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IU innovation, startup leaders set to shine at the “Oscars of Indiana Tech”

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

Just how much is Indiana University driving Indiana’s culture of innovation and entrepreneurship?

Look no further than the list of nominees for the 2025 Mira Awards, honoring the best of tech in Indiana.

TechPoint, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership’s industry-led growth initiative for Indiana’s digital innovation economy, recently announced more than a dozen IU-affiliated tech leaders and innovations as finalists for the awards. Now in their 26th year—and commonly known as the “Oscars of Indiana Tech”—the Mira Awards continue to shine a spotlight on IU’s increasing commitment to the pursuit of groundbreaking discoveries and development of the state’s startup ecosystem.

Photo of IU undergraduate student Izzy Branam speaking at an Indiana University podium.
IU undergraduate student Izzy Branam is a member of the team leading Relate XR, which received four Mira Awards nominations, including “Startup of the Year.” The company combines psychology with virtual reality technology to treat substance abuse disorders. Photo by Chris Meyer, Indiana University.

IU-affiliated companies make up half of the nominees for the sought-after “Startup of the Year” award. They include:

  • Bereave of Indianapolis
  • Blue Agilis of Carmel
  • Membershine of Fishers
  • Relate XR of Indianapolis
  • rScan of South Bend

“The large number of Indiana University-affiliated nominees reflects IU’s forward-thinking approach to building a pervasive entrepreneurial ecosystem throughout our state and concerted focus on accelerating the development of high-potential innovations and startups,” said Jason Whitney, chief venture officer of IU Ventures and executive director of the IU Angel Network. “As IU’s entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to gain notice for the startups it has helped launch and build, it is also signaling that Indiana is a place where high-potential businesses can grow and thrive.”

Relate XR, which combines psychology with virtual reality technology to treat substance abuse disorders, also earned nominations for “Tech Innovation of the Year” and “BioCrossroads Life Sciences Innovation Team Award.”

The company’s founding team members, who have raised nearly $5 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health to support their invention, include co-founder Brandon Oberlin, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine with 20 years of experience in addictions research; IU Bloomington digital arts graduate Andrew Nelson, who owns Indianapolis-based gaming company Half Full Nelson; and Izzy Branam, of Zionsville, Indiana, an undergraduate student studying organizational and business psychology in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at IU Bloomington’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Branam, who serves as a community manager at IU Innovates, a university-wide initiative to support faculty and student entrepreneurs, scored a nomination for “Rising Entrepreneur of the Year.” He will compete for the honor against IU Kelley School of Business MBA graduate Rod Baradaran, CEO and co-founder (with Kelley MBA candidate Dmitry Brown) of South Bend’s rScan, and Aaron Pritz, a Kelley School alumnus who co-founded cybersecurity and risk management startup Reveal Risk of Carmel, which was nominated as “Innovation Service Partner of the Year.”

A member of the Kelley School’s MBA Class of 2024 in “Poets & Quants,” which honors the best and brightest MBA students, Baradaran was also nominated for “Emerging Tech Leader of the Year.” He is part of a team seeking to establish rScan, which won first prize in the 2003 Crossroad Collegiate Pitch Competition at The Mill in Bloomington, as one of the most efficient resale apps on the market, while continuing to expand its foothold in Indiana. Earlier this fall, the company announced the expansion of its South Bend headquarters, which will create 152 new positions and contribute to the city’s economic growth.

Rod Baradaran and Dmitry Brown, co-founders of rScan.
Rod Baradaran and Dmitry Brown, co-founders of rScan.

This year’s nominees also include three companies in the investment portfolio of IU Ventures, IU’s early-stage venture and angel investment arm.

They include Bereave, a startup dedicated to transforming how individuals navigate death. Bereave was co-founded by Matt Tyner and Pat Rogers, both IU alumni, and Elijah Linder and Keagan McGuire. IU Ventures recently contributed to Bereave’s pre-seed funding round through the IU Angel Network, one of its primary investment vehicles.

They also include Indianapolis-based Adipo Therapeutics and Amplified Sciences of West Lafayette, Ind., which will vie for the “BioCrossroads Life Sciences Innovation Team Award.”

