Last year, the University received nearly $2 million from licensing inventions and became home to two promising creations. The University disclosed 40 new inventions and 28 new license and option agreements, up from 36 inventions and 25 new license and options agreements in 2002-03, according to a University press release.
The University recognized biology Professor Eric Selker for finding the anti-cancer properties of Zebularine, a potential anti-cancer drug, which is currently being tested for human use. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences reported it to Congress as one of the 10 most-significant innovations.
“I hope it has some value,” Selker said. “It was just a byproduct of research. It’s not what I’d want to be known for.”
During a routine lab procedure, Selker discovered he could reactivate certain silenced genes in fungus prone to DNA methylation.
Methylation is dangerous in some scenarios because it can silence a gene that may control cell growth or regulate healthy and unhealthy cells. His procedure — picked up by researchers at other
universities — has slowed down tumor-cell growth from between 32 to 68 percent, according to a Medical News Today article.
“We’re not much different from fungus in some ways,” Selker said. “The only danger with reactivating cells is that we may reactivate a harmful one.”
Another innovation will enable researchers to study the realistic movements of dinosaurs.
DinoMorph is software that assembles a dinosaur by its bone structure and maps skin across the bones to make a realistic portrayal. Using the dinosaur’s bone model, the software can then accurately display the creature’s movements, making a dinosaur exhibit go beyond just showing fossils to demonstrate how it moves and even hunts.
Computer and information science Professor Kent Stevens began working on DinoMorph in 1994 as an undergraduate project, when computer science students used it to be creative with code. It has blossomed into a fully developed program that renders accurate animal movement and has spawned a company, Kaibridge, Inc.
“DinoMorph has the potential for a very commercial (application),” Stevens said.
The University is licensing it to museums for educational kiosks. Using the animation for film recreations is among several other possibilities.
| In recent years The University has steadily increased its revenues from licensing inventions during the past few years: 1999 — $232,000 2000 — $312,912 2001 — $515,404 2002 — $536, 434 2003 — $1,788,985 2004 — $1,920,000 Source: Office of Technology Transfer |
“I’m having a lot of fun with DinoMorph because you can really study range of motion with dinosaurs,” Stevens said. “Now we can find out using this software about some misconceptions of dinosaurs’ movement.”
Both Selker and Stevens stress that University licensing rights are for protection of intellectual rights rather than a way for the University and faculty to capitalize on an invention.
According to the University release, $1.75 million of the $2 million was reinvested into research by allocating the money to academic programs and faculty inventors.
The University has two other
companies based on campus research, according to the press release. One company is MitoScience, LCC, which uses research conducted by University biology Professor Roderick Capaldi and Michael Marusich, director of the Monoclonal Antibody Facility. Their research has been commercialized and is used in the study of mutations that may cause Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.
The second company is GradWeb, web-based educational software that helps graduate students, faculty and departments interact more efficiently by reducing paperwork and administrative hours. The software was developed by Graduate School Associate Dean Toby Deemer and software consultant Asif Suria.
