New National Academy of Inventors/Intellectual Property Owners Association rankings released

TAMPA, Fla. (June 5, 2018) – The University of South Florida is the nation’s fifth leading public university in generating new United States utility patents and ranks 12^th among universities worldwide in this key measure of innovation, according to rankings released Tuesday by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO).

With 116 new utility patents issued in 2017, USF continues to stand with some of the world’s most prestigious institutions in the highly competitive arena – including innovation powerhouses such as the University of California System, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Stanford University. On a global scale, this is the eighth year USF has ranked in the top 20.

USF earned two more patents in 2017 over its previous record of 114 in 2016. USF was first among Florida’s universities, which collectively ranked highly among the world’s centers of academic invention.

“We are in an era when the public increasingly looks to research universities as a key driver of global innovation. USF’s strong emphasis on invention creates benefits far beyond our campus,” USF System President Judy Genshaft said. “Each day, our students, faculty and staff bring incredible new ideas to life and apply their talents in shaping a better future for all.”

The ranking is the latest marker of success for USF’s efforts to translate academic research into new technologies, medicines and products, and has fueled the university’s growing national and international reputation. The rankings coincided with Tuesday’s start of the Times Higher Education Young Universities Summit at USF, which is drawing scores of academic leaders from universities around the world founded during the last 70 years. USF is the first North American university to host the prestigious summit.

USF’s rise up the patent rankings comes through strategic and dedicated support for building an integrated technology transfer effort. In addition to supporting a vibrant research environment, the USF System provides faculty, students and staff with institutional support to patent and license their inventions; gives faculty members credit in the tenure and promotion process for inventions and creating startup companies; and provides guidance and early-stage funding opportunities for startup companies. Students and faculty have access to programs such as the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps and the USF Student Innovation Incubator to support them as they entrepreneurial efforts around their inventions.

“USF is part of a global community of dynamic institutions who are leveraging scientific and technological discoveries to create new jobs, new companies and even new industries,” said Paul R. Sanberg, USF’s senior vice president for research, innovation & knowledge enterprise. “Inventors and innovators fuel the growth of the global knowledge economy, and we have built a strong institutional culture to support their efforts. As the only research university in the Tampa Bay Region, our economy and our community grow stronger with each new idea that becomes a patented invention.”

USF joins the University of California System, the University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the University of Texas System and the University of Michigan as the top American public institutions in the ranking.

Other Florida universities listed in the top 100 ranking are the University of Florida with 111 patents; Florida International University with 42 patents; University of Central Florida with 39 patents; and Florida State University with 34 patents.

The NAI and IPO have published the report annually since 2013 to highlight the vital role patents play in university research and innovation. The report ranks the top 100 universities named as the first assignee on utility patents granted by the USPTO during the 2017 calendar year.

The full report is available here.

-Story by Vickie Chachere, USF Research and Innovation

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Jaymin Kathiriya, MS, an aspiring young researcher who investigates how hypoxia exacerbates pulmonary fibrosis, was among the select group of 11 students invited to give oral presentations at the 2016 USF Health Research Day.

Kathiriya, a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, was enthusiastic about the chance to present his research before student peers and faculty judges Feb. 19 in the Oval Theatre at the USF Marshall Student Center. Even more than that, he appreciated the opportunity to mingle with fellow aspiring young researchers from across all USF Health colleges and disciplines, as well as guest researchers from USF programs studying the science of health.

“I’m excited about being able to get critical input and different ideas from so many different people,” he said.

The energy of aspiring young researchers from across all USF Health colleges and disciplines generated a buzz in the Marshall Student Center Ballroom during the 2016 USF Health Research Day.

A training ground for aspiring researchers, physicians

Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, served as a judge for this year’s Research Day. He said he was impressed by the depth and breadth of the research activities encompassed in the nearly 330 poster presentations.

“I have dedicated a significant portion of my career to my own research and to training physician-scientists – so I may be biased,” Dr. Lockwood said. “But, I strongly believe that, beyond its intrinsic importance in promoting health, research makes one a better provider by disciplining the mind to collect all the requisite data and then carefully and correctly interpret it to make the correct diagnosis and choose the optimal therapy.”

