate majority leader, negotiated and championed five historic and completely bipartisan COVID-19 rescue packages. In addition to supporting workers and propping up the economy, these relief bills also allocated for COVID-19 testing. McConnell personally called then-U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to request that the CDC direct a portion of that funding to ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s Co-Immunity Project.

“Our country has responded to this terrible pandemic with innovation and discovery and Kentucky continues to play a major role in beating this virus. I’d like to congratulate Dr. Bhatnagar and ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s entire Co-Immunity Project on their groundbreaking study,” McConnell said in a statement. “After hearing about their work, I took this project to the highest levels of the federal government to help accelerate their research with additional federal funding.ĚýAs UPS and other Louisville employers are sending safe and effective vaccinations around the country, I’m proud top researchers right here at UofL are pushing the boundaries of knowledge in detection and prevention.”

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 ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™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.”

The resulting intellectual property portfolio consisting of 12 patent families, invented by Huang-Ge Zhang, of ±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s James Graham Brown Cancer Center and Department of Microbiology and Immunology,Ěýhas been licensed to Boston-basedĚýSenda BioSciences, a Flagship Pioneering company.Ěý±«´Ç´Úł˘â€™s technology is part of Senda’s efforts to develop novel drug delivery platforms to solve the challenges of transferring therapeutics across biological barriers and throughout the body.

The UofL technologies use exosomes, which are very small fragments of living, edible plant cells, to transport various therapeutic agents, including anti-cancer drugs, DNA/RNA and proteins such as antibodies. These exosomes help ensure the drug is properly absorbed by the body.Ěý

Current practice is to useĚýnanoparticles or liposomes made from synthetic materials to deliver these medicines. However, these materials are more expensive to produce in large quantities and can cause adverse health effects, such as cell toxicity and chronic inflammation. The UofL edible-plant-derived exosomes don’t have these problems, Zhang said, since they come from natural, readily available sources. More importantly, these exosomes have anti-inflammatory effects.Ěý

“Our exosomes come from fruit or other edible plants — something good for you, that you buy in the grocery store and that humans have eaten forever,” said Zhang, an endowed professor of microbiology and immunology who holds the Founders Chair in Cancer Research. “And, they don’t require synthetic formulation.”

The exosomes made from fruit lipids also can be modified to target and deliver medications to specific cell types within the body — like homing missiles, Zhang said. For example, the exosomes could be engineered to deliver a cancer therapeutic directly to cancer cells.

Zhang originally experimented with other fruits, including tomatoes and grapes. His epiphany came while eating a grapefruit — he realized his breakfast was chock-full of natural lipids that could be harvested to make exosomes at a larger scale. The results of that work later were published in multiple scientific journals, including , and Cell Host & Microbe, and now are exclusively licensed to Senda Biosciences.

“These technologies could make a real difference in drug delivery, improving access and costs while reducing side effects, ” said Guillame Pfefer, CEO of Senda Biosciences. “We look forward to working with UofL to further develop these innovations and get them to market.”

Senda Biosciences holds an exclusive license to several UofL fruit-based drug delivery technologies, including technologies focused on the regulation of gut microbiota, through the UofL , which works with industry and startups to commercialize university technologies. The EPI-Center team worked closely with Zhang and Senda to develop and grow the partnership.

“This is the kind of outcome we want for all our technologies,” said Holly Clark, deputy director of the Commercialization EPI-Center, who manages Zhang’s intellectual property portfolio. “We’ve built a great working relationship between our innovator and our commercialization partner, Senda, and together, they will advance this suite of technologies for market.”