UK Research Annual Report 2017

ANNUAL REPORT Fiscal Year 2017

Research

TRANSFORMING TOMORROW

by Improving Life in the Commonwealth & Beyond

Mature muscle cells have more than one nucleus (blue circles). Scientists are using these cultured cells to better understand muscle growth in adults. This image was captured by Kevin A. Murach, a postdoc in the UK College of Health Sciences, who works on NIH-funded research with Charlotte A. Peterson (College of Health Sciences) and John J. McCarthy (College of Medicine). It won the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology’s BioArt competition.

Message from the Vice President for Research

O

ur distinctive position as a flagship, land-grant institution is reflected by the unique breadth and depth of the research enterprise at the University of Kentucky (UK).

UK is one of only eight institutions in the country with the full one-campus complement of liberal arts, professional, agricultural and healthcare colleges. This environment promotes collaborative research across disciplines that offers innovative research opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Working together, we are harnessing multidisciplinary research to create solutions for the Commonwealth’s most intractable problems. Solutions to our real-life challenges in Kentucky are applicable worldwide.

The $265 million multidisciplinary research building ( jointly funded by the state of Kentucky and UK) will open in 2018.

This new building will house researchers focused on Kentucky’s most pressing health challenges: cancer, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases including stroke, and substance abuse. The approach is to bring together teams of researchers—health care researchers (both basic and clinical), public health, behavioral sciences, agricultural outreach and extension, economics and engineering—to develop solutions to these complex problems.

Our faculty, staff and students have successfully competed for extramural funding to support the research mission, resulting in improved rankings for our research enterprise—64th among all higher education institutions, 41st among public institutions in the NSF Higher Education Research and Development Survey. Research expenditures at UK in 2016 were $349.7 million. Rankings and numbers are important, but it is the impact of our research mission that makes a difference in the lives of Kentuckians.

STRATEGIC PLAN: RESEARCH & SCHOLARSHIP FIGURE 1: Strategic Plan: Research & Scholarship Metric

Definition

Total R&D Expenditures

NSF Higher Education R&D Survey Research Impact

Current

Total Research Expenditures

$349.7M

(2016)

Federal Research Expenditures

$154.6M

(2016)

Doctoral Programs in Top 25% of Discipline

11.6%

(2016)

Proportion of Publications Cited in Top 50% of Discipline

52.0%

(2017)

$197

(2016)

106

(2017)

$2.4M

(2017)

Space

Research Expenditures ($/Square Foot)

Licenses

Exclusive Licenses License Income

Lisa Cassis, Ph.D. Vice President for Research

FIGURE 2: NSF Higher Education R&D NSF HIGHER EDUCATION R&DSurvey SURVEY

$$ IN MILLIONS MILLIONS

$350

$349.7m

63

$345

64

64

$340

65

$335 $330 $325

66

$331.7m

67

$328.2m

68

68

$320

69

69

$315

Total R&D Expenditures

2014

2015

Total R&D Expenditures

2016 Overall NSF HERD Rank

Public & Private Institutions

70

NSF RANK NSF HERD HERD RANK

62

$355

“We believe in the powerful idea that brainpower, harnessed in common cause against insidious problems, can find answers. From basic science to working directly in and with communities, UK’s research enterprise is engaged in the critical questions of our day.

It’s why I proudly say that we are the University for Kentucky.”

Eli Capilouto, University of Kentucky President

16

COLLEGES & PROFESSIONAL SHOOLS

1,700 ACTIVE RESEARCH AWARDS

1 20 of

UNIVERSITIES WITH TRIFECTA OF TOP FEDERAL GRANTS: NCI-designated Cancer Center, Clinical & Translational Science Award and Alzheimer's Disease Center

331.3m

$

IN RESEARCH AWARDS

113.9m

$

IN NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH GRANTS

601

178.3m

$

IN FEDERAL GRANTS

18.1m

$

WORLDWIDE PATENT ASSETS, WITH

$265m

BUILDING UNDER CONSTRUCTION FOR RESEARCH ON KY'S BIGGEST HEALTH CHALLENGES

IN INDUSTRY CONTRACTS

40

NEW PATENTS

63

ACTIVE STARTUPS RELATED TO UK TECHNOLOGY All numbers are from FY2017.

