University of Missouri

University of Missouri inventors and researchers generate new knowledge and original ideas that educate students and serve the public good. Their work often is the basis for new products and startup businesses that fuel economic growth and prosperity.

In calendar year 2024, Mizzou’s Technology Advancement team helped investigators disclose more than 100 inventions, which the team evaluated for novelty, utility and market potential.

Two Mizzou commercial products recently had first sales: an adult training arm used by students in medical professions to practice IV administration and UMCA® PQK chestnut seedlings from a hybrid chestnut tree.

Last year, the University of Missouri was granted 23 U.S. patents for a variety of faculty and staff inventions, including plant and animal biotechnology, devices, tools, therapeutics, diagnostics, software and engineering solutions. Industry partners interested in further developing a Mizzou invention sign licensing agreements.

These innovations have helped the UM System regularly rank among the National Academy of Inventors’ top 100 U.S. universities. 

U.S. patents issued in 2024 for Mizzou inventions

Animal and plant biotechnology

• CRISPR therapy
  Improved CRISPR methods to systemically affect gene editing via non-homologous end joining
  Mizzou inventors: Dongsheng Duan, Chady Hakim,* Nalinda B. Wasala* and Yongping Yue
  
• Homologous recombination via transcriptional activation
  A gene-editing system that allows researchers to identify desired target edits to a gene in organisms, such as plants, with low homologous recombination frequency
  Mizzou inventor: Blake C. Meyers*
  
• Improved ultra-fast cooling system
  Uniformly cryopreserves biological materials, including human and plant tissues, using little or no cryoprotectants
  Mizzou inventor: Xu Han
  
• Increasing plant oil content by altering a negative regulator of acetyl-coa carboxylase
  A trait that increases the overall seed oil content in crops
  Mizzou inventors: Jay J. Thelen and Matthew Salie*
  
• Small auxin upregulated gene for the improvement of root system architecture, waterlogging tolerance, drought resistance and yield in plants
  A trait that creates a more extensive root system in soybean to increase resistance to waterlogging and drought stress
  Mizzou inventors: Henry Thien Nguyen, Heng Ye and Babu Valliyodan*

Computer software

• Systems and methods to improve management and monitoring of cardiovascular disease
  Software that measures aortic capacitance or compliance (ability to expand and contract in response to changes in blood volume and pressure) as indicators of cardiovascular disease
  Mizzou inventors: Noah D. Manring and Patrice Delafontaine

Diagnostics and detection

• Microfluidic device for capture of micrometer scale objects
  A less invasive device to capture and measure the presence of circulating tumor cells in the bloodstream to improve cancer diagnostics
  Mizzou inventors: Jae W. Kwon* and Jussuf Kaifi

Therapeutics and treatments

• Amphiphilic peptide chaperones
  Therapeutic peptides to reduce misfolded proteins associated with diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
  Mizzou inventors: Santhoshkumar Puttur, Krishna Sharma and Sundararajan Mahalingam*
  
• Immunomodulation for the long-term prevention and treatment of autoimmune diseases and foreign tissue rejection
  FasL + IL-2 to induce immune tolerance for the treatment and/or prevention of autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes
  Mizzou inventor: Haval Shirwan
  
• Liquid collagen bioinks and methods to make and use collagen structures
  Methods to fabricate stable injectable collagen microspheres without using cross-linking agents for therapeutics, orthopedics and other tissue engineering applications
  Mizzou inventors: Sheila A. Grant, Colten Snider* and David Alan Grant
  
• Neuromuscular blocking agents
  Novel fast-acting and quickly reversible boron-based neuromuscular blockers to paralyze muscles for procedures like tracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, electroconvulsive therapy and others
  Mizzou inventors: George R. Kracke, Lalit N. Goswami*, Marion F. Hawthorne* and Satish Jalisatgi*
  
• Triblock peptide amphiphiles and micelles
  Programmable peptide micelles for the delivery of therapeutics
  Mizzou inventors: Caitlin Leeper*, Rui Zhang*, Bret Ulery, Josiah Smith* and Logan Morton*

Engineering solutions

• Area selective nanoscale-thin layer deposition via precise functional group lithography
  An improved method for high-resolution patterning of semiconductor substrates
  Mizzou inventors: Matthew R. Maschmann and Matthias J. Young
  
• Forming conformable nanoscale coating on substrates
  A new method for adding nanoscale coatings to increase durability, hydrophobicity or reactivity of materials
  Mizzou inventors: Yangchuan Xing and Ahmed M Jasim
  
• Programmable metasurface for real-time control of broadband elastic rays
  A method for creating programmable metasurfaces for use in active noise and vibration cancellation in communication systems
  Mizzou inventors: Guoliang Huang*, Yangyang Chen* and Xiaopeng Li
  
• Three-phase oscillating heat pipe
  Thermal management system for efficient cooling of electronic devices
  Mizzou inventors: Bill Ma and Tingting Hao

Devices and tools

• Heat exchanging liquid container
  Thermally insulated containers that hold optimal temperature of hot or cold liquids for extended periods of time
  Mizzou inventor: Bill Ma
  
• Drawn fused filament fabrication printing
  Novel 3D printing technique and device to convert type A, B or AB blood to universal type O blood without residual foreign proteins
  Mizzou inventors: Hsin-Yeh Hsieh, Mason W. Schellenberg*, Chung-Ho Lin, George C. Stewart and Shibu Jose
  
• Knee flexion device
  A quantitative patient-controlled physical therapy device for treatment of pre- or post-surgery knee stiffness
  Mizzou inventors: Trent Guess, Cory Crecelius, James L. Cook, Kylee Rucinski and Jonathan Williams
  
• Nursing multiskill training pad
  A hyperrealistic model for medical professionals to practice critical skills such as wound packing, intravenous catheterization and medication injections
  Mizzou inventor: Damon Coyle
  
• Thermal liquid container system
  Thermal liquid containers that can rapidly change the temperature of a liquid to a desired range
  Mizzou inventor: Bill Ma
  
• Tissue preservation system
  A system that more than doubles the storage time and increases the viability of donor bone and cartilage grafts used in orthopaedic transplants
  Mizzou inventors: Aaron M. Stoker and James L. Cook

*No longer at Mizzou