Dr. Charles Lockwood judges the work of Kristen Marcet, second-year medical student.

Phillip Marty, PhD, associate vice president for USF Health Research, agreed.

“Our faculty are engaged in important research, which translates directly to our students, graduate students, residents and trainees who are presenting here today,” Dr. Marty said. “It is a great training ground for the rest of their careers.”

This year’s slate of presenters included more students and trainees and slightly fewer faculty, Dr. Marty said, perhaps a reflection of the event’s return to its roots of showcasing science learners.

Paul R. Sanberg, PhD, DSc, Senior Vice President for Research, Innovation & Economic Development, said USF is committed to providing its students with research and commercialization opportunities to support their growth and development as scientists, leaders and, ultimately, mentors to others.

“The accomplishments of your faculty, students, trainees and staff at celebrated at Research Day are more examples of USF Health’s continued impact in research and innovation,” Dr. Sanberg said.

Nearly 330 students and faculty presented their research projects in a judged competition.

Student contributions to scientific body of knowledge

In Dr. Dave Vrushank’s laboratory, Kathiriya works with cell and animal models to help investigate the contribution of low oxygen levels, or hypoxia, to pulmonary fibrosis of unknown cause, known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). IPF is an incurable disease in which tissue deep in the lung becomes scarred over time. The prevalence of this incurable disease, which kills up to 40,000 Americans a year, has increased as the aged population has grown.

“We are trying to determine the exact (molecular) nuances of hypoxia in the lung that cause pulmonary fibrosis,” Kathiriya said. “We’ve found that hypoxia is a systemic injurious factor involving a number of signaling pathways that cause fibrosis in nature, but these different pathways have common protein mediators – FAK1 and Galectin-1 – that may be leveraged as therapeutic targets for pulmonary fibrosis.”

Jaymin Kathiriya, MS, MCOM doctoral student in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, was among the select group of 11 students invited to give oral presentations at the 2016 USF Health Research Day.

The lab continues to work on developing a mouse model that correlates well with the slow, progressive features seen in IPF patients in the clinic, and on identifying drug candidates to test using in vivo models.

The study that second-year medical student Abby Pribish presented at Research Day was supported by a full-time summer scholarship from the Morsani College of Medicine’s Scholarly Concentrations Program. In the laboratory of Danielle Gulick at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute, Pribish tested the hypothesis that frequent light cycle alternations disruptive to circadian rhythm, the internal biological clock, would increase alcohol drinking in adolescent mice.

She and her lab colleagues found that breaking the circadian clock of the young mice did not cause them to drink more alcohol; however, the way the mice drank alcohol changed significantly. They consumed the same volume of alcohol in more rapid short bouts during the day.

“Messing up the light cycles caused them to binge drink,” Pribish said. “What we think is happening is that the adolescent mice seem to be intentionally spiking their blood alcohol concentration as a mechanism for coping with circadian desynchrony.”

Second-year medical student Abby Pribish was also invited to speak about her research in the oral presentation session. Her study focused on how circadian desynchrony would affect alcohol consumption in adolescent mice. -Photo by Sandra C. Roa

Pribish plans to continue to pursue her interest in addiction medicine, particularly as it pertains to adolescents — a population she says has not been studied as much as adults when it comes to alcohol use and treatment.

“Eleven percent of the alcohol consumption in the U.S. is by adolescents, and 90 percent of this (under-age) drinking is binge drinking,” she said. “It’s a huge problem… and I definitely want to be part of the solution in my career in research and as a doctor.”

Therapeutic insights from the genetics of ALS

Physician-scientist Robert H. Brown, Jr., MD, DPhil, who is nationally renowned for research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, delivered the Annual Roy H. Behnke Distinguished Lectureship. He is professor and chair of neurology at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and Medical School.

Research Day keynote speaker Dr. Robert H. Brown has a record of significant discoveries in identifying gene defects that elucidate how ALS causes neurons to die.

