OHIO recognizes faculty, student and alumni inventors, including 11 patent recipients

Ohio University recognized dozens of faculty, student, staff and alumni researchers who submitted intellectual property disclosures and 11 projects that received patents in 2022 at its annual Inventors Dinner on April 17.

"Ohio University has at the core of its mission the education of students and the creation of knowledge. We’re very pleased to have the opportunity to recognize a group of our researchers, including students, who are actively advancing the frontiers of knowledge, and taking steps to ensure that their discoveries will move out of the university to benefit society more broadly," said David Koonce, Interim Vice President for Research and Creative Activity and Interim Dean of the Graduate College.

"Tonight, we are proud to recognize our researchers and alumni who have made significant accomplishments in creating and using intellectual property to make a positive difference in people’s lives," said President Hugh Sherman. The dinner also honored three alumni who were awarded the Konneker Medal for Commercialization and Entrepreneurship.

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Bob Silva, director of the University's Technology Transfer Office, explained that the first step in determining whether to file for a patent to protect intellectual property is working with faculty and staff to learn about new innovations emerging from their work. There were 28 invention reports submitted to the Technology Transfer Office that included 33 inventors. The office filed 13 U.S. patent applications that included 29 inventors.

The Technology Transfer Office is charged with supporting the University’s efforts to move its discoveries to the marketplace where they can benefit society at large. The office works to identify and research the market potential for faculty, staff, and student inventions, pursues U.S. and international patent protection, secures industry partners that can commercialize university innovations, and provides business assistance for early-stage faculty and student startup companies.

2022 Patent Recipients

During 2022, Ohio University received 11 U.S. patents for the work of 26 inventors.

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Sudiksha Khadka, Martin Kordesch, Eric Stinaff from physics and astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences, received a patent for "Directed Growth of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides with Lithorgraphically Defined Metallic Patterns." This patent provides methods and materials for growing transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials on substrates and making semiconductor devices. Khadka is an OHIO alumna, earning a Ph.D. in Physics from Arts and Sciences in 2018.

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Jianchao Zhu of the Avionics Engineering Center, the School of Electric Engineering and Computer Science and the Center for Scientific Computing and Immersive Technologies in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, received a patent for "Loss-of-Control Prevention and Recovery Flight Controller." This patent provides a loss-of-control prevention and recovery automatic control system for aircraft.

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Yuanyan Chen of mechanical engineering and Zhu received a patent for "Autonomous Automobile Guidance and Trajectory Tracking." This patent provides systems, methods and computer program products for autonomous car-like ground vehicle guidance and trajectory tracking control. Chen earned an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Russ College in 2016.

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Khairul Alam of mechanical engineering and Muhammad Ali of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering in the Russ College received a patent for "Hydrodynamic thrust bearing pad having a variable taper, and related systems and methods." This patent provides for an improved hydrodynamic thrust bearing pad made of composite materials.

John Cotton of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering received a patent for "Systems and Methods for Patient Specific Modeling of Bone Mechanics." This U.S. patent relates to systems and methods for patient-specific modeling of bone mechanical integrity.

Ken Wash of civil engineering received a patent for "Passive Variable Stiffness Device for Vibration Isolation." This patent describes passive variable stiffness devices, which are compact and configured to produce a restoring force that varies optimally with the isolator displacement when subjected to vibration-inducing loading.

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John Kopchick of the Edison Biotechnology Institute, Diabetes Institute and biomedical science in the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, along with Vishwajeet Puri of the biomedical science and the Diabetes Institute and Vishva Sharma of biomedical science, received a patent for "Methods for Regulating Free Fatty Acid Flux using Fat Specific Protein 27 (FSP27) Compositions." This patent describes methods and Fat Specific Protein 27 (FSP27) compositions for treating and/or preventing metabolic disease and conditions associated with insulin resistance, obesity, inflammation and dyslipidemia.

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Reetobrata Basu of the Edison Biotechnology Institute, Kopchick, Puri and Sharma received a patent for "Methods of Treatments Cancers Using Fat Specific Protein 27 (FSP27) Compositions."

This U.S. Patent identifies a novel role for Fat Specific Protein 27 (FSP27) as a therapeutic target for treating cancer. Basu is an OHIO alumna, earning an M.S. in Biological Sciences in 2014 and a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology in 2016 from the College of Arts and Sciences.

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Basu, Kopchick, and Justin Holub of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Edison Biotechnology Institute, received a patent for "Peptide-Based Inhibitors of Growth Hormone Action and Methods of Use Thereof." This patent provides for compositions and methods for inhibiting human growth hormone and treating or preventing human growth hormone-mediated disorders.

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Basu and Kopchick also received a patent for "Method of Treating Cancer and Method of Sensitizing Cancer Cells to the Action of Chemotherapeutic Ages via Growth Hormone Receptor Antagonists or Knock Down." This patent relates to methods of treating cancers via interference with growth hormone receptors.