Lehn, Prodić win Inventors of the Year awards
May 16, 2013
Peter Lehn and Aleksandar Prodić, professors in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, are both 2013 recipients of the University of Toronto’s Inventors of the Year awards. The 10 awards were announced at a ceremony and reception in the Health Sciences Building on Wednesday, May 15, 2013.
Lehn’s first award was conferred for his invention of a new power electronic circuit topology for ultra-high-efficiency power conversion from low- to high-voltage DC. It can be applied as a new architecture for collecting power from solar arrays, and exceeds the new safety standards recently implemented in the U.S.
Lehn was also a member of a team of co-inventors including Prodić, Professor Milos Popovic of IBBME, Santa Huerta Olivares and Massimo Tarulli. The group has invented an advanced electrical stimulator to help restore voluntary reaching and grasping functions in individuals who have suffered severe strokes or spinal cord injuries. This invention is part of an exciting new discipline known as neuroprosthetic systems—designing devices that help to restore or replace functions of the human nervous system when it is damaged.
“It’s really exciting to receive this award,” said Huerta Olivares. “Our device is actually going to be helping in people’s lives, and that’s really important.”
“The Inventor of the Year Award is meant to recognize inventions that have the potential to improve our quality of life,” said Professor Paul Young, vice-president (research and innovation). “The winning inventions represent the very best of innovation at U of T, and on behalf of the University, I extend my congratulations.” (Click for a slideshow of the winners).
To qualify for the award, entrants and their teams must be faculty members or trainees who disclosed their inventions to U of T’s Innovations and Partnerships Office (IPO) within the past five years. Inventions are assessed based on their uniqueness, potential for global impact and commercial appeal.
Young noted that many of the inventions include students as co-inventors. “More than two-thirds of all inventions disclosed at the University of Toronto have a student or post-doc as a co-inventor, and this is also reflected in the winning projects. We have several entrepreneurship education initiatives on campus, but in many ways, the best experience is practical. Students at U of T have the opportunity to work with some of the world’s leading inventors, and they’ll take that creative spirit with them wherever they go after graduation.”
The other eight 2013 Inventors of the Year awards went to:
- Ahmed El-Sohemy (Department of Nutritional Sciences). El-Sohemy has invented a panel of seven genetic markers that can be used to determine a person’s response to seven key components of diet: vitamin C, folate, whole grains, omega-3 fat, saturated fat, sodium and caffeine, leading to personalized DNA-based dietary recommendations.
- Axel Guenther (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering [IBBME]) with Milica Radisic (IBBME), Lian Leng, Arianna McAllister, Andrew Woollard and Boyang Zhang. Guenther’s team has developed a 3D “bio-printer” that can produce wound dressings that accurately mimic human skin.
- Patrick Gunning (Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, UTM). Gunning has invented a drug-like molecule that targets STAT 3, a protein involved in many human cancers.
- Steve Joordens (Department of Psychology, UTSC) with Dwayne Pare. Joordens and Pare created peerScholar, a cloud-based eLearning tool that supports the development of critical thought.
- Andreas Mandelis (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, IBBME and the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) with Jose A. Garcia, Jinseok Jeon, Anna Matvienko and Lena Nicolaides. The team of inventors, which includes Dr. Stephen Abrams, CEO of Quantum Dental Technologies, has invented a way to monitor cavities without using ionizing dental x-rays.
- Molly Shoichet (Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry and IBBME) with Dimpy Gupta, Charles Tator (University Health Network), Jordan Wosnick and Ryan Wylie. Shoichet’s team develops materials for drug delivery and regeneration.
- Gilbert Walker (Department of Chemistry) with Nikhil Gunari. Walker and Gunari are focused on keeping ship hulls free of fouling organisms and keeping aquaculture nets clean. They have invented a marine biofouling solution that keeps aquaculture nets clean, reducing the cost of fish farming.
- Daniel Wigdor (Department of Computer Science and Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, UTM) with co-inventor Ricardo Jota. Wigdor and Jota are investigating the lag between a user’s input to a smartphone or tablet and the system’s response, and developing technology to reduce this lag.
Visit http://www.research.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/2013-IOY.pdf for more information on the winning projects and inventors.
With files from Jenny Hall.
Media contact:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997; marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca