News Release April 19, 2005

Contacts:
Mari Perry (301) 403-2711 ext. 17

University of Maryland announces Inventions of the Year

A more accurate method of pathogen detection; a technique to code broadband wireless networks for more strength and reliability; and a powerful discovery in the fights against parasitic infection and iron deficiency; are the University of Maryland Inventions of the Year for 2004.

The winners were announced Tuesday, April 19 at an annual reception to honor the inventions and inventors of 2004. Each year a panel of judges made up of University of Maryland personnel and industry experts selects one winner from groups of finalists in each of three categories: information science, life science and physical science. The winners are chosen based on the creativity, novelty and potential benefit to society of each of the inventions.

Physical Science Invention of the Year

Cell Sensor Based Pathogen Detection

Benjamin Shapiro, Elisabeth Smela, Pamela Ann Abshire, Denis Wirtz

A tremendous amount of research and development efforts are being dedicated to biochemical pathogen detection. Current commercially available pathogen detection systems have an unacceptably high rate of false positive results.

This new technology will enable selective pathogen detection by exploiting the signaling machinery of living cells.

Cell level pathogen detection will function by monitoring the response of cells when exposed to a specific external pathogen. Developed by University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University researchers, this technology combines bioengineering with micro-engineered hardware, creating an improved system for pathogen detection. This technology has applications in homeland security, pathogen detection and pharmaceutical screening. A U.S. patent application is pending.

Information Science Invention of the Year

Coding Techniques for Maximum Achievable Diversity in Space, Time and Frequency for Broadband Wireless Communications

Weifeng Su, Zoltan Safar, K.J. Ray Liu

Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed three space-frequency (SF) code design methods that can guarantee reliable data transmissions at high data rates in broadband wireless communications. This is the first coding scheme to guarantee both full rate and full diversity in such communications. No other technology demonstrates the same functionality. This technology has potential applications in the design of the next generation of broadband wireless communication systems.

Novel features include:

• The inaugural design of full diversity SF codes from space-time (ST) codes;

• The first systematic SF code design method that can guarantee both full rate and full diversity in multiple-input-multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) wireless communication systems;

• A space-time frequency (STF) transmission scheme, capable of coding across multiple OFDM blocks, to further exploit all the available diversity in MIMO-OFDM systems; and

• The proposed SF/STF code designs are applicable to the most general channel model that has been used in practice.

A U.S. patent application is pending.

Life Science Invention of the Year

Eukaryotic Heme Transport as a Drug Target for Helminthic Infections

Iqbal Hamza

Helminthic infestations by parasitic worms afflict more than two billion people worldwide and cause more than $80 billion of annual crop loss globally. Novel treatments for these parasitic infections, for which there is no universal cure, can be developed based on studies by a University of Maryland researcher on heme transport using the free-living microscopic roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans.

An equally important public health issue, often compounded by helminthic infections, is iron deficiency. It is the most common nutritional disorder in the world. Novel treatments for iron deficiency can be obtained by using C. elegans as a model for heme transport because heme is a more absorbable source of iron for human consumption.

Heme is a critical factor for sustaining life in a eukaryotic cell. Within these cells, heme is synthesized via a multi-step pathway that is highly conserved through evolution. In contrast, worms, including C. elegans, do not synthesize heme although they require heme-containing proteins for normal metabolism. This finding is novel because heme synthesis was thought to occur in all free-living eukaryotes. Like C. elegans, human and livestock parasitic worms also lack the ability to make heme.

Studies for this technology show that C. elegans is unique because it utilizes dietary heme to fulfill its heme requirement and uses heme as an iron source when iron is not easily available.

Identification of the heme transporter, using the C. elegans model, will allow the design of more bioavailable forms of iron-based nutraceuticals to deliver iron more effectively to iron-deficient populations. Illumination of the worm heme transport pathways also has potential applications for controlling helminthic infections by developing selective drugs that can target the worm but not its human or plant host. A U.S. patent application is pending.

The Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) at the University of Maryland was established in 1986 to facilitate the transfer of information, life and physical science inventions developed at the university to business and industry. In the past 18 years, OTC has recorded more than 1,400 technologies, secured more than 225 patents and licensed nearly 750 technologies, generating more than $22.6 million in technology transfer income. In addition, more than 40 high-tech start-up companies have been formed based on technologies developed at the university.