24 UB Faculty Members Named on Patents in 2002

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Twenty-four University at Buffalo faculty members were named on 19 patents awarded to the Research Foundation of the State University of New York (SUNY) in 2002.

UB's patents represents more than one-third of the 55 total patents awarded to all SUNY campuses in 2002. SUNY is eighth on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's most recent ranking of U.S. universities.

Robert J. Genco, D.D.S., Ph.D., UB vice provost and director of the university's Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR), said the office is seeing an increase in numbers of invention disclosures being submitted by faculty, and expects to file patent applications on a majority of those disclosures.

"One of the main goals of STOR is to commercialize discoveries of UB faculty for the public good," Genco added. "Protecting intellectual property rights is essential in the commercialization process. Seeking patent protection for discoveries in the early stage of development is critical during the marketing and eventual license of many technologies."

Through its three divisions -- Intellectual Property, Research Funding and Commercialization -- STOR works to identify, protect and commercialize discoveries of UB faculty and staff. Genco noted that UB's intellectual property portfolio includes more than 200 technologies in the life and physical sciences.

STOR will honor the UB faculty members named on patents awarded in 2002 at a reception from 4-6 p.m. June 11 in the Center for Tomorrow on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. They are:

o Wayne A. Anderson, Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and collaborator Lin Huang Chang, for patent 6,340,621 Thin Film Capacitor and Method of Manufacture. This invention is for a thin film capacitor with small circuits and low operating power that has applications in computer and electronics industries.

o Robert M. Straubinger and S.V. Balasubramanian, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, for patent 6,348,215 Stabilization of Taxane-Containing Dispersed Systems. This invention is a method of stabilizing taxol liposomes. Taxol is a frequently used anti-cancer drug that can cause significant side effects. Stabilized liposome formulations of taxol have been shown to reduce toxic effects of current taxol treatments. Straubinger and Balasubramanian were recognized for their research at the 28th Annual Western New York Inventor of the Year Awards Banquet, placing third in the Life Sciences division.

o A. Joshua Wand, Mark R. Ehrhardt and Jeffrey L. Urbauer, all formerly of the Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, for patent 6,362,624 Apparatus & Method for High Pressure NMR Spectroscopy. This invention consists of a high-pressure cell that allows state-of-the-art NMR spectroscopy to be performed on proteins with added safety and better accuracy.

o Eli Ruckenstein, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Hongmin Zhang, formerly of the Department of Chemical Engineering, for patent 6,384,146 Graft, Graft-Block, Block-Graft and Star-Shaped Co-polymers and Methods of Making Them, which involves new methods for the creation of different kinds of polymers.

o Linda B. Ludwig and Julian L. Ambrus, Jr., both of the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Kristie Anne Krawczyk, formerly of the Department of Medicine, for patent 6,392,029 HIV Chemokines. This patent has applications in HIV vaccine development.

o Paras N. Prasad, Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences; Ping Chin Cheng, Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; and Jayant D. Bhawalker, formerly of the Department of Chemistry, and former graduate student Shan Jen Pan, for patent 6,402,037 Two-Photon Upconverting Dyes and Applications. The research team demonstrated organic materials capable of efficiently absorbing two photons of light that can be used in high-density data storage and photodynamic cancer therapy.

o Robert A. Coburn, Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, and Richard T. Evans and Robert J. Genco, Department of Oral Biology, School of Dental Medicine, for patent 6,407,288 Naphthylsalicylanilides as Antimicrobial and Anti-Inflammatory Agents. This invention, a compound similar to aspirin, has applications as a new anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory drug product for the treatment of oral, gastrointestinal and skin diseases, and has been licensed to Therex, LLC, of Williamsville.

o Thomas A. Russo and Ulrike Carlino, both of the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, for patent 6,410,703 Identification of a Vaccine Candidate from an Extraintestinal Isolate of E. Coli, which can be used as an immunogen in vaccine formulations against E. coli found outside the intestines. Typical extraintestinal E. coli infections include urinary tract, meningitis and pneumonia.

o Huw M.L. Davies, Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, for patent 6,410,746 Metal Catalysts and Methods for Making and Using Same. This invention has potential applications in the pharmaceutical industry for short asymmetrical synthesis of compounds such as methylphenidate, used in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

o Surajit Sen, Department of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences, and Michael J. Naughton, formerly of the Department of Physics, for patent 6,418,081 System for Detection of Buried Objects, which uses acoustic energy and acoustic sensors (specialized micro-electromechanical sensors) to identify metallic and non-metallic objects buried in the ground such as landmines.

o Donald D. Hickey, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, for patent 6,432,059 Method and Apparatus for More Precisely Determining Mean Left Atrial Pressure. This patent is the 11th awarded to Hickey for the Hickey Cardiac Monitoring System, which uses a balloon catheter inserted into the esophagus, adjacent to the aortic arch, to sense aortic pressure and provide real-time cardiac performance monitoring.

o Linda M. Hall, Celian Ren and Wei Zheng, all formerly of the Department of Biochemical Pharmaceuticals, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and collaborator Manuel Marcel Paul Dubald, for patent 6,436,627 Gene Encoding an Invertebrate Alpha.1 Calcium Channel Subunit. The research team invented a method to isolate and characterize an invertebrate calcium channel subunit gene used to design insect-specific pesticides.

o Michael C. Constantinou, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, for patent 6,438,905 Highly Effective Seismic Energy Dissipation Device. Constantinou developed a new energy dissipation technology that uses an unusual configuration, called Scissor-Jack Energy Dissipation System, that dissipates much of the earthquake-induced energy when installed in structural systems.

o Peter F. Scott and Ramalingam Sridhar, both of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and College of Arts and Sciences, and former doctoral candidate Xia Shu and collaborator Cesar Bandera, for patent 6,455,831 CMOS Foveal Image Sensor Chip. Used in foveal vision systems, this invention allows automatic target recognition systems and robots to see the same way as humans.

o Michael R. Detty, Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences and former graduate student Peter R. Virkler, for patent 6,458,967 Method for Preparation of an Intermediate Dye Product. This invention is an intermediate compound for a laser dye useful as a heat-generating element for applications such as thermal imaging, lithography or optical recording imaging.

o Wesley L. Hicks, Jr., Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, for patent 6,465,205 In Vitro Cell Culture Device Including Cartilage and Methods of Using the Same. This invention has applications in creating wound-healing membranes that mimic the trachea inner wall.

o Murali Ramanathan and Marilyn E. Morris, both of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, for patent 6,468,757 Method for Determining Drug-Serum Protein Binding. This invention is a method for screening for drug binding to serum protein. The binding of drugs to serum proteins can alter the disposition of the drug and reduce the availability of the drug at the site of desired action. The proposed method uses optical techniques that rapidly measure drugs binding and eliminates the need for size-selective membranes and for drug analysis.

o A. Joshua Wand, Mark R. Ehrhardt and Peter F. Flynn, all formerly of the Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, for patent 6,486,672 High Resolution NMR Spectroscopy of Molecules Encapsulated in Low-Viscosity Fluids. This invention has applications in determining the structure and dynamics of large proteins assisting in the analysis of the genome sequence, and has been licensed to Varian, of Palo Alto, Calif.

o Frank V. Bright, Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, and former students Brett R. Wenner, Meagan A. Doody and Gary A. Baker, for patent 6,492,182 Microsensor Arrays and Method of Using Same for Detecting Analytes. This is the third patent issued for a small, fast and portable sensor array that simultaneously detects more than 100 analytes in a single sample.