UNeMed's annual Research Innovation Awards Banquet is the culmination of a week of activities that celebrate research and innovation at UNMC. The awards recognize faculty, students and staff that invented a new technology, licensed an invention or secured intellectual property rights during the previous fiscal year. UNeMed also presents Emerging Inventor, Lifetime Achievement, and Innovator of the Year awards as circumstances dictate. Finally, UNeMed also presents a “Most Promising New Invention” as an annual award. In 2018, the first Startup of the Year award was presented by UNeTech, the University’s incubator and accelerator program.
The 2021 Research Innovation Awards Banquet was held virtually Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, via Zoom. Hanjun Wang, MD, was named the Innovator of the Year for his work on a variety of diseases; Brian Knarr, PhD, Travis Vanderheyden, and Russell Buffum won the Most Promising New Invention award; and Dong Wang, PhD, took home the Startup of the Year award.
Download the 2021 Innovation Awards Program here.
Innovation Awards Demo Day Past Events
Innovator of the Year
Hanjun Wang, MD, an associate professor in the College of Medicine's Department of Anesthesiology at UNMC was named the 2021 Innovator of the year.
Dr. Wang focuses on novel treatment strategies for a variety of diseases, including heart failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome and peripheral artery disease.
More specifically, his team is looking at the role spinal afferent neurons play in regulating disease onset and progression. He has identified a number of different approaches to target spinal afferent neurons. One of these approaches focuses on localized administration of resiniferatoxin, a potent neurotoxin that can ablate specific nerves. Dr. Wang is exploring resiniferatoxin as a possible treatment for hypertension, heart failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome and peripheral artery disease.
Some of those applications have been licensed by an undisclosed biotech company that is working on developing them for clinical use. As part of this relationship, Dr. Wang has helped bring in more than $1.1 million in sponsored research to develop this therapeutic approach.
In addition, Dr. Wang has developed other approaches for targeting spinal afferent neurons. One of which has been licensed into a startup company, Inflaneurgo, which is working on finding a partner to help advance some of these ideas.
In total, Dr. Wang has submitted 13 inventions, including three in fiscal year 2021. These inventions have resulted in 21 active patents and patent applications, three license agreements, and two sponsored research agreements.
Most Promising New Invention
The Most Promising New Invention of 2021 was presented to a trio of innovators in the Department of Biomechanics at UNO: Brian Knarr, PhD, associate professor and Director of the Machining and Prototyping Core at UNO (left); Travis Vanderheyden, research and development engineer in the Machining and Prototyping Core (center); and Russell Buffum, research and development engineer in the Machining and Prototyping Core (right).
The "Improved Self-Pacing Treadmill" adjusts its speed to the runner—whether a user wants to run, walk or trot, the treadmill adjusts to the user's pace, without needing any other input. In speeding up or slowing down to match a runner's speed, the new treadmill will make home and gym workouts safer and more realistic.
Startup of the Year
The Startup of the Year award went to Ensign Pharmaceutical and founder Dong Wang, PhD.
Dr. Wang, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the College of Pharmacy, created a thermosensitive hydrogel formulation called ProGel, a novel platform technology that can deliver a variety of therapeutics. ProGel has attracted wide interest as the cornerstone technology for his startup.
Ensign Pharmaceutical recently secured nearly $2 million in federal research grant funding, which will support pre-clinical studies needed to approach regulatory approval. Ensign won the 2020 Business Innovation Live Pitch competition in Phoenix during the Orthopaedic Research Society’s annual meeting.
Also, Ensign was selected to present at highly selective startup conferences, the Invest Midwest Venture Capital Forum and Destination Startup.
2021 Innovation Awards Program
Award Winners
Special Awards
| 2021 | Ensign Pharmaceutical | Startup of the Year |
| 2021 | Hanjun Wang, MD | Innovator of the Year |
| 2020 | BreezMed | Startup of the Year |
| 2020 | COVID-19 Inventors | Innovators of the Year |
| 2019 | FutureAssure | Startup of the Year |
| 2019 | Benson Edagwa, Ph.D. | Emerging Inventor |
| 2019 | FutureAssure | Startup of the Year |
| 2018 | UNO Biomechanics Department | Innovator of the Year |
| 2018 | Centese, Inc. | Startup of the Year |
| 2017 | Donny Suh, M.D. | Emerging Inventor |
| 2016 | Irving Zucker, Ph.D. | Innovator of the Year |
| 2015 | Tammy Kielian, Ph.D. | Innovator of the Year |
| 2014 | Marius Florescu, M.D. | Emerging Inventor |
| 2013 | Howard Gendelman, M.D. | Innovator of the Year |
| 2012 | Tammy Kielian, Ph.D. | Emerging Inventor |
| 2011 | Jonathan Vennerstrom, Ph.D. | Lifetime Achievement |
| 2010 | Amarnath Natarajan, Ph.D. | Emerging Inventor |
| 2009 | Rodney Markin, M.D., Ph.D. | Lifetime Achievement |
| 2008 | Dong Wang, Ph.D. | Emerging Inventor |
| 2007 | Robert LeVeen, M.D. | Lifetime Achievement |
Most Promising New Invention
| 2021 | Brian Knarr, PhD; Travis Vanderheyden; Russell Buffum | Improved Self-Pacing Treadmill |
| 2020 | Joseph McMordie, M.D. and Daniel Sturdell, M.D. | Anterior Cervical Space Spreader |
| 2019 | Corey Hopkins, Ph.D. | PDE4B Selective Inhibitors |
| 2018 | Catherine Gebhart, Ph.D. and Varun Kehsarwani, Ph.D. | Multiplex assay for rapid detection of HSV1, HSV2, EBV and CNV by qPCR |
| 2017 | Jingwei Xie, Ph.D., Mark Carlson, M.D., Shixuan Chen, Ph.D. | Nanofiber Sponges for Hemostasis |
| 2016 | Joyce Solheim, Ph.D. and Tatiana Bronich, Ph.D. | Compositions for Modulated Release of Proteins and Methods of Use Thereof |
| 2015 | Michael Wadman, M.D., F.A.S.E.P. & Thang Nguyen, M.S.N., A.P.R.N., F.N.P.-C |
Emergency Medicine Care Portfolio: Wound Irrigation System & Oral Airway Management |
| 2014 | Jason MacTaggart, M.D. | Orthagonal AquaBlade |
| 2013 | Keshore Bidasee, Ph.D. | Targeted Glyoxalase-1 Gene Transfer to Prevent Cardiovascular and End- Organ Complications in Diabetes |
| 2012 | Gregory Oakley, Ph.D | Small Molecule in Vivo Inhibitors of the N-Terminal Protein Interacting Domain of RPA1 |
| 2011 | Babu Padanilam, Ph.D | Novel Target for the Treatment of Renal Fibrosis |
| 2010 | Stephen Bonasera, M.D., Ph.D. | Noninvasive Monitoring of Functional Behaviors in Ambulatory Human Populations |
| 2009 | Paul Dunman, Ph.D. | Novel Antibiotic Compounds |
| 2008 | Guangshun (Gus) Wang, Ph.D. | Anti-HIV Peptides and Methods of Use Thereof |
| 2008 | Janina Baranowska-Kortylewicz, Ph.D. | Sex Hormone Binding Globulin: New Target for Cancer Therapy |
