Recipients are Tufts faculty (tenure track, research or clinical), who having received their terminal degree less than 15 years ago, demonstrate an ambitious entrepreneurial spirit by actively developing new innovations and moving them to the market.

Recipients will have accomplished one or more of the following:

• Demonstrated ideation of breakthrough ideas, processes, or technologies through submission of Invention Disclosures that have been approved for patent filing.
• Actively engaged in translation of innovations by marketing the technology to VCs or companies or funding agencies, and demonstrating commercial viability.
• Taken a significant innovation developed in the University through to market-readiness, either through partnership with a commercial enterprise, licensing a patent, or by starting a company.

Recipients are Tufts faculty (tenure track, research or clinical), who display an exemplary entrepreneurial spirit and service to the institution by not only moving new technologies from the University laboratory to the market, but also broadly supporting innovation at Tufts through mentoring, collaboration and partnership.

Recipients will have accomplished one or more of the following:

• Taken multitude of innovations developed in the University through to market-readiness, either through partnership with a commercial enterprise, licensing a patent, or by starting a company.
• Demonstrated a commitment to shaping the future all innovators through collaboration and mentorship of students, early-career faculty and peers within the University.
• Demonstrated a new method or means for moving innovations from the University into the private sector through the establishment of partnerships or other relationships that promote the strategic or economic position of the region, state or nation.

Awarded to faculty members named as inventors on their first US patent to issue capturing an invention disclosed to Tufts in fiscal year 2023.

William Bachovchin

• 11,583,516
• DASH inhibitors, and uses related thereto
• Compositions of matter for immuno-DASH inhibitors that enhance a cell-mediated immune response against cancer.

Jinkun (Jake) Chen & Qisheng Tu

• 11,655,212
• Using adiponectin receptor agonists to treat inflammation and bone diseases in diabetes
• A novel adiponectin receptor agonist that can be used to treat inflammatory conditions associated with obesity, diabetes, and sepsis.

Sergio Fantini

• 11,426,129
• Coherent hemodynamics spectroscopy and model based characterization of physiological systems
• A method for analyzing hemodynamic data on human tissue to enable the extraction of functional, physiological, and metabolic information on the tissue.

Caroline Genco

• 11,419,901
  Porphyromonas gingivalis immune modulators and uses thereof
• The use of a novel heat killed Porphyromonas gingivalis bacterium as an immunomodulator.

David Kaplan

• 11,643,444
• Silk nanofibrils and uses thereof
• New methods and compositions providing silk micro- and nanofibrils which retain the architecture of native silk fibers, while showing increased biocompatibility and biodegradability and requiring no post-treatments.

David Kaplan

• 11,576,862
• Methods and compositions for preparing a silk microsphere
• Methods and compositions for preparing an aqueous silk microsphere that can be used for sustained drug delivery.

David Kaplan and Fiorenzo Omenetto

• 11,376,329
• Low molecular weight silk compositions and stabilizing silk compositions
• Low molecular silk-fibroin compositions with unique structural and functional characteristics for various uses, including the incorporation of biological material.

Usman Khan

• 11,536,797
• Mobile network localization
• A method for localization of a first agent through a distributed algorithm that determines absolute coordinates of each agent in a network of mobile agents.

Misha Kilmer

• 11,531,902
• Generating and managing deep tensor neural networks
• Techniques for generating and managing, including simulating and training, deep tensor neural networks.

Misha Kilmer

• 11,386,507
• Tensor-based predictions from analysis of time-varying graphs
• A computer-implemented method for analyzing a time-varying graph.

Kyongbum Lee

• 11,612,586
• Indole regulation of antigen presenting cells
• A method of maturing, promoting an anti- inflammatory phenotype, or promoting the development of a T regulatory cell from an antigen presenting cell.

Karen Panetta

• 11,450,087
• System and method for multimedia analytic processing and display
• Cutting-edge methods, inspired by visual morphology processes, for multimedia image analysis, including automated binarization, segmentation, and enhancement.

Matthias Scheutz

• 11,645,444
• Systems and methods enabling online one-shot learning and generalization by intelligent systems of task-relevant features and transfer to a cohort of intelligent systems
• Systems and methods used by an artificial intelligence system, to learn how to acquire new knowledge it needs to perform a task in response to an instruction from a human instructor, to apply the acquired knowledge, and to instruct other intelligent systems about the relevant knowledge for performing the task.

Igor Sokolov

• 11,506,683
• Atomic-force microscopy for identification of surfaces
• A method using an atomic-force microscope to acquire a set of images associated with cell surfaces and applying a machine-learning algorithm to the images to classify such cells as cancerous, or not.

Sameer Sonkusale

• 11,484,262
• Thread-based integrated functional devices
• A smart wearable thread system and implantable thread-based diagnostic devices in which various components are integrated into a one-dimensional manifold.

Sameer Sonkusale

• 11,547,358
• Thread-based oxygen sensor
• A flexible thread-based apparatus for sensing dissolved oxygen concentration in tissue through an electrochemical sensor.

Qiaobing Xu

• 11,666,539
• Synthetic lipid-like materials for brain delivery
• A formulation of a lipidoid nanoparticle that can serve as a drug delivery vehicle across the blood brain barrier.

Awarded to faculty members named as creators or inventors on intellectual property disclosed to Tufts that has been commercially optioned of licensed in fiscal year 2023.

Andrew Camilli

• Exclusive License with PhagePro, Inc.
• Cholera treatment and prevention

David Kaplan

• Nonexclusive License with Kerafast, Inc.
• Cellular agriculture mackerel cell line

Michael Levin

• Exclusive Option with Astonishing Labs, Inc.
• Aging, cancer, tissue regeneration, AI/machine learning, and diagnostics

Michael Levin

• Exclusive License with Unravel Biosciences, Inc.
• Neurodevelopmental disease treatment and prevention

Michael Levin

• Exclusive License with Cellja Vu, Inc.
• Gene regulation

Michael Levin, Douglas Blackiston, and Kelly McLaughlin

• Exclusive License with Anthrobots, Inc.
• Synthetic organisms

Michael Levin, Douglas Blackiston, and Kelly McLaughlin

• Exclusive Option with Fauna Systems, Inc.
• Synthetic organisms and robotics

Michael Levin, David Kaplan, and Chunmei Li

• Exclusive License with Morphoceuticals, Inc.
• Tissue regeneration

Yu-Shan Lin

• Exclusive Option with Speed Cycles, Inc.
• Protein structure prediction algorithm

Nikhil Nair

• Exclusive Option with Caravel Bio, Inc.
• Enzyme immobilization platform

Fiorenzo Omenetto and Marco Lo Presti

• Exclusive Option with New Lab, LLC
• Silk-based bioadhesives

Charles Shoemaker

• Exclusive Option with Vicero, Inc.
• Nanobody therapeutics

Igor Sokolov

• Exclusive License with Cellens, Inc.
• Cancer diagnostics

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Tonight's Sponsor

Tufts University would like to thank Quarles & Brady LLP for sponsoring this year's Inventor Recognition Awards. Since 1892, Quarles and its multidisciplinary team has provided legal solutions to a wide range of clients on a national stage. More specifically, Quarles has been working with Tufts for several years, providing invaluable strategic support to obtain patent allowances and grow the university's patent portfolio worldwide, as well as protecting the university's interests in intellectual property-related agreements. Quarles' continued support has been instrumental to the Tufts mission of enhancing the value of its innovations in the marketplace.

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