The University of Virginia Licensing & Ventures Group has named UVA professors Silvia Blemker and Craig Meyer, along with former UVA professor Joe Hart, its 2024 Edlich-Henderson Innovator of the Year winners.

Last month, their company, Springbok, closed an oversubscribed $5 million funding round, which included participation from the NBA, as well as CAV Angels -- the nonprofit club comprising UVA alumni, faculty, parents, students and friends of the University that invests exclusively in UVA-related companies and founders.

For many years, the gold standard for detecting athletic injuries was the MRI, but Springbok is totally changing the game with MuscleView, an AI-based muscle health analysis of MR images that received FDA clearance in October. Springbok’s proprietary technology and software, which was patented through UVA LVG, is being used by players in the NBA, NFL, MLB and Premier League.

“Our technology provides important information about asymmetries, imbalances and areas of weakness that are used by clinicians to tailor training to meditate possible injury,” Blemker said. “Then in terms of recovering from injury, the tech is used to help personalize and target training for more efficient and effective recovery and return to sport.”

Blemker and Meyer are professors at UVA’s School of Engineering. Hart was a kinesiology professor in UVA’s School of Education prior to becoming the Orthopaedics Vice Chair for Research at the University of North Carolina.

Springbok’s team is led by chief executive officer and co-founder Scott Magargee, chief technology officer Xue Feng, and also includes Savannah Benusa, Lara Riem, Matt Brown and several UVA alumni.

The origin of Springbok’s technology can be traced to research Blemker and Meyer did on children with cerebral palsy, supported by the UVA Coulter Translational Research Partnership.

“Springbok is a shining example of what can happen when a group of extremely smart people from various departments across Grounds get in a room together,” UVA Licensing & Ventures Executive Director Richard W. Chylla said. “And the list of long-term applications for the technology is endless. It isn’t just for athletes.”

Springbok’s technology can help identify the efficacy of a drug in relation to improving muscle mass and function. To that end, Springbok has partnered with the FSHD Global Research Foundation, which funds the world’s best medical research into facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, a genetic muscle disorder that affects the face, shoulders and upper arms.

Throughout the commercialization process, Blemker said Springbok has received great support from LVG.

“Their team has been very open and supportive through the negotiation process in terms of IP and licensing,” she said. “I also think it is important to acknowledge the support from the UVA Coulter Partnership, in particular David Chen. They funded the preliminary work, and early on provided the needed encouragement that we were on to something.”  

UVA’s 32^nd annual Edlich-Henderson Innovator of the Year event takes place Feb. 20 at the School of Data Science from 3:30 to 6 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Parking in the Ivy/Emmett garage is also free. Click here to register.