Success Stories

Through its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, NASA is planning to inject $51 million into 312 small businesses across the United States. Several of those companies are located in Arkansas.

NASA announced that four Arkansas companies have been chosen for Phase I of the SBIR project selection process. Part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, the SBIR program is designed to stimulate innovation and encourages companies to develop ideas that will “meet the government specific research and development needs with the potential for commercialization,” according to the agency’s website.

All four of the companies are located in Northwest Arkansas’ Washington County. Three of the companies are based in Fayetteville, while one is located in Elkins, a small town approximately 13 miles southeast of Fayetteville.

The companies include: CatalyzeH20, Nanomatronix, Ozark Integrated Circuits and WattGlass.

Read the full story from Arkansas Money & Politics here.

*Ozark Integrated Circuits and WattGlass, were startups that spun out of Arkansas’ EPSCoR Track-1 in 2010-2015.

A Clemson University technology-based start-up company, Elastrin Therapeutics Inc., is working to develop technologies that could prevent and repair lung damage caused by COVID-19.

COVID-19 causes airway diseases such as acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome that damage lung tissue of young and old alike. These conditions often result in chronic immunological responses that induce acute crises and damage lung tissue over time. This already is a significant health risk in the United States. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Approximately 40-60% of all exacerbations are associated with viral infections.

One of the essential structural proteins in the lungs is elastin that provides balloon-like (elastic) properties that allow lung tissue to recoil during exhalation. Elastin rarely remodels and destruction of elastin in lungs is irreversible. Because older patients who have compromised lung function are more prone to lung damage, therapies are needed for such patients. This is especially relevant as the damage opens them to fatal episodes from infections such as coronavirus. While the immune system works to fight viral infection, we need to protect collateral lung damage, said Naren Vyavahare, co-founder of Elastrin Therapeutics and the Hunter endowed chair and professor of bioengineering at Clemson.

Vyahavare and Elastrin have developed nanoparticles with attached humanized elastin antibody that target only to degraded elastin matrix, sparing healthy tissue. As such, the nanoparticles can be targeted in fragmented elastin in disease states, making them effective for drug delivery. They are also working to develop associated drug therapies that could fill an unmet need for patients whose lung tissue could be severely damaged and who experience permanent disability.

With funding from the SCRA (formerly the South Carolina Redevelopment Authority), Elastrin and Vyavahare will advance this research and work to develop a targeted therapy to prevent the progression of acute lung injury and to protect healthy lung matrix. They’ll also test if they can repair lung tissue after the injury.

Vyahavare serves as the director of Bioengineering Center for Regeneration and Formation of Tissues (SC BioCRAFT) at Clemson University. This COBRE center is working to significantly augment collaborative efforts in South Carolina to recruit, train, and retain a critical mass of investigators with cross-disciplinary skills to collaborate effectively in the research area of regenerative medicine.

Read the full story from Clemson University here.

The Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Division of Science and Technology and its university partners recently won a National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) Track-1 grant for $20 million to be awarded over five years. The state of Arkansas will match the grant with an additional $4 million.

The project, “Data Analytics that are Robust and Trusted” (DART) will work to systematically investigate key aspects of three barriers to big data — management, security/privacy, and model interpretability — and develop novel, integrated solutions to address them.

Read the full story from Talk Business and Politics here.

Researchers at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology have entered their third year of development of a wearable and wireless body sensor system—with the ability to be powered remotely—that will revolutionize NASA spacesuits.

Roy says the research "fits seamlessly with the priorities in NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and the Space Technology Mission Directorate. This project is closely relevant to NASA's Technology Roadmap TA 6: Human Health, Life Support and Habitation Systems."

One major challenge to Maine’s salmon industry is salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis), which are parasites that infest both Atlantic and Pacific salmon. Salmon lice are small creatures, growing to no larger than a dime, but pose a serious threat to the health and longevity of both wild and farm-raised salmon. In Maine, sea lice are estimated to cause an average loss of $50 million a year for the salmon industry. EPSCoR SEANET funded a collaborative research project at the University of Maine’s Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) to foster foundational biological understanding of lice as well as a plan to establish preventative vaccines.