Adipo Therapeutics is a late-stage, pre-clinical biopharmaceutical company seeking to use breakthrough technology to transform the treatment of Type 2 diabetes and obesity. It is led by company CEO Karen Wurster, a pharmaceutical executive with over 25 years of experience in developing and commercializing billion-dollar diabetes products and an IU Kelley School of Business alumna. IU Ventures contributed to the completion of Adipo’s $1.9 million bridge fund round.

Amplified Sciences, the first-ever company to receive a double investment from IU Ventures, is a clinical-stage life sciences diagnostic company focused on accurately detecting and pre-empting the risks of debilitating diseases like pancreatic cancer. The startup is built on the innovation of Dr. V. Jo Davisson, an IU School of Medicine biochemistry graduate and longtime biochemist at Purdue University. It was co-founded by CEO Diana Caldwell, CEO, an IU Kelley School of Business alumna.

Other IU-connected nominees include Mathtrack Institute (“Higher Education Innovation Award”), IU Indianapolis graduate Aaron Pierce (“Resilience Award”) of Pierce Aerospace (“Exceptional Employer of the Year”, “Rising Entrepreneur Award”), and Zylo (“Tech Innovation of the Year,” “Emerging Tech Leader of the Year”).

The winners will be announced during the Mira Awards gala at The Palladium in Carmel, Ind., on Feb. 27.

IU celebrates opening of The Forge, Bloomington’s new tech center

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

Indiana University helped lead an all-out celebration “blitz” on Friday, Nov. 22, at the grand opening of The Forge, Bloomington’s new $13 million sustainable technology center in the city’s downtown Trades District.

Even though IU’s football team suffered its first defeat the following day, Bloomington is still buzzing with excitement over two of its biggest stories of the year—the history-making, bowl-bound Hoosiers and the opening of the city’s new two-level, 22,000-square-foot, Class A office facility, which is expected to drive collaboration, creativity and entrepreneurship across the surrounding region. 

“For me, [The Forge] is the most exciting thing that’s happened this year in Bloomington—south of 17th Street,” said U.S. Sen. Todd Young, who sported a red IU cap at the grand opening in support of the gridiron Hoosiers, who have dominated opponents this year at 17th Street’s Memorial Stadium.

Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson, left, Indiana University President Pamela Whitten and U.S. Sen. Todd Young at the grand opening of The Forge in Bloomington’s downtown Trades District. Photo by James Brosher, Indiana University.

Young’s headwear also underscored a key theme of the celebration—campus and community partnership. Many of those who walked through the doors of The Forge for the first time on Friday also attended an August celebration at Bloomington’s business incubator, The Mill, where officials from IU, Bloomington and the Trades District celebrated IU’s $16 million College and Community Collaboration grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. Through the grant, which represents 20% of the total $80+ million investment in the Trades District, IU will provide talent, expertise and other resources to accelerate the development of the district into a thriving hub for innovation, economic development and community engagement.

As IU President Pamela Whitten outlined in her remarks, a portion of the grant will fund office buildouts for tenants in The Forge. IU is also leading a working group of IU staff and faculty experts to help recruit new businesses to Bloomington.

Additionally, in partnership with IU Innovates, IU’s new initiative that expands support for student and faculty business startups, the Trades District will create pathways for startups that may end up locating in The Forge. IU is already seeking to develop internships and networking opportunities for students with companies in the Trades District, an initiative that Whitten said The Forge will only enhance.

Whitten, Sen. Young, Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson, Senior Vice President of The Mill John Fernandez and Bloomington-based entrepreneur and IU alumnus Ravi Bhatt helmed the celebration, which highlighted the impact of The Forge on the development of a high-powered technology corridor between the 16 Tech Innovation District in Indianapolis and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, in Odon, Ind. Whitten, who announced last year that IU would invest at least $111 million to advance its leadership in microelectronics and nanotechnology, said The Forge will help accelerate the growth of the tech corridor while also continuing Indiana’s momentum across key emerging industries.

“We fully expect that The Forge will become a key destination on the innovation corridor that runs from Indianapolis to NSWC Crane,” said Whitten, who wore her No 19 football jersey to the ceremony. (Whitten is IU’s 19th president.) “With Crane and the CHIPS and Science Act attracting more industries, the potential to help build Indiana’s economy of the future is enormous. With a multi-billion-dollar life sciences industry in Indianapolis … and a thriving microelectronics industry just an hour’s drive south along I-69, the possibilities for collaboration and innovation are limitless.”

