Duke Office for Research & Innovation
2022-2023 Annual Report
Report Contents
Letter from the Vice President for Research
I am pleased and proud to share Duke Research & Innovation’s achievements from the past year in our 2022-23 annual report. This is merely a glimpse of the vast array of discovery and commercialization efforts of our faculty and students, none of which could have happened without the dedicated partnership of our research staff.
Our scholars and researchers continue to build new understandings of the human condition and enrich our future through their creative output. We continue to produce new knowledge, treatments, technologies and materials to make the world healthier and more sustainable.
Duke remains a top-tier research university and holds an international reputation for collaborative, insightful exploration that benefits from the relatively boundary-free research environment on our campus and around the world. We are proud to share that Duke performed $1.39 billion worth of research, with more than $901 million coming from federal grants. (FY 2022 HERD data)
Duke scholars are creating new vaccines against coronaviruses, influenza and HIV, and they are looking for new therapies deep within the cell by learning how to read and write the fundamental language of RNA. And they are developing scientific and policy solutions to the challenges of our changing climate.
These are just a few of our forward-looking pursuits, which taken together, amount to a powerful engine for North Carolina’s economy. Duke spawned 15 new companies based on our innovations in the last year and directly supported more than 13,000 workers involved in our research enterprise.
Thank you for another great year and for your support of Duke Research & Innovation.
Sincerely,
Jenny Lodge
Jennifer Lodge, Ph.D.
Vice President for Research & Innovation
Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
By the Numbers
Duke University surpassed $1.39 billion in total research expenditures in fiscal year 2022-23 with more than $901 million in federally sponsored research spending. Duke’s Office for Translation & Commercialization (OTC) helped launch 15 new startups and 325 New Invention Disclosures were submitted. Duke research faculty were awarded 12,364 grants and authored 11,390 publications.
Research Expenditures
$1.39 Billion
in total research expenditures
$901 Million
in federally sponsored research
Proposals
5,925
Proposals submitted
$5.12 Billion
Value of proposals
Awards
3,457
Number of awards
$1.37 Billion
Value of awards
Faculty Researcher Accomplishments
12,364
Grants
92
Honors and awards
11,390
Publications
Translation and commercialization
325
New invention disclosures
15
New startups
104
U.S. patents issued
National Academy of Medicine
National Academy of Engineering
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Inventors
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Cell Biologist Chantell Evans is one of 31 inaugural Freeman Hrabowski Scholars receiving a five-year scholarship providing full salary, benefits, a research budget, and scientific equipment.
Chan-Zuckerberg Science Diversity Leadership Awards
Three Duke scholars were among 25 awardees nationally for $1.15 million over five years for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in their fields.
Provost
Alex Gallimore, PhD, an engineer who has studied plasma propulsion for long-range space travel, has been named Provost. As chief academic officer of the university, he oversees the university’s academic mission, with broad responsibility for leading Duke’s schools and institutes, admissions, financial aid, libraries and information technology.
Center for Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI)
The US Food and Drug Administration granted $50 million to create the center, a collaboration between Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, NC State University and NC Central University. It will provide infrastructure and tools to shorten the drug and device development process and advance public health.
The UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress
The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has provided $40 million over five years to improve care and access for children and their families who have experienced trauma.
Superfund Research Center
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH) awarded an $11.7 Million, 5-year renewal grant to support five research projects.
Schiff Family Humanities Fund
A Duke alumni couple made a $10 million gift to advance the humanities. It amplifies an endowment established by Beth York Schiff ’81, J.D.’85 and Jim Schiff ’81 in 2010 to support students and faculty pursuing humanistic studies.
Commercializing Research
Commercialization helps Duke’s innovations benefit humanity, and our highly successful and burgeoning Office of Translation and Commercialization is leading that charge.
In FY 2023, Duke scholars disclosed 325 inventions, and launched 15 new startup companies with help from OTC. Our commercialization efforts are making a difference.
Calidar
Calidar is using X-ray diffraction to create “4D mammography,” that adds structural tissue information at the molecular level to further enhance early breast cancer detection.
Centaur Bio
Centaur Bio is developing technology that enhances the delivery of drugs and other compounds to parts of the body that are difficult to reach, such as the brain.
Confluence Water Advisors
Confluence Water Advisors is commercializing a first-of-a-kind database built up from rates published by water utilities across the nation that can be used by industry to plan a variety of water service projects to support sustainability and equity.
Coprata
Coprata is developing a non-invasive and hands-free “smart toilet” technology that easily, safely and discreetly tracks a person’s health by monitoring their feces.
Eydisbio
Eydisbio is developing small molecule therapies for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases that are driven by aberrant inflammatory processes.
Lullabe
Lullabee is developing a smart crib mattress that teaches children to become better sleepers.
Lux One TechnologY
Lux One Technology is developing endoscopic imaging systems to visualize individual cells in a living patient.
Metabosensor
Metabosensor is developing a device that integrates metabolomics data for the study of drug effects to enable precision medicine.
Navi Co.
Navi Co. is developing digital workflow technology for managing the coaching of entrepreneurs.
Paxos Medical
Paxos Medical is developing a neuromodulation device to treat non-obstructive urinary retention, also called underactive bladder.
Piximune Therapeutics
Piximune Therapeutics is developing a novel class of antibodies to upregulate innate neuroprotective mechanisms to treat a broad range of degenerative conditions of the retina, including dry age-related macular degeneration.
Spoolyard
Spoolyard is developing an interactive platform for creating, remixing, and sharing audiovisual experiences.
Torque Bio
Torque Bio is developing circular mRNA expression systems for gene therapy.
Vimana
Vimana, the first startup out of a collaboration with health records software company nference, is developing combination approaches to treating gliomas and other central nervous system cancers.
VivaMed NMDA Solutions
VivaMed NMDA Solutions is developing a novel antidepressant called rapastinel into an opioid use disorder treatment.
Jose Ramon Conejo-Garcia
Instructor in the Department of Integrative Immunobiology, School of Medicine
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
Amy Susanne Gladfelter
Instructor in the Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute