Patent Award and Issuance News

11-7-07 - Thomas Alva Edison Patent Awards Dinner tonight in Basking Ridge

(the following article is copied from UMDNJ's News and Events page:)

NEWARK - Researchers from the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and the New Jersey Institute for Technology (NJIT) are among the winners of this years Thomas Alva Edison Patent of the Year Awards presented by the Research and Development Council of New Jersey. The researchers will be honored at the councils annual awards dinner on Wednesday, Nov. 7, in Basking Ridge.

Dr. Kiran Chada, of the Department of Biochemistry at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, led a team of researchers who are receiving the Edison Award in the Technology Transfer category for their patent of HMGI Proteins in Cancer. The patent involves a method for identifying a specific cancer biomarker in the blood, which, in turn, can determine the level to which the cancer has advanced in the patient. Other members of Dr. Chadas research team who will share in the award are Dr. Hena Ashar, Dr. Alex Tkachenko and Dr. Xianjin Zhou.

Dr. Peter Tolias, of the Department of Pediatrics and executive director of the Institute of Genomic Medicine at the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, and Dr. Timothy Chang, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, are receiving an Edison Award in the Enabling Technologies category for their patent of Delivery of Metered Amounts of Liquid Materials. Their patent provides a new liquid dispensing/aspirating system capable of producing tiny droplets of a substance for research and analysis. The initial application of the patent is focused on DNA microarray fabrication. Among its potential applications, the invention could significantly impact the healthcare research infrastructure by offering low cost, reliable and high throughput genetic analysis and screening for disease and drug identification.

The Research and Development Council of New Jersey is a non-profit association dedicated to cultivating an environment supportive of the advancement of research and development throughout New Jersey. The Thomas Alva Edison Patent Awards commemorate the inventive spirit of the man who received more U.S. patents than any other single person and are presented annually to recognize and encourage the technological creativity and leadership of New Jerseys research and development community.

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses. Last year, there were more than two million patient visits to UMDNJ facilities and faculty at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.