San Diego, Cal.-based , a biotech firm that offers data, services, insights and tissue for drug developers, has signed a non-exclusive license to use the . The patent-pending UofL technology overcomes a major barrier to drug discovery, allowing researchers more time to test the effectiveness and toxicity of new drugs, drug candidates and gene therapies.

“Limited viability of test heart tissue means there’s less access, which slows down the development of new, potentially life-saving medications,” said Tamer M. A. Mohamed, an associate professor who invented the technology as part of a multi-disciplinary team from the UofL School of Medicine and J.B. Speed School of Engineering. “Our goal is to give researchers more time and speed up the discovery process while improving safety and efficacy.”

Because of the short shelf-life of human heart tissue, many drug candidates today are tested in ways that don’t perfectly emulate living heart tissue or use tests that otherwise don’t show the full range of potential side effects related to cardiotoxicity.��This, Mohamed said, could be a reason some��drug candidates fail Phase 1 clinical trials or get taken off the market after being launched.��

“AnaBios has always believed that a key to successful drug discovery is incorporating human tissue at the preclinical stage,” said Dr. Andre Ghetti, Chief Executive Officer at AnaBios. “We have a long history of implementing human cell-and-tissue-based innovation at industrial scale.��Implementing UofL’s cardiac slice technology is aligned with our translational research focus.”

The technology, protected and licensed through the , extends the tissue’s usable life��to 12 days by mimicking the conditions experienced by a living heart. The tissue ‘lives’ in a pneumatic chamber, receiving��electrical stimulation and nutrition and pumping air instead of blood. AnaBios plans to incorporate these methods into its offerings.��Mohamed co-invented the technology with researcher Guruprasad Giridharan and then doctoral student Moustafa Meki.

“The license and commercialization of this innovative approach are the outcome of the successful collaboration with Dr.��Mohamed and the University of Louisville,”��said Najah Abi-Gerges, AnaBios’s vice president of research and development. “We have been thrilled to contribute to the��validation��of��the cardiac slice technology and believe this UofL research will have a positive impact on medical innovation.”

That funding, an increase of more than $30 million over the previous record set a year earlier, supported work to address some of the biggest global problems of our time, including climate change and battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

“UofL is truly a research powerhouse, continuously blazing new trails and seeking answers to important questions,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “This record-breaking year for funding is proof of that fact, but it also shows our research and scholarship are a great investment — that UofL is a great place to invest.”

The value of that investment is especially apparent in the university’s work to combat COVID-19. In the past year, researchers investigated innovative new treatments, led widespread community testing and developed new methods that could revolutionize how we track and contain future disease outbreaks.

“The research we do here at UofL has real impact — it can improve the way we live and work, spur economic development, and in some cases, it literally saves lives,”��said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for research and innovation. “This funding makes that important work possible.”

The 2021 fiscal year was also far-and-away the university’s best year on record for commercialization income. UofL earned $26.7 million from license royalties and other related income from university research-born intellectual property, nearly triple the previous record set just a year before, and was awarded 80 new patents.

The increased income was propelled by strong deals and development funding, including the license of UofL-born drugs to fight cancer and other conditions. UofL also received grants to develop new technologies, including those addressing societal problems caused by COVID-19.

The past fiscal year also saw the launch of two new startups based on university-born technology. One, iTolerance Inc., signed an exclusive license for a UofL therapy that helps people with Type 1 diabetes stay off immunosuppressants, and is now developing it for clinical use.

To support the launch of more startups based on university technology, UofL recently launched UofL New Ventures, within the . UofL New Ventures is dedicated to broad entrepreneurial support, from forging connections with experienced and potential company founders to helping the resulting startups attract funding and market share.

“It’s important for people to know that our research doesn’t end with a paper or manuscript,” Gardner said. “It ends in getting our research out into the world in the form of innovative new companies, partnerships and technologies. Our goal is innovation with impact.”

UofL New Ventures, within the , will be dedicated to broad entrepreneurial support, from forging connections with experienced and potential company founders to helping the resulting startups attract funding and market share. The goal is to launch innovative new companies that can spur economic development and move research-backed technologies to market.

“UofL already has a long track record of success in getting its research out into the world as new products, therapies, businesses, educational platforms, creative pieces and other works that can save and improve lives,” said Kevin Gardner, executive vice president for research and innovation. “The creation of this new office ultimately will lead to even greater societal impact of UofL research and the technologies and startups it generates.”

UofL New Ventures will be led by Will Metcalf, associate vice president for research development and strategic partnerships. Its leadership team includes Jessica Sharon, director of innovation programs, and Will Fortune, UofL’s program director for the National Security Innovation Network.

This team has broad and deep expertise, ranging from translational research and commercialization, to corporate innovation and engagement, to launching partnerships that spur regional entrepreneurship.

UofL New Ventures will work closely with the UofL , which is responsible for managing the university’s intellectual property and making decisions about its licensing�� to existing entities or to new startups. Together, the two units will work to connect UofL IP with potential founders.

As part of that work, UofL New Ventures will oversee the university’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program, which brings seasoned founders to UofL to help shepherd technologies to market. The office also will also help manage the effort to support regional startup development and success, run in collaboration with the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council.

“We’ve had a lot of success and built momentum with these efforts to spur entrepreneurship and innovation on our campus and beyond,” said Metcalf, who helped launch the LEAP entrepreneurship effort and several successful startups. “With this new office, we are bringing several of our efforts together to accelerate that momentum, creating meaningful impact through translational research, innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development.”

