As is articulated in our strategic plan, the Research Roadmap, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research is committed to accelerating research growth and opportunity, harnessing the power of our research enterprise to drive innovation, and transforming the research ecosystem to be nimble, efficient, and of greater societal benefit. With partners across the University, the OVCR ensures Carolina’s research creates value for the people of North Carolina and across the world.
Nowhere is that embodied more than in our Creativity Hubs seed funding program. These awards have been catalysts for extraordinary discoveries for the past seven years, empowering interdisciplinary teams to tackle complex societal challenges. This year, we revitalized the program to intentionally cultivate a culture of research innovation with a call for impact-oriented science.
Just last week, we announced the winners of this year’s Creativity Hubs awards. Through our partnership with the NC Collaboratory and generous funding from the NC General Assembly, we were able to award five teams with Creativity Hubs funding, the largest amount we have awarded in any given year.
Each of the winning teams has a potential application that is the result of a breakthrough in cutting-edge discovery science. They also synergize perfectly with a strategic priority identified within both the Research Roadmap and the Chancellor’s four areas of focus: applied sciences. These groundbreaking projects have the potential to significantly impact millions of lives around the world, and they demonstrate UNC-Chapel Hill’s dedication to improving human health and creating a sustainable future for North Carolina and for citizens and communities across the globe.
This years’ winning teams have identified novel solutions for treating cancer, neurological disorders, and chronic diseases; technologies that overcome barriers to health screening in rural communities; and strategies to develop next generation clean energy sources. While all five projects address different challenges, they all share a common goal of research innovation and each will produce tangible outputs, including commercialization.
The winning teams are:
2024 Creativity Hubs Winners
Precision-Guided Closed Loop Adaptive Ultrasound Modulation
PI: Paul Dayton, Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine
Problem: There is a critical need to create therapies capable of modulating brain activity without invasive surgery and allowing for feedback control.
Solution: An AI-assisted ultrasound technology platform that can treat the brain with real-time feedback to treat neurological disorders without surgery.
Advancing solid electrolytes for next generation lithium batteries
PI: Wei You, Chemistry, College of Arts & Sciences
Problem: Lithium batteries have transformed our world – yet their manufacturing produces forever chemical contamination, a particular issue in N.C.
Solution: Advance safe and stable next-generation battery materials with new classes of carbon-based, solid-state lithium-ion batteries.
Advancing medical screening in underserved populations using a transportable nanotube-enabled imaging system
PI: Yueh Lee, Radiology, School of Medicine
Problem: Twenty percent of Americans live in rural areas that do not have access to x-ray screening and thus suffer from late disease detection after therapies could save their lives.
Solution: A transportable carbon x-ray, low-cost device that can be used at community gathering places, homes, businesses to rapidly screen for critical diseases.
Autonomous Living Therapies for Extended Results
PI: Ronit Freeman, Applied Physical Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences
Problem: Poor treatment adherence underlies the ~$300B health care costs associated with chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis.
Solution: A swallowed capsule that becomes a living pharmacy that responds to a patient’s internal signals to deliver precise therapeutic doses without painful needles and without requiring patients to remember to take their medications.
The Human MHC Project
PI: Leon Coleman, Pharmacology, School of Medicine
Problem: Currently there is no affordable way to fully and rapidly screen for the proteins and antigens at the heart of cutting-edge cancer therapies.
Solution: A novel diagnostic and technology platform for single-cell proteomics that for the first time would allow rapid and affordable screening to effectively target tumor cells for innovative therapies.
Creativity Hubs awards are managed by the OVCR’s Office of Research Development (ORD) and the goal for each winning project is to pursue large-scale, follow-on awards that build on the pilot funding. To date, winning projects have stimulated exciting results with significant return on investment, including tens of millions in extramural funding.
The program is one of several internal seed investment programs managed by ORD which, taken together, have resulted in an average of 4-6 times additional grant funding traced back to the OVCR support. Other programs include UNC Idea Grants which provide early-stage support for novel concepts, and Arts and Humanities Research Grants which cultivate creative and scholarly exploration. Through this variety of seed opportunities, we are investing in all parts of campus, with reach across many disciplines.
For example, this summer, ORD was able to fund nine scholars through the Arts and Humanities Research grants, ranging from classics, to romance language, to geography and environment. Such grants are co-funded by the Institute for the Arts and Humanities and support our world-renowned creative research and our strategic emphasis of translating that research into social settings outcomes.
ORD’s impact extends beyond internal funding. The office also plays a pivotal role in securing major external grants that engage faculty from across campus. Recent triumphs include securing:
- The University’s inaugural ARPA-H Award, a $10 million investment for the development of an AI-driven cancer treatment tool.
- A prestigious UNC System ROI award that supports the commercialization of cutting-edge solar cell technology.
- Carolina’s second ever NSF Engine Award that supports the University and nine partners in the development of a plan for a 42-county Agricultural Tech Innovation Corridor, boosting innovation and access for underserved agricultural communities across North Carolina.
- An award from the FDA for up to $50 million that establishes Triangle CERSI, the newest of only five CERSIs across the country, where Carolina and Triangle-wide researchers work with FDA scientists to perform cutting-edge scientific research to better inform and support the FDA’s needs.
Since FY18, ORD has enabled 131 pan-campus proposals resulting in $79.4 million in total awards to Carolina researchers. ORD has also broadened its team, expanding its ability to address the OVCR’s strategic priority of diversifying Carolina’s grant portfolio, and working to ensure that UNC-Chapel Hill faculty are first-to-know about relevant public and private funding opportunities. This enables the team to position the University for rapid-turn-around grants and solutions-oriented research. To develop winning proposals, ORD leads team formation, proposal development, and project management for large, pan-campus applications. Beyond project management and grant writing support, ORD helps faculty advance early ideas forward.
These achievements underscore the OVCR’s commitment to accelerating science and scholarship that will lead to innovative solutions. The office is also deeply committed to propelling Carolina to the forefront of research, scholarship, and discovery. By providing strategic support, funding opportunities, and expert guidance, OVCR empowers Carolina researchers to pursue ambitious projects that address global challenges.