The program provides training and $50,000 in funding that helps university researchers translate the ideas they develop in the lab into new, technology-backed startups. Participating teams complete an intense, two-month bootcamp learning about commercialization, engaging with industry and talking to potential customers.

Two projects from UofL were chosen to participate in recent bootcamp cohorts:

• BioCaRGOS, short for Capture and Release Gels for Optimized Storage (bioCaRGOS), uses a novel water-based stabilizer to enable storage of sensitive biospecimens like RNA, DNA or proteins at low temperatures for long periods of time, including during transport to remote locations. The project team includes: co-inventors Gautam Gupta andĚýRajat Chauhan, both in the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, and business mentor Jeff Cummins, who also is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with the UofL Office of Research and Innovation.

• ARNA, short for , an artificially intelligent health care robot created to provide round-the-clock patient monitoring and allow nurses to focus more on direct patient care by taking on some of their time-consuming tasks. The project team includes: co-inventors Dan Popa and Sumit Kumar Das, of engineering, and business mentor Mary Tapolsky, of the UofL Forcht Center for Entrepreneurship.

Chauhan, of the BioCaRGOS team, said the experience helped his team find an industry commercialization partner. They currently are seeking partners for an upcoming application NSF Partnerships for Innovation program, which allows NSF-backed projects like his to work with industry on research and development and accelerate the technology’s path to market.

“Vaccine stability (especially for COVID-19) remains a critical challenge and is the critical bottleneck for effective distribution of the state-of-art MRNA based vaccines to current population,” said Chauhan, BioCaRGOS entrepreneurial lead and a postdoctoral research scientist. “Our technology has the potential to advance the delivery of vaccines at room temperature, a feat that cannot be achieved currently.”

Teams must be nominated for the national I-Corps bootcamp, and must first complete a regional . Both the BioCARGOS and ARNA teams completed UofL’s I-Corps site program — part of UofL’s suite ofĚý, that also includes the UofL , NIH and NSF programs. I-Corps at UofL requires successful participation and completion of , UofL’s own 10-week entrepreneurial bootcamp.

“These programs support commercialization of the work being done by our researchers here at UofL,” said Jessica Sharon, UofL’s director of innovation programs. “We’re proud of the ARNA and BioCARGOS teams, and their work to accelerate product development of their innovations to address unmet needs in the market.”Ěý

In late January, Shade started her term as an entrepreneur in residence, or EIR, through the UofL Office of Research and Innovation. In this role, she will work with inventors and the to connect UofL technologies to industry and startups.

“I’m excited to participate in this program and continue the momentum,” Shade said.Ěý“This program furthers the potential for impact to our communities and reflectsĚýthe amazing work being done at the University of Louisville.”

Shade is a veteran of the healthcare industry, having worked in both large companies and startups. But coming back to campus as an EIR brings things full-circle: the company she founded, Louisville-based SentryHealth, was born at UofL.

SentryHealth has customized corporate care management programs that help employees stay healthy while controlling health care costs for employers.

Shade’s hiring marks the second class of UofL Research and Innovation EIRs. Funding for the program comes from the , a public-private partnership led by UofL and backed by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, to grow Louisville’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The first round of EIRs, , included Josh Nickols, Jeff Cummins and Charley Miller. Nickols and Cummins will continue to serve as EIRs through summer 2020, while Miller is now focused on his new, Vogt Award-winning startup, Unitonomy.Ěý

The company is built around a , which Miller discovered and licensed while working with UofL. It’s the first license from the EIR program and the first from the UofL College of łÉČËÖ±˛Ą and Human Development.Ěý

“We’re very excited to have Alice join us as an EIR, and to benefit from her knowledge and experience in the healthcare startup space,” said Will Metcalf, UofL’s executive director of strategic initiatives and chairman of the LEAP board. “We had great success with the first round of EIRs, and with Alice on board, we’re sure to build on that momentum.”Ěý

“Innovation is absolutely critical to the University of Louisville’s mission,” said UofL President, Neeli Bendapudi. “It’s what drives us, inspires us, and it’s a big part of what makes us a great place to learn, work and invest — our three most important goals as a university.”Ěý

The event, hosted by the and the honored UofL innovators who had recently been awarded a patent or whose technology had been licensed to a company for commercialization.Ěý

“Our researchers and innovators do tremendous work with the power to change and improve lives,” said Allen Morris, executive director of the Commercialization EPI-Center, formerly the Office of Technology Transfer. “That’s what this event is about — celebrating them, and the work they do.”

Two large awards were also presented: Susan Ildstad was given the Innovator of the Year Award and John O. Trent was given the Career Impact Award. Each took home a red-and-black glass flame — the symbol for the event.Ěý

Ildstad’s company, Talaris, recently to develop a therapy invented at UofL that could improve the lives of kidney transplant recipients. The technology, which just entered its phase three clinical trials, could allow living donor kidney transplant recipients to stay off immunosuppression drugs, which they would otherwise need for the rest of their lives.

