February 8, 2006

Purdue faculty-entrepreneurs honored at recognition dinner

Fred E. Regnier
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The event, sponsored by the Purdue Research Foundation, highlighted the accomplishments of university faculty whose research has already or may soon result in commercial applications. Each of the 16 patents — issued to faculty between July 1, 2004, and July 1, 2005, by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — represent a technology that has the potential to impact the marketplace.

"One of Purdue's priorities is to maintain an environment that encourages the development of new products with commercial potential," said Martin C. Jischke, president of Purdue University and the Purdue Research Foundation. "Achieving this requires a combination of creativity, meticulous application of science and technology, and an understanding of the dynamics of a global market. The people honored tonight are leading Purdue's charge to the vanguard of new product development and technology transfer."

In fiscal year 2005, Purdue Research Foundation reported 202 invention disclosures compared with 167 the year before; 109 issued patents, compared with 95 the previous year; and royalty income at $4.68 million, compared with $4.26 million in fiscal year 2004. In the past six years, the university's invention and copyright disclosures have more than doubled. The foundation also reported the creation of six startup companies in 2004 and five in 2005.

As part of the event, Fred Regnier, Purdue's John H. Law Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, was honored with an Outstanding Technology Commercialization Award sponsored by the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. The award recognizes the 40 patents spawned by research from Regnier's laboratory and entrepreneurial endeavors. These technologies, many now licensed by Indiana companies, have created more than 700 jobs and generated more than $2 million in royalties for Purdue (see related news release).

"The foundation's Office of Technology Commercialization works with researchers to protect their original ideas, assess their commercial potential and promote the development of these inventions," said Joseph B. Hornett, the foundation's senior vice president, treasurer and COO. "Because the patent process can cost between $10,000 to $50,000 in government and attorney fees, and because only 5 percent of the technologies ever make the transition to commercial success, we heartily salute those faculty-entrepreneurs who have come this far in the process."

The expense of patenting a technology means that many times technologies are licensed to companies following the filing of an earlier provisional patent. This occurred in the case of two inventors honored whose technologies received official patent notification in 2004-2005.

One technology is a non-invasive blood pressure-monitoring device for low birthweight babies developed by Leslie "Les" Geddes, Purdue's Showalter Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Bioengineering. Another is the rectilinear ion trap and its arrays developed by R. Graham Cooks, Purdue's Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. The technology from Geddes' research team was licensed by the foundation in 2002 to Optical Vitals Inc. (formerly Theron Technologies) of Indianapolis. The technology developed by Cooks' team was licensed in 2001 to the Purdue Research Park-based firm Griffin Analytical Technologies Inc. to form the basis for one of the first portable mass spectrometers for use in chemical detection.

In addition to Cooks and Geddes, the following faculty received plaques recognizing a patent(s) issued as a result of their research: Richard Borch, Lilly Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and head of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology; Charles Bouman, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Ching-jer Chang, professor of medicinal chemistry; Edward Delp III, Silicon Valley Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Kirk Foster, senior research associate for biomedical engineering; Stanton Gelvin, professor of biology; Bradley Lucier, professor of mathematics and computer science; Dorothy Morré, professor of foods and nutrition; D. James Morré, Dow Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry; Kinam Park, professor of pharmaceutics and biomedical engineering; Regnier; Ness Shroff, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of Purdue's Center for Wireless Systems and Applications; Nien-Hwa Linda Wang, professor of chemical engineering; and Andrew Marc Weiner, Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Contact:
Jeanine Phipps, media relations, (765) 494-0748 (office), (765) 413-5579 (mobile), jeanine@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

February 3, 2006 - Purdue chemist honored for improving lives, creating jobs

PHOTO CAPTION:
Fred E. Regnier, Purdue's John H. Law Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, explains how his company, Quadraspec, developed the bio-optical compact disc system, a diagnostic technology for animal and human health-care assessment. The company expects to introduce its first diagnostic system this year. Regnier delivered his lecture Wednesday (Feb. 8) before he received Purdue's Outstanding Commercialization Award for success in bringing his research discoveries to market. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)

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