The 20th Annual Clinical Center for Translational Science (CCTS) Spring Conference was held on April 1, 2025 in the Central Bank Center. The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship (VACE) in the Gatton College of Business and Economics hosted its 8th annual 1-minute poster pitch competition. This year's conference theme is "Pioneering Pathways: Innovative Trial Design in Translational Science."
During the conference, hundreds of researchers, clinicians, staff, students, and community members shared their research to build and foster collaborations beyond the lab. The CCTS Conference also hosts Research Days for the Colleges of Dentistry, Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, Institute for Biomedical Informatics, and the Department of Internal Medicine.
The VACE Research Poster Pitch Competition is one segment of the conference that highlights University of Kentucky innovations by having 22 researchers pitch their posters in 1-minute for a chance to win prize money towards their groundbreaking work.
“It was a pleasure to coach, host, and mentor these incredible researchers for the 8th year in a row. I look forward to working with many of them as they develop these entrepreneurial skills and continue to lean into their passion for tackling solutions in our healthcare systems and beyond.” - Mariam Gorjian, Bootcamp Founder & Assistant Director of The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship, Gatton College of Business & Economics
“Being asked to help judge the 2025 Von Allmen Poster Pitch competition at the CCTS Spring Conference was an incredible opportunity. It was inspiring to see such a wide range of ideas and research being shared. The participants did a fantastic job of simplifying complex topics and making their work accessible. It was clear that a lot of thought and effort went into each presentation, and I feel lucky to have had the chance to be a part of it.” – Madison Bates, University of Kentucky PhD Candidate in BioMedical Engineering, Founder of RAM Medical Device Co.
“Judging the pitch competition is one of the highlights of the conference. Researchers get to present their work in a way that provokes thinking and inspiration in how their outcomes can be translated outside academia.” - Kendra Hargis-Stenzel, Director of Innovation Talent Development, Launch Blue
Winners
1st place, $1,250
Sarisha Lohano | College of Medicine & Lewis Honors College
Connect: sarisha.lohano@uky.edu
Poster: "RAD Deletion Increases Exercise Through Mitochondrial Function"
Background: RAD regulates calcium current through the Cav1.2 channel. Cardiomyocyte-restricted deletion of RAD (cRADKO) improves calcium channel activity and systolic function in healthy mice, but its impact on voluntary exercise and cardiac-extracardiac communication is unexplored. Endurance exercise induces eccentric hypertrophic remodeling, increasing capillary and mitochondrial density.
Hypothesis: cRADKO will pre-adapt the heart to exercise. Exercise will rescue mice with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
Methods: We tested cRADKO in exercising mice with heart failure (DCM) and healthy mice. Echocardiography data was collected at the start and end of the running period. Cardiac tissue was analyzed for mitochondrial function and cell size. Soleus, gastrocnemius, and plantaris muscles were examined for fiber type composition.
Results: No significant differences in voluntary exercise activity were observed between healthy WT and cRADKO mice. cRADKO mice had elevated EF at baseline. cRADKO prevented changes in EF or chamber dimensions. LV thickness increased in cRADKO compared to WT. No structural or functional changes occurred with exercise. MLPKO cRADKO ran more than MLPKO. There is a trend for increased mitochondrial respiration with cRADKO. There is also a trend for increased mitochondrial respiration with exercise in the MLPKO cRADKO.
Future Directions and Expected Results: Healthy WT and cRADKO indistinguishable total exercise eliminate differential exercise as a variable, thus permitting evaluation of gene knockout effect. To assess cRADKO effect on physiological hypertrophic signaling I will be measuring candidate signaling intermediaries. Healthy WT mice recapitulated human athletes’ heart, and cRADKO pre-adapted the heart to exercise.
2nd place, $1,000
Maribeth Stafford | College of Medicine
Connect: mpst238@uky.edu
Poster: "Acute Cannabis and Alcohol Effects on Simulated Driving Performance and Subjective Driving Confidence in Humans"
Introduction: As cannabis becomes more widely available, determining its effects on driving performance is imperative to public health. The aim of the current study was to compare a range of inhaled cannabis doses (relevant to current medical/recreational products) to the effects of an intoxicating dose of oral alcohol.
