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.”

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 .