UofL, its innovation and commercialization enterprise and its faculty and researchers already have a strong record of pushing university innovations out into the world. In fiscal year 2020, UofL was awarded 48 new patents and earned $9.4 million from license royalties and other related income, its best year on record and a 30% increase over the year prior. The increased income was propelled by a strong year of deals and startups, with seven new companies launched. Those startups include a new company commercializing a university technology for producing low-calorie sweetener and bio-coal from spent distillers’ grain and one commercializing a tool for��measuring employee engagement.

More recently, UofL has extended that expertise to other universities, helping to bring innovations from across the state of Kentucky to market through efforts such as Kentucky Commercialization Ventures. UofL also has earned from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, reflecting its institution-wide commitment��and impact on regional economic growth and economic opportunity.

For more information, visit the UofL New Ventures website .

Those startups are:

Meta Construction LLC��($350,000). Nick McRae and Max Kommor founded Meta Construction, a construction technology company, as students in the UofL Entrepreneurship MBA program. They , BlackTop, a software platform that lets asphalt contractors locate dump trucks and get the right number to construction sites. They also previously participated in UofL’s (I-Corps) site program.��

Innovative Therapeutix��($250,000). Innovative Therapeutix is collaborating with UofL to develop , a . The company was founded by��Michael Detmer, a UofL adjunct professor of music therapy, and��Rebekah Gossom, a Norton Healthcare speech-language pathologist. They worked with the UofL��Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) to protect and commercialize the technology, and also participated in the�� site and ��programs at UofL.

Vivorte��($800,000). Vivorte ��invented by UofL associate professor of bioengineering,��Dr. Michael Voor. Voor worked with the OTT to protect the intellectual property and come up with a commercialization strategy, resulting in licensing to the UofL start-up company, Vivorte.�� Vivorte has received FDA clearance to .

That was the subject of��the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s 2018��China IP Road Show, a recent day-long conference held��at the University of Louisville.��

The event featured speakers from specialized backgrounds — law, academia, industry, government — who��walked attendees through the process of securing,defending and commercializing intellectual property in China.

“Each program seeks to impart information to U.S. innovators and entrepreneurs on protecting their intellectual property while also maximizing its commercial value,” said Conrad Wong,��Attorney-Advisor for the��China Team at the USPTO’s��Office of Policy and International Affairs.��

The USPTO worked with with ��(OTT) to organize the event, which was held in the downtown Clinical and Translational Research Building. OTT helps��protect and commercialize the research done in labs all over campus.

“UofL has a rich history of innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship,” said��the office’s director, Dr. Allen Morris, who also spoke at the event. “We are continuing to grow in these efforts.”

UofL has a support system and training turning research into commercializable intellectual property. And, Morris said, UofL is the only university to have a “Superfecta” of , which aim to get innovations developed on-campus to market.

The USPTO has been running its China IP Road Show since 2001 in cities around the U.S. This fiscal year, the office plans to hit 10 cities, both large and small markets.

Wong said they chose to bring the road show to Louisville��because of��the area’s commercial ties it has to China and the number of successful enterprises here. The city, for example, is home to GE Appliances, which has been part of of .����

“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is very grateful to the University of Louisville for helping make this China IP Road Show one of our most successful this year,” Wong said. “The University’s personnel were extremely helpful in planning and supporting the program.”

That skill will come in especially handy as he serves as interim dean of the law school through the end of December.

Smith joined the Brandeis Law��faculty in 2000, teaching courses such as Intellectual Property Survey, Trademark Law, Business Planning, Law and Economics, Property and Secured Transactions. He is particularly interested in helping students build practice skills, and so incorporates various practice-based exercises in his Trademark Law and Business Planning courses.

In 2012, Smith received the University of Louisville Distinguished Faculty Award in Teaching. In 2011, he received a Fulbright Scholarship Award to teach at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, China, where he taught Chinese Masters of Law students about U.S. intellectual property law.

Smith’s scholarship focuses on issues related to intellectual property, commercial law and technology. His work has focused on the challenge of applying existing intellectual property legal structures on new technologies.

Smith took some time to talk to UofL News about his hidden talents, advice for law students and more.

UofL News: What was your best��summer job?
Smith: I was an ordinary seaman on a chemical tanker the summer before I started college. The S.S. Bow Star left Philadelphia and went to Holland, England, Belgium and sailed through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal to Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa. I was the youngest person on board and chipped rusted paint and helped load and unload chemicals.��

UofL News: What’s your favorite Louisville restaurant?
Smith: Jack Fry’s and Lilly’s Bistro.��

UofL News: What might people be surprised to know about you?
Smith: I can juggle. I can spin a Frisbee on my finger. As long as it’s solid, I can spin about anything.

UofL News: What class impacted you the most when you were in law school?
Smith: Contracts and Secured Transactions. I had the same professor for both: Susan Finneran. She was really engaging. I probably model my teaching after her the most.

UofL News: What advice do you have for law students today?
Smith: Put in the time. There are some people who are innately good at studying at the last minute. Those are few and far between. Put in the time.

UofL ranked in a five-way tie for No. 97 with 25 patents in fiscal year 2015.

“Belonging to this elite list is yet another affirmation that UofL has made great strides in the innovation arena in the last several years,” said Eugene Krentsel, associate vice president for research and innovation.

The ranking comes from a report published by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO). It utilizes data acquired from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to highlight the important role patents play in university research and innovation.

The NAI and IPO have published the report annually since 2013. The rankings are compiled by calculating the number of utility patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in which the university is the first assignee on the printed patent.

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Photo courtesy of .��