Proof of concept grants to propel emerging research

Webster Santos has a working concept for a chemical compound that could help promote weight loss by encouraging cells to get off the couch.

“The idea here is we can make the mitochondria work a little bit harder. So you can increase respiration without exercise,” said Santos, professor of chemistry and the Cliff and Agnes Lilly Faculty Fellow.

By targeting the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, Santos and his colleagues already have showed their prototype molecule, named BAM15, can increase the mitochondria’s work to decrease the body fat in mice. And their work did it without affecting the mice’s food intake, changing muscle mass, or increasing body temperature. 

Now, with the help of a recent LAUNCH: Center for New Ventures Proof of Concept grant, they will advance their new preclinical compound even further by studying its effects on multiple species.

“The grant will help us establish that this compound is safe and also help us understand the other basic pharmaceutical properties, such as how it can be taken, how long it lives in the body, and other parameters to ensure that it’s viable to move forward to human trials,” said Santos, who is also the director of the Virginia Tech Center for Drug Discovery.

The work of Santos and his team was one of 10 proposals selected for the 2025 round of funding from the LAUNCH program that supports Virginia Tech faculty in advancing the commercialization potential of technology emerging from their research. Each grant is up to $50,000 to support early-stage commercialization activities.

Santos’ team is one of two groups also funded by a GO Virginia Region 2 grant awarded to the Roanoke-Blacksburg Innovation Alliance and specifically aimed at expanding the regional biomedical technology commercialization ecosystem through Project VITAL.

Santos said the compound differs from other popular weight loss drugs because it works by expending energy rather than manipulating hunger cues. It also has not yet shown to include any of those drugs’ emerging side effects, such as muscle loss, gastrointestinal issues, and vision impairment.

The Proof o Concept grant comes at a critical time in the research process for a drug being tested for use in humans, which Santos said can take about 12 years and costs $2.2 billion on average.  

“This is going to allow us show the compound is safe in rats and dogs, and that will facilitate us fundraise for the future studies needed to eventually get it to the people it can help,” Santos said.

The other 2025 LAUNCH Proof of Concept grant recipeints are:

Energy Expenditure Drugs for Treating Obesity 

Team members:

• Webster Santos, professor, Department of Chemistry
• Ramkrishna Laha, research scientist, Department of Chemistry

Concept: The development of molecules that promote weight loss while preserving muscle. The team will evaluate their safety profile through their use in animals, which will serve as a launching pad for future studies in humans.

Issue addressed: According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 42 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese. Medical options, such as the drug Ozempic, have shown to be an effective weight-loss tool, but are also associated with an up to 30 percent loss of muscle, as well as nausea and vomiting.

This project is also supported by Project VITAL.

UPGRADE: a Universal Phage-based Gastrointestinal Remodeling and Disease Eradicating System

Team members:

• Bryan Hsu, assistant professor, Department of Biological Sciences
• Zachary Baker, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Biological Sciences
• Shannon Allen Whiles, postdoctoral associate, Department of Biological Sciences

Concept: Commercialization of engineered phage – a virus targets bacteria – can lead to the sustained production of a heterologous protein in the gut, using resident gut bacteria to express and release these phage-encoded proteins. The team has shown this can have therapeutic effects, including the reduction of weight gain in animal models of diet-induced obesity.

Issue addressed: The oral delivery of biological compounds to the gut is a formidable challenge due to the degradative conditions in the upper gastrointestinal tract. 

This project is also supported by Project VITAL.

SCALED: Substation in a Cable for Adaptable Low-Cost Electrical Distribution

Team members

• Mark Cairnie, graduate research assistant, Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Christina DiMarino, assistant professor, Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Concept: A streamlined power conversion technology that is directly spliced into the cable. 

Issue addressed: Could eliminate the need for bulky transformers and concrete pads commonly used in the industry. This could rapidly accelerate power distribution deployment for both private industries—such as data centers and electric vehicle companies—and larger utility providers.

