Our Mission
Translating discoveries and technologies, through community partnerships, into trusted and scalable solutions that promote lifelong well-being for rural Arkansas and beyond .
Research Focus
Chronic Disease and Metabolic Health
How does disease begin, who is at risk, and how do we predict, prevent, treat, or cure it?
Turn discovery into solutions, from mechanism to whole populations, focusing on human-relevant models and metabolic health.
Human-relevant models & mechanism
Patient-derived cells and tissues; organoids, organ-on-chip, and 3D microphysiology; and genome- engineered model-organism biology, benchmarked with FDA NCTR.
Assistive and automated technology systems
Robotic automation and causal AI that close the design-run-read loop, screening compounds against human-relevant models.
Metabolism and chronic disease
Cancer and brain metabolism, the gut-brain axis, muscle health/mitochondrial function, physical activity and behavior, muscle-brain crosstalk, and cardio-pulmonary-metabolic and neurodegenerative drivers across the life course.
Prevention at population scale
How behavior, environment, and metabolism drive risk, translating discoveries to early markers and whole populations.
Partners:
AIMRC • Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences • College of Engineering • Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences • UAMS • Arkansas Children’s Hospital • U.S. Food & Drug Administration National Center for Toxicological Research
Food Systems and Nutrition
How can Arkansas’s food economy and care systems improve health and nutrition, prevent disease, and reach the communities that need them most?
Expand access to nutritious food to improve health and provide economic security across multiple sectors (farmers, processors, and consumers), from field to table and beyond.
Food for health
New technologies for identification of bioactive components and functional foods; prevention and management of obesity, diabetes, and related cardiometabolic conditions; improvement of maternal health; food as medicine; dietary patterns and metabolism; dietary patterns and wellbeing, micronutrient metabolism and metabolic health; dietary/environmental impact on microbiome.
Intelligent agriculture & food systems
Field robotics, digital twins, drones, edge-AI, hyperspectral sensing, and autonomous, chemical-sparing crop production, and biosecurity systems to increase efficiency of production.
Access to Nutritious Food
Policy and programs to overcome food deserts with operations research and logistics, particularly for rural access.
Community engagement & outreach
Behavior change and community engagement to drive adoption, social determinants, and serve hard-to-reach populations.
Partners:
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences • University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station • College of Engineering • Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences • Walton College of Business • College of Education and Health Professionals • Community Clinic • Arkansas Food Innovation Center • UAMS • Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute • Walmart • Tyson
Healthcare Technologies
How can people and technologies sense, perceive, learn, act, and collaborate to improve healthcare and health outcomes, in the clinic and beyond?
Trusted AI, robotics, extended reality, and technologies that improve movement, cognition, and independence.
Extend human capability
Medical robotics, extended reality, imaging systems, wearable technologies, and diagnostic and therapeutic tools to deliver effective, efficient, and cost-effective healthcare.
Neuromorphic & trustworthy edge AI
Local, secure, low-power on-device intelligence, with explainable, causal models and neuro-AI to drive systems that are effective, efficient, safe, and trustworthy.
Restore function
Personalized neurotechnologies, prosthetics, rehabilitation and assistive technologies, developed with human factors engineering approaches and real-world validation, to enable more independent, fulfilling and productive lives.
Technology adoption & workforce development
Human-centered and participatory design to create trusted solutions; extended reality, explainable AI, and intelligent systems for education and training, from K-12 to specialized clinical training.
Partners:
College of Engineering • Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences • Walton College of Business • College of Education and Health Professionals • UAMS • Alice L. Walton School of Medicine • Arkansas Materials Institute • HiDEC