News

The Kentucky Network for Innovation and Commercialization (KYNETIC) has selected eight teams from universities across the Commonwealth for Cycle 8 project funding.

For the first time in University of Kentucky history, investigators received $479.3 million in extramural grants and contracts to support their research in fiscal year 2023.

The Research Scholars Program (RSP) aimed at ensuring diversity and inclusion in research by promoting faculty success welcomed its second cohort of six faculty from four UK colleges. 

The University of Kentucky Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) has named four fellows to the Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellowship and the University Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. 

For this “UK at the Half,” Lisa Cassis, vice president for research at the University of Kentucky, shares how leaders across campus came together to find a path forward for research during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a single vaccine dose of the Janssen investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate versus placebo. Approximately 45,000 people participated worldwide. The combined UK, Baptist and Norton site was among the top enrolling sites in the world.

"While approved vaccines are able to prevent a COVID reinfection with a high effectiveness rate, it is still early on and we don't know how durable they are going to be in the long run. We also don’t know how effective these vaccines are at preventing asymptomatic spread. These questions are what researchers in my field will be looking at for many years to come."

The CAER project seeks to solve both of those issues through the development of new high-strength, high-bond cements and concretes that are simple to deploy and use. These products will require little or no surface preparation and eliminate the heavy precast reinforcement-laden structural elements that bog down repair and construction projects.

The research team will take a closer look at how the muscle weakness associated with Marfan syndrome leads to problems with hip joint muscle function, muscle morphology and gait mechanics. The exact association of these factors with the onset of hip joint pain and cartilage degeneration is unknown and of particular interest to the researchers.

Vince Venditto, PhD, assistant professor in the UK College of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmaceutical Science, has extensive expertise in vaccine design. He was trained in organic synthesis and vaccine development. He is currently working on a clinical trial with community pharmacies to understand the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Kentucky.