The University Record, February 6, 1995
U recognizes researchers who received patents
By Sage Arron
The Michigan League’s Vandenberg Room was a sea of smiles late last month as the Technology Management Office (TMO) hosted an awards luncheon that recognized 22 U-M researchers who received patents in the past year.
In his welcoming statement, Homer A. Neal, vice president for research, said, “In the past several years we have undertaken efforts to facilitate our faculty’s interests in technology transfer–increasing services, streamlining policies and attempting to communicate the critical importance of this intellectual activity.”
Those efforts have resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of patents issued in the past year, 30 for 1994 compared with 20 in 1993, as well as an upbeat tone throughout the TMO and the University at large.
“Hopefully this patenting process gets easier as we go along,” said Robert Robb, TMO director. “It is not trivial, and I would say it is essential to our end goal of getting technologies out the door and into the private sector. An issued patent is a very large step toward that goal.”
The critical role that research plays in the University’s primary mission of education was humorously integrated into the luncheon’s discourse as Farris W. Womack, executive vice president and chief financial officer, commented, “Research is to teaching as sin is to confession. If you don’t do the former, you don’t have anything to talk about in the latter.
“I’m pleased to join with my other colleagues in commending you and expressing on behalf of the University our deep appreciation for not only what you have done that is being rewarded today, but for a whole lifetime in which you have made a commitment to research and to pushing back the frontiers of knowledge,” Womack added.
References to the impact this research could have domestically and internationally were made by Robb, who noted that, “some of these technologies may represent the virtual seeds of economic development and better health, as well as raise our standard of living and our global competitiveness.”
Inventors who were presented with awards and their research are: Neal H. Clinthorne, assistant research scientist, internal medicine, “Correction for Compton Scattering by Analysis of Energy Spectra”; Raymond E. Counsell, professor, pharmacology, “Radioiodinated Phospholipid Analogues”; James K. Coward, professor, medicinal chemistry, “Fluorine-containing Analogs of Folates & Antifolates with Enhanced Ability to Form Poly-gamma-glutamate”; Amit K. Ghosh, professor, materials science and engineering, “Rapidly Solidified Ingot by Deposition of Sheared Liquid Layers”;
John L. Gland, professor, chemical engineering, “In situ Monitoring, Growth and Optimization of Thin Films by Means of Selected Area CVD (SACVD)”; Kenneth F. Koral, associate research scientist, internal medicine, “Correction for Compton Scattering by Analysis of Energy Spectra”; Steven L. Kunkel, professor, pathology, “Labelled Interleukin-8 and Medical Uses Thereof”; Emmett N. Leith, professor, electrical engineering and computer science, “Electronic Holography and Speckle Methods for Imaging Through Scattering Media”;
Joaquin Lopez, visiting scholar, electrical engineering & computer science, “Electronic Holography and Speckle Methods for Imaging Through Scattering Media”; John B. Lowe, assistant investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and associate professor, pathology, “Methods and Products for the Synthesis of Oligosaccharide Structures on Glycoproteins, Glyolipids, or as Free Molecules, and for the Isolation of Cloned Genetic Sequences that Determine These Structures”; David C. Martin, assistant professor, materials science and engineering, “Cyclobutabenzene Monomers and Methods of Making and Using Same”; Syed Murtuza, associate professor, electrical engineering and computer science, U-M-Dearborn, “Self-contained Automatic Moving Mass Grinding Wheel Balancing System”;
Elizabeth G. Nabel, associate professor, internal medicine, “The Introduction of Recombinant DNA Products into Cells of the Vasculature”; Khalil Najafi, assistant research scientist, electrical engineering and science, “Single Channel Microstimulator”; W. Leslie Rogers, professor and research scientist, internal medicine, “Correction for Compton Scattering by Analysis of Energy Spectra”; Richard D. Sacks, professor, chemistry “Column Switching for Improved Selectivity in High-speed Gas Chromatography”;
Johannes W. Schwank, professor, chemical engineering, “In situ Monitoring, Growth and Optimization of Thin Films by Means of Selected Area CVD (SACVD)”; James A. Shayman, assistant professor, internal medicine, “Treatment of Diabetic Nephropathy”; Zhong-You Shi, research fellow, chemistry, “Sub-wave Length Fiber Optic Chemical and Biological Micro-sensors”; Leroy B. Townsend, professor, medicinal chemistry and chemistry, “5-Substituted Benzimidazole Carbamate Esters as Anthelmintics” and “Polysubstituted Benzimidazoles as Antiviral Agents”;
Dean S. Wise, associate research scientist, pharmacy, “5-Substituted Benzimidazole Carbamate Esters as Anthelmintics”; Kensall D. Wise, professor, electrical engineering and computer science, “In situ Monitoring, Growth and Optimization of Thin Films by Means of Selected Area CVD (SACVD)” and “Single Channel Microstimulator” and “A Fully-integrated Single-crystal Silicon-on-insulator Process for Sensors and Circuits.”
