Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and student research changing the way we live
 

You may find this news release to be a useful summary of recent patents. Types of patents: Transgenic Animals and Separation/Purification   Power electronics and switches   Vibration control   Defect detection   Wireless communication   Sensors   Wear reduction   Human and Animal Enzymes   Evaporating reagents   Controlling pests   Antifreeze   Taxol   More electronics   Kiosk Links for more information: Mike Martin, Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc. (VTIP), (540) 951-9374 or lucasd@vt.edu. Virginia Tech Research Division Expertise Database Industry Liaison Interdicisiplinary Research     Return to EDGE newsletter

(Blacksburg, Va., May 25, 2000) -- Virginia Tech faculty members, students, and staff who received 30 patents during 1999 were honored by the university and Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc. (VTIP) at a reception at the German Club on May 10. "The creativity and contributions to the growth of knowledge and technology transfer that patents signifiy are an important form of scholarship," said Len Peters, vice President for research and dean of the Graduate School. President Steger observed that "the patents awarded to Virgnia Tech faculty members, staff and students in 1999, most of which have been licensed, represent a significant resource for economic development." Michael Martin, executive vice president of VTIP, presented plaques and certificates. The following researchers' discoveries have been licensed: Transgenics and Purification William Velander, professor of chemical engineering, was a partner in three patents. "Transgenic mammals expressing human coagulation factor VIII" (No. 5,880,327, March 9, 1999). The invention uses a DNA sequence encoding human Factor VIII integrated into the genome of a farm animal so that the animal will express the human protein in her milk. The patent was awarded to Henry Lubon of Rockville, Md, William Drohan of the American Red Cross, and Velander, and licensed to the American Red Cross. "Method of coupling ligands onto supports and products therefrom" (No. 5,907,016, May 25, 1999), for rapid coupling of a ligand within a porous support. The award was to Velander and Dean Milbrath and Anuradha Subramanian of 3M, and licensed to LigoChem, Inc. a manufacturer of bioseparation products. "Inside-out crosslinked and commercial-scale hydrogels, and sub-macromolecular selective purification using the hydrogels" (No. 5,977,345, Nov. 2, 1999) for a bifunctional reagent that crosslinks or activates a polymer (cellulose, agarose, or chitosan) matrix for ligand attachment, awarded to Velander, Kevin Van Cott, assistant professor of chemical engineering, and Roger Van Tassell, research associate, and licensed to LigoChem. One of three patents awarded to Wolfgang Glasser, professor of wood science and Forest Products, is also licensed to LigoChem. "Method of making magnetic, crosslinked chitosan support materials and products thereof" (No. 5,864,025, Jan. 26, 1999), developed with Rajesh Jain, former research associate,is a method for magnetizing crosslinked chitosan support material to produce highly-enriched magnetized chitosan particles, beads, films, and coatings. Chitosan is a modified form of chitin, a structural component in crab and shrimp shells. So seafood waste is turned into several valuable products. A second patent awarded to Glasser and Jain, and assigned to Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, is "Method of making ester-crosslinked chitosan support materials and products thereof" (No. 5,874,551, Feb. 23, 1999). The third patent for "Chitin-based coatings" (No. 5,900,479) was awarded to Glasser, Gamini Samaranayake of Westvaco, Charleston, SC, and Ackah Toffey of the Georgia Pacific Corp., Resin Division, Decatur, GA. It is for a process to create a chitosonium ion complex that can be cast, sprayed, extruded, or otherwise processed to produce filaments, coatings, fibers, and other materials, which are then treated with heat to convert them to a chitin-like polymer. Return to Top Power and switches Two out of three of electrical engineering professor Fred Lee's patents have been licensed.  "Discharge lamp driving circuit having resonant circuit defining two resonance modes" (No. 5,914,572, June 22, 1999), issued to former student Jinrong Qian of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., Lee, and Tokushi Yamauchi of Hirakata, Japan. The device surpresses the line current harmonics with power factor correction, and provides constant lamp power when dimming a lamp.  "Method and apparatus for automatic average current mode controlled power factor correction without input voltage sensing" (No. 5,920,471, July 6, 1999), issued to former student Jayendar Rajagopalan of Santa Clara, Calif., Paola Nora of Milan, Italy, and Lee has been licensed to SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, SRL of Italy. The invention simplifies the system architecture and sensing requirements to perform power-factor correction in single-phase ac/dc power converters. Further, it simplifies the internal architecture of the integrated circuit by elimination of the non-linear multiplier-squarer-divider of average current-mode controlled power factor correction schemes. This invention enables the design of integrated circuits with a reduction in internal transistor count and manufacture with reduced test times during sorting and characterization. "Gas discharge lamp inverter with a wide input voltage range," (No. 5,949,199, Sept. 7, 1999), issued to Qian and Lee, has been licensed to Matsushita Electric Works. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan. The device converts line frequency AC voltage to higher frequency AC voltage that supplies fluorecent lamps. It has lower switching current and voltage stresses, and absorbs a sinusoidal line current with a wide range of line voltages. Return to Top Vibration control A patent awarded to Ricardo Burdisso, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and former student John D. Heilmann of Erie, Pa., which has been licensed to Lord Corp., is for an "Active dual reaction mass absorber for vibration control" (No. 5,884,736, March 23, 1999). This device can be applied to the vibration control of many structures. For example, control of sound and vibration in airplanes is being actively pursued. This device can be applied to control the vibration from the engines into the fuselage. Another application is in the automotive industry. The device can be implemented to suppress engine vibration at the mounts. Potential application in civil engineering is the control of bridges and buildings. Defect detection Richard Conners, associate professor of mechanical engineering; David Kline, associate professor of wood science; Philip Araman of the USDA Forest Service; former student Xiangyu Xiao, and Thomas Drayer of the Northern Virginia Center received a patent form a "Defect detection system for lumber (No. 5,960,104, Sept. 28, 1999), which is licensed to Autograde, Inc.. The machine vision system addresses a number of inspection problems by incorporating numerous sensors from color cameras and laser profiling to x-ray scanning. The system then analyzes the data.  Wireless communication Michael Barts, research associate with Virginia Tech's Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT), and Warren Stutzman, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Antenna Group in the center, invented the "Stub Loaded helix antenna" (No. 5,986,621, Nov. 16, 1999), which TurboWave of Orem, Utah, is using to provide high-speed, wireless Internet and Local Area Network (LAN) access for homes and business in 70-square-mile Utah County. TurboWave is also marketing wireless access equipment and services to ISPs worldwide. The small antenna can also be used in satellite communications, microwave point-to-point systems, and other communication devices. Return to Top Sensors Associate professor of electrical engineering Anbo Wang's invention, "Self-calibrating optical fiber pressure, strain and temperature sensors" (No. 5,963,321, Oct. 5, 1999), have been licensed to Sensor Highway Ltd. of Hampshire, England. The sensors are able to take measurements in extreme environments and, because they use broadband energy, they are able to report temperature, pressure, and flow quickly from great distances. Sensor Highway is deploying the unique sensors in drilled holes in petroleum fields (oil and gas wells and flow lines).  James McGrath, chemistry professor, and Venkateshwaran Sekharipuram, a former Ph.D. student now with Johnson & Johnson in Roanoke, received a patent for "Optic devices formed from melt processable thermoplastic materials having a high refractive index" (No. 6,008,299, Dec. 28, 1999) which have been licensed to Innotech, Inc., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care of Roanoke. The invention's applications include ophthalmic lenses, lens blanks, and lens preforms. Wear reduction Michael Furey, professor of mechanical engineering, and Czeslaw Kajdas, of the Warsaw University of Technology Institute of Chemistry, received a patent for "Wear reducing compositions and methods for use" (No. 5,880,072, March 9, 1999). The compound forms a protective, self-replenishing thin polymeric film on rubbing surfaces that is effective with metals and ceramics and in liquid and vapor phases. The inventors have created a number of ashless, phosphorous- and sulfur-free lubricants that have many applications, such as fuel additives to minimize wear, including for ceramic parts, and reduce emissions. This latest product has proved effective as a minimalist pre-treatment for assembling and hot-test running-in of new engines, requiring only five grams of the patented composition rather than the usual oil charge of 500 grams., The patent is licensed to Tribochem International, Ltd., of which Furey is president and Kajdas is a vice president. Return to Top Human and animal enzymes Plant pathology