Success Stories
Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Founders Video Series
Douglas J. Von Allmen
(1st Quarter 2012) Douglas J. Von Allmen, founder of Beauty Alliance, was included in the Founders Series interviews, a Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame project. Von Allmen’s generous gift to Dean Richard W. Furst, UK Gatton College of Business and Economics, in 2002 enabled the establishment of the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship. The Von Allmen Center is now part of the UK Office for Commercialization & Economic Development. Awesome Inc., a business incubator in downtown Lexington, Ky., created this video series. read more
Lee T. Todd Jr.
(1st Quarter 2012) Lee T. Todd Jr., former UK president, was inducted into the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame in 2010 and included in the Founders Series video interviews. As an inventor and entrepreneur, one of Todd's passions has been to change Kentucky's economy to make it more globally competitive. During his presidency, Todd created the Office for Commercialization and Economic Development and was the faculty advisor of the E-Club, an organization for students to learn how to become entrepreneurs. Dr. Todd was instrumental in creating the Lexington Venture Club and the Bluegrass Angels network. His efforts have resulted in a significant increase in the amount of venture capital available in the region, the number of startup companies created by UK entrepreneurs and royalties received by the university. read more
Bluegrass Vascular Technologies
UK medical technology incubator Therix Medical spins out Bluegrass Vascular Technologies
(4th Quarter 2011) Therix Medical has launched its first spinout company Bluegrass Vascular Technologies. BVT will develop and commercialize life-saving devices and methods that address shortcomings in vascular access procedures. Their flagship product is the Surfacer™ Inside-Out Access Catheter System, a proprietary instrumentation set that allows physicians to perform a novel "inside-out" approach to gain venous access. Dr. John Gurley, a UK Albert B. Chandler Hospital interventional cardiologist, is BVT’s chief medical officer and the inventor of the catheter. The first-in-man study was completed at the end of 2011. read more
In the right vein: UK cardiologist takes new approach to circumvent problems of vascular access
Therix Medical video shows private-public partnership with the University of Kentucky
Clinician Innovation Program and Therix Medical Off to a Good Start
Seikowave
Seikowave produces dental units for international customer
(4th Quarter 2011) Seikowave wants to improve lives by making three dimensional imaging faster, cheaper and more accessible. The company's 3D cornerstone technology developed by Daniel Lau in UK's Center for Visualization & Virtual Environments has many potential uses from improving medical and dental patient care to making cars safer to drive. The company is currently producing specially designed optic units to capture 3D images for dental applications in its ASTeCC incubator lab on the UK campus. According to CEO Matt Bellis, two additional customers will use the UK technology in automotive and body scanning applications. Bellis is also raising the first tranche of Series B financing, which includes lead investor Mitsubishi, the Bluegrass Angels, BGA Fund II and Commonwealth Seed Capital.
Seikowave captures and improves life in 3D
Equinext
Equinext receives local funding to begin testing device to treat equine leg injuries
(4th Quarter 2011) UK spinoff company, Equinext, began testing its device to treat equine tendon and ligament injuries using funds raised entirely from local Kentucky investors. Equinext recently closed an $850,000 Series A investment round and began the initial work on their clinical trial with strategic partner Hagyard Equine Medical Institute. Investors include UK through Kentucky Technology Inc., the Bluegrass Angels, two state funds, and the local equine industry. Equinext is a spinoff of Orthopeutics-Intralink Spine recruited to Lexington last year and located at Coldstream Research Campus. Tom Hedman, who developed the technology as a treatment for Degenerative Disc Disease and related lower back pain, has a joint appointment at UK in neurosurgery and biomedical engineering. read more
Equinext to develop a medical device for equine lower leg injuries
CoPlex Therapeutics
UK spinoff CoPlex Therapeutics announces license to develop a treatment for Alzheimer's
(3rd Quarter 2011) CoPlex Therapeutics has signed a global license agreement for hawAD14, a preclinical oral small molecule candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Hawthorn Pharmaceuticals, a commercial-stage specialty drug company, will develop and commercialize hawAD14, which has the potential to slow the progression of the disease. UK chemistry professors, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging researchers, and CoPlex founding scientists Mark Lovell and Bert Lynn discovered the compound which has the potential to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. John Beran is CEO for CoPlex and sister company Scout Diagnostics. read more
Scout Diagnostics receives state matching funds for work on Alzheimer's diagnostic
Neogen Corporation
UK technology and spinoff company part of Neogen's animal safety success
(3rd Quarter 2011) International animal and food safety giant Neogen Corporation announced an expansion of the company's Lexington Ky.-based division in late June 2011. The expansion includes adding a 100,000 square foot facility in Lexington and creating 75 jobs over the next several years. Neogen's Kentucky roots date back 20 years when the company took interest in University of Kentucky technology and one of its first successful spinoff companies, WTT. Neogen would set up a new division in Lexington based on animal safety, buy WTT from then-CEO Len Heller, and license the technology that has returned $2.2 million in royalties to UK. WTT was founded in 1988 by David Watt, cellular and molecular biochemistry and medicine, Hsin-Hsiung “Daniel” Tai, pharmacy, and Thomas Tobin, UK Gluck Equine Research Center. read more
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