Officials mark the opening of The Forge with a ribbon cutting during an event in Bloomington’s downtown Trades District. Pictured from left are: Indiana University President Pamela Whitten, The Mill Senior Vice President of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships John Fernandez, Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson, U.S. Sen. Todd Young, Folia Co-Founder and CEO Ravi Bhatt and The Mill Executive Director Pat East. Photo by James Brosher, Indiana University.

Heading into 2025, IU, the city and the Trades District will build on the milestone opening of The Forge by partnering in the development of connectivity and placemaking efforts. The $16 million Lilly Endowment grant will enable IU artists and arts administrators to support the development of new artwork and cultural programming in the Trades District, while also engaging faculty and students from across IU Bloomington’s schools and departments in various development projects.

“As we stand here today, we are reminded of the power of community and the impact of collective effort,” said Whitten. “The Forge is a testament to what we can achieve when we work together towards a common goal. This project goes beyond mere infrastructure. It’s about forging a future where Bloomington, Indiana, stands out as an undisputed leader in fostering innovation and opportunity.”

IU microelectronics innovation to help fuel formation of new $285M national semiconductor institute

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

Indiana University will play a key role in the formation of a first-of-its-kind national institute targeting the next frontier of technological innovation in the microelectronics industry.

IU is a member of the team that was selected this week by the National Institute for Standards and Technology to launch the new Semiconductor Manufacturing and Advanced Research with Twins USA (SMART USA) Institute. Led by the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and poised to receive $285 million in federal funding, the SMART USA Institute will develop, validate and use virtual, computer-generated models, known as “digital twins,” to improve domestic semiconductor design, manufacturing, advanced packaging, assembly and test processes. It will also reduce the time and cost of chip design, create a more fertile climate for domestic chip production and provide training opportunities for the next generation of semiconductor workers.

IU Associate Professor Daniel Loveless in a group photo at NY CREATES, a world-leading innovation hub focused on semiconductor research and development.
Daniel Loveless, Indiana University associate professor and founding director of IU CREATE, attended a recent workshop at NY CREATES, a world-leading innovation hub focused on semiconductor research and development. IU is building its own integrated ecosystem to accelerate the development of next-generation microelectronics solutions and meet the evolving needs of modern industries.

IU is among 150 partner entities spanning 30 states and representing industry, government and academia that are participating in the SMART USA Institute, which was established through the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. The institute’s partners also include the EDGE Consortium, a national effort dedicated to making semiconductor-related education more accessible and aligned with industry workforce needs. IU President Pamela Whitten and Joanna Millunchick, dean of the IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, are among a select group of founding members of the EDGE Consortium, which Whitten also co-chairs.

The announcement about the SMART USA Institute comes as IU continues to move forward a series of major initiatives in microelectronics and nanotechnology—part of an unprecedented $111 million investment to strengthen IU’s and Indiana’s national leadership and impact in these areas. These include the IU Center for Reliable and Trusted Electronics, also known as IU CREATE, a university-wide center focused on research and development of high-reliability microelectronics with applications for the defense, automotive and commercial space sectors.

“Innovative modeling is essential to advancing microelectronics manufacturing,” said Daniel Loveless, founding director of IU CREATE and associate professor of intelligent systems engineering at IU’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering. “Digital twins play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between design and production, enabling faster and more accurate predictions. This program will align IU CREATE’s unique microelectronics test and validation capabilities with various resources across IU and the EDGE Consortium.

“IU is building an integrated ecosystem that accelerates the development and deployment of next-generation microelectronics solutions by fostering a collaborative environment with multiple departments and centers specializing in microelectronics, AI, digital twin technology, fabrication, education and workforce development. This ecosystem is essential to address the evolving needs of modern industries. As a member of the SMART USA Institute, IU will further strengthen these capabilities and forge strategic partnerships to meet the dynamic demands of the future.”

Recently, IU was awarded $4 million from the second round of Indiana’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative to acquire high-performance computing tools for microelectronics modeling and simulation and digital twins to support existing research and development related to radiation-hardened microelectronics and 2.5D and 3D heterogeneous integration.

