Some Successful Tech Transfers

August / September 2007 Volume 5 Number 4

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The Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer are presented each year to Federal Laboratory Consortium member laboratories and their partners for successfully transferring federally developed technologies. Here are the 2007 winners.

Reducing Human Food-borne Pathogens in Poultry
Department of Agriculture, Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit, University of Arkansas

Product developed from this research has been field-tested in millions of birds, resulting in notable reductions in pathogen contamination and mortality, and improved chick health.
This technology led to the formation of an Arkansas-based startup company that has licensed the product. First made available in 2004, the technology made a profit the first year. In 2005, 1 billion doses were sold, and in 2006 the company expects a 50 percent increase in total usage.

MESA: Measuring Enzyme-Substrate Affinities
Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory

MESA enables researchers to screen drugs for binding to proteins without the need for any fluorescent labels.
To commercialize the technology, Benjamin Warner, co-inventor of MESA, took an entrepreneurial leave of absence to found Caldera Pharmaceuticals, which acquired $7 million in private financing and licensed the technology.
Using MESA, Caldera looks to save the drug discovery industry billions of dollars by shortening the testing process and weeding out potentially dangerous drugs before they reach expensive clinical trials.

Hybrid Solar Lighting
Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A system that uses a lightweight, roof-mounted collector to concentrate visible sunlight into a bundle of plastic optical fibers that are routed to multiple "hybrid" luminaires within the building. These luminaires blend the natural light with artificial light to maintain a constant level of room lighting. ORNL patented the technology and licensed it to Sunlight Direct, a local startup spun out from ORNL. The principal scientist, Duncan Earl, was granted part-time entrepreneurial leave status.

Powertrain System Analysis Toolkit
Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory

A flexible and reusable simulation package used to facilitate advanced vehicle development, serving as a single tool that can meet the requirements of automotive engineering throughout the development process.

Photovoltaic Cell Design and Fabrication Process
Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories

A new solar cell design that offers a more efficient and less expensive option that other cells currently available in the marketplace. The new process uses a laser to drill holes through the silicon substrate and form conductive channels from the front to the rear surface, allowing the electrical power to flow to the back surface, where the backside wiring carries the current away.
Recognizing a need in the market Russell Schmit approached SNL to start a new company that would manufacture SNL's novel design. The startup, Advent Solar, Albuquerque, has licensed the technology.

Aerosol Vaccination Device
Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

An aerosol device capable of quickly vaccinating patients in a mass vaccination setting or a local clinic without contaminating the device and spreading respiratory diseases. The device is handheld and powered by a rechargeable battery, and has disposable patient interfaces and a disposable aerosol element to prevent contamination. AerovectRx Corporation is now the exclusive licensee of the platform technology.

Compact Portable, Reduced Oxygen Breathing Device
U.S. Navy, Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory

The safe, portable and relatively economical device helps save lives and prevents the loss of aircraft, and is fundamentally changing the way the Navy provides survival training to jet pilots.

3-D Haptic Technology Software
Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories

Novint Technologies took the three-dimensional touch (haptic) software it licensed from Sandia and paired it with the Novint Falcon 3-D touch controller to make interactive, 3-D touch possible and practical for consumer application for the first time. This technology will be introduced in the global video game market in 2007. Tom Anderson, Novint's CEO, led the development of some of the first 3-D touch applications at Sandia. In 2000 he founded Novint, which went public last summer.

Advanced Process Engineering
Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory

A software tool that the process and energy industries are using to meet aggressive performance, economic and environmental targets for some of the most sophisticated and expensive production plants in the world, allowing the industries to better understand and optimize overall plant performance.

Jess®
Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories

A tool for building a type of intelligent software called an Expert System, which has the capacity to "reason," using knowledge the user supplies in the form of declarative rules.

Assay for Detection of Avian Influenza Viruses
Dept of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A diagnostic test that provides results on suspected H5 influenza samples from both human and animal subjects within hours.

Gardasil—„
Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A commercial human vaccine for the prevention of HPV (human papilloma virus), which can also lead to cervical cancer.

Crash Energy Management Rail Equipment
Department of Transportation, John A. Volpe National Transportation System Center

A crash energy management system that better preserves occupied spaces on passenger trains.

RZWQM2
Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service

The enhanced Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM2) can evaluate, manage and improve water quality impacts of agricultural chemicals and other management practices.

Antibiotic to Control American Disease of Honeybees
Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Bee Research Laboratory

Tylan® Soluble, for the control of American foulbrood disease in honeybees.

Foamed Plywood Glue
Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service-Midwest Area

A soybean protein-based foamed plywood adhesive that is a safer and less expensive protein extender.

Humane Device for Bleeding Mice
Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Plum Island Animal Disease Center

A 2-inch strip of surgical steel with a triangular blade that controls the penetration of the lancet increasing the accuracy of experiments that require multiple samples from the same animal.

Clarification Processes for Sugar Processing
Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service

Improved processes for clarifying sugar cane juice during the production of raw sugar, replacing the traditional process thus saving the sugar industry in Louisiana, Texas and Florida more than $3 million.

ARMS—„
U.S. Army, Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Laboratory

A handheld instrument that can collect high-resolution digital data in a logical, consistent manner and organize them into a database.

Portable Chemical Sterilizer
U.S. Army, Army Research Development and Engineering Command, Natick Soldier Center

A medical sterilization technology.

Perimeter Security and Detection System
U.S. Navy, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division

An in-ground, cost-effective fiber optic perimeter security and detection system.

Compact High Efficiency Natural Gas Liquefier
Department of Energy, Idaho National Laboratory

A liquefaction technology that is very compact, yet able to use natural gas directly from transmission lines without costly pretreatment to remove water and carbon dioxide contaminants.

Grid Friendly—„ Appliance Controller
Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

A technology that senses grid conditions by monitoring the frequency of the system and provides an automatic response in times of disruption by reducing the demand with no apparent disruption visible to the consumer's everyday life.

Proactive Safety and System Monitoring
Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

A data-intensive airline safety and information tool that gives aviation personnel more insight into overall flight patterns and subtle flight characteristics.