Dr. Brown spoke about investigations by his laboratory and others to harness genetics as a pathway to understanding how ALS causes neurons to die and to gain insights into potential therapies for this progressive paralyzing neuromuscular disorder with no effective treatment. In 1993, he led a team that identified the first gene linked to hereditary ALS (copper-zinc superoxide dismutase 1, or SOD1) and mapped the mechanisms for SOD1 neurotoxicity in humans and in cellular and animal models.

Today, more than 50 ALS-related genes showing familial transmission have been discovered, and Dr. Brown’s work provides evidence that genes implicated in inherited ALS also play a role in the more common sporadic form of the disease.

The end goal is to create better models of the disease to probe therapies – everything from small molecules, biologics and antibiodies to tropic factors secreted by stem cells and gene silencing, said Dr. Brown, whose team has engineered an artificial miRNA against SOD1, which is packaged into an adenoassociated virus vector. As in cancer, multiple interventions may be required to overcome the complex patterns of gene expression in ALS, he added.

From left: Dr. Bryan Bognar, vice dean of MCOM Educational Affairs; Dr. Phillip Marty, associate vice president for USF Health Research; Dr. Paul Sanberg, senior vice president for USF Research, Innovation & Economic Development; Dr. Charles Lockwood, senior vice president for USF Health and MCOM dean; Dr. Clifton Gooch, chair of neurology; Dr. Robert H. Brown, USF Health Research Day speaker; and Dr. John Sinnott, chair of internal medicine.

“The genes involved in this disease are not what we expected, and the approaches we will need to treat the disease are yet unknown,” said Dr. Brown. “But there has been substantial progress, so I’m very optimistic that we and others will be able to work toward a treatment in the near term.”

In fact, Dr. Brown said he is he is hopeful therapies that ultimately prove useful in delaying progression and reversing symptoms in ALS may also make a difference in other degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

In addition to Kathiriya and Pribish, the other students selected to present their research at the 7th Annual Joseph Krzanowski, PhD, USF Health Invited Oral Presentations Session were: Ngozichukwuka Agu; Faris Galambo, BS; Krishna Reddy; Alison E Roth, MPH; Stephanie Ciarlone; Jared Tur; April Lussier; Jessica M Gordon; and Rachel G. Sinkey, MD.

This year’s slate of presenters at the 26th Annual USF Health Research Day included more students and trainees and slightly fewer faculty.

Top Awards

MCOM Outstanding Postdoctoral Poster Presentation: Aurelie Joly-Amado, PhD

MCOM Outstanding Fellow Poster Presentation: Liliana Bustamante, MD

MCOM Outstanding Resident Poster Presentation: Anne Mattingly, MD (oncological sciences)

Outstanding Global Pediatric Behavioral Health Poster Presentation: Sophia Zavrou, PsyD

Outstanding Innovations in Medicine Poster Presentation: Rose Tillis

Watson Clinic Award to a Fourth-Year Medical Student: Sriram Velamuri

Dr. Christopher P. Phelps Memorial Fund Annual Morsani COM Graduate Student Travel Award: Krishna Reddy

Second-year medical student Rose Tillis explains her research findings to Joseph Krzanowski, PhD, former MCOM associate dean and professor emeritus in the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Physiology. Tillis won an Outstanding Innovations in Medicine award for the poster titled “Hydrocolloid Bra for Nipple Sparing Mastectomy.”

Best Graduate Student Poster Presentations:

Doctoral Student Poster Presentation: Allergy and Immunology: Jillian Whelan

Doctoral Student Poster Presentation: Cancer Biology: Stephanie Buttermore

Doctoral Student Poster Presentation: Cardiovascular and Clinical Science Research: Natascha Alves

Masters Student Interdisciplinary Research: Kathryn Fomuke and Andrew McGill

Doctoral Student Poster Presentation: Molecular and Cellular Biology: Jaymin Kathiriya

Kathiriya’s presentation “Hypoxia Exacerbates Pulmonary Fibrosis via FAK1 and Galectin-1 In Vitro and In Vivo” won one of the MCOM Best Doctoral Student Poster Presentation awards. Here he is congratulated by Internal Medicine Chair Dr. John Sinnott.