The READI-funded equipment, which will be installed in Multidisciplinary Engineering and Sciences Hall at IU Bloomington, will shorten the chip development process by providing IU CREATE researchers with new ways to test chip design configurations and verify their reliability in harsh environments. It will also expand the suite of tools available for use by industry partners in radiation-hardened microelectronics and advanced packaging, two key technology areas for Indiana microelectronics companies in the region and state.

IU-developed training for advance care planning helps nursing home facilities honor patients’ wishes

Posted on by Bri Heron

Anyone could be faced with unexpected medical conditions, unable to communicate their health care decisions, so it is important to have plans in place ahead of time to ensure a patient’s wishes are being honored—particularly in a nursing home setting.

With the online training they developed specifically for nursing home staff, Susan Hickman and her Indiana University School of Medicine colleague Kathleen Unroe are providing foundational information regarding advance care planning. This involves discussing a patient’s values, goals and treatment preferences for medical care to prepare them for future communication and decision-making.

IU School of Medicine Professors Susan Hickman and Kathleen Unroe at a table smiling with colleagues.
IU School of Medicine Professors Susan Hickman and Kathleen Unroe, third and fourth from left, have developed online training specifically for nursing home staff to help them ensure that patients’ treatment preferences are being honored. Photo courtesy of the Regenstrief Institute.

Designed in collaboration with nursing home partners, the training has a specific focus on working with patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias and their family caregivers, who are often asked to make important care decisions. The training has been used by hundreds of nursing home staff around the country to support nearly 6,000 conversations with residents and their family members.

“Advance care planning not only reduces family caregiver stress but improves patient satisfaction,” said Hickman, a Cornelius and Yvonne Pettinga Professor of Medicine at the IU School of Medicine and director of the Center for Aging Research at the Regenstrief Institute. “However, there are minimal training resources available that are specifically for nursing home staff. The result is that these important conversations tend to be overlooked or approached in a problematic way that can be detrimental for the patient.”

The online training provides information on advance care planning, decisional capacity and supporting informed decision-making, along with tools to help staff engage in these conversations with residents and families.

Hickman, whose research focuses on optimizing the quality of life for older adults by improving communication and decision-making to honor a patient’s treatment preferences, emphasized the importance of proactively having these conversations, particularly in instances when a patient is unable to speak for themselves.

“Failing to proactively discuss preferences and goals can result in burdensome hospitalizations and result in decisions that do not reflect the patient’s treatment goals or preferences, especially during times of crisis when fast decisions-making is required,” Hickman said.

The training includes a facilitation guide with standardized questions to help nursing home staff approach the topic with sensitivity and clarity. Organizational documentation tools are also provided, including a tracking sheet and an example workflow overview to refine and improve advance care planning practices.

“There was a critical need for sustainable training for these facilities,” Hickman said. “We created these resources so that nursing home administrators do not have to reinvent the wheel every time they hire someone new.”

In addition to advance care planning, Hickman also works on POLST: Portable Medical Orders, a medical form used across the country to document treatment preferences for resuscitation and medical interventions as actionable medical orders that emergency medical services can follow. According to Hickman, the form is crucial as it improves the continuity of care for patients and allows for their treatment preferences to be respected.

Hickman has partnered with the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office to further her research.

IU researcher attends White House event on saving lives from opioid overdose

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

Attendees of the White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose event.
Indiana University researcher Cris Henderson (pictured third from right in the second row) was recognized at a recent White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose event as a leader in the effort to prevent deaths from opioid overdoses. Photo by Fred Dubon.

After participating in a special event at the White House this week, Indiana University researcher Cris Henderson is confident that IU’s leadership in helping to prevent opioid overdoses is moving Indiana and the nation in the right direction.  

Henderson is a research associate for Prevention Insights and a doctoral student at the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington in the Department of Applied Health Science. They are also project director of the Citizen Opioid Responders (COR) Program, an IU online naloxone training program that seeks to reduce deaths from opioid overdoses by recruiting, training and linking citizen responders to these events so they can administer medications used to reverse opioid overdoses, such as naloxone, also known as Narcan. This year, Henderson and their research team received the Affinity Giving Award from the IU Foundation to implement the COR program across multiple IU campuses and Indiana counties.  

At the White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose event, Henderson joined leaders from across business, education, entertainment, government, hospitality and other industries who were recognized for their commitment to increase training on—and access to—life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications.  

“Going to the White House and receiving the affinity award really illustrated the importance of everyone working together to solve this problem,” Henderson said. “It reinforced for me that we are on the right track, but we need to keep continuing in our effort to solve this problem.  

“We need to continue increasing access to overdose education programs like the Citizen Opioid Responders program and continue to identify ways to facilitate low-barrier access to Narcan, including free or reduced cost options, so that more people in our communities get trained and carry this life-saving medication. These efforts can help normalize the use of Narcan, help destigmatize the subject of substance use disorder and more importantly, help save lives.” 

Event participants shared successes and challenges related to combating opioid overdose, including expanding access to and increasing training on how to administer naloxone, helping to destigmatize treatment for opioid use disorder, and recognizing opioid use disorder as a disease. They also discussed the importance of bringing together organizations at the local, state and national levels to ensure communities have the proper level of education, online and in-person training programs, data insights and other resources to effectively respond to overdose situations.  

The opioid epidemic continues to devastate communities throughout the U.S., especially in Indiana. In 2023, more than 1,500 Hoosiers died from an opioid overdose according to the Indiana Drug Overdose Dashboard.  

Henderson’s visit to the White House was the latest in a recent series of events that have brought national attention to IU’s leadership in addressing the opioid crisis. In fall 2023, Henderson and their colleague Jon Agley, an associate professor at the School of Public Health-Bloomington and director of research at Prevention Insights, received a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to test a novel approach to increasing overdose education and readiness to use naloxone nationally. Other IU researchers have also received major grants from the National Institutes of Health in recent months to transform adolescent opioid use disorder care in Indiana, analyze adverse outcomes associated with long-term opioid therapy dose tapering and discontinuation, and provide more timely reporting of data to inform local policies, procedures and interventions to prevent overdoses.  

As part of their work with IU’s COR program, Henderson has developed a naloxone training program to effectively prepare laypeople to respond to opioid overdoses and administer naloxone (Narcan). The online, 30-minute course targets rural communities, including those with geographic footprints that can increase emergency response times. This program is currently being used by at least one county health department in Indiana to increase community readiness, and with help from the IU Foundation’s affinity grant will soon expand to at least 5 IU campuses and 3 additional counties.  

“Everything presented today really reinforced for me that this is the work we are already doing in Indiana,” Henderson said. “Across all the COR projects I oversee, we intentionally seek to collaborate and partner with different sectors and community partners in those communities, like law enforcement and other first responder groups, local health departments, state government, health systems, treatment and mental health providers, pharmaceutical companies and even chambers of commerce, as well as other industries. This is all in the effort to increase awareness and increase the number of people trained and carrying Narcan in our communities who feel ready, willing and able to administer the medication.”  

IU researcher develops new nanoparticle to help combat drug-resistant infections

Posted on by Bri Heron

Antimicrobial resistance has become a major global public health emergency that accounts for 2.8 million infections per year according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite new and existing antibiotics on the market, the antimicrobial resistance is outpacing the development, making the need for new antimicrobial treatments a growing priority.

Head shot of Professor Yan Yu
Indiana University chemist Yan Yu has developed a new nanoparticle that could serve as a promising solution in the fight against drug-resistant infections.

Yan Yu, a professor at the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Chemistry, has developed an antibacterial Janus nanoparticle that is 10 to 30 times more effective at killing bacteria than other nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are so small that they are undetectable by the human eye, ranging between 1 to 100 nanometers in size. The nanoparticle provides an alternative antibacterial material compared to traditional antimicrobial nanoparticles and has high potency with little dosage.

Recently, nanoparticles have been used to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, as their properties have been found to overcome antimicrobial resistance mechanisms. Yu said that unlike conventional antibiotics, which often target specific bacterial proteins or processes, nanoparticles can disrupt bacterial cells through a combination of multiple mechanisms, such as generating reactive oxygen species or physically damaging cell membranes. This reduces the likelihood of bacteria developing resistance. Additionally, nanoparticles can be engineered to target specific pathogens, minimizing harm to beneficial microbes and reducing side effects. Their versatility makes them a promising solution in the fight against drug-resistant infections.