2017-2018 UNIVERSITY RESEARCH PROFESSORS The University Research Professors Program recognizes excellence across the full spectrum of research, scholarship and creative endeavors at UK. College leadership develop criteria for excellence within their area of expertise, and then nominate faculty who excel at these criteria. Each professor receives a one-year award of $10,000.

Ole Wendroth, College of Agriculture, Food & Environment Geospatial & Temporal Statistics in Soil Systems

Charlotte A. Peterson, College of Health Sciences Satellite Cells in Skeletal Muscle Aging

Ramesh Bhatt, College of Arts & Sciences Infant Memory & Conceptual Development

Melynda J. Price, College of Law Impact of Felon Disenfranchisement

Abigail Firey, College of Arts & Sciences Digitizing Medieval Canon Law

Bradley K. Taylor, College of Medicine Neurobiology & Pharmacology of Chronic Pain

J. David Johnson, College of Communication & Information Organizational Communication Structures & Health Communication

Matthew S. Gentry, College of Medicine Lafora Epilepsy Cure Initiative

Gregory Luhan, College of Design Renewable Design, Eco-tourism in West Liberty, KY

Terry A. Lennie, College of Nursing Nutrition in Advanced Heart Failure

Lisa A. Ruble, College of Education COMPASS Program to Help Students with Autism Succeed

Jeffery C. Talbert, College of Pharmacy Clinical Data Warehouse for UK HealthCare & CCTS

I.S. Jawahir, College of Engineering Modeling of Machining Processes, Sustainable Manufacturing

Glen P. Mays, College of Public Health Organization & Coordination of Public Health Services

Ebony G. Patterson, College of Fine Arts Questions of Identity & the Body in Mixed Media Art

David M. Hardesty, Gatton College of Business and Economics Consumer Behavior, Pricing, Emotional Intelligence

SUBSTANCE ABUSE In 2017 with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding, the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center, in collaboration with the Office of the State Medical Examiner and county coroner offices, published the first Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Surveillance System report.

The findings of the report will guide future research and tracking efforts: 1) Lisinopril, a drug to treat hypertension and heart failure, was the third most common prescription drug found at the scene of drug overdose deaths or at autopsy, 2) amphetamine was detected above the therapeutic range, and 3) Gabapentin, prescribed in substance use treatment and for chronic pain, was detected in one-third of all drug overdose deaths.

Injection drug use puts people at high risk of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. HCV causes inflammation

of the liver which, left unchecked, increases risk of developing liver cancer. Jennifer Havens (Center on Drug and Alcohol Research) has funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to study substance use and associated HIV/HCV risks. Her project in Hazard, Kentucky, examines the impact of the Affordable Care Act and rural syringe services programs on uptake of HIV/HCV treatment and substance abuse treatment.

Recent data shows overdose rates for cocaine, specifically in AfricanAmericans, are at the same level as opioid overdose rates in non-AfricanAmericans. Using computational drug design Chang-Guo Zhan (College of Pharmacy) is seeking the first FDAapproved treatment for cocaine addiction. With a $6 million NIDA grant, his team is evaluating novel enzymes to neutralize cocaine in the bloodstream.

The Burden of Complex Health Conditions

Kentucky Ranks

1st

in cancer deaths

2nd

in heart attacks & drug deaths

5th

in diabetes & strokes

7th

in obesity & cardiovascular deaths

CANCER UK was awarded a prestigious, five-year, $11.2 million Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant from the NIH to principal investigators Daret St. Clair and Peter Zhou (College of Medicine). The grant will fund UK's Center for Cancer and Metabolism which capitalizes on highly specialized institutional strengths in cancer and advanced metabolomics tools to focus on the underlying mechanisms that link dysfunctional metabolism to cancer. The center will also mentor early-stage cancer researchers.

With a new $2.3 million grant from NIH, Allan Butterfield (College of Arts & Sciences), Daret St. Clair and Subbarao Bondada (College of Medicine), are

tackling chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment. Symptoms include memory lapses, difficulty concentrating, confusion and fatigue. The grant will explore the damage mechanisms and identify cells that produce agents leading to impairment.