Best Medical Student Poster Presentations:

Med I Student Poster Presentation: Interdisciplinary Research: Nima Hosseinian

Med II Student Poster Presentation: Interdisciplinary Research: Curtis Gravenmier

Med II Student Poster Presentation: Interdisciplinary Research: Kristen Marcet

Med II Student Poster Presentation, Case Studies and Chart Reviews: Andrew Lai, MPH, Anthony Clark, and Luis Perez-Mena

Med III Student Poster Presentation, Case Study and Chart Review: Kyle Achors

Med III Student Poster Presentation, Empirical Study: Laura Kidd

Med IV Student Poster Presentation Case Study and Chart Review: Cheryl Godcharles

Andie Dodge, a Department of Molecular Physiology and Pharmacology research technician in Dr. Edwin Weeber’s laboratory, was first author on a poster presentation titled “Knock down of Disabled-1 inhibitory neurons reveal novel role in synaptic plasticity.”  Dodge is applying for graduate school.

Best Medical Resident Poster Presentations:

MCOM Resident Poster Presentation: Interdisciplinary Case Studies: Jennifer Divine, MD, and Joanna Robles, MD

MCOM Resident Poster Presenation: Case Study and Chart Review: Karina Vivar, MD

MCOM Fellow Poster Presentation: Case Study and Chart Review: Sangeetha Prabhakaran, MD

Ruisheng Liu, MD, PhD (center), professor of molecular pharmacology and physiology, and Ingrid Bahner, PhD (right), associate professor of molecular medicine, pause from their busy judging schedule to pose for a photo. Some 83 faculty from all USF Health colleges and some affiliates served as judges for Research Day.

Subhra Mohapatra, PhD, (right) associate professor of molecular medicine, with Patricia Askins, a student from Sarasota High School who has been mentored by Dr. Mohapatra for the last year.

Keynote speaker Dr. Brown stopped by to look at the science projects exhibited by middle school students from Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa. Kennedy Wakefield (left) and Bella Gonzalez-Portillo discussed their poster presentation “The Effects of Over-the-Counter Drugs” with him.

Students retrieve their Research Day award certificates.

Video by Sandra C. Roa and photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications & Marketing

Findings suggest that blood-brain barrier integrity suffers days after ischemic stroke, leading to serious complications; repair of this protective barrier might prevent them

Tampa, FL (May 20, 2013) — While the effects of acute stroke have been widely studied, brain damage during the subacute phase of stroke has been a neglected area of research. Now, a new study by the University of South Florida  reports that within a week of a stroke caused by a blood clot in one side of the brain, the opposite side of the brain shows signs of microvascular injury.  

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States, and increases the risk for dementia.

 “Approximately 80 percent of strokes are ischemic strokes, in which the blood supply to the brain is restricted, causing a shortage of oxygen,” said study lead author Svitlana Garbuzova-Davis, PhD, associate professor in the USF Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair. “Minutes after ischemic stroke, there are serious effects within the brain at both the molecular and cellular levels.  One understudied aspect has been the effect of ischemic stroke on the competence of the blood-brain barrier and subsequent related events in remote brain areas.”

USF Health neuroscientist Svitlana Garbuzova-Davis, PhD, was lead author of the study.

Using a rat model, researchers at USF Health investigated the subacute phase of ischemic stroke and found deficits in the microvascular integrity in the brain hemisphere opposite to where the initial stroke injury occured.

The study was published in the May 10, 2013 issue of PLOS One.

The USF team found that “diachisis,” a term used to describe certain brain deficits remote from primary insult, can occur during the subacute phase of ischemic stroke. The research discovered diachisis is closely related to a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, which separates circulating blood from brain tissue.

