Translational Grant History
Explore UofL’s unmatched record of translational research grants.
Sidebar
UofL is one of only a handful of universities in the country to have received a suite of prestigious grant-backed translational awards supporting the translation of research into viable commercial products. And we’re the only one to receive all of them.
Given their shared goals, these programs have helped establish UofL as a world leader in innovation.
Awarded Translational Grants
The Coulter Translational Partnership at the University of Louisville promoted the translation of innovative research through successful collaboration between engineers and clinicians, supporting promising technologies.
The Coulter Translational Partnership funded promising projects in order to move innovative technologies to clinical application through commercialization. The ultimate goal of this partnership was to concentrate on outcomes which will accelerate the introduction of new technologies to improve the treatment and diagnosis of disease or reduce healthcare costs.
The prestigious Coulter Translational Partnership Award places UofL in the "Sweet 16" of American institutions for translational research.
The University of Louisville was awarded an NSF I-Corps Site award in 2015. The overall goal of the UofL I-Corps Site Program is to integrate and leverage existing commercialization infrastructure and capabilities at UofL to establish a sustainable program for the discovery and commercialization of STEM innovations and stimulate regional economic development. The educational program, LaunchIt, focuses on product development and validation ahead of market launch. In just eight weeks, we help innovators and entrepreneurs test their ideas or products in the real world and see if they have what it takes to stick.
More recently, the University of Louisville became part of the Mid-South I-Corps Hub along with other universities in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Mississippi. The Mid-South Hub, funded by the NSF, is an entrepreneurial institution that supports academic commercialization, economic growth, and shared prosperity across the entire Mid-South region. The Hub’s mission is to accelerate the translation of groundbreaking university research outcomes into commercialized ventures that seed emergent, prosperous innovation ecosystems across the region.
NSF awarded the University of Louisville AWARE site, AWARE:ACCESS, to assist entrepreneurs (AWARE:ACCESS; 1 of 4 sites nationwide), to train and support faculty, staff, students and entrepreneurs in SBIR/STTR grant preparations.
The XLerator Network, funded by the NIH, is a partnership with XLerateHealth and 25 academic institutions. The goal of the network is to support the commercialization of promising life science and health care innovation in the Southeast Institutional Development Award (IDeA) areas, including Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, West Virginia and Puerto Rico.
The University of Louisville PRePARE program was aimed at accelerating development of technologies that address the health, economic and societal impacts of COVID-19. PRePARE was seeking innovative ideas from community members in the KIPDA region. The goal was to support these ideas with research collaborators from UofL, with funding for UofL-based research and development (R&D).
PRePARE had three goals:
- strengthen connections between UofL and community partners;
- accelerate the development of technologies that mitigate pandemic- related economic, health, and safety risks; and
- catalyze the creation of new businesses or growth of existing businesses.
PRePARE solicited “lab-to-market” subprojects that addressed the SPRINT Challenge goals and were responsive to specific unmet needs identified by community partners. Applicant teams were led by UofL researchers but included a community partner from the 7-county KIPDA economic development district centered around Louisville.
These incentivized collaborations — between PRePARE staff, university researchers with relevant scientific or technical expertise, and community partners with real-world business insights — were expected to have lasting positive impacts on regional economic growth and community wellbeing. Target outputs/outcomes for this program include new products, high-tech startups and jobs, and a more equitable and resilient economy.
The University of Louisville is the only institution in the country that has participated in all 3 NIH-REACH programs (ExCITE, KYNETIC, and Mid-South REACH). The REACH program supports proof-of-concept centers (hubs) that facilitate and accelerate the translation of biomedical innovations into commercial products that improve patient care and enhance health. The long-term goals of the REACH program are to foster commercialization success, economic development, and entrepreneurial culture change at each hub institution.
The University of Louisville’s ExCITE (Expediting Commercialization, Innovation, Translation, and Entrepreneurship) was a single institution program that was funded by the initial REACH program in 2015.
UofL ExCITE did this by:
- Developing infrastructure for identifying technologies;
- Allocating funding for product definition studies;
- Providing access to early-stage development expertise and mentorship;
- And offering hands-on skills development in entrepreneurism.
ExCITE technologies must have originated from the University of Louisville and focus on healthcare-related technologies.
The statewide KYNETIC (Kentucky Network for Innovation & Commercialization) program supported faculty, staff, trainees and students who want to accelerate introduction of their ground-breaking innovations to the marketplace to address unmet needs to benefit human health.
KYNETIC did this by:
- Developing infrastructure for identifying technologies;
- Allocating funding (up to $200k/technology) for product definition studies (e.g., feasibility studies, prototype development, or proof-of-concept studies);
- Providing access to early-stage development expertise and mentorship;
- Offering hands-on skills development in entrepreneurism; and
- Accelerating development of commercialization strategies.
Eligible KYNETIC projects must have originated from a participating university or community/technical college in Kentucky and focus on healthcare-related product development.
The KYNETIC hub is led by the University of Louisville (UofL), University of Kentucky (UK) and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures (KCV).
The University of Louisville is currently part of the Mid-South REACH Hub, which is funded by the NIH and extends across four states: Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The primary goal of this grant program is to accelerate the real-world impact of biomedical and health-related innovations through education, mentorship, and financial support for product development.