News

IP Best Practices Forum Meets at U-M Innovation Partnerships

7/14/2017
In 1998 representatives from approximately 15 of the most well-respected, technology-driven global corporations came together to create the Intellectual Property Best Practices Forum to exchange best practices related to the commercialization of intellectual property. While membership in the organization has evolved over the past 20 years, the mission has remained...

Arcascope Pursues Circadian Solutions for the Jet-Lagged

7/14/2017
Olivia Walch wasn’t planning to start a company when she developed Entrain, an app that helps travelers shift their circadian rhythms to reduce jet lag in a new time zone. But when Entrain attracted 50,000 downloads in a single week, Walch realized she had something powerful on her hands. Users...

Ken Nisbet’s Send-off Celebration Caps 20-Year Career

7/14/2017
A festive celebration was held on May 23, 2017 at the Michigan League in honor of Ken Nisbet as he retired from the University of Michigan. Here are some photos that showed the distinguished speakers and guests who enjoyed telling stories (some true) and celebrating Ken’s 20-year career at U-M...

J&J Acquires TRS 3D Printing Tech to Treat Bone Defects

7/14/2017
DePuy Synthes Products, Inc., part of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) family of companies, has acquired 3D printing technology from University of Michigan startup Tissue Regeneration Systems (TRS). The 3D printing methods developed by TRS will help enable DePuy Synthes to create patient-specific, bioresorbable implants with a unique mineral coating...

After 3-Year Partnership, DePuy Acquires TRS Scaffolding Technology

4/21/2017
In 2014, Plymouth, MI-based biotech startup Tissue Regeneration Systems (TRS) began collaborating with DePuy Synthes Products, a company under the Johnson & Johnson umbrella making orthopedic products, such as the devices used in joint replacements. This week, DePuy formalized that relationship with the announcement that it has acquired TRS’s FDA-approved,...

Diamond Kinetics Launches “Smart Bat” with Marucci

4/21/2017
Just in time for the start of baseball season, Pittsburgh-based U-M startup Diamond Kinetics and Baton Rouge-based sporting goods company Marucci Sports have announced a partnership to produce a new line of handcrafted maple bats that incorporate an array of emdedded “smart” sensors to collect, analyze and deliver swing data...

MEDC-Funded ADVANCE Program Launched

4/21/2017
A new “Gap” or “Proof of Concept” fund is being launched to provide resources to assess market needs and the potential for promising new university inventions, thanks to $1 million of funding support from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The University Early Stage Proof-of-Concept Fund program known as ADVANCE...

A New Path Forward for HistoSonics

4/21/2017
On March 13, 2017 University of Michigan startup HistoSonics Inc. announced the hiring of a new CEO, the closing of an $8.2 million Series B funding round, and a shift in focus toward the treatment of solid tumor cancers. According to the Ann Arbor based company, which launched in 2010...

Ken Nisbet Retiring after 20 Years at U-M

4/21/2017
At the end of May, after 20 years at the University, Ken Nisbet will be retiring from U-M Innovation Partnerships. Since he assumed the leadership position in 2001, U-M Innovation Partnerships has made significant progress and now U-M is considered to be among the top ten of all universities in...

Don Chaffin’s Groundbreaking Work in Ergonomics

4/21/2017
As part of his PhD thesis at the University of Michigan in 1967, Don Chaffin developed a 2D mechanical model of the human body. Little did he realize that what he created would be the basis for a powerful tool that would change the approach to ergonomics for decades to...

Taking a SecondLook™ at How Students Learn Histology

4/21/2017
When Michael Hortsch, Ph.D., decided to supplement his teaching of histology, also known as microscopic anatomy, to University of Michigan students with PowerPoint files, he had no idea that he was creating a future mobile app that would help students all over the world across a broad range of studies....

Nynex Therapeutics Launches in Cleveland

4/21/2017
In March, the Cleveland-based drug development accelerator BioMotiv, and the University of Michigan, announced the launch of the new startup Nynex Therapeutics. The company, which will be based in Cleveland, will develop first-in-class therapeutics to inhibit deubiquitinases, which are a class of proteases upregulated in cancer and associated with tumor...