Research parks within Arkansas are the first port of call for the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, to gauge the current ecosystem within the state. Jay Chesshir from theChamber of Commerce, stated that the Chamber of Commerce is attempting to transform the state to become a leader in the fields of technology and innovation.

The Arkansas Research and Technology Park (ARTP) adjacent to the University of Arkansas, and the Arkansas Bio science Innovation and Commercial Center at Arkansas State University are the two current science parks within the state; with a new park under construction within central Arkansas.

The ARTP used innovative techniques to nurture technology-intensive companies. It attempted to stimulate the formation of a collaborative community of companies, together with university faculty and students at Fayetteville, linked interdependently around a set of core R&D research competencies at the university.

 Growing current expertise within research parks

 The state’s primary knowledge community

A major advantage for the ARTP is its location in northwest Arkansas, near the main university campus. As the state’s primary knowledge community, the Fayetteville area provided valuable fuel for the innovation and technology development activities of the ARTP. Two affiliates had received the prestigious Frost and Sullivan Award for excellence in technology, and another affiliate won the Tibbetts Award for the most innovative small business. Earlier in the year, another affiliate won an R&D 100 award, which cites Washington County as one of the most innovative in the country. ARTP affiliates, he said, continue to advance the frontier of product development in many specialty areas.

In central Arkansas, a group had engaged a consultant to review activities at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The question they asked was: How can we take the research and innovation that is already here and make it stronger? For so long, he said, the state had suffered from brain drain as its best and brightest young scientists, engineers, and medical researchers sought opportunities elsewhere. How, they asked, could the region take advantage of local innovative talent and turn it into jobs for the area and the state as a whole.

In 2007, this effort was rewarded when the General Assembly voted to create a research park authority, a legislative opportunity that would permit anyone in the state to create a research park and design it for sustainability. That effort had moved forward, he said, and at the end of the month, the authority was scheduled to be finalized with the city of Little Rock and its partners in central Arkansas, with the goal of beginning construction by 2012.

The Delta Regional Authority has donated $1 million toward the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub’s I-Fund, a funding and training program for small businesses started by college students. The program will expand in its geographical reach and will be called the Delta I-Fund, according to the Hub.

The I-Fund was founded in 2015 as an early stage, proof-of-concept fund to train and invest in university startups in Arkansas. However, with the support of the DRA, the fund will now work with companies throughout the eight-state Delta region: Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

IberiaBank, which donated $1 million to the I-Fund in the fall, also concentrates its philanthropic aims in the Delta region. The bank is headquartered in Lafayette, La. The training portion of the Delta I-Fund is based on the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program, according to Jeff Stinson, director of entrepreneurship for the Hub.

Eight student companies were chosen to be the 2016 I-Fund group. Schools initially participating in the partnership were the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas.

The companies were also given $5,000 upfront, once admitted to the program, and have the potential to receive up to $50,000 if they choose to apply for additional grants before the end of the school year. The additional funding is contingent on the students opening a viable company rather than keeping the idea as an academic pursuit, Stinson said.

Five of the eight companies applied for a second round of funding at $20,000 in the fall, but none of the companies have applied so far for the third round at $25,000. The next two 12-week sessions will be in the fall, offering $50,000 in potential funding for each startup. All companies accepted to the program will receive $5,000. Participants will be selected by a five-person committee, according to the Hub.

Concussions are traumatic brain injuries that change the way a brain performs. More often than not, concussions are caused by a blow to the head or violent shaking to the head or upper body region. The devastating condition is commonly caused by contact sports- such as football, car accidents, falls, and assaults. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a startling average of deaths and lasting disabilities due to traumatic brain injuries every year in the United States.

One of the leading causes to the significantly high death rate in patients who experience a mild concussion is the edema of astrocytes, or swelling. Astrocytes are cells that tile the entire central nervous system. Astrocytes are the most profuse cell type in the brain, outnumbering neurons 5:1.

The swelling of the brain during a concussion can vastly increase the asperity of the injury. Fortunately, biomedical engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have discovered an FDA-approved drug- Acetazolamide, that is commonly used for altitude sickness and epilepsy, to be the therapeutic solution. Preliminary treatment to the cells with the Acetazolamide has proven to reduce the pronouncement of a specified protein, aquaporin-4, that generates swelling.

A recent issue of Nature’s Scientific Reports published the researchers’ uncovering of the therapeutic treatment.

“Our study found that mild traumatic brain injury resulted in increased expression of a protein called aquaporin-4, which caused a massive cellular influx of fluid, leading to increased astrocyte cell volume and injury,” said Kartik Balachandran, assistant professor of biomedical engineering. “We then worked with a drug called Acetazolamide. Our results showed that Acetazolamide minimized cell swelling and injury, suggesting a therapeutic role for this drug in reducing the detrimental effects of concussions.”

Nasya Sturdivant, a doctoral candidate; Jeffrey Wolchok, a biomedical engineering assistant professor; and FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research conducted research along with Balachandran.

The researchers’ collaboration has led to a possible therapeutic advancement along with a creation of a benchtop bioreactor. In order to examine astrocyte cells, the researchers engineered a benchtop bioreactor. The device led the researchers to uncover that mild traumatic brain injuries lead to an assertion of aquaporin-4. Aquaporin-4 is a protein that leads to a vast influx of fluid. The assertion of aquaporin-4 causes an increased astrocyte cell volume.

The researchers’ collaborative efforts are an encouraging indication that there is a case for therapeutic options for brain swelling during concussions.

The National Science Foundation funded the research.

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