“Our nanoparticle is more effective in killing bacteria because its surface chemistry is vastly different as it’s made with distinct surface coatings on two sides,” Yu said. “One hemisphere is designed to attract the particle to the bacterial surface, while the other is specialized for rupturing the bacterial membrane. This dual functionality delivers a powerful one-two punch, enhancing its antibacterial effectiveness.”

Yu’s research was featured in American Chemical Society’s Applied Nano Materials which further details the antibacterial properties of the Janus nanoparticles. Yu’s lab merges nanoparticles and immune cell studies for the development of nanoparticles that detect infectious diseases and modulate immune responses for antibacterial applications.

Yu plans to further test the efficacy of the Janus nanoparticles against multi-drug resistant hospital strains with researchers at Osaka University. She has partnered with the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office to further her research. In addition, she has been awarded two patents for her invention of “Bull’s Eye” Janus particles that activate T cells in vitro for immune therapy and a patent for her invention of multi-channel nanoparticle sensors that detect abnormal immune functions in infectious diseases. She is seeking an industry partner to help commercialize her research.

IU faculty startup MBX Biosciences announces $163.2 million U.S. IPO

Posted on by Bri Heron and Ryan Piurek

MBX Biosciences, an Indiana University faculty-created startup that develops peptide therapies for the treatment of endocrine and metabolic diseases, raised $163.2 million in its U.S. initial public offering.

The company’s peptides are based on chemistry developed by a research team led by Richard DiMarchi, scientific cofounder of MBX Biosciences and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences and Linda and Jack Gill Chair at the Gill Institute for Biomolecular Sciences at IU Bloomington.

A group photo of the team at MBX Biosciences in front of a table with the logos of Nasdaq and MBX.
IU faculty startup MBX Biosciences aims to transform native peptides to innovative therapeutics to improve clinical outcomes and help individuals with endocrine and metabolic diseases, such as hypoparathyroidism and obesity, live healthier lives. Photograph courtesy of Nasdaq Inc.

MBX Biosciences, which is headquartered in Carmel, Ind., aims to transform native peptides to innovative therapeutics to improve clinical outcomes and help individuals with endocrine and metabolic diseases, such as hypoparathyroidism and obesity, live healthier lives. The company plans to advance a pipeline of peptide hormone analogs with drug candidates such as MBX 2109, a treatment for chronic hypoparathyroidism, and MBX 4291, an obesity treatment. By taking MBX Biosciences public, the company can further its goal of transforming treatments for endocrine and metabolic diseases through the creation of safe and effective therapeutics.

“Our recent successful IPO marks a significant milestone in our journey to develop innovative new therapies leveraging our Precision Endocrine Peptide™, or PEP™ platform,” said Kent Hawryluk, president and CEO of MBX Biosciences. “This achievement reflects our team’s dedication, as well as strong support from our investors. I am optimistic about MBX’s future and excited to continue advancing our clinical stage and discovery programs forward to improve clinical outcomes and simplify disease management for patients.”

DiMarchi founded the company alongside Hawryluk, an IU alumnus, in 2019. It is the eighth biotechnology startup co-founded by DiMarchi and the sixth to successfully transition from venture funding to the next stage of commercialization.

IU Ventures, IU’s early-stage venture and angel investment arm, is one of several leading life sciences investors that financially supported the launch of MBX Biosciences. It has invested nearly $2 million in MBX Biosciences through the IU Philanthropic Venture Fund to support the company’s discovery and development of novel therapeutics to address unmet medical needs.

Before coming to IU, DiMarchi had a 20-year long career at Eli Lilly and Company where he led diabetes research. In 2003, he joined IU Bloomington’s chemistry faculty as a Gill Chair, continuing his work in chemistry and pharmacology. DiMarchi is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Inventors Hall of Fame, a co-inventor of more than 100 U.S. patents and co-author of more than 250 scientific papers.

In April, DiMarchi was honored with the 2024 Mani L. Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award for his groundbreaking research on transforming obesity treatments. He was also recognized as an Indiana 250 Honoree in the Health and Life Sciences from the Indiana Business Journal.