Most studies examining the effects of temperature on sea lice consider sea lice living in waters at a temperature of around four degrees Celsius. In Maine, however, sea lice must survive winter waters at a temperature of minus two degrees Celsius. At four degrees Celsius, studies have shown that sea lice and their eggs can live up to 12 weeks. Dr. Ian Bricknell and his team hypothesize that this time could double to 24 weeks in colder water. If his research supports this hypothesis, he will have conclusive evidence that Maine’s cold waters are allowing sea lice to survive over the winter in an egg stage until the return of the salmon in the spring, reducing or even eliminating the need for an intermediate host.

A new NSF-funded paper in the journal Cell reports a staggering degree of biological diversity that defies contemporary definitions of microbial species and illuminates reasons behind challenges in metagenomic studies. The research may further understanding of how marine microbes respond to climate change.

"This unprecedented project uses a big data approach to read a large, randomized sample of genomes from the global microbiome, which we then explore to answer many types of questions. Our team’s results provide a deeper understanding of microbial diversity in the ocean, new insights into energy sources and biosynthetic capabilities, and novel tools for the study of microbes in all environments." ~ Ramunas Stepanauskas, senior author of the paper. "

The researchers analyzed more than 12,000 individual microbial genomes to build the Global Ocean Reference Genomes Tropics database. To their surprise, every cell they analyzed was genetically unique. In fact, few were similar enough that they would be considered the same species.

This new perspective on microbial diversity incorporates both local and global scales. The team used cutting-edge technologies in the Bigelow Laboratory's Single Cell Genomics Center to analyze samples collected throughout the tropics and subtropics -- two thirds of the world's oceans -- to learn about global distribution patterns. They also examined local microbial diversity by reading the blueprints of more than 6,000 individual cells in a single teaspoon of water from the Sargasso Sea.

Read the full article from Bigelow Lab here.

In Summer 2018, 10 NWU undergraduate students--who had just completed the introductory biological inquiry course and expressed interest in pursuing biology careers—were guided by NWU Professor Angela McKinney (left in photo) and two upper-level students.

“Each student worked on three different projects all related to bacteriophage (virus that infects bacteria) biology,” said McKinney. “Students were exposed to different aspects of research that included making media, performing experiments, keeping a laboratory notebook, reading and discussing scientific articles related to the research, and communicating their findings in writing and orally.” The latter included forming 3-4 person teams and giving a formal presentation, plus generating research posters.

Framing the Chemistry Curriculum, a “Track-3” award from National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR, funded a collaboration with Nebraska’s tribal colleges to re-establish STEM courses with a Native American community focus.

Mark Griep, professor with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Chemistry and the “Framing” project’s principal investigator, formed a team of Nebraska’s tribal college science educators to develop chemistry curriculum relevant to tribal community topics. The labs—which include background information, community connections, a prayer, lab protocols and procedures, and suggestions for the lab report--can be performed by students alone or in pairs, and require about 2.5 hours to complete if the reagents and materials are ready.

Because of the Framing project, more than 20 students have taken a chemistry course in the past five years at Nebraska Indian Community College--with locations in Macy, Santee and South Sioux City. Little Priest Tribal College in Winnebago had offered a low-enrollment chemistry sequence; now it is attracting over six students a semester. The full-time enrollment at each college is between 150 and 180 students.

In 2012, a Girl Scouts study found that women account for only 20% of bachelor’s degrees conferred in computer science, physics, and engineering. In addition, only 25% of STEM positions are occupied by women. The Girl Scouts of Maine in partnership with Maine EPSCoR are working with girls to address this gender gap.

Maine Program Director and Regional Office Supervisor Samantha Lott Hale articulates that the Girl Scouts’ girl-initiated programming provides Maine youth with the opportunity to change the narrative about young girls’ futures in STEM fields. The National Girl Scouts organization has pledged to add 2.5 million girls to the STEM pipeline by 2025. The organization’s pledge promises to address the concern that girls as early as third grade are dismissing future STEM endeavors.

Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the world’s oceans is increasing water pH, leading to ocean acidification (OA). Maine researchers as well as researchers nationwide are questioning the impact of OA on ocean waters, marine resources, and commercial industries. Maine is especially interested in these effects because the state is experiencing extreme environmental changes that may threaten its coastal economy.

Supported researchers and technicians from the Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture Network (SEANET) and University of Maine’s Aquaculture Research Institute’s (ARI) Orono facility designed and built the first state of the art Ocean Acidification Lab in Maine. The project was funded by Maine’s NSF EPSCoR SEANET Award.