Methods: Healthy cannabis users were enrolled in this within-subject, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, outpatient study (n=9). Across 5 experimental sessions the effects of inhaled cannabis (0, 15, 30 mg THC; 15 mg THC+7.5 mg CBD) and oral alcohol (0, 0.8g/kg [15% less for women]) were assessed. Data were collected at baseline and 6 hrs after drug administration. Primary outcomes included standard deviation of lane position (SDLP), variability of speed and steering, and reaction time. Secondary outcomes included subjective ratings driving performance and abuse potential outcomes.
Results: Alcohol produced robust impairments in simulated driving performance (e.g., increased speed, SDLP; p<.05), while cannabis negatively impacted a different array of driving outcomes (e.g., decreased break force, headway distance; p<.05). All active doses of alcohol and cannabis decreased driving confidence (e.g., willingness to operate a real vehicle; p<.05) and increased ratings on abuse potential outcomes (p<.05). Active alcohol and 30mg THC increased ratings of subjective impairment (p<.05).
Conclusions: Although cannabis did not produce profound alcohol-like impairment, it was not without risk. All active cannabis doses decreased participants’ willingness to drive and high dose THC increased self-reported impairment. Overall, even in a sample of regular cannabis users, cannabis decreased driving acuity and confidence in safe driving ability.
3rd place, $750
Nicole Marker | College of Medicine
Connect: nbma225@uky.edu
Poster: "Surgical Treatment of Cardiac Tumors: A Single Center Experience"
Objective: This study is a retrospective review of diagnostic procedures, surgical management, and outcomes in patients treated for tumors of the heart in our institution. We compare our management approaches, clinical and surgical outcomes with those reported in the literature.
Methods & Materials: The study population includes patients 7-79 years old that presented to University of Kentucky Healthcare for tumors of the heart from July 2004 - January 2023. With IRB approval, subjects for this study were identified via CPT codes for tumors of the heart.
Results: There were 23 men and 29 women in the patient group. The average patient age was 54 years old. The most common diagnosis methods were echocardiogram, cardiac MRI, and CT scan. Operative treatment was offered to 52 people; 47 had resection and 5 had biopsy only. The most common postoperative complication was respiratory insufficiency (22) and sepsis (2). The most common diagnosed cell type for the cardiac tumors was myxoma (61.5%). 39 patients were discharged home in a stable condition. The study population had 1 operative mortality. 44 of the 52 patients treated are alive after 2 years.
Conclusion: Clinical outcomes such as discharge status, post-operative condition, and length of survival after procedures are similar to those from other referral centers for such conditions. Complete resection was possible in 90% of cases. 85% of patients in this study surgically treated for cardiac tumors are alive after 2 years. This study shows surgical removal offers the best chance of cure for cardiac tumors.
Director's Award, $500
Pegah Safavi | College of Engineering
Connect: pegah.safavi@uky.edu
Poster: "Continuous Monitoring of Cerebral Blood Flow and Oxygenation Responses to Intermittent Hypoxia in Neonatal Rats"
Background: Intermittent hypoxia (IH) may result in hypoxic/ischemic stresses on the brains of preterm neonates. To address the need for wearable techniques, we adapted an innovative, fiber-free, wearable diffuse speckle contrast flow-oximetry (DSCFO) device for continuous monitoring of both cerebral blood flow (CBF) and oxygenation in neonatal rats.
Methods: A miniaturized DSCFO probe was assembled consisting of two small laser diodes as focused-point and a tiny NanEye camera to detect spatial fluctuation of diffuse laser speckles for CBF, and light intensity attenuations for cerebral oxygenation measurements, including oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin concentrations ([HbO2] and [Hb]). The DSCFO probe was attached gently to the head of neonatal rats (7 days old) under 1.25% isoflurane anesthesia. Neonatal rats in the IH group received repetitive transient hypoxia-hyperoxia challenges (10 cycles of 2-minute 8% O2 in N2 and 2-minute 100% O2), while the sham group underwent a 10-minute normoxic baseline monitoring.
Results: The IH group (n = 8) demonstrated significant increases in CBF (1.268% ± 0.767, p = 0.041) and [HbO2] (3.346% ± 1.946, p = 0.003), and a significant decrease in [Hb] (0.98% ± 2.340, p = 0.018) during the last 2 minutes of recovery. In contrast, the sham group (n = 6) exhibited minor variations in CBF, HbO2, and Hb over the monitoring period.
Conclusions: This study demonstrated the feasibility of DSCFO as a low-cost wearable sensor for continuous monitoring of multiple cerebral hemodynamic parameters. The findings underscore the importance of multi-parameter measurements for gaining deeper insights into cerebral regulation during IH events.