This is the question asked by celebrated University of Minnesota physics professor James Kakalios, in an article published on The Hill’s Congress Blog.

In the article, Kakalios cites recent polls conducted by the American Physical Society that have found most Americans do not see the connection between basic research and the many technological innovations that are an integral part of modern life. And the fact that most of these innovations were developed with the support of federal funding entirely escapes most people.

Citing an open letter to Congress signed by more than 50 Nobel Laureates, Kakalios argues that a decrease in funding to federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and others, will be a severe blow not just to science but to our nation’s economic future.

Kakalios makes another critical observation: Regardless of whether scientific research yields marketable products, such as the pacemaker or Honeycrisp apples (two U of M inventions), it always results in more highly trained scientists and engineers who ultimately contribute to the American workforce and grow our nation’s economy.

In light of the recent sequestration, which mandates across-the-board cuts to federal funding, Kakalios points out that we cannot “grow our way” out of our current financial woes without “proper seeding and cultivation.” Federal funding for scientific research is one way to ensure a continual crop of innovative new technologies and a skilled workforce to see those technologies to fruition.

As research institutions, we need to do a better job of getting that message out.

How would you make the case for funding scientific research?
Please share your thoughts in a comment below.

The road from research to commercialization can be a long one — and obtaining a patent on intellectual property is a key milestone along the way. Congratulations to University of Minnesota faculty and their colleagues who were issued patents this quarter.

If you missed it, see our recent patents roundup: part 1.

Use of Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells to Treat Ischemic Event
Inventors: Walter Low, Jing Xiao, Zhenhong Nan

Thermochemical Ablation of Bodily Tissue
Inventor: Erik Cressman

Volumetrically Illustrating a Structure
Inventors: Toby Markowitz, Brian Houston Craig, Chad Giese

Identifying a Structure for Cannulation
Inventors: Toby Markowitz, Brent Chelgren, Noelle Christine Hurtig, Marie Smith, Phillip Falkner, Lane Phillips

Pulse Width Modulated Fluidic Valve
Inventors: Perry Li, Thomas Chase

Carbon Dioxide-Based Geothermal Energy Generation Systems and Methods Related Thereto
Inventors: Martin Saar, Jimmy Bryan Randolph, Thomas Kuehn

System and Method that Dissipate Heat from an Electronic Device
Inventors: Yuandong Gu, Martin Kristoffersen, Francis Kulacki, Brian Krafthefer

Reactive Flash Volatilization of Fluid Fuels
Inventor: Lanny Schmidt

Traffic Flow Monitoring for Intersections with Signal Controls
Inventors: Xianghong Liu, Xinkai Wu

Click here for more information on reporting an invention or contact the Office for Technology Commercialization at 612.624.0550 or umotc@umn.edu.

The road from research to commercialization can be a long one — and obtaining a patent on intellectual property is a key milestone along the way. Congratulations to University of Minnesota researchers and their colleagues who were issued patents this quarter (see partial list below).

Stay tuned for more patent roundups, and click here for details on reporting inventions.

Miniature Robotic Vehicle With Ground and Flight Capability
Inventors: Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos, Alex Kossett

Stable Borene Reagents and Methods for Their Use
Inventor: Venkatram MeReddy

Distal Tip of Biosensor Transducer Comprising Enzyme for Deamination
Inventor: Lawrence Wackett

Compounds that bind Alpha5beta1 Integrin and Methods of Use
Inventors: Efrosini Kokkoli, Anastasia Mardilovich, Ashish Garg

Heat Resistant Bioactive Composition
Inventors: Ping Wang, Xiaodong Tong

Apparatus Having Reduced Noise and Method of Using the Apparatus for Detecting Ionic Materials
Inventors: Seong-jin Kim, Eui-sik Yoon

Methods, Compositions and Devices Utilizing Structurally Stable Cyanuric Acid Hydrolase
Inventors: Michael Sadowsky, Jennifer Seffernick, Lawrence Wackett

Natriuretic Peptide Receptor-C Agonists
Inventor: Lincoln Potter

Pat’s export control responsibilities will include specialized reviews of research projects identified as potentially involving export controlled issues, including foreign travel and fieldwork, physical exports, and restrictive grant or contract terms that may be inconsistent with the Fundamental Research Exclusion.

