Proof of Concept Awards

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a progressive type of fatty liver disease. It is currently the most common form of chronic liver disease worldwide, with a prevalence of approximately 25% in the general population. Despite its profound prevalence, there are currently no approved treatments for treating NAFLD. UT researchers have found a promising natural compound that can reduce the incidence of NAFLD in mice and they are working on modifying the compound for increased effectiveness.

Traditional chest tubes are simple medical devices that are essential for draining the area around the lungs following surgery or injury. While these devices provide an important, lifesaving function they also cause constant, intense pain that requires treatment with opioid pain medication. UT innovators have developed a new chest tube that elutes local non-opioid anesthetic agents for pain reduction following cardiothoracic surgeries and trauma.

Currently, there is no treatment available that addresses the lack of microvasculature caused by long-term peripheral arterial disease, a chronic, progressive disease that affects 20% of the US population over 65 years old. UT engineers and physicians have invented a device that can enhance stem cell therapies for treating peripheral arterial disease in a brand new way. Using novel technology, we have found ways to increased stem cell expansion and efficacy in treating peripheral arterial disease and ischemia.

Current surgical tools and techniques for spine surgery regularly result in hospital readmissions and dural or nerve damage. UT engineers have invented next generation precision laser surgery tools for spine spinal bone spur removal with superior control and no thermal damage. This can reduce complication rates while enhancing safety and surgery outcomes.

Premature birth affects around 10% of infants and is the most significant cause of newborn death in the USA. Premature infants need to have their vital signs (heart rate, breathing rate, temperature) monitored continuously. At present this monitoring is carried out by skin mounted sensors which can damage the delicate skin. Realizing that all premature infants need a tube placed through their nose/mouth into the stomach to deliver milk feeds, UT physicians and engineers are developing an ‘intelligent’ feeding tube which can continuously and wirelessly monitor an infant’s vital signs while avoiding damage to the skin. Placement of sensors inside the chest will also allow the team to develop novel markers of airway pressure and work of breathing to guide clinical care for these vulnerable infants.

The rapid growth of global internet traffic is driving rapid growth in demand for computing power and data transmission but current silicon photonic technology cannot fully meet the demand. UT physicists have invented a new process that can easily integrate electro-optic material on silicon which can potentially provide a universal platform for next-generation silicon photonics with a 100X increase in modulation efficiency.

This project develops a novel differential power processing (DPP) architecture to dramatically improve power delivery efficiency in data centers by minimizing energy losses during power conversion. By delivering most power directly to computational loads and processing only small differential amounts, the approach targets efficiency gains that can reduce operating costs and help address growing power constraints in hyperscale and containerized data centers. Proof‑of‑concept funding supports modeling and control development to de‑risk the technology and advance it toward scalable, rack‑level demonstrations suitable for commercialization.

A new power‑conversion architecture is being developed to unlock ultra‑high‑efficiency electricity delivery in data centers by enabling differential power processing at scale. The project focuses on designing a novel AC/DC converter that meets previously unmet requirements for current control, isolation, and battery integration, allowing most power to be delivered with minimal conversion losses. By addressing a critical bottleneck in data‑center power infrastructure, this technology has the potential to significantly reduce energy waste while enabling greater compute deployment within existing power constraints.

Utility companies are facing many issues with current transformer technology and availability, resulting in delays and higher costs when adopting renewable energy options. UT engineers have invented a technology that can replace bulky 100-year-old transformers in a single, compact, efficient, and cost-effective solution to enable a renewable energy-powered world.

By leveraging a newly invented single‑stage AC‑to‑DC power conversion architecture, this project demonstrates an ultra‑compact 6 kW power supply unit designed to meet the rapidly growing energy demands of AI data centers. The approach eliminates conventional two‑stage conversion losses, enabling more than a 100% increase in power density and over 50% reduction in energy loss compared to state‑of‑the‑art PSUs. Proof‑of‑concept funding supports fabrication and testing of a high‑performance hardware prototype to validate efficiency gains and position the technology for licensing or commercialization with major server and power‑supply manufacturers.

A new therapeutic platform is advancing targeted protein degradation by using engineered degradons that deliver disease‑driving proteins directly to the proteasome, bypassing the limitations of ubiquitin‑dependent approaches. This strategy offers a simpler and potentially more reliable way to address cancers and other diseases driven by proteins long considered “undruggable.” Proof of concept funding supports validation of degradon activity in relevant cancer cell models to establish efficacy and position the technology for startup formation and further preclinical development.

Continuous and quantitative blood flow visualization during surgery could reduce complications and shorten time of surgery, but is not currently available to surgeons. The Dunn laboratory is developing laser imaging technology that could enable surgeons to visualize and measure real-time blood flow within the surgical field.