professor Carole Cramer's invention is also licensed locally, to CropTech Development Corp. of Blacksburg. "Production of lysosomal enzymes in plant-based expression systems" (No. 5,929,304, July 27, 1999), issued to David Radin of CropTech, Cramer, Karen Oishi of CropTech, and Deborah Weissenborn, Virginia Tech research associate, relates to the production of human and animal lysosomal enzymes in tobacco. Uses of the product would include enzyme replacement therapy for treatment of human and animal lysosomal storage diseases. Evaporating reagents Carols T.A. Suchicital, research assistant professor in materials science and engineering, is co-inventor of a patent licensed to Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha of Osaka, Japan. "Flash evaporator" (No. 5,887,117, March 23, 1999), issued to former employees Seshu Desu and Sasangan Ramanathan and to Suchicital, is a device and method for evaporating reagents of differing compositions. Desu and former graduate student Wei Pan also received a patent for "Dry etching of layer structure oxides" (No. 5,873,977, Feb. 23, 1999). Controlling pests Two out of three patents by Heather Wren, retired entomology research scientist, have been licensed to Dominion BioSciences of Blacksburg. All of the patents are for "Compositions and methods for controlling pest insects" (5,874,539 issues on Feb. 23, 1999; 5,916,895 on June 29, 1999, and 5,990,115 on Nov. 23, 1999), for controlling the growth of insects that salvage, store, or excrete nitrogenous wastes via the purine metabolic pathway. The following individuals' patents have not yet been licensed: Non-toxic antifreeze Thomas Caceci, associate professor of veterinary medicine, Thomas Toth, professor of biomedical sciences, and Maria Szumanski, a former Virginia Tech research scientist, received two patents for a non-toxic antifreeze based on the body chemistry of the winter flounder. The patents include a synthetic peptide and the gene for expressing it Fish survive in water temperatures below freezing by producing "antifreeze peptides" (AFPs) to prevent the formation of ice in their body fluids. The researchers developed synthetic AFP and a synthetic gene coding for the antifreeze peptide so that it can be introduced into the DNA of bacteria or plants. The synthetic polypeptide has a freezing point lower than natural AFP -- about 27 degrees F. Ice will still melt above 32 degrees F. (Synthetic Antifreeze Peptide and Synthetic Gene Coding For Its Production, No. 5,925,549, received July 20, 1999; and Synthetic Antifreeze Peptide, No. 5,932,697, August 13, 1999).   Return to Top Taxol derivatives David Kingston, professor of chemistry, former research associates Ashok Gopa Chaudhary of St. Louis and Milind Moreshwar Gharpure of Delhi, India; former post doctoral associate John Matthew Rimoldi, and visiting senior research scientist A.A. Leslie Gunatilaka, received a patent for "2-debenzoyl-2-acyl taxol derivatives and method for making same" (No. 6,002,023, Dec. 14, 1999), novel derivatives and analogs of the important anticancer drug Taxol and their pharmaceutical formulations for use as antitumor agents.  More Electornics William Kuhn of Manhattan, Kansas; Aicha Elshabini, professor of electrical engineering, and William Stephenson, dean of engineering, received a patent for an "Interwound center-tapped spiral inductor" (No. 5,892,425, April 6, 1999), a practical inductor element for use in balanced and differential circuits. Sedki M. Riad, professor of electrical and computer engineering, received a patent for "Circuit structure including RF/wideband resonant vias" (No. 5,886,597, March 23, 1999). Another antenna, invented by Randall Nealy, also an electrical engineer with the CWT, has been licensed to ITT Gilfillan. The "Foursquare antenna radiating element" (No. 5,926,137, July 20, 1999) is a small, moderately wide bandwidth antenna suited to phased array applications. The small size allows close spacing, which facilitates scanning, such as for radar systems for air defense and air traffic control. The same qualities make it ideal for phased arrays in airborne and mobile satellite communications (SATCOM). The Foursquare antenna is also well suited for base stations in cellular, PCS and wireless internet. Guo-Quan Lu, associate professor of materials science and engineering, received two patents. "Process for providing a glass dielectric layer on an electrically conductive substrate and electrostatic chunks made by the process" (No. 5,864,459, Jan. 26, 1999), issued to Lu and Jaecheol Bang, and "Tube lining apparatus" (No. 5,855,676, Jan. 5, 1999), to Lu and his student, Jesus N. Calata, for a device and technique using a coating-applicator for slip-casting a fluent liner coating onto the internal surface of a tube. Kiosk Andrew B. Honaker, economic development specialist in technology with public service programs, and Philip P. Pasqualino III, formerly with economic development, have received a design patent for their "Accessible kiosk" (D410,448, June 1, 1999). Return to Top