In the subacute phase of an ischemic stroke, when the stroke-induced disturbances in the brain occur in remote brain microvessels, several areas of the brain are affected by a variety of injuries, including neuronal swelling and diminished myelin in brain structures. The researchers suggest that recognizing the significance of microvascular damage could make the blood-brain barrier (BBB) a therapeutic “target” for future neuroprotective strategies for stroke patients.

The mechanisms of BBB permeability at different phases of stroke are poorly understood.  While there have been investigations of BBB integrity and processes in ischemic stroke, the researchers said, most examinations have been limited to the phase immediately after stroke, known as acute stroke.  Their interest was in determining microvascular integrity in the brain hemisphere opposite to an initial stroke injury at the subacute phase.

Accordingly, this study using rats with surgically-simulated strokes was designed to investigate the effect of ischemic stroke on the BBB in the subacute phase, and the effects of a compromised BBB upon various brain regions, some distant from the stroke site.

“The aim of this study was to characterize subacute diachisis in rats modeled with ischemic stroke,” said co-author Cesar Borlongan, PhD, professor and vice chairman for research in the Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair and director of the USF Center for Aging and Brain Repair.  “Our specific focus was on analyzing the condition of the BBB and the processes in the areas of the brain not directly affected by ischemia. BBB competence in subacute diachisis is uncertain and needed to be studied.”

Their findings suggest that damage to the BBB, and subsequent vascular leakage as the BBB becomes more permeable, plays a major role in subacute diachisis. 

The increasing BBB permeability hours after the simulated stroke, and finding that the BBB “remained open” seven days post-stroke, were significant findings, said Dr. Garbuzova-Davis, who is also a researcher in USF Center for Aging and Brain Repair. “Since increased BBB permeability is often associated with brain swelling, BBB leakage may be a serious and life-threatening complication of ischemic stroke.”

Another significant aspect was the finding that autophagy — a mechanism involving cell degradation of unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components —plays a role in the subacute phase of ischemia.  Study results showed that accumulation of numerous autophagosomes within endothelial cells in microvessels of both initially damaged and non-injured brain areas might be closely associated with BBB damage.  Autophagy is a complex but normal process usually aimed at “self-removing” damaged cell components to promote cell survival. It was unclear, however, whether the role of autophagy in subacute post-ischemia was promoting cell survival or cell death.

More than 30 percent of patients who survive strokes develop dementia within two years, the researchers noted.

“Although dementia is complex, vascular damage in post-stroke patients is a significant risk factor, depending on the severity, volume and site of the stroke,” said study co-author Dr. Paul Sanberg, USF senior vice president for research and innovation. “Ischemic stroke might initiate neurodegenerative dementia, particularly in the aging population.”

The researchers conclude that repair of the BBB following ischemic stroke could potentially prevent further degradation of surviving neurons.

“Recognizing that the BBB is a therapeutic target is important for developing neuroprotective strategies,” they said.

In addition to researchers from USF, researchers from the Ribeirao Preto School of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, contributed to the study.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (1RO1NS071956-01A1) and the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program (1KG01-33966).

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The Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair has strong and ongoing commitments to  neurosurgical education both at the residency and fellowship level and also to providing ongoing educational efforts for practicing physicians. Multiple avenues of research under investigation in the department include conducting clinical research in the fields of complex spinal disorders, epilepsy, brain tumor treatment, and stroke care, among others. In the departmental laboratories, studies of spinal biomechanics, neurodegenerative disorders, and microsurgical techniques are also underway. We are trying to improve the treatments available for our neurosurgical patients and neurological patients throughout the world. http://health.usf.edu/medicine/neurosurgery/index.htm

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The mission of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair is to develop new therapeutic strategies to promote repair and regeneration of aging and diseased brain. Building on a foundation of excellence in basic and clinical research, the center focuses on translating innovative ideas into industrial partnerships and educational and clinical services to address key needs of the community and those suffering from brain injury and disease. http://health.usf.edu/nocms/medicine/neurosurgery/ceabr/

Research with rat models finds chronic inflammation, suppression of cell regeneration, and neuronal cell loss contribute to wide range of motor and cognitive deficits

TAMPA, FL  (Jan. 4, 2013) – Researchers from the University of South Florida and colleagues at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital studying the long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI) using rat models, have found that, over time, TBI results in progressive brain deterioration characterized by elevated inflammation and suppressed cell regeneration. However, therapeutic intervention, even in the chronic stage of TBI, may still help prevent cell death.

