Fruits of inspiration: Recent WARF patents

During the past 75 years, WARF has built a reputation on some high-powered patents. Here’s a sampling of a promising new generation of patents, in various stages of development by WARF:

See also: Patent growth strengthens UW future Gulbrandsen appointed managing director of WARF

Fooling the flu
Veterinary medicine professor Yoshi Kawaoka recently perfected a way to create artificial influenza viruses, a powerful tool for unlocking mysteries about the flu. This technology also could lead to better flu vaccines and provide a delivery method for gene therapy. Influenza sickens millions and kills about 20,000 Americans each year.

High-tech history
Since 1991, historians Stanley Schultz and William Tishler have taught a nationally acclaimed American history course on public television, weaving together computer graphics, historical photos and film footage in a documentary style. Now WARF is promoting a CD-Rom “digital book” of the course, illustrating topics from the Civil War to the present.

Very small things
Engineer Henry Guckel has pioneered the creation of tiny metal “micromachines,” smaller than a width of human hair, that perform a variety of ingenious tasks. Guckel uses X-ray lithography and electroplating techniques to make high-speed parts for use in computers, cars and airplanes. Other licensed devices are being used to improve balloon angioplasty for heart disease and tiny switches for pay-per-view TV.

Dietary dairy
Food scientists Michael Pariza and Mark Cook have honed in on the health benefits of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fatty acid found in dairy products and other animal fats. Those benefits include anti-cancer properties, reduction of arterial plaque and fat reduction. It’s now under study by scientists around the world.

A better body scaffolding
Biochemist Ron Raines created a stronger, more stable form of collagen for medical uses. Collagen is the most abundant substance in the body, acting like a natural solder to give the body its structure and shape. It has cosmetic uses today, such as smoothing out wrinkles, but Raines’ development opens the door to treating illnesses such as arthritis.

Cancer-fighting ‘smart bombs’
Medical physicist Thomas “Rock” Mackie has developed a new paradigm for radiation-based cancer treatment. A technology called “tomotherapy” may allow doctors to deliver hundreds of precisely tailored beams of radiation in exactly the dosage needed to kill cancer with fewer side effects. The approach could work on currently untreatable diseases such as pancreatic cancer.