Likewise, Trent has a long a history of collaborating on technologies, particularly in . Some of his notable inventions include AS1411, novel PFK inhibitors for fighting the spread of cancer and his natural product hand cream for DNA repair, now licensed to and in clinical development by Repairogen.Ěý

Robert S. Keynton, interim executive vice president for Research and Innovation, said this year has been a at UofL. In 2019, he said, UofL saw more research disclosures of new innovations, more commercialization deals and more innovation income.

Keynton also noted several success stories that had gained attention over the past year: One team, he said, developed a new method of , extending its shelf life for the battlefield, rural areas and even space travel. Another team developed a way to , which could have huge impacts for our environment. And yet another is helping people .

“The work you do is significant,” he said. “The work you do is important. The work you do has impact. And I’m proud to be part of it, both as the Interim EVPRI and as an inventor myself.”

Check out some of our innovators:Ěý

The technology is the first FDA approval in a new category for products used during spine surgery that have both mechanical and electrical components.

The device,Ěýpatented through the ,Ěýconsists of a series of strain sensors placed on the titanium rods, which are implanted into the body to hold the vertebrae in place after a spinal fusion surgery.ĚýSpinal fusion, which “fuses” vertebrae together, is usually .

The device can help doctors see whether the spine is solidly fusing after the surgery.ĚýThe sensors measure the strain on the rods, which indicates the level of strain on the spine.Ěý

Currently, the only way to determine that is through an additional exploratory surgery, said Dr. John Naber, a UofL professor who worked on the technology. But the UofL-invented system allows doctors to determine that from outside the body.

“The big payoff is to eliminate unnecessary surgeries,” said Naber,Ěýwho also is associate chair of electrical and computer engineering.

According to a 2019 article in the journal analyzing lumbar fusion rates, about 200,000 spinal fusion surgeries are performed every year in the U.S. And, the number of elective fusion surgeries has increased by more than 60% since 2004.

The device was invented by a team that included the ’s Drs. Naber, Kevin Walsh, William Hnat and Michael Voor, along with Leatherman’s Spine Center orthopedic surgeon Dr. Randy Puno.

The technology is now marketed by Ohio-based Intellirod Spine Inc. as the “LOADPRO sensing system.”

Ric Navarro, CEO of Intellirod, said the company plans to commercially launch the product at the Cleveland Clinic and the Leatherman Spine Center in Louisville now that it has FDA approval. The company plans to expand its launch sites in the near future.

“We are delighted to be the first device in this new FDA product category for spine to give the surgeon unprecedented new information about how much strain is on their rods as they correct a deformity,” he said.

Listen to a radio interview with Naber on .

The grant will be used for a three-year, campus-wide initiative called Advancement Through Healthy Empowerment, Networking, and Awareness (ATHENA), to help promote success for women faculty in STEM fields.

“This grant will help the University of Louisville meet its strategic goal of promoting equity for all faculty,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “The STEM fields play such a critical role in the future of our commonwealth. We must ensure that our female faculty have every opportunity to progress in their careers so they can inspire the next generation of leaders and innovators.”

ATHENA is a broad initiative supported by the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, School of Medicine, Vice Provost Office for Faculty Affairs, Human Resources, the Office of Diversity & Equity and others.

Together, they will implement five key interventions:Ěý

• Changing the search, recruitment and hiring practices to increase diversity and excellence;
• Creating a faculty mentoring program with an emphasis on improving opportunities for mid-career promotion;
• Establishing a program to support the career progress of faculty experiencing major life events;
• Implementing data collection to support evaluation and monitoring efforts;Ěý
• Educating faculty about gender and ethnicity biases that affect the advancement of women in STEM disciplines through theatre-based workshops.

“The hope is that these interventions will help, not only women faculty in STEM, but everyone to grow, advance and succeed,” said Olfa Nasraoui, a professor in the computer science and computer engineering department and principal investigator on the grant. “We have people working on diverse subjects related to equity research all across campus. ATHENA brings them together.”

ATHENA is funded by NSF’s ADVANCE program. UofL is one of only two schools in Kentucky to be awarded under this program.

Researchers at the University of Louisville are developing a new vaccine for lung cancer that’s stable and scalable, in addition proving as much as 80 to 100% effective at preventing certain tumor growth in mouse models.

Prevention is key because, while conventional treatments and therapies may kill most of the cancer, a small percentage of cells are resistant. Those are cancer stemĚýcells, which have the ability to reproduce and sustain the cancer.

“Those cells sit there, and they have the capability of regrowing the entire tumor by themselves,” said co-inventor and assistant professor of medicine, Dr. Kavitha Yaddanapudi.

A vaccine sidesteps those cells by helping the body build immunity to cancer before it develops. So far,Ěýthe UofL vaccine has been tested against lung cancer and melanoma in mice, and 80 to 100% of the vaccinated mice used in each animal trial were cancer free when compared to the non-vaccinated control group.

The research team hopes to develop the vaccine to be effective against all cancer types and is now working toward human trials. They’re working with the UofL to protect and commercialize the intellectual property.

The vaccine contains vesicles isolated from embryonic stem cells, an idea inspired byĚý who have had multiple children seem to be less likely to develop cancer.