Their study is published online in the current issue of the journal PLOS ONE.

“In the U.S., an estimated 1.7 million people suffer from traumatic brain injury,” said the study’s senior author Cesar V. Borlongan, PhD, professor and vice chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair at USF.  “In addition, TBI is responsible for 52,000 early deaths, accounts for 30 percent of all injury-related deaths, and costs approximately $52 billion yearly to treat.” 

While TBI is generally considered an acute injury, secondary cell death caused by neuroinflammation and an impaired repair mechanism accompany the injury over time, the authors said. Long-term neurological deficits from TBI related to inflammation may cause more severe secondary injuries and predispose long-term survivors to age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and post-traumatic dementia.

Since the U.S. military has been involved in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the incidence of traumatic brain injury suffered by troops has increased dramatically, primarily from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), according to Martin Steele, Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps (retired), USF associate vice president for veterans research, and executive director of Military Partnerships. In response, the U.S. Veterans Administration has increasingly focused on TBI research and treatment.

Dr. Cesar Borlongan (left), senior author, and Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, co-author

“Progressive injury to hippocampal, cortical and thalamic regions contributes to long-term cognitive damage post-TBI,” said study co-author Paul R. Sanberg,  PhD, DSc, USF senior vice president for research and innovation and executive director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair at USF Health. “Both military and civilian patients have shown functional and cognitive deficits resulting from TBI.”

Because TBI involves both acute and chronic stages, the researchers noted that animal model research on the chronic stages of TBI could provide insight into identifying therapeutic targets for treatment in the post-acute stage.

“Using animal models of TBI, our study investigated the prolonged pathological outcomes of TBI in different parts of the brain, such as the dorsal striatum, thalamus, corpus callosum white matter, hippocampus and cerebral peduncle,” said Dr. Borlongan, principal investigator for the study. “We found that a massive neuroinflammation after TBI causes a second wave of cell death that impairs cell proliferation and impedes the brain’s regenerative capabilities.”

 Upon examining rat brains eight weeks post-trauma, the researchers found “a significant up-regulation of activated microglia cells, not only in the area of direct trauma, but also in adjacent as well as distant areas.”  The location of inflammation correlated with the cell loss and impaired cell proliferation researchers observed.

Microglia cells act as the first and main form of immune defense in the central nervous system and make up 20 percent of the total glial cell population within the brain. They are distributed across large regions throughout the brain and spinal cord.

“Our study found that cell proliferation was significantly affected by a cascade of neuroinflammatory events in chronic TBI and we identified the susceptibility of newly formed cells within neurologic niches and suppression of neurological repair,” wrote the authors.

The researchers concluded that, while the progressive deterioration of the TBI-affected brain over time suppressed efforts of repair, intervention, even in the chronic stage of TBI injury, could help further deterioration.

The study was supported by the U.S. Department of Defense, the USF Signature Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience funds, the USF and Veterans Administration Reintegration Funds, and the USF Neuroscience Collaborative Program.

Citation:  Acosta SA, Tajiri N, Shinozuka K, Ishikawa H, Grimmig B, et al. (2013) Long-Term Upregulation of Inflammation and Suppression of Cell Proliferation in the Brain of Adult Rats Exposed to Traumatic Brain Injury Using the Controlled Cortical Impact Model. PLOS ONE 8(1): e53376. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053376

– About USF – 

The University of South Florida is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. USF ranks 50th in the nation for federal expenditures in research and total expenditures in research among all U.S. universities, public or private, according to the National Science Foundation. Serving more than 47,000 students, the USF System has an annual budget of $1.5 billion and an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.

News release by Randy Fillmore, special to USF Research News

Media contact:
Judy Lowry, USF Research & Innovation
813-974-3181, or jhlowry@usf.edu