posted September 24, 2013
Several MSI PIs have been awarded patents over recent months. These PIs are among a large number of University of Minnesota faculty receiving patents, as shown in the OVPR Research blog’s story, “Recent Patents Roundup.”
Professor Michael Murtaugh (Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences), and colleague: Identifying Virally Infected and Vaccinated Organisms
Professor Murtaugh and his group use MSI resources to support their investigations of molecular mechanisms of disease resistance in swine, with particular attention on persistent viral infections and enteric immunity.
Professor Marc Hillmyer (Chemistry) and colleague: Nano-structured Polymer Composites and Process for Preparing Same
Professor Hillmyer’s group is using MSI to study poly(thienylene vinylenes), a photoactive polymer that can be used in organic photovoltaics.
Professor Carston Wagner (Medicinal Chemistry): Necleosides with Antiviral and Anticancer Activity
Professor Wagner uses MSI to model and design protein-protein interfaces.
Professor Perry Li (Mechanical Engineering): Open Accumulator for Compact Liquid Power Energy Storage
Professor Li’s group uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods to develop innovative fluid power components and to develop an efficient compression/expander for compressed air energy storage. The CFD and heat-transfer studies allow the group to gain understanding of the physics and lead to improved designs.
Professor Ned Mohan (Electrical and Computer Engineering) and colleagues: Soft Switching Power Electronic Transformer
Professor Mohan’s group uses finite-element analysis programs available through MSI for their design projects.
Professor Friedrich Srienc (BioTechnology Institute): Systems and Methods of Analyzing a Particulate
Professor Srience uses MSI to run elementary mode analyses of metabolic networks. These analyses are highly computationally intensive, and the Srienc group is working with MSI staff to parallelize the algorithms.
Professor Daniel Voytas (Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development): TAL Effector-medicated DNA Modification (three patents)
Professor Voytas’s Zinc Finger Database, a web-accessible database that houses information on individual C2H2 zinc fingers and engineered zinc finger arrays, is housed at MSI.
Associate Professor Chengguo Xing (Medicinal Chemistry) and colleague: Therapeutic Compounds
Professor Xing’s group uses MSI’s computational resources and software for pathway analysis to study drug resistance in cancer, especially leukemia.