university of cincinnati : Innovation + Job News

It just got easier for Ohio colleges to collaborate with Procter & Gamble on research projects, thanks to a groundbreaking master agreement between P&G and Ohio's 14 state universities.

The agreement, announced April 22, is expected to lead to more P&G-university partnerships and increased commercialization of new technologies. But it also is seen as a template for agreements between the Ohio university system and other research-driven entities, says Noah Sudow, associate director economic advancement for the Ohio Board of Regents.

"I think our biggest next step is going to create that model that we can market to all business and say 'hey, we'll sign this with you right now,' Sudow says. "The goal is . . . to show how we can utilize the power of the university system to work with businesses."

The agreement, which governs treatment of intellectual property, licensing rights and when researchers can publish their findings, is the first of its kind in Ohio and may be the first in the nation, parties to the agreement say.

The five-year pact eliminates the need to negotiate agreements one-on-one with each university, drastically reducing the time needed up front, "where you could spend months negotiating (the rules) for what turned out to be two to three weeks of work," says P&G's Nick Nikolaides, university liaison for P&G global business development. "Getting rid of that up-front part and putting the focus on the project work really ought to catalyze more strategic collaborations in the long term."

The master agreement is patterned after a 2005 agreement with the University of Cincinnati.  Nikolaides says P&G invested nearly $20 million in university research projects across all business lines between 2006 and 2009, and the agreement should lead to additional investments with an increasing number of universities.

Sources: P&G: Nick Nikolaides, Chris Thoen (director, global open innovation) Rich Eggers (associate director global business development) and Mary Ralles (external relations manager, global business development); Board of Regents: Noah Sudow
 
Writer: Gene Monteith

A new Ohio high-tech company aimed at helping osteoporosis patients soon will launch at Cincinnati's life science company incubator  BIOSTART.

OsteoDynamics, a partnership of Integrated BioScience Solutions, and BIOSTART, will build on new technology that two University of Cincinnati professors created to test bone strength.

Professors Amit Bhattacharya and Nelson Watts, who developed the technology based on the concept of "Bone Shock Absorbance," plan to advance a new diagnostic tool testing a patient's bone fracture risk.

In February, OsteoDynamics, which will be managed by Integrated BioScience Solutions, signed an agreement to license Bone Shock Absorbance technology from UC. OsteoDynamics also received $125,000 in seed financing from Southern Ohio Creates Companies. The company will be based at BIOSTART.

"This is a promising technology, developed through a productive partnership between Drs. Watts (M.D.) and Bhattacharya (Ph.D.) that draws on their respective clinical and engineering experience," says Carol Frankenstein, president of BIOSTART. "Their invention has the potential to improve treatment for women who suffer bone loss following menopause. BIOSTART is pleased to play a part in developing OsteoDynamics."

The noninvasive test measures how the energy from a heel strike is absorbed and dissipated. It's a new way of testing that measures bone quality and appears to be a better indicator of fracture risk than traditional tests.

"With that information, we can then provide them with more effective medications and other interventions that have already been proven to reduce fracture risk. Initial clinical data indicates that Bone Shock Absorbance may be the diagnostic technology that can achieve this goal," said Bhattacharya, a professor in the Department of Environmental Health.

Sources: University of Cincinnati, BIOSTART
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Pop quiz: Frogs are good for making (choose one): (A) Handsome princes, (B) Muppets
(C)Biofuel. The answer, according to a University of Cincinnati research team, is (C). Sorry, Kermit.

The Cincinnati team used plant, bacterial, and fungal enzymes to make a special foam � like that made by the semi-tropical Tungara frog to develop tadpoles � to produce sugars from sunlight and carbon dioxide. Those sugars can be converted to ethanol.

This procedure may trump plant photosynthesis to create sugars because it uses no soil, and it can be used in highly enriched carbon dioxide environments.

The journal Nano Letters published these findings of UC College of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Carlo Montemagno, Research Assistant Professor David Wendell and student Jacob Todd online last month and plans to use it for a cover story this fall.

Other media attention is starting to steamroll. The research also has been featured on HeatingOil.com, PhysOrg.com and BioFuels Watch.com, to name a few.

Science blogger David Bois, writing on Tonic, called it "a breakthrough."

"The innovation, astonishingly, appears to be even more efficient than nature itself, at least in terms of the amount of solar energy going in compared to the amount of energy contained by the output hydrocarbons. . . . Actual plants are required to expend energy for reproduction and survival. The lab creation doesn't have such requirements, and accordingly can put all of the incoming solar energy work into making hydrocarbons."

Maybe it's easy being green after all.

Source: Wendy Beckman, University of Cincinnati
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Cincinnati Children's Hospital has opened a ground breaking $600,000 stem cell facility, in a 650-square-foot space that has room to grow.

The Pluripotent Stem Cell Facility opened in January, and is the first of its kind in Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky. Researchers from Cincinnati Children's and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine are working together, studying the cause � and possible new organ and tissue replacement treatments � of a myriad of diseases.

Known as "induced pluripotent stem cells," these cells come from patients who have a disease. It's an emerging technology and these cells have the theoretical ability to become more than 200 different cell types found in humans.

"This technology is a bit like the internal combustion engine in terms of how it will drive future advances in stem cell biology," explains facility director James Wells. "It allows us to use cells from patients to study what goes wrong at the genetic and cellular level to cause their disease -- whether it's muscular dystrophy, diabetes or any number of degenerative diseases. This technology could allow us to fix genetic defects and use these cells to generate healthy cells and tissues to treat or cure the patient."

Researchers have already developed pancreatic cells that make insulin, retinal cells of the eye, nerve cells of the brain, intestinal cells, and liver cells.

The facility offers training in the generation and use of pluripotent stem cells for scientists to take to their own labs. It also offers cell line maintenance and other of pluripotent stem cell services. The facility is poised to grow along with demand for its services.

"Given the rapidly developing pace of this technology, it's easy to envision a day where pediatric hospitals like Cincinnati Children's will be able to provide services for generating and banking pluripotent stem cells from specific patients for future therapeutic use," Wells said.

Sources: Cincinnati Children's Hospital, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

When Mike Cardarelli was a University of Cincinnati mechanical engineering technology major, he only hoped that he could design a good salami-rolling machine for his senior project.

Now? He's the man behind the HERO � a Hazardous Environment Robot Observer being used by authorities all across the country.

Cardarelli's Amelia, Ohio-based company, First-Response Robotics, produces agile, mobile robots that are special not only because they detect chemical and biological hazards, but because they can transmit their data and video live. Previously, robots had to be decontaminated and their data downloaded for analysis before authorities could proceed.

A HERO is not like what we've seen in movies. For example, "Bomb disposal robots are large; they grab the threat and dispose it," Cardarelli says. These robots are more sophisticated.

The HERO can lift more than 100 pounds and travel 10 feet per second. It can climb stairs. If it topples over, it can right itself. Features include night-vision cameras, arms that extend to 35 inches, and two-way communication. One even has been adapted with a special shelf, enabling it to safely deliver pizza to hostages.

Customers include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and numerous law enforcement departments. Plus, a construction company has been looking into using one of Cardarelli's robots to more safety and accurately make chalk lines for placing main support beams on high-rise buildings. Human error was 1/8 of an inch; HERO error was 1/16 in a test, Cardarelli says.

"And the unions approved of the idea."

Source: Mike Cardarelli, First-Response Robotics
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs