Universities compete for patents

Economic Growth Act may help Board of Regents schools increase numbers

The path to innovation at Kansas University started, in one case, with a trip to a Kansas City meat market.

“I’d bring in a half-dozen cow eyes and we’d do experiments,” said George Timberlake, an associate professor of ophthalmology at KU Medical Center.

The result, after six years of work: Timberlake and Rich Givens, a KU chemistry professor, patented a light-activated “wound closure” chemical solution that might one day be used in cornea transplants. The patent was one of five the university was granted during 2004.

That wasn’t tops in the Kansas Board of Regents system. Kansas State University claimed nine patents during the year, continuing a back-and-forth race that has seen the Manhattan university take a slight edge in patents since 1997, with a 52 to 49 lead.

So far in 2005, K-State has one patent; KU has none.

Asked Whether KU considers itself in competition with K-State in the patent race, Jim Roberts, KU’s vice provost for research, had a one-word answer: “No.”

At K-State — which claimed patents on a type of edible packaging that allows cattle to eat the barrel their feed came in and drought-tolerant plants — officials see it a little differently.

“Yes, we do compete with KU, a friendly competition,” said Marcia Molina, K-State’s director of technology transfer. “We keep an eye on, not just KU, but the Big 12 and everybody else.”

Even combined, however, KU and K-State have a long way to go to catch the leader. The University of California system, which will open its 10th campus this year, claimed 447 patents in 2004.

Abraham Yousef, a graduate student from Victoria, Texas, shows a gelatin strip and explains his research to George Timberlake, a Kansas University associate professor of ophthalmology.

More commercialization

Last year’s passage of the Kansas Economic Growth Act, which will pour $500 million into bioscience research across the state over the next 10 years, will no doubt help the Board of Regents universities increase their patent numbers.

But, Roberts said, it’s not enough for KU to perform well in the laboratory.

“We also need more people and more facilities that are involved in the commercialization of the research,” he said.

To that end, Roberts said, KU’s school of engineering is already offering classes on how to turn an invention into a business. And in Lawrence, he said, there are 11 businesses that are spinoffs of KU research. One — ProQuest Pharmaceuticals Inc. — was sold in December for $7 million in stock.

“Fundamentally, it’s part of our public service mission,” Roberts said. “It’s basically the right thing to do in terms of economic development.”

The university retains the rights to 93 patents, officials said, which have brought in about $4 million to the Lawrence campus over the past five years.

Here are the inventions patented by Regents universities in Kansas during 2004:Kansas University¢ Wideband planar antenna¢ Method for depositing an enzyme on an electrically conductive substrate¢ Phototriggerable, collagen-crosslinking compounds for wound closure¢ Catalytic oxidation of organic substrates by transition metal complexes in organic solvent media expanded by supercritical or subcritical carbon dioxide¢ Optical domain signal analyzerKansas State University¢ Method and kit for typing feline blood¢ Triptycene analogs¢ Drought tolerant plants and methods of increasing drought tolerance in plants¢ M2GlyR derived channel forming peptides¢ Identification and applications of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus host susceptibility factor(s) for improved swine breeding¢ Compounds affecting cholesterol absorption¢ Biodegradable and edible feed packaging materials¢ Synthetic peptides that inhibit leukocyte superoxide anion production and/or attract leukocytes¢ Polymers incorporating covalently attached organoimido polyoxometalatesPittsburg State University¢ Method of making natural oil-based polyols and polyurethanes therefromSource: www.uspto.gov Includes KU Medical Center

Roberts said the research also aids education at the university. Rachel Moses, an undergraduate biology major, and Abraham Yousef, a Ph.D. student in organic chemistry, aided Timberlake and Givens in their research.

“It’s been really interesting and challenging at times,” Yousef said.

Molina, at K-State, added: “It attracts students if you can show the opportunity to have inventions and do start-ups. And I think it speaks to the strength of the research program.”

Developing a ‘big hit’

The dream at all universities, Roberts said, is to come up with another Gatorade. The sports drink was invented at the University of Florida and provided an economic boon for the institution.

“There is always the possibility of something like a Gatorade happening, in which you have a big hit,” Roberts said. “Those don’t happen very often, but if you’re not in the game, they don’t happen at all.”

Givens and Timberlake haven’t hit the home run yet. If they can get their chemical bond to work correctly, doctors might use it instead of sutures to repair corneas after surgery — cutting down the risks of eye infection and other medical complications.

George Timberlake, left, associate professor of ophthalmology, and Rich Givens, professor of chemistry, talk about KU's patents.

“When a surgeon uses it in the operating room, that’s the goal,” Timberlake said.

The goal is still a ways off. The chemical solution has so far worked on dehydrated cow eyeballs. Coming up with it, Givens said, “represents our entry into the field.”

Living flesh, however, has proven trickier. It might take another 10 years to come up with the answer — and teams in Texas and Massachusetts are racing to develop similar systems.

So Givens, at least, isn’t ready to dream of Gatorade-style riches.

“I would say that would be over optimistic,” Givens said. “We think we’ve developed what will be a useful medical technique, but will it make us rich and KU famous? Probably not in our lifetime.”