DiMarchi said that the company’s focus is treating endocrine diseases. The most advanced drug candidate is a peptide directed at once weekly treatment of hypoparathyroidism. The active ingredient has been chemically optimized through proprietary prodrug chemistry to extend the duration of action and flatten the pharmacokinetic profile to increase its therapeutic index, providing enhanced efficacy and safety.

“MBX Biosciences is a company co-founded five years ago by Kent Hawryluk, Tim Knickerbocker and me,” DiMarchi said. “Its technical foundation is the precision peptide chemistry as applied to therapeutic drug candidates that my IU laboratory has pioneered. The nature of this research has been a consistent interest of my professional endeavors that now extends over two decades at Indiana University and was preceded by two decades at Lilly Research laboratories.”

IU investments help accelerate development of southern Indiana’s microelectronics sector

Posted on by Ryan Piurek

Indiana University’s leadership and major investments in microelectronics research and workforce development continue to contribute to significant regional momentum around the semiconductor industry.

Last week, Bloomington-based Regional Opportunity Initiatives announced it has received a three-year, nearly $9.6 million contract from the Department of Defense for a multilayered initiative to advance microelectronics education and workforce training opportunities across the Indiana Uplands. The southern Indiana region includes the counties of Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen and Washington counties, and it is home to Naval Support Activity Crane, the third-largest naval Installation in the world and the 11th-largest single-site employer in Indiana.

Close-up of person holding computer chip
A major Defense Department award to the Indiana Uplands region comes as Indiana University continues to move forward a series of major initiatives to advance the goals of the landmark CHIPS and Science Act and Indiana’s leadership in microelectronics.

As part of the Rural Indiana Workforce Development for Microelectronics project, ROI will collaborate with postsecondary colleges and universities, including IU, as well as with K-12 schools, employer partners and other institutions to promote microelectronics-related careers, accelerate students and workers into and through training and development pipelines, and inspire the next generation of industrial skilled professionals.

The award to ROI comes as IU continues to move forward a series of major initiatives to advance the goals of the landmark CHIPS and Science Act, which marked its second anniversary last month. These projects are part of IU’s historic commitment to invest at least $111 million over the next several years to advance IU’s and Indiana’s national leadership and impact in microelectronics and nanotechnology. Announced last October by IU President Pamela Whitten, it is one of the largest commitments made by a university to high-tech industry and national defense and is supporting collaborations with defense contractors and companies working to develop dual-use technologies.

The EDGE Consortium, a national semiconductor workforce development initiative co-chaired by Whitten, will work closely with ROI to share educational modules, supply evidence-based approaches to inspire students of all ages to persist in STEM fields and develop high-quality work experiences for students in the semiconductor industry.

National projections show a potential shortfall of 300,000 engineers and 90,000 skilled workers in the U.S. semiconductor industry by 2030. To address this, IU plans to increase its graduate students in microelectronics by 300% over the next two years after having already doubled this enrollment in the last 10 months. IU has also started several new undergraduate and graduate degree programs at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering to train students in microelectronics and nanofabrication and meet the workforce needs of the state’s semiconductor companies.

As part of its $111 million investment, IU has launched the Center for Reliable and Trusted Electronics focused on research and development of high-reliability microelectronics with applications to the defense, automotive and commercial space sectors. Known as IU CREATE, the university-wide center is supported by the Department of Defense’s Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement program, the preeminent U.S. program for semiconductor workforce development, as well as the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, which is located about 40 minutes southwest of IU’s Bloomington campus.

Since its formation, IU CREATE has engaged in microelectronics projects through the Indiana Research Consortium, a first-of-its-kind defense research effort recently established by IU, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame; Indiana’s Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement (SCALE) workforce development program; and the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons, which was awarded nearly $33 million in CHIPS Act funding last fall. The Indiana Uplands is home to the ME Commons, one of eight regional innovation hubs funded by the Department of Defense to help increase the production of semiconductor technologies and microelectronics.

IU CREATE has also initiated several workforce development programs, including a NASA-funded initiative to help K-12 students understand how semiconductors and climate issues are related to space; a Research in Extreme Environment Microelectronics internship that engages students in cutting-edge projects in microelectronics design, space systems, radiation effects and electronics; and a project to expand the community of individuals interested in examining barriers to entry in the microelectronics radiation effects field.

