OU professors named Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors
Norman, Okla.—Two University of
Oklahoma professors—Paul L. DeAngelis and Jeffrey Harwell—have been named
Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors, a high professional distinction awarded
to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in
creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible
impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.
DeAngelis,
professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the OU Health Sciences Center
College of Medicine, is the co-founder of four spin-out companies and holds a
total of 92 patents in 20 countries. In
2000, Hyalose was formed to commercialize unique recombinant technologies. Two sister companies, Choncept and Heparinex,
are based on DeAngelis’s inventions to offer related recombinant technologies
for biopolymers, which are important to healthcare, cosmetics and biomedical
research.
Most
recently, Caisson Biotech was formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heparinex
to develop a novel heparosan-based drug delivery system called HEPtuneTM. This delivery platform has broad applications
for a variety of therapeutic areas and has recently been licensed to Novo
Nordisk to engineer and develop compounds within undisclosed therapeutic areas. The delivery platform also is being evaluated
by several other pharma companies for various therapeutics.
Jeffrey Harwell, who holds the Asahi Glass Chair and former associate
dean of the OU College of Engineering, has 30 patents in 12 countries and has
launched and collaborated with start-up companies in the areas of enhanced oil
recovery, ground water remediation and carbon nanotubes. These companies, based wholly or partially on
his inventions, employ more than 30 people in Oklahoma. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies
around the world to invent and improve surfactants, nanoparticles and colloids
for better product performance, greater cost efficiency and reduced
environmental impact in areas, such as nanotechnology, consumer products, environmental
remediation and polymer composites.
Harwell’s creative pursuit of inventive concepts,
determination to reduce them to novel practices and his ability to apply them
in the world have yielded tangible impact on society through the creation of
jobs, a cleaner environment and a generation of students prepared to emulate
his leadership.
National Academy of Inventors Fellows will be inducted by
Deputy U.S. Commissioner for Patents Andy Faile, from the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office, during the Third Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors
on March 7, 2014 in Alexandria, Va. at the headquarters of the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office.
Fellows will be presented with a special trophy and a
rosette pin. Fellows also will be honored
in a full-page advertisement in The
Chronicle of Higher Education and in a future issue of Technology and Innovation—Proceedings of the National Academy of
Inventors.