The Markey Cancer Center is part of a public-private collaboration involving the National Cancer Institute and the Federal Communications Commission that will focus on increasing broadband access and adoption in rural areas to improve the lives of rural cancer patients.

Broadband-enabled technologies can transform the way cancer patients and survivors better manage, monitor and treat their symptoms.

DIABETES & OBESITY based facilitators to coordinate health care services.

With a $1.6 million NIDDK grant, Philip Kern (College of Medicine) and Esther Dupont-Versteegden (College of Health Sciences) are investigating if the combination of pioglitazone (a drug for diabetes) and mirabegron (a drug for overactive bladder) is more effective than either drug alone at increasing both brown and beige fat activity, reducing inflammation and improving insulin sensitivity.

Nancy Schoenberg

Nancy Schoenberg (College of Medicine) received a new five-year, $3.1 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) to continue the Faith Moves Mountains initiative.

Through relationships with churches in Appalachian communities, this project provides self-management education on Type 2 diabetes and trains community-

Alison Gustafson (College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment) is targeting obesity and food insecurity through two USDA grants. Gustafson is working with adolescents in rural Kentucky and North Carolina to test the effectiveness of a peer-led text message intervention aimed at improving food purchasing habits in rural communities. The Higher Education Challenge Grant Obesity Food Insecurity Paradox project will develop an undergraduate course in Fall 2018 and provide hands-on training with service in obesity clinics and at Campus Kitchens and other hunger-related community programs.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Kenneth Campbell (College of Medicine) and Jonathan Wenk (College of Engineering) are developing computer software to deliver better therapies for patients with life-threatening heart failure. Thanks to a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the team is creating a computer model of the heart, based on data from mice, that can be customized to predict long-term results of specific treatments.

Caregivers of chronically ill patients can neglect their own psychological and physical health while attending to the needs of a loved one. With a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Nursing Research, Debra Moser and Misook Lee Chung (College of Nursing) will implement and test outcomes from the Rural Intervention for Caregivers’ Heart Health intervention (RICHH), which aims to reduce cardiovascular risks and depressive symptoms through digital tools rural caregivers can use at home.

With a four-year, $1 million National Heart Lung and Blood Institute grant, Venkat Subramanian (College of Medicine) is studying the role of a class of proteases, called calpains, on the development of abdominal aortic aneurysms. This unique approach to determining the role of structural elements in the smooth muscle cells in aortic disease will assist in development of new therapies for a disease that currently has no drug treatments.

NEUROSCIENCE & AGING restore breathing long after injury.

Ai-Ling Lin (Sanders-Brown Center on Aging) received a five-year, $2.88 million National Institute on Aging grant to study the potential of Rapamycin, an intervention to extend longevity and improve immune function, to restore brain function and prevent the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Rachel Maggard, Daimen Stolz and Lydia Hager, with their mentor Warren Alilain, helped confirm the presence of a breathing “ghost network” that might help restore breathing function to paraplegics.

More than 50 percent of spinal cord injuries occur at the cervical level, where phrenic motor neurons control the diaphragm. With funds from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders &

Stroke, Warren Alilain (Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center) is examining the changes that take place in phrenic circuitry in response to injury and investigating potential therapies that can

With funding from the Center for Clinical & Translational Science and philanthropic grants, Craig van Horne (Kentucky Neuroscience Institute) is expanding Parkinson’s patient care through a pilot program which pairs deep-brain stimulation (DBS) surgery—implanting a device like a pacemaker that regulates nerve cues in the brain—and a nerve tissue graft from the ankle into the brain. This procedure, called DBS Plus, could also help restore nervous system function in stroke and epilepsy patients.

ENERGY Matt Weisenberger (Center for Applied Energy Research) received a $1 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant to continue his team’s leading-edge research in low-cost, high-strength carbon fiber.

The project titled “Precursor Processing Development for Low Cost, High Strength Carbon Fiber for Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel Applications,” is part of DOE’s strategy to invest in discovery and development of novel, low-cost materials necessary for hydrogen storage and for fuel cells on light-duty vehicles.

