Resources for Researchers & Startups

COVID-19 technology?

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We have seen our inventors and entrepreneurs rise to the challenges brought by COVID-19 this past year, and we are thankful and proud of each one of you. We at UF Innovate are here to facilitate your efforts as you continue to invent, create entrepreneurial solutions, and do all you can to change the world for the better. We hope this page of resources and stories about how UF Innovate research and entrepreneurs are doing their part to help in this pandemic encourages and inspires you.

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Apply Here

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Small business owners can apply for a First Draw Loan from the Payroll Protection Program by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Applications still open.


Grants & Funding

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Looking for program development and funding opportunities during COVID-19? Visit UF’s Emerging Pathogen’s Funding webpage to learn about available grants.


Latest UF Research

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UF researchers continue to respond to the COVID-19 crisis by doing what they do best — finding answers and solutions. Read the latest research here.


Loan Guidelines

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues to help companies stay afloat and keep paychecks flowing and more. Details on relief package and vaccines here.


CORD-19 Dataset

Help generate new insights to fight COVID-19, collaborate with other researchers worldwide, participate in the CORD-19 Challenge. Learn more.


UF Health Facts

Get the fast facts about UF Health’s responses and learn about the work our researchers conduct to combat the global pandemic. The latest here.


Startup Advice

logo for Osage University Partners, a venture capital firmDo you have an idea for a startup? OUP’s tech and life sciences teams are offering free VC office hours to UF researchers. Sign up for a 30-minute complimentary session.


Funding Innovation

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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledges millions to fund innovation that tackles COVID-19 challenges. Get the latest here.


Impact on Research

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The coronavirus is a challenge impacting researchers at the university. UF Research is doing its best to keep researchers updated. More here.

UF Innovate Tech & Startups Aid the Fight

UF Researchers Find Viable Viruses in Aerosols That Cause COVID-19

New research from the University of Florida provides strong evidence that aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may be possible. Prior to these findings, which are in pre-print and have not undergone peer review, the virus had been detected in aerosols, but there was a lack of...
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Oragenics Signs Process Development and Manufacturing Agreement With Avid Bioservices for Coronavirus Vaccine

UF startup and UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech graduate company Oragenics, Inc., and Avid Bioservices, Inc., announced that they have entered into a process development and drug substance manufacturing agreement. Under terms of the agreement, Avid will provide Oragenics with analytical method development, process development and drug substance manufacturing services to support...
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Dietary Nitrate Can Help Improve Condition of COVID-19 Patients

As part of the high-risk groups, most elderly patients that contract coronavirus are placed in intensive care with a ventilation machine. A new study from the University of Florida revealed that dietary nitrate supplementation could potentially improve diaphragm function. Several studies have revealed that dietary nitrate can enhance physical performance by...
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Nvidia Built Its Selene Supercomputer for Coronavirus Research in Just Three Weeks

Nvidia Corp., an artificial intelligence company co-founded by UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering alumnus Chris Malachowsky, managed to build Selene, the world’s seventh-fastest supercomputer, in just under three weeks. Selene is based on the DGX A100 systems also used by the Argonne National Laboratory to research ways to stop the coronavirus. The Selene supercomputer...
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‘A Smoking Gun’: Infectious Coronavirus Retrieved From Hospital Air

Skeptics of the notion that the coronavirus spreads through the air — including many expert advisers to the World Health Organization — have held out for one missing piece of evidence: proof that floating respiratory droplets called aerosols contain live virus and not just fragments of genetic material. Now a...
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Tiny Florida Medical Research Firm Faces Giant Challenge — COVID-19 Vaccine

UF startup and UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech graduate company Oragenics, Inc., a Tampa-based medical research business with roots in Gainesville, found itself at a crossroads earlier this year right before the COVID-19 pandemic struck America. The company’s previous project had been working on modifying genes related to bacteria in the hopes...
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