Texas A&M System Researchers Honored For Patents, Innovations

Texas A&M Technology Commercialization (TTC) honored two Texas A&M University faculty members with its Innovation Award during the Patent and Innovation 2016 Awards Luncheon at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center.

The award recognizes researchers whose work exemplifies the spirit of innovation within the Texas A&M University System. The luncheon also paid tribute to researchers from across the A&M System who received U.S. patents or plant variety protection certificates during the 2015 calendar year.

“Texas A&M was among the first universities to acknowledge that patents or commercialization of research should become part of the tenure-granting process,” Vice President for Research Glen A. Laine said. “TTC works closely with our faculty-researchers to build significant relationships with business and industry. These relationships are essential to transferring important discoveries and innovations from the workbench to the open market. It is fitting for TTC to recognize the A&M researchers who successfully complete this important process.”

TTC presented its Innovation Award to:

• Yongheng Huang, an associate professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Huang invented the Activated Iron technology, a chemical water-treatment platform that can cost-effectively remove a broad spectrum of heavy metals from some of the most challenging and high-impact industrial waste streams.

• Richard Gomer, the Thomas Powell ’62 Professor in the Department of Biology, College of Science. Gomer and Darrell Pilling, a research assistant professor, discovered a potential therapeutic for fibrosing diseases, such as congestive heart failure, cirrhosis of the liver, end-stage kidney disease and pulmonary fibrosis. In clinical trials, the therapeutic shows promise at reversing disease in patients with pulmonary fibrosis or myelofibrosis, a bone-marrow fibrosis.

The TTC also presented Patent Awards to individuals employed by the A&M System whose inventions were granted patent protection by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office during 2015. They are:

From Texas A&M University:

• Peter McIntyre and Akhdiyor Sattarov, “Accelerator Sub-Critical Core.”
• Marlan Scully and Muhammad Zubairy, “Protecting Quantum Entanglement from Amplitude Damping in a Two Qubit System.”
• Hong-Cai Zhou, “Aluminum Metal Organic Framework Materials.”
• Muhammad Zubairy and Zeyang Liao, “Resonance Fluorescence Localization Microscopy with Sub-Wavelength Resolutions.”
• Karen Wooley and Gourong Sun, “Self-Assembled Structures, Method of Manufacture thereof and Articles Comprising the Same.”

From the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station:

• John Criscione and Saurabh Biswas, “Biphasic and Dynamic Adjustable Support Devices and Methods with Assist and Recoil Capabilities for Treatment of Cardiac Pathologies.”
• Xing Cheng and Kamran Entesari, “Digital Microfluidic Platform for Actuating and Heating Individual Liquid Droplets.”
• Zheng Dong Cheng, Abraham Clearfield and Mahboobul “Sam” Mannan, “Amphiphilic Nanosheets and Methods of Making the Same.”
• Hamid Toliyat, “DC Capacitor-Less Power Converters.”
• Jinxiang Chai, “Processing Apparatus and Method for Creating Avatar.”
• Carl Benner, Karthick Muthu-Manivannan and B. Don Russell, “Arcing Event Detection.”
• Anxiao Jiang, “Rank-Modulation Rewriting Codes for Flash Memories.”
• Seong “Gwan” Choi, “Low Density Parity Check Decoder.”
• Dara Childs, “Annular Seals for Non-Contact Sealing of Fluids in Turbomachinery.”
• Jerome Schubert, “Systems and Methods for Expert Systems for Well Completion Using Bayesian Decision Models (BDNS), Drilling Fluids Types, and Well Types.”
• Jerome Schubert, “Systems and Methods for Drilling Fluids Expert Systems Using Bayesian Decision Networks.”
• Jerome Schubert, “Systems and Methods for an Expert System for Well Control Using Bayesian Intelligence.”
• Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez and Nicholas Sears, “High Porosity Materials, Scaffolds, and Method of Making.”

From the Texas A&M Transportation Institute:

• Michael Brackin, D. Lance Bullard Jr. and Dean Alberson, “Surface Mount Wedge Barrier.”
• Stephen Roop, “Cargo Inspection System.”

From the Texas A&M Health Science Center:

• Stephen Safe, “Cancer Treatment Targeting Non-Coding RNA Overexpression.”
• Virender Sharma, “Apparatus and Method of Producing Liquid Ferrate.”
• Virender Sharma, “Method and Apparatus for Desulfurization of Heavy Oil Using a Ferrate (VI).”
• Darwin Prockop, “Adult Stem Cells/Progenitor Cells and Stem Cell Proteins for Treatment of Eye Injuries and Diseases.”
• Darwin Prockop, “Protein Therapy for Treatment of Retinal Diseases.”
• Jeffrey Cirillo, “Uses of Bacterial Beta-Lactamase for In Vitro Diagnostics and In Vivo Imaging, Diagnostics and Therapeutics.”

From Texas A&M AgriLife Research:

• Suresh Pillai, “High Energy Electron Beam Irradiation for the Production of Immunomodulators in Poultry.”
• Luc Berghman, “Vaccine Vectors and Methods of Enhancing Immune Responses.”
• Luc Berghman, “Compositions and Methods of Enhancing Immune Responses to Eimeria.”
• Luc Berghman, “Compositions and Methods of Enhancing Immune Responses to Flagellated Bacterium.”
• Addison Lawrence, “System and Method for Super-Intensive Shrimp Production.”
• Keerti Rathore and Leanne Campbell, “Cotton Plant with Seed-Specific Reduction in Gossypol.”
• Sanjay Reddy and Blanca Lupiani, “Marek’s Disease Virus Vaccine Compositions and Methods of Using thereof.”
• James Sacchettini, Dwight Baker, Steve Maxwell, Deeann Wallis Schultz and Nian Zhou, “Compositions and Methods for Drug-Sensitization or Inhibition of a Cancer Cell.”
• David Byrne and Natalie Anderson, “Peach Tree Named ‘Texfirst.’”

In addition, the TTC presented Plant Variety Protection Certificate Awards to recognize individuals employed by the A&M System whose plant varieties were granted certificates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Plant Variety Protection Office during 2015. They are:

• Lloyd Nelson, Jim Crowder, Gerald Evers and Francis Rouquette, for “Nelson” Annual Ryegrass.
• Rodante Tabien, Chersty L. Harper and Lloyd “Ted” Wilson, for “Colorado” Rice.
• Jackie C. Rudd, Jason Baker, Ravindra Devkota, Amir Ibrahim, Lloyd Nelson, Geraldine Opeña, Bryan Simoneaux and Russell L. Sutton, for “Tam 305” Common Wheat.