Rodney Andrews and Kunlei Liu (Center for Applied Energy Research) received two U.S. Department of Energy awards to study gasification-related technology that could be used across Kentucky to turn existing coal resources into new energy feedstocks. The center received $1.6 million to support a front-end engineering design study for a 5-megawatt electric equivalent utilizing waste coal fines and biomass as feedstocks, and $1.6 million to test a scaled-down version of an opposed, multi-burner gasifier to standardize the gasification process to significantly reduce the cost of the technology.

The Center for Applied Energy Research operates one of the only production lines for spinning experimental fibers and precursor carbon fiber in the United States.

Rick Honaker (College of Engineering) produced a 98 percent pure rare earth concentrate from Kentucky coal, a groundbreaking accomplishment based on a patent pending process developed

by Honaker, Wencai Zhang and Josh Werner. Rare earth elements (REEs) are

essential components of technologies like smartphones, computers and electric vehicles. Honaker received $7 million from the Department of Energy to produce REEs from Kentucky coal sources and $1 million for other REE projects.

R E S E A R C H PERFORMANCE SPONSORED GRANT & CONTRACT AWARDS

BY SPONSOR TYPE FY17

SPONSORED GRANT & CONTRACT AWARDS $316.5m

$ IN MILLIONS

300

$265.9m $259.3m

$331.3m

Federal

$285.1m

State

$178.3m (53.8%)

$90.7m (27.4%)

200 Foundation/ Non-Profit

100

$28.9m (8.7%)

Industry $18.1m (5.5%)

Other

0 2013

2014

2015

2016

$15.2m (4.6%)

2017

The University of Kentucky continued an upward trajectory in successfully competing for sponsored grants and contracts.

Between 2016 and 2017, UK saw a 4.7% increase in awards.

The majority of UK’s external funding comes from federal sources (53.8%). State funding makes up 27.4% and industry contracts are 5.5% of the total grant and contract awards received by the university.

SPONSORED GRANT & CONTRACT AWARDS

BY FEDERAL AGENCY FY17

SPONSORED GRANT & CONTRACT AWARDS

BY NIH INSTITUTE FY17 NHLBI

NIH

$113.9m

DHHS, Non-NIH

$25.4m

NSF

$19.3m

NCI

$13.2m

NIDA

$11.2m

NINDS

$10.3m

NIGMS

$10.2m

NCATS

$14.5m

$9.5m

NIA

$8.4m

NIEHS

USDA

$6.5m

$7.4m

NIDDK

$5.6m

NIAID

Other

$5.7m

$4.5m

Office of Director

$3.6m

NICHD

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

$ IN MILLIONS

UK’s research enterprise is heavily funded by the National Institutes of Health (63.9% of all federal awards). NIH grants to UK increased by 23.3% in 2017 compared to 2016.

$3.3m

Other

$2.7m

NINR

$1.9m

NIAAA

$1.6m

NIAMS

$1.2m

0

5

10

15

20

$ IN MILLIONS

Source: University of Kentucky OSPA database (June 30, 2017)

The top NIH institutes funding research at UK include the National Heart Lung & Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Vice President for Research 311 Main Building University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506-0032

2016

ECONOMIC IMPACT 1,700 ACTIVE RESEARCH AWARDS

33 NEW PATENTS

7,395

$241M

GRADUATE

STUDENTS

105

ACTIVE LICENSES

IN STATE TAXES

3,429

17,822 SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS1

STATE JOBS

$6.6M

$511.3 MILLION

GROSS PATENT INCOME

IN STATEWIDE PRODUCTION

OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS

892

DOCTORAL DEGREES CONFERRED

$274M EXTRAMURAL FUNDING IN RESEARCH

Source: University of Kentucky Center for Business and Economic Research.

Investing in Innovation: The Impact of Research Funding at the University of Kentucky. 2017.

1 SciVal. Elsevier, scival.com. Accessed 5 January 2018.

ON THE COVER: Top: Mature muscle cells have more than one nucleus (blue circles). Kevin Murach, a health sciences postdoc, captured this BioArt competition winning image.

Bottom: Phase 1 of the $265 million new research building will open in 2018.

Visit us at www.research.uky.edu