UB celebrates inventors and entrepreneurs

UB held its annual Inventors and Entrepreneurs Reception last Thursday, honoring faculty, students and business partners whose are pushing boundaries in medicine, electronics and other industries.

Award recipients included faculty members who have developed a new method to diagnose the autoimmune disorder Sjogren’s syndrome, as well as researchers who have created new ways to protect buildings during earthquakes.

Of particular note, President Satish K. Tripathi presented the Technology Innovation Leadership award to Vice Provost Robert J. Genco. Genco, who has overseen the university’s technology transfer efforts as director of the UB Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR), is stepping down from that role to lead UB’s new Center for Microbiome Research.

“Dr. Genco’s work in developing an exemplary technology transfer operation has had tremendous and lasting impact,” Tripathi said. “Much of the success we’re witnessing at the University at Buffalo and throughout the greater Buffalo Niagara region can be traced, in part, to programs that he has guided at UB to foster innovation and entrepreneurship.

“We’re fortunate to continue to benefit from his outstanding service as leader of UB’s new Center for Microbiome Research, and I look forward to seeing him break even more new ground in this important new role,” he said.

The event, held at the Saturn Club in Buffalo, also honored:

• Researchers who have developed nine technologies licensed to companies. These discoveries include a nanoparticle that can be used to fight hemophilia and other ailments, and technology designed to help doctors assess and treat unruptured brain aneurysms.
• Researchers named on six patents. These inventors include Julian L. Ambrus Jr., professor in the Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, who developed the diagnosis for Sjogren’s, as well as UB engineering researchers Michael Constantinou and Andrei Reinhorn, and industry partner Taylor Devices, who created the earthquake-protection system.
• The Entrepreneurial Spirit award will be presented Glenna Bett and Randall Rasmusson. Both are faculty members who co-founded Cytocybernetics, a UB spinoff company that is creating biotechnology that aims to cut in half the time and money needed for preclinical trials of certain medications.
• Three companies that graduated from the UB Technology Incubator. These include tech startup Cloud62, which was acquired in October by Illinois-based Huron Consulting Group but remains in Buffalo at the UB Gateway Building downtown.
• Six companies that joined the UB Technology Incubator. The list includes Geocove, a Florida-based company founded by UB alumna Karyn Tareen that builds geographic information systems for government agencies and other groups.

A complete list of the companies, as well as new technologies, is available in the reception program.

The event was organized by STOR, which helps UB researchers commercialize their inventions. The office also runs the UB Technology Incubator; the UB Biosciences Incubator in the Clinical and Translational Research Center in downtown Buffalo; Directed Energy, a virtual clean energy incubator; tenX, a co-working space within the UB Technology Incubator; and the Western New York Incubator Network, which provides services to incubated companies across Western New York.

STOR also has partnered with the School of Management to run the university’s Entrepreneurship Lab program, a winter session class offered to students who want to turn their business ideas into reality.

Additional speakers at the reception included Provost Charles F. Zukoski; Venu Govindaraju, vice president for research and economic development; and Genco.