Fiscal Year 2025 Research Annual Report

^{SMRI Researchers received a $3.4 million grant from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to study the health demands of special tactics support personnel and create a plan to reduce their risk of job-related injuries. The research, led by Nicholas Heebner (College of Health Sciences), hopes to create information and resources for service members and their health care providers to improve warfighter health, performance and resilience.}

Unwrapping history

For more than two decades, Brent Seales (Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering) and his Digital Restoration Initiative team have been on a mission to unlock the secrets of the Herculaneum scrolls (damaged by Mt. Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 CE) and other ancient artifacts. His foundational research on virtual unwrapping takes a 3D X-ray from a micro-CT machine and pushes it through a machine learning process to find the ink and flatten the document so it can be read.

In 2015, Seales and his team revealed text from the ancient En-Gedi scroll to be the beginning of the Book of Leviticus. It is believed to be one of the oldest Hebrew biblical texts ever found outside of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In 2023, Seales (in partnership with EduceLab: A Digital Restoration Initiative, the Library of the Institut de France and founders of the Vesuvius Challenge) hosted a livestream event at UK to read the first text from a Herculaneum scroll. 

In 2025, Seales was awarded a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant as part of an international team seeking to unlock the secrets of the Herculaneum scrolls.

Seales’s research team is supported by a five-year $14.6 million grant for EduceLab from the U.S. National Science Foundation and a four-year $500,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Read more: 'Beyond the breakthrough: How Brent Seales is pushing the boundaries of discovery through new heritage science lab'

Digitally Weaving the Textiles of Tomorrow

With support from the Office of the Vice President for Research through the Celebrating University Research Across the Enterprise (CURATE) program in FY25, the SoftLab represents a growing area of innovation within the College of Design. SoftLab draws on faculty research expertise and new approaches to textiles and materials.

The robotic knitting machine plays a central role in this research. Jennifer Meakins (College of Design) uses the machine to develop complex weaved materials and create designs that incorporate wiring for electronic knitwear. Her research centers on craft and textiles, and she teaches through the act of making materials. Her work treats the construction of a textile as a form of design practice, and she approaches knitting as a tool that can support many different disciplines. 

Read More: 'Jennifer Meakins bridges design, material science and education'

Finding biomarkers for brain cancer

With support from the National Cancer Institute, UK Markey Cancer Center researchers discovered a genetic biomarker that could help identify patients with glioblastoma most likely to benefit from the cancer drug bevacizumab.

Brain tumors from patients treated with bevacizumab who lived longer were more likely to have a genetic change called CDK4 amplification. This suggests that testing for the molecular marker could help oncologists identify patients most likely to respond well to bevacizumab treatment.

“The findings could help oncologists make more informed treatment decisions for glioblastoma patients, potentially sparing those unlikely to benefit from unnecessary side effects while ensuring those who might respond get access to the drug,” said John Villano (College of Medicine).

Glioblastoma accounts for about 15% of all brain tumors and is the most aggressive form of brain cancer, with patients typically surviving less than 15 months following diagnosis.

Bevacizumab, one of the medications commonly used to treat recurrent glioblastoma, works by blocking blood vessel growth in tumors. For many patients, its use has been associated with increased progression-free survival and improvement in symptoms and quality of life. However, there has been no way to predict which patients would benefit most from treatment.

Read more: 'Markey researchers identify genetic marker that could guide brain cancer treatment'

Using less, getting more

Mining engineer Rick Honaker (Pigman College of Engineering) is developing a more environmentally friendly way of processing coal and then recovering the energy-relevant byproducts.

Honaker is using carbon dioxide emitted near operating mines and processing operations to reduce the energy consumed during grinding by more than 50% while improving the recovery of critical energy-relevant minerals by 20% or more. The ultimate goal of the project is to get more minerals by using less energy and releasing less carbon dioxide.

The Department of Energy funded the project focused on applications involving ore sources of rare earth elements and copper — materials that are essential to modern technologies, clean energy and economic security but vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.

Read more: 'UK researchers are leaders in recovering materials that power our world'

Containing fusion power

UK leads a project with $2.3 million in funding over four years from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop next-generation materials critical to commercializing fusion power.

The award is part of the Creating Hardened And Durable fusion first Wall Incorporating Centralized Knowledge (CHADWICK) program. The goal is to discover or develop a class of first wall materials — materials that form the inner wall of a fusion reactor and contact the plasma — that will maintain performance over the lifetime of a fusion power plant.

The multi-institutional team, led by UK’s John Balk (Pigman College of Engineering), will explore promising alloy design space and manufacturing processes to strengthen that first wall.

This project aims to solve the challenge of containing a plasma at more than 100 million degrees Celsius — essentially a mini-star — in a fusion reactor. 

Equally important is transferring the technology into practice. Currently, no materials exist with that level of endurance that would make fusion power plants commercially viable. 

“This is a great opportunity to solve one of the key challenges in radiation-heavy industries: how to enhance thermal conductivity without sacrificing material strength,” Balk said.

Read more: 'DOE funds UK research on critical materials for commercial fusion energy'

Sanders-Brown Celebrates 40

The Sanders-Brown Center on Aging celebrated its 40th consecutive year of funding as a National Institute on Aging Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) in 2025. It is one of only 37 designated ADRCs in the United States and one of only 9 to be continuously funded. Sanders-Brown investigates the causes of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, advances early detection tools and treatments, and trains future scientists. 

“From debunking early myths about what causes dementia to identifying new diseases that mimic Alzheimer’s, our scientists and clinicians have changed what the world knows about the aging brain,” said Linda Van Eldik, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging director. “We couldn’t do what we do without the community.”

Read more: 'UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging celebrates 40 years as an NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Center'

Rebuilding rural research

The University of Kentucky Research and Education Center in Princeton, Ky., has done a century of research.

The focal point for the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s work in Princeton, the center’s research has shaped farming practices with landmark contributions to no-till farming, double-crop systems, integrated pest management and soil reclamation. Its work in dark-fire tobacco, fruit production, beef cattle nutrition and forage systems has helped Kentucky producers.

The center, which is nearly 1,600 acres, lost almost all of its facilities and research-grade equipment in a 2021 tornado. Despite the destruction, more than 200 research projects continue, and all buildings are expected to be completed by 2026.

Read more: '100 years of innovation and service: UK Research and Education Center celebrates impact, resilience'