He will also serve as SPA’s expert on international sponsored projects, providing specialized knowledge of key terms needed to safely and effectively perform research and training in foreign countries and with foreign sponsors.

Pat comes to the university from Oshkosh Corporation, a defense contractor. At Oshkosh he established the export control office and created the organization’s export control policies, practices and website. He also created and delivered training for hundreds of employees. Prior to his position at Oshkosh, Pat was a legislative analyst and associate attorney for a law firm in Washington, D.C., where he was actively involved in international and governmental law, and government ethics. He previously served as an Intelligence Analyst for the U.S. Army, specializing in international strategic and tactical analysis. Pat holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A from the University of New Mexico.

Pat will office in McNamara Alumni Center. Beginning Jan. 2, he can be reached at (612) 625-3860 and bris0022@umn.edu.

Learn more about export controls

Mark Banaszak Holl, professor of chemistry, University of Michigan

Brian Herman, Chancellor’s Health Fellow for Collaboration, University of Texas System, special assistant to the president, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and professor of cellular and structural biology

Meredith Hay, professor of physiology, College of Medicine, Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, Sarver Heart Center, University of Arizona

Each candidate will participate in a public forum presentation to offer perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for the research enterprise at a land grant university.

Visit the vice president search webpage to see the forum schedule and to learn more about each candidate.

Dykhuis brings a wealth of experience to the executive director role. She’s been involved in clinical research at the University of Minnesota since 1992, and in other health education and research roles since 1985. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the U of M.

After serving five years as a coordinator for investigators conducting research in solid organ transplantation and otitis media research, Dykhuis joined the Academic Health Center Research Services Organization when it was formed in 1997 and served as associate director through 2008. She has been a research project manager in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute since 2008.

Throughout her years of research service, Dykhuis has worked with clinical research investigators across the AHC to support the protection of human subjects in the preparation for and implementation of clinical trials.

Dykhuis contributed to the development of a number of research support and compliance initiatives in the AHC, including the Investigational New Drug and Investigational Device Exemption (IND/IDE) Assistance Program; the clinical trial monitoring service; clinical trial budgeting and billing compliance; and good clinical practice training. She has served as a clinical research resource through participation on many committees, as well as through consultation with individual faculty and staff.

“The search committee, chaired by Dr. Susan Berry, did an excellent job,” says Tim Mulcahy, vice president for research. “Their process was extremely thorough and resulted in an exceptional candidate for this position.”

As the population ages and the cost of health care grows, advances in engineering will be vital to the prevention and treatment of disease. And bringing engineering solutions to medical problems is something Gerry Timm knows a lot about.

An electrical engineer by training and medical device entrepreneur by trade, Timm serves as associate director of external relations with the Institute for Engineering in Medicine. After starting a handful of successful companies, he returned to the U of M in 2003. Here, he offers his perspective on an ever-changing field.

What’s next for engineering in medicine?

Dr. Timm

It involves developing materials that can correct themselves — tissue engineering, stem cell research, artificial muscle. These innovations are dependent on a good understanding of life sciences and living tissue, as well as a solid understanding of physical sciences. I’m already seeing some evidence of this technology. The next question is how to get artificial organs to gain access to the nervous system.

There’s a multitude of opportunities, it’s just a question of which one is going to really make a difference. Innovation doesn’t hit like a big thunderstorm, it hits like a little pebble in a pond. It takes a lot of pebbles in the pond before it adds up to something.

What challenges might the industry face in the next decade?

The big question that’s on everyone’s mind these days is the course of the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA is doing its job of protecting the American public, but I think it’s being a little overprotective. People aren’t able to participate in experimental treatments because of standards that are unachievable.

I think a lot of it is an educational thing and it’s already starting to change within the FDA. But it takes time because we have to overcome the emotional response of the public.

What resources do you offer to researchers?

Since 2005, IEM has sponsored more than $5 million in research grants within the university. Seed funding awards for interdisciplinary research range from $5,000 to $8,000. These funds are intended to support faculty who want to make a prototype or do a quick animal study.

We have a bigger grant program, $40,000 to $50,000 per year, that also supports interdisciplinary research, and is typically enough to support a graduate student to work on a project. We hope after researchers get these grants, they can bring their research to the next level and compete for NSF or NIH funding.

