Executive Vice President and Provost Chaden Djalali (middle) awards Douglas Goetz (left) and Stephen Bergmeier (right) with U.S. patent plaques. Photo credit: Hannah Ruhoff.
Chemistry & Biochemistry professors Dr. Stephen Bergmeier and Dr. Mark McMills were recognized by Ohio University during the Inventors Dinner Feb. 21.
They were among those recognized for engaging with the university’s Technology Transfer Office over the past year to commercialize their research findings by protecting their intellectual property through the patent process.
Ohio University has a successful track record in commercializing technologies, with a portfolio of 94 active-issued U.S. patents and 174 active-issued non-U.S. patents. The university received more than $100 million in royalty income from research licenses between fiscal year 2004 and 2019.
Bergmeier and Dr. Xiaozhuo Chen of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine filed a patent in 2018 for “Compositions and Methods for Glucose Transport Inhibition.” This composition of matter patent covers novel anticancer compounds that inhibit basal glucose transport, resulting in tumor suppression and new methods for the study of glucose deprivation in cancer research.
Bergmeier and McMills, along with Dr. Douglas Goetz, Russ College of Engineering and Technology, filed a patent for “Imidazole and Thiazole Compositions for Modifying Biological Signaling.” This patent covers new compounds that may be used in pharmaceutical compositions that modify various biological signaling processes or as reagents for biological assays. Among other things, these compounds may be therapeutically useful for the prevention and treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and to modify GSK-3 activity in the body.
About The Technology Transfer Office
Invention disclosure is the first step in the technology commercialization process. Technology Transfer Office staff review these disclosures to determine if the intellectual property can be patented and licensed for commercial use. If so, the office files for domestic and foreign patent protection and works with inventors to identify licensing opportunities that can develop the technologies into useful products for the marketplace.
The Technology Transfer Office also works closely with the university’s high-tech business incubator, the Innovation Center, and its state-sponsored Entrepreneurial Services Provider program, TechGROWTH Ohio, to connect inventors to business coaches and sources of seed funding that can help them launch startup companies if appropriate.
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