Date:
09/21/2012
The University of Minnesota announced recently that discoveries by University researchers were used to launch 12 startup companies in fiscal year 2012. This is a record number. You can read the news story describing the companies on the Office of the VP for Research (OVPR) Business blog.
Several of the researchers are MSI Principal Investigators:
- Michael Tsapatsis (Chemical Engineering and Mechanics) – uses MSI supercomputers for computational studies of zeolite nanosheets used for gas separation, catalysis, and other applications
- Gregory Beilman (Surgery) – uses MSI’s web- and data-hosting services to process, analyze, and display data from research concerning identification of changes in the metabolme during traumatic shock
- Michael Sadowsky (Soil. Water, and Climate) – MSI is supporting the Minnesota Mississippi Metagenome Project, including the creation of an extensive database cataloging the biodiversity of microbial life in the Mississippi river in Minnesota using metagenomic analysis
- Simo Sarkanen (Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering) – uses MSI resources to support research into applications for lignin, the second most abundant biopolymer
- Walter Low (Neurosurgery) – uses software available at MSI to help apply novel bioinformatic and systems-biological approaches for elucidating novel molecular pathways associated with different physiological and pathophysiological states
- Martin Saar (Earth Sciences) – uses supercomputers to model groundwater flow for various projects, including research into using sequestered CO2 in brine as a heat-transport medium in porous rock basis to provide geothermal energy
The OVPR’s Office of Business Relations provides an interface between businesses and University research and researchers. The OVPR’s Office for Technology Commercialization oversees all technology commercialization efforts at the University.