Ultimately, we’re here to make connections between industry and academia. We’re always looking for talented researchers to become members of IEM and share their expertise with businesses or partner on research.

IEM opportunities

If you have expertise to offer, contact IEM to start collaborating with companies to submit a funding proposal. Learn more

And don’t miss the fifth-annual IEM Symposium: Nanotechnology & Nanomedicine, taking place Aug. 28 at the Mayo Auditorium. Register here

His team is mapping, measuring and identifying a quarter of a million trees in 100 acres of New Guinea rain forest. So far, they have recorded more than 400 different species. Here, he describes how the indigenous culture guides the cataloging of species.

“We have a field crew of 20 who map and measure hundreds of trees each day. Most of the crew are local landowners who speak an indigenous language known by fewer than 400 people. The language is rich in myths, names and traditional uses of plants, on which locals depend for subsistence.

The indigenous naming of trees is similar to our own system of biological classification — just as botanists assign plants to genus and species, Wanang people often combine a general name and a specific name for each type of plant. Prior to our study, none of this traditional knowledge had been recorded, so we attempt to match indigenous names with scientific names.

One of the plant species we discovered was new to science but not to the people of Wanang. Generations have boiled the leaves of this plant to produce a red dye that is applied to grass skirts. We named the species Ficus rubrivestimenta, or ‘the fig of red cloth’ in botanical Latin, to recognize its traditional use.”

Click to view slideshow.

Weiblen is currently a curator at the University of Minnesota Herbarium, a division of the Bell Museum of Natural History, and a professor in the Department of Plant Biology. His research is funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, Swire & Sons Pty. Ltd., and the Institute on the Environment.

Learn more

The search committee is currently interviewing and reviewing resumes of candidates to be her successor. Until that process is complete, Patrice Webster will serve as interim director of the Human Research Protection Program. A 14-year employee of HRPP, Webster has worked very closely with the IRB and will ensure a smooth transition.

Please email Webster or call 612-626-5941 with questions.

The University of Minnesota’s Office of the Vice President for Research is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2012 Minnesota Futures grants:

Emad Ebbini

Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dual-mode Ultrasound Array System for Noninvasive, Image-guided Targeted Drug Delivery In Vivo

The goal of this new collaboration is to establish the feasibility of image-guided targeted drug delivery (IGTDD) in vitro and in vivo small-animal model. Members of Ebbini’s team are at the leading edge in their respective research areas related to IGTDD, from clinical practice to molecular pathways involved in the pathogenesis of liver cancer.

The project brings together two cutting-edge, enabling technologies to establish a new paradigm in IGTDD that could offer the highest possible level of safety and efficacy to liver cancer treatments.

Co-investigators:
Efie Kokkoli, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Erik Cressman, Radiology
Raj Aravalli, Radiology

Lawrence Wackett

Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
Defining and Mitigating Against Environmental Impacts of Oil and Gas Fracking

Wackett’s team will comprehensively study the environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Fracking is a method of gas and oil extraction from shale layers — and it’s among the most important energy and environmental issues facing society today.

Six scholars from different disciplines will study the fate of, and risk from, fracking chemicals and develop new bioremediation technologies for cleaning the polluted waters.

Co-investigators:
Alptekin Aksan, Mechanical Engineering
Jeffrey Bielicki, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
Lynda Ellis, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
Steve Heilman, Biotechnology Institute
Elizabeth Wattenberg, Environmental Health Sciences

Bold ideas with a bright future

Modeled after the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative, the Minnesota Futures program supports extraordinary research by nurturing interdisciplinary ideas. The goal is to develop new ideas to a point where they are competitive for external funding. The award covers expenses of up to $250,000 over two years and is supported by technology commercialization revenue.

Since 2008, the grant has supported research by faculty who go on to win substantial grants and whose innovations reach the market to potentially improve the lives of millions. Just a few success stories of past recipients include:

• Vipin Kumar, computer science and engineering, led a team studying global climate change funded by a $10 million NSF grant.
• John Ohlfest, pediatrics and neurosurgery, was named a 2010 McKnight Land-Grant Professor for his work on brain cancer.
• David Andow, entomology, won a $3 million NSF grant to study how to better combat invasive species.

Learn more