Success Stories

KY INBRE-funded researcher Cheri Levinson, University of Louisville, and research partner Christina Ralph-Nearman, received a $125,000 grant from the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) to further develop a virtual reality technology aimed at treating eating disorders. Awaken Emerse, a UofL prototype technology, helps users virtually face and overcome their associated fears, such as the fear of gaining weight.

The NEDA grant comes on the heels of some $11.5 million in funding from the NIH to support Levinson’s work to better understand and address some of the most devastating effects of eating disorders. That research will investigate how eating disorders may develop in childhood and adolescence, their contribution to suicidal behaviors and how innovative personalized treatments, like VR simulation, may offer hope.

Ali Bidram, an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico and a lead for the New Mexico NSF EPSCoR NM SMART Grid Center Architecture and Deployment teams, recently earned a prestigious NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award for his project to improve power grids to ensure they are adaptively protected for modern conditions, such as high penetration of renewable energy sources. The five-year, $517,000 project began April 1 and continues through March 21, 2029.

Former SC INBRE DRP recipient Joe Carson, College of Charleston, received a two-year, $2 million NIH Phase II grant award from the National Cancer Institute.

Carson’s 2020-2022 SC INBRE DRP grant was entitled, “Advancing Low Cost, All-Focus, 3D Imaging Technologies, Using Shape-From-Focus Techniques.” This new NIH Phase II grant is entitled, “A Novel, Low-Cost, Handheld, 3D Imaging System for Improved Screening of Cervical Neoplasia in Resource Limited Settings.” The two-year grant will be used to complete research & development and conduct clinical testing of the device in three countries, including the US (at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine), Kenya (at the Aga Khan University), and Malawi (at the University of Science and Technology). Pensievision will also partner with the Virginia Tech Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics (BEAM) for coordinating global health activities and advancing technology components. SC INBRE congratulates Joe on this big achievement and is pleased to have been a part of this success!

The US Department of Commerce announced $1.5 billion in planned direct funding for GlobalFoundries (GF) as part of the US CHIPS and Science Act. This investment will enable GF to expand and create new manufacturing capacity and capabilities to securely produce more essential chips for automotive, IoT, aerospace, defense, and other vital markets.

“The first and largest 200mm semiconductor manufacturing facility of its kind in the US, GF’s Vermont fab is a cornerstone of the state’s economy and a key partner for the University of Vermont’s (UVM) work as a national research university. CHIPS funding will help ensure the commercial viability of this site for years to come,” said Kirk Dombrowski, Vice President for Research and Economic Development at UVM and Vermont NSF EPSCoR Director.

XLerateHealth, has announced the selection of nine innovators across the Southeast IDeA State region to participate in the NIH-funded IDeA Regional Entrepreneurship Development (I-RED) Program. Participants were selected through a competitive application. The goal of the I-RED program is to help selected participants acquire the fundamental business and entrepreneurial skills needed to successfully commercialize their technologies.

Members of the inaugural cohort are:

• Marc Birtwistle, PhD, Co-founder and CEO of Blotting Innovations (Clemson University, SOUTH CAROLINA)
• David Colby, PharmD, PhD, Founder of Fluoriq (University of MISSISSIPPI)
• Michael Dunham, MD, Co-founder and CEO of Soteria Medical Solutions (LOUISIANA State University Health Sciences)
• Jill Kolesar, PharmD, Founder of VesiCure Technologies (University of KENTUCKY)
• Nina McLain, RN, PhD, Founder and CEO of OSD Technologies (University of Southern MISSISSIPPI) Jeremy Mercuri, PhD, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of NovaVia Spine & Biologics (Clemson University, SOUTH CAROLINA)
• Jay Potts, PhD, Co-founder and CEO of Carolina Biologics (University of SOUTH CAROLINA)
• Shafic Sraj, MD, MBA (WEST VIRGINIA University)
• Stephen Valentine, PhD, Co-founder and Vice President of Invibragen (WEST VIRGINIA University)

Allergy Amulet, NH BioMade seed grant recipient, has been awarded two grants from NIH and USDA to advance its groundbreaking work in developing consumer-friendly sensors for detecting food sensitivities and pathogens in food. Allergy Amulet credits the support it received from NH BioMade's seed grant to Dartmouth College researchers Nataliia Vereshchuk and Katherine Mirica as instrumental in securing these two SBIR awards. NH BioMade is a New Hampshire NSF EPSCoR Track 1 project.

The Paul H. Boerger Fund of the Delaware Community Foundation awarded a $500,000 donation to the Delaware State University Foundation in support of the Alzheimer’s disease research program led by Dr. Michael Gitcho, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and former Delaware INBRE Pilot Investigator.

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has named the winners of its 11th annual Innovation & Economic Prosperity (IEP) University Awards and 11 new IEP University designees. The awards recognize innovative projects or programs in economic engagement.

APLU’s IEP Universities designation program helps higher education institutions codify, elevate, and advance their enterprise supporting economic and community development while providing national recognition to institutions committed to university economic development. New designees from the EPSCoR/IDeA jurisdictions include: University of KENTUCKY and WEST VIRGINIA University.

This year’s IEP University Award winners representing the EPSCoR/IDeA jurisdictions are:

• University of ALABAMA at Birmingham, IEP Innovation award
  
  
• KANSAS State University, IEP Place award
  
  
• IOWA State University, IEP Economic Engagement Connections Award

The DOE has announced that its Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) field laboratory in Milford, UT, has selected 13 research projects to foster innovation in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). Selectees will receive a combined total of up to $44 million for research that will build on FORGE’s existing EGS work and focus on reproducible solutions and dissemination of technical data. More

Representing the EPSCoR jurisdictions are:

• Topic 2: Alternative Stimulation Schemes: University of OKLAHOMA
  
  
• Topic 3: Field Scale Experiments to Measure Heat-Sweep Efficiency: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NEW MEXICO
  
  
• Topic 4: High Temperature Proppants: OKLAHOMA State University and University of OKLAHOMA

The DOE has announced awards for eight new designs for microbatteries, through phase 1 of the Microbattery Design Prize. This prize aims to accelerate the commercialization of these innovative microbattery designs, along with their integration into the existing technologies needed for clean energy manufacturing.

Representing the EPSCoR jurisdictions is:

• AUDIANCE, Inc., East Greenwich, RHODE ISLAND. Award Amount: $75,000.