Portcullis Research: Improving Security and Accountability of High-Value Physical Documents

Team members

• Alan Michaels, professor, Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Northrop Grumman Senior Faculty Fellow; director, Spectrum Dominance Division, Virginia Tech National Security Institute
• Bradley Davis, research associate professor, Virginia Tech National Security Institute

Concept: The commercialization of low-cost watermarking and anti-tamper techniques applied at an individual page level to support authentication and lifecycle management of documents.

Issue addressed: While the security of documents stored on computer networks has garnered much attention, many significant workflows still depend on physical paper by design, such as elections or key bank or court records.

Coal to Graphite: A Sustainable Approach for Large-Scale Production

Team members

• Suneel Kodambaka, professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
• Hanna Kindlund, collegiate assistant professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Concept: The development of a cost-effective technology for the production of graphite from coal.

Issue addressed: Graphite is a critical mineral of immense technological importance with national security implications. The U.S. is rich in coal reserves, but currently depends on other countries for the supply of graphite. Domestic production of graphite can improve the geopolitical dynamics and revitalize our economy.  

Efficient Conversion of Food Waste to Consumer Bioplastic Products

Team members

• Zhiwu "Drew" Wang, associate professor, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Cooperative Extension
• Haibo Huang, associate professor, Department of Food Science and Technology

Concept: The development of a technology that uses microorganisms to transform food waste into valuable biodegradable bioplastics.

Issue addressed: Food waste is a significant environmental problem, with approximately 66 million tons generated annually in the United States alone, contributing substantially to landfill waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, petroleum-based plastics exacerbate environmental pollution due to their nonbiodegradable nature.

Milk-derived Antimicrobial Peptide Cocktail for the Treatment of Mastitis in Dairy Cattle

Team members

• Jessica Gilbertie, associate professor of microbiology, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology
• Evan Thomae, research assistant, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology

Concept: The creation of an organic treatment for mastitis — an inflammation of the mammary gland — in dairy cows that does not incur bacterial resistance like traditional antibiotics and, due to its natural derivation, it does not harm the dairy consumer.

Issue addressed: Approximately 9.4 million dairy cows are affected by mastitis every year, creating an economic burden of $1 billion in the United States. Treating mastitis has become increasingly challenging with a rise in antibiotic resistance as well as an increase in antibiotic free farms. 

Aerogel Acoustic Treatment for Building Applications

Team members

• Alaa Algargoosh, assistant professor, School of Architecture
• Robert B. Moore, professor, Department of Chemistry, and director, Macromolecules Innovation Institute

Concept: To create a sustainable material that effectively mitigates noise, thereby enhancing occupant health and comfort.

Issue addressed: Noise pollution second only to air pollution among the major environmental risks to physical and mental health. The World Health Organization has highlighted environmental noise’s impact on public health with documented effects ranging from cardiovascular disease and cognitive impairment to sleep disturbances and annoyance.

Ultrafast Scheduler for NextG Communication Systems

Team members

• Tom Hou, Bradley Distinguished Professor, Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Yi Shi, research associate professor, Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, Virginia Tech
• Bahman Abolhassani, Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow - Innovation Track, Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Concept: To leverage graphics processing unit-based parallel computing for the development of a system with extremely minimal delay in data transmission that can be seamlessly integrated within the Open Radio Access Network ecosystem.

Issued addressed: With the emergence of delay-sensitive applications such as autonomous driving and remote surgery, existing technologies often fail to meet the critical sub-millisecond deadlines required for reliable performance. Minimal delays are a critical component of the ecosystem needed for rapid advancements in industries reliant on high-speed connectivity. 

Football Oriented Simulation and Training Using Extended Reality

Team members

• Todd Ogle, associate professor, University Libraries, executive director, Applied Research in Immersive Experiences and Simulations
• Logan Lane, Ph.D. student, Department of Computer Science

Concept: The commercialization of a first-person athletic training simulation and after-action review system combining virtual reality and artificial intelligence to train multiple levels of athlete. The current football simulation allows for training at various positions and creates a digital twin of real game events, which allows both players and coaches to learn from past plays from a variety of on-field perspectives.

Issue addressed: Specific in-game situations can be difficult and time consuming to replicate in real life in a manner that is both accurate and produces meaningful learning opportunities. It can also be challenging for a coach to have full insight into the perspective of an athlete at a specific moment of play.

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