The University of Illinois is actively seeking corporate partners to commercialize research tools and reagents developed in the laboratories of university faculty. Many of these reagents have been validated in the laboratory and highlighted in a journal publication.

The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) market was worth $858.2 million in 2008.  MRI is critical for medical diagnosis of in a number of disorders.  MRI uses magnetism, radio waves, and computer to produce images of body structures.  A magnetic field aligns the protons of hydrogen atoms, which are then exposed to a beam of radio waves.  As radio waves spin various protons in the body, the protons emit a signal that is detected by the receiver of the MRI scanner.  Received information is processed by a computer to produce an image.  Dr.

Gene therapy is an approach for human disease treatment. This is done by inserting nucleic acids into cells to produce proteins, fix or replace damaged genes, and inhibit expression of harmful genes. The gene delivery systems are classified into viral and nonviral systems.  There are several advantages in nonviral delivery systems, including biological safety (safer than viral vehicle), low immunogenicity, ability to deliver large genes, and large scale production at a reasonable cost.

Bacterialresistance to antibiotics is a growing problem. Phophonic and phosphinic acids are compounds with a carbon-phosphorusbond with P in the reduced form. They sharestructural similarity with phosphate esters and carboxyalte-containingcompounds which are ubiquitous metabolites in cellular biology, making themless toxic to the host organism. Inaddition, because these compounds exist in a reduced form, these compounds arehighly resistant to hydrolysis and enzymatic cleavage, making them morestable.

Cancer researchers are focusing their efforts on identifying central pathways that trigger or enhance the invasiveness of tumor cells. One such target is EMMPRIN (Extracellular Matrix Metalloproteinase Inducer). It has been shown that EMMPRIN expression is linked to various cell signaling pathways that lead to an increase in tumor cell vascularization. Researchers are focusing efforts on elucidating the role of EMMPRIN in a number of disorders including cancer, arthritis, tissue repair and numerous inflammation-dependent diseases. 

Advanced molecular imaging tools combinedwith investigative tools like biochemical and cell based assays have thepotential to unravel complex molecular processes. These tools combined withhigh throughput screening can significantly impact diagnostics for cancerscreening and accelerate drug discovery. The present inventions are two new FluorescenceResonance Energy Transfer (FRET) biosensor pairs, one composed of two newcolors, mOrange2 and mCherry and the other composed of a modified high-sensitiveECFP/YPet pair that can significantly enhance the dynamic range of a variety ofbiosensors.

Strategiesfor bio-integrated electronics must overcome the numerous challenges associatedwith the mismatch between the hard, planar surfaces of semiconductor wafers andthe soft, curvilinear tissues of biological systems. These differences between the surfaces leadto low fidelity coupling at the biotic/abiotic interface as well as limitedlong-term tissue health. Even extremelythin, flexible systems can only wrap around shapes with zero Gaussian curvature(such as developable surfaces such as cones and cylinders).