Patents awarded to three IU health innovations

Posted on by Bri Heron

Three Indiana University-led research innovations, designed to improve the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and ovarian and other cancers, recently received patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Below is information about each patent.

Patent issued to small molecule inhibitors of ALDH for the treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer:

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent for small molecule inhibitors of the ALDH protein developed by Thomas Hurley, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, associate dean for graduate education at the IU School of Medicine and a member of the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. Epithelial ovarian cancer is difficult to treat due to frequent relapses as ALDH cells are chemotherapy-resistant and propagate tumors. Therefore, the inhibition of the ALDH protein can serve as a therapeutic target for ovarian cancer and other diseases.

Bruce Lamb in his laboratory
Bruce Lamb

Patent issued for genetically modified mouse model for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease:

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent for a method of using genetically modified mice for screening compounds for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease developed by Bruce Lamb and The Jackson Laboratory. The mice expressed two proteins that pose as significant risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, which will be helpful in identifying potential therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Lamb is a Distinguished Professor, Roberts Family Professor of Alzheimer’s Disease Research and executive director of the Paul and Carole Stark Neurosciences Research Institute at the IU School of Medicine.

Patent issued for anti-cancer compounds targeting Ral GTPases:

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent for a method that inhibits Ral GTPases for the prevention of metastasis of cancer developed by Samy Meroueh. The anti-cancer compounds prevent the growth of cancer cells for bladder, pancreas, prostate, colon, skin and lung cancers. Meroueh served for more than 18 years as a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the IU School of Medicine and a member of the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is the co-founder of Kovina Therapeutics, a preclinical stage biotechnology company based in Indianapolis developing first-in-class antiviral therapeutics specifically designed to treat cancers and premalignant infections caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and a portfolio company of IU Ventures, which invests in and supports IU-affiliated early-stage companies.

These innovations were disclosed to the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office. The mission of the office is to transfer IU innovations from lab to market for public benefit and global impact. The office files patents to facilitate commercialization of the innovation. IU personnel can disclose an invention online.

IU researcher develops therapies for severe asthma

Posted on by Bri Heron

Asthma affects 8 percent of the U.S. population. Severe asthma—the symptoms of which are difficult to manage despite high doses of medicines, like corticosteroids—accounts for most healthcare costs due to its complexity to treat. New therapies are needed to eliminate symptoms of this life-threatening disease.

Headshot of Ben Gaston
Ben Gaston

Ben Gaston, the Billie Lou Wood Professor of Pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, has developed a targeted treatment solution for asthma patients and is seeking partnerships to take his research to market.

“There is no one-size-fits-all approach for treating asthma,” said Gaston. “Each patient’s symptoms are different; therefore, we aim to develop personalized treatments in order to find the right drug for the right person.”

Gaston and his team studied the role of androgen signaling in asthma patients. Androgens are a group of sex hormones that play an active role in body development. Gaston discovered that patients with low androgen levels typically have worse asthmatic outcomes due to low forced expiratory volume at one second, FEV1, which is how much air is exhaled in one second. If asthma patients have low FEV1, their airflow is obstructed.

To combat this, Gaston has developed a proprietary slow-release dose of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a hormone that can increase androgen levels and has been found to have anti-inflammatory effects, to help treat severe asthmatic patients. Gaston’s drug formulation significantly improves lung function by reducing airway inflammation and other symptoms. It also has minimal side effects for patients which is a game changer as current treatment options typically leave asthma patients symptomatic.

Gaston’s lab specializes in developing therapies for respiratory diseases such as asthma and other obstructive lung diseases. His research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for 25 years. He is currently vice chair for translational research at the Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, as well as at the Department of Pediatrics and the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research at the IU School of Medicine, and he has a pediatric pulmonology practice at Riley.

Earlier this month, he was one of two IU School of Medicine faculty members to be inducted into the prestigous Association of American Physicians, which recognizes excellence in the pursuit of medical knowledge and the advancement of basic and clinical science through experimentation, discovery and application to clinical medicine.

Gaston has disclosed 13 inventions, published numerous patents and created five startups, some with the help of the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office.