UGA Innovation Gateway News

Helping UGA faculty, staff and students to turn their ideas into products in the marketplace.

ENStem-A™, neural cell line developed by UGA researcher Steven Stice, founder of Aruna Biomedical, provides a unique research platform to help understand neurological disorders and aid in the discovery of new drugs to treat diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.  

UGA Board of Visitors hosts Innovation Gateway

Products, technologies, and startup companies emerging from UGA research were featured in May during a luncheon hosted by the UGA Board of Visitors at the Buckhead Club in Atlanta. 

The UGA Board of Visitors serves to establish new relationships and strengthen ties between UGA and its elected officials, community organizations, and business and philanthropic leaders. Its members become key ambassadors for the university through participation in quarterly programs highlighting the University’s expertise and successes in research, teaching and service.

Derek Eberhart, Innovation Gateway Director, gave the Board an overview of how Innovation Gateway moves UGA research into the marketplace and moderated a panel discussion featuring UGA faculty and students whose innovations are benefiting society, as well as the state. 

The Board members explored displays and samples of products produced by UGA researchers and startup companies, including products developed by some of the panelists. Highlighted innovations included turfgrasses; wound treatments SilvaKlenz ® and Silvion®; blueberry and pecan varieties; poultry vaccines; ornamental plants, including hydrangeas and gardenias; Revalife®, a topical joint health treatment; and Clevudine, a treatment for Hepatitis B.

Featured faculty panelists were Shanta Dhar, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences; Mark Jackwood, J.R. Glisson Professor of Avian Medicine and Head, Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine; Brian Schwartz, Assistant Professor of Turfgrass Breeding and Management, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Tifton Campus; and Steven Stice, D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, and Director of the Regenerative Bioscience Center.

Featured student panelists were Grace Ashby, Ph.D. student in the Poultry Science Department working in Mark Jackwood’s laboratory; Catherine “Cali” Callaway, a Foundation Fellow working in Steven Stice’s laboratory; and Ru Wen, a graduate student and researcher working in Shanta Dhar’s laboratory. 

• Multiple peanut varieties developed by William D. Branch, department of crop and soil sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, were non-exclusively licensed to multiple companies.
• The Krewer blueberry variety developed by Scott NeSmith, department of horticulture, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, was non-exclusively licensed.
• Heidi Riviere Kelley, a supervisory patent examiner at the U.S. Patent Office handling patent applications in the Chemical and Material Arts, spoke with faculty, staff, and students from the College of Engineering.
• Representatives from the Klarquist Sparkman law firm led patent strategy discussions in the department of infectious disease and College of Engineering.
• Testing agreements for multiple varieties of turfgrass developed by Brian Schwartz, Paul Raymer and Wayne Hanna, department of crop and soil sciences, were completed for the U.S., Spain and Japan.
• Gateway team members attended the Sixth Annual Academic & Industry Intersection Conference at Morehouse School of Medicine featuring public-private partnerships, startup creation and technology commercialization. Dr. Jonathan Murrow, professor of medicine, GRU/UGA Medical Partnership, and co-founder of Infrared Rx participated in the startup Shark Tank session. Infrared Rx is developing technology to benefit patients with peripheral artery disease.
• Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean variety developed in part by Zenglu Li, department of crop and soil sciences, was exclusively licensed.
• Vaccines for influenza and mumps, developed by Biao He, department of infectious diseases, were licensed to an international start-up company.
• Innovation Gateway staff participated in an AUTM continuing education workshop, “Communicating value to stakeholders.”
• A wheat variety developed by Jerry Johnson, department of crop and soil sciences, was exclusively licensed.