Posted 8:23 a.m. Friday, Jan. 29, 2016
WiSys ambassadors aim to transform more UWL research, innovation into marketable products
WiSys ambassadors aim to transform more UWL research, innovation into marketable products
In college, Rachel Neve spent many hours in a science lab helping invent a substance that could help pharmaceutical and fragrance industries run more efficiently. At the time, the December 2015 graduate wasn’t thinking about how her work would benefit business. The biology and microbiology major was learning about scientific research — namely how novel catalysts could be used to create certain products in chemical reactions. But now Neve is back in the same lab with a stronger business sense. With a grant from WiSys Technology Foundation, she is helping develop these chemical catalysts further with the aim of getting them closer to the marketplace. Neve and her faculty advisor, Rob McGaff, aim to generate further data, which will help support the pending patent application that covers these novel catalysts. Neve’s project isn’t the only great UWL idea being funded through WiSys. The non-profit organization is working with faculty and students across the UW System to turn research and innovative ideas into real products that reach the wider world.Student ambassadors help connect UWL ideas to marketplace
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UWL Alum Rachel Neve, a microbiology and biology major, and UWL senior Marcus Lowe, a computational physics major, are the campuses’ WiSys Ambassadors.[/caption]
Neve wants to help other UWL researchers learn how WiSys could potentially help them. She and UWL student Marcus Lowe started as UWL’s first WiSys Ambassadors in August 2015 to do just that. Throughout fall semester they presented to faculty and student groups on campus and created networking opportunities to share information about WiSys and the support they could offer. They plan to do more this semester.
“We want to spread more awareness of WiSys and bring more funding to research happening here on campus,” says Neve.
Neve and Lowe say WiSys opened their eyes to the other side of research outside the lab. It got them thinking about how the product of research could be used in business or improve existing technology.
UWL has several WiSys-funded projects in the works. Aaron Monte, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and his colleagues have used WiSys funding to help launch their business, Mycophyte Discovery LLC., which is dedicated to developing new antibiotics and other anti-infectives from Native American herbal remedies and wild fungi. The business is moving one or more drug candidates forward to the clinic for use in treating some of the most difficult infectious diseases.
UWL Biology Professor Scott Cooper has used WiSys funding to pay for a technician to help with his research on ground squirrels, which could ultimately help advance treatments of human heart conditions and bleeding disorders.
“It was very helpful to be able to hire a former student to work for 20-30 hours a week on the project,” says Cooper. “We probably could not have generated all of the research results in as short a time without this support.”
Neve says faculty can disclose information about their research confidentially to WiSys to learn if it could potentially be protected by Intellectual Property and funded for further development. A first step is visiting the WiSys website or connecting with Lowe or Neve who can help put them in touch with the appropriate WiSys contact.
Neve hopes by helping more faculty connect with WiSys, UWL will ultimately have more of its research protected by Intellectual Property, commercialized and ultimately brought to market.