“That brought up the idea that cancer cells and embryonic cells were pretty similar,” said co-inventor Dr. John Eaton, a professor emeritus in medicine, pharmacology and toxicology at UofL. “And it turns out that’s true.”

Through development, the team was able to streamline the vaccine, giving it a longer shelf life, more stability, and making it easy to make in large quantities.

“We tried to simplify, simplify, simplify,” said co-inventor and an associate professor of medicine, Dr. Chi Li.

The research to now has been primarily backed by $325,000 in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health. They’re now looking for funding to support additional research and development.

Check out more about the trials in the video below:Ěý

Listen to the team’s.

Fire, a professor of pathology and of genetics at Stanford University, is famous for his role in the discovery of ribonucleic acid (RNA) “interference.” That discovery earned a .

“The things that have driven this field are curiosity, fundamental investigation and thoughtful mentorship,” Fire said.

Much like DNA, RNA plays a critical role in genetics, specifically in how our genes are coded, decoded, regulated and expressed. Fire’s Nobel-winning work revealed that interference could cause some genes to be “silenced” and not expressed. Ěý

In his talk at UofL’s Clinical and Translational Research Building, Fire focused on his current research into RNA’s role in the cellular immunity that protects organisms from viruses and infection.

The UofL talk was part of the , funded by benefactor Austin and Mary Francis Bloch and the and hosted by the School of Medicine’s .

Dr. Ron Gregg, chair of the department, said bringing Nobel winners like Fire to UofL provides faculty, students and staff with an opportunity to learn about the process that gave rise to the award, and gain a historical perspective on significant scientific breakthroughs that could inspire their own.Ěý

“Having the awardees also talk about their current research provides insight into cutting-edge research,” Gregg said. “Most importantly, our interactions with these individuals lets us discuss the important research being done at UofL with them.”

The technology, dubbed “ALAN” (for Aptamer-Linked Au Nanoparticles), has shown promise as an agent for radio-sensitizing and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast, as well as for the treatment of many forms of cancer.Ěý

In exchange for the technology, UofL will receive cash payments on the achievement of certain milestones and royalties on future sales, as well as potential equity in the company. Qualigen also has a sponsored research agreement with UofL for further development.Ěý

“We have very high hopes that working together, with the strengths that we have at Qualigen and what UofL has here with the research center, that we can do something good going forward,” said Michael Poirier, the company’s president and CEO.

UofL’s Dr. Paula Bates, who developed the base technology, said this drug is more targeted than many currently available cancer treatments. Those treatments may also harm healthy, non-cancerous tissue.

“The key is that the ALAN technology can kill cancer cells, but not normal cells,” said Bates, a professor of medicine.

The aptamer itself has been previously tested in more than 100 patients and has had no evidence of severe side effects. At least seven of those patients either saw their cancers disappear or shrink substantially.Ěý

In the new ALAN technology, the aptamer is attached to gold, which should make it more durable and active than the original formulation. The new ALAN formulation is expected to enter clinical trials by 2020.

Bates worked with a team of researchers from the UofL School of Medicine and J.B. Speed School of Engineering on development. That team included Drs. Kyung Kang, Tariq Malik and Marty O’Toole.

“Together, we came up with a technology that has a lot of promise,” said O’Toole, an assistant professor of bioengineering. “It’s rewarding to know our work could really help people.”

The technology was developed with support from the university’s robust innovation programs, including the and , a National Institutes of Health Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH), as well as a Kentucky Commercialization Fund grant.Ěý

The UofL protected the intellectual property and helped develop the commercial partnership with Qualigen.

“We are excited to work with Qualigen on the product development of our nanoparticle-based drug to fight cancer,” said Dr. Allen Morris, the office’s director. “This is more than just a license — it’s a collaboration.”

The startup, Pascal Tags, was founded byĚýJ.B. Speed School of Engineering student, Brandon Young, and recent College of Business graduate, Haley Pfeiffer. Young will pitch the company’sĚý at the competition in November at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Alexandria, Virginia.ĚýĚý

“For Pascal Tags, I think the opportunity is potentially once in a life time,” Young said. “It is very humbling being the first representative from the state of Kentucky and the University of Louisville.”

He and other collegiate finalists will presentĚýtheir inventions to a panel of judges that includes National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees and USPTO officials and showcase their work at the Collegiate Inventors Competition Expo.

“We will get to present and discuss our technology with very distinguished individuals from the Hall of Fame, compete against other great innovators, and reach an audience most innovators do not have the chance to in college,” Young said.

Pascal Tags, a , has developed smart tags thatĚýhelp track inventory.ĚýYoung invented the technology with his faculty mentor, Dr. Thad Druffel of the UofL Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research.Ěý

The team worked with the UofL to protect and commercialize their intellectual property.ĚýPascal Tags also participated in UofL’s entrepreneurship training and theĚýĚýsite programĚýfor translational research.Ěý

“This is great honor and opportunity for Brandon and the University,” Druffel said. “With a good idea and a lot of hard work, Brandon has definitely earned his place among the top collegiate innovators.”Ěý