The UC Santa Cruz Office of Research has created the Inventor Recognition Program (IRP) to acknowledge researchers on a quarterly basis for their U.S. patent awards and to showcase the groundbreaking research that is conducted on the UCSC campus every day. Launched in December 2016, the IRP is meant to recognize the hard work of UCSC faculty, students, and staff and to help them realize the value of their inventions by commercializing their inventions and discoveries.

January to March 2018 IRP Award Winners

Deactivation of Urushiol: the causation agent of contact dermatitis from Poison Oak and Ivy

Patent Numbers: 9,896,532

Inventor: Rebecca Braslau, Professor Chemisty & Biochemistry

Urushiol exposure from the oil of Poison Oak, Ivy, Sumac and Dogwood leads to contact dermatitis for approximately 70% of the population.  Urushiol is an invisible, tenacious oil that can elicit painful rashes and blistering upon exposure to skin at tiny concentrations, and is resistant to removal by normal washings with soap and water.    The patent describes chemistry to chemically convert urushiol to a benign species that can no longer cause contact dermatitis. This treatment is envisioned to be useful for contaminated surfaces, such as clothing, furniture, vehicles, fire-fighting and search & rescue equipment, and gardening tools.

ROBUST SINGLE-PHASE DC/AC INVERTER FOR HIGHLY VARYING DC VOLTAGES

Patent Numbers: 9,876,442

Inventor: Ricardo Sanfelice, Associate Professor; Jun Chai, Graduate Research Assistant; Computer Engineering

The invention provides a single phase DC/AC inverter with a unique hybrid control circuit. Given an input DC voltage signal, the inverter produces an AC output signal that approximates a given sinusoidal AC reference signal. The invention solves the problem of robustly converting highly varying DC power into desired AC power. Advantageously, the precision with which the AC output signal approximates a desired reference signal can be adjusted via a tunable parameter in the control circuit, conversion is guaranteed under varying input voltages, and the harmonic distortion is almost entirely eliminated at low frequencies.

Honorary Mention

(Patent(s) Issued as Continuation of Patent Previously Recognized)

METHODS FOR GENOME ASSEMBLY AND HAPLOTYPE PHASING

Patent Numbers: 9,910,955

Inventor: Ed Green, Associate Professor, Biomolecular Engineering

Inventors No Longer at UCSC

EFFICIENT ENCODING AND STORAGE AND RETRIEVVAL OF GENOMIC DATA

Patent Numbers: 9,886,561

Inventor: Andrew Hospodor, Ignacio Corderi

This invention provides a method of encoding duplicated nucleic acid sequence data such that it can be compressed for storage, but later accessed by a researcher.

DUAL-NANOPORE ELECTRONICS CONFIGURATION TO CO-TRAP INDIVIDUAL DNA MOLECULES FOR SEQUENCING AND SINGLE MOLECULE SCIENCE

Patent Numbers: 9,863,912

Inventor: William Dunbar, Jungsuk Kim

This invention describes a device used in polymer sequencing (such as DNA sequencing) that works by passing the polymer through a set of two nanopores and controlling the movement of the polymer through the nanopores by adjusting the voltage around the nanopores

See all IRP award winners

The IRP is managed by Assistant Vice Chancellor for the Office of Research’s Industry Alliances and Technology Commercialization (IATC), Dr. Mohamed Abousalem. 

For more information about the IRP, the honorees, their patents, other campus inventions and discoveries, or IP portfolio management services, please contact the IATC.

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