IPO Honors Biotech and Automotive Researchers
31 March 1998
Seven Researchers Named National Inventors of the Year for Their Breakthrough In Testing for Breast and Ovarian Cancers
Inventors of 'Super Clean' Vehicle Emission Control Technology and Flat Panel
Display Also Recognized
WASHINGTON, March 31 -- Intellectual Property Owners (IPO),
an association that serves companies and inventors who own patented
inventions, is presenting the 25th annual National Inventor of the Year awards
to seven scientists from Oncormed, Inc., a biotechnology firm in Gaithersburg,
MD. The team members are Patricia D. Murphy, Antonette C. Allen, Christopher
P. Alvares, Brenda S. Critz, Sheri J. Olson, Denise (Schelter) Thurber, and
Bin Zeng.
The inventors identified the version of the human BRCA1 gene that is found
in approximately half of the "healthy" population. By providing the normal
standard from which potentially disease-causing changes can be measured, the
invention makes it possible to identify women who may be at significantly
increased risk to develop breast and ovarian cancer due to an inherited
alteration in their BRCA1 gene. An estimated 5 to 10 percent of all breast
and ovarian cancers are caused by an inherited mutation in one or more cancer-
associated genes. The identification of women carrying an inherited mutation
in the BRCA1 gene is expected to save many lives.
The consensus sequence for the BRCA1 gene also has important therapeutic
implications. When it is functioning normally, the BRCA1 gene produces a
protein that helps to suppress tumor development. The BRCA1 gene is the
target of various gene therapy trials, whose aim is to help cancer patients
produce normal tumor-suppressing BRCA1 protein. Oncormed expects to provide
BRCA1 gene testing for several hundred individuals this year, and to supply
the BRCA1 consensus sequence for gene therapy clinical trials.
The Oncormed inventors have extensive experience in the biotechnology
industry and academia, and some have published extensively. Patricia Murphy
holds a Ph.D. in human genetics from Yale University and is currently Clinical
Associate Professor at Albany Medical College and consultant to Oncormed.
Antonette Allen, Christopher Alvares and Sheri Olson hold degrees from Johns
Hopkins University. Brenda Critz has an associate degree as a laboratory
technician from Frederick Community College. Denise (Schelter) Thurber
graduated from Pennsylvania State University and is currently a microbiologist
at the National Cancer Institute. Bin Zeng has a biochemical engineering
degree from East China University.
IPO is also honoring four engineers from Ford Motor Company and three
researchers from Princeton University with 1998 Distinguished Inventor Awards.
The Ford inventors are recognized for their 1994 and 1995 patents for an
Ultra-Efficient Catalyst System and Engine Control Strategy for a Motor
Vehicle Powered by Natural Gas. The new technology, which includes a
conditioning catalyst and an electronic engine controller, enables a dramatic
reduction in engine emissions.
When introduced, Ford vehicles using this technology became the first to
meet a demanding new standard for low emissions in the state of California
and, in fact, emitted 85 percent fewer smog-forming emissions than allowed.
The four inventors hold several other patents and have authored numerous
publications. They are employed at the Ford Research Laboratory in Dearborn,
Michigan. They are Jeff Hepburn, Bob McCabe, Bela Povinger, and Ray Willey.
The Princeton inventors received a patent in January 1998 that is thought
to be a breakthrough patent in the field of flat panel displays. Flat panel
displays are part of the growing $35 billion display market. The invention is
based on the concept of placing red, green, and blue sub-pixels in a single
vertical stack that takes one third as much space and produces three times
greater resolution. Rights are signed to Universal Display Corp., a small
Philadelphia firm.
The three Princeton inventors are: Stephen Forrest, chairman of
Princeton's Department of Electrical Engineering; Paul Burrows, Senior
Research Scholar at the Princeton Center for Photonics and Optoelectronic
Materials; and Mark Thompson, former Assistant Professor of Chemistry at
Princeton and now an Associate Professor at the University of Southern
California.
Past winners include some of the nation's best known inventors, including
John Cocke, an inventor of Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) for IBM
Corp., and Amer G. Bose, founder of Bose Corporation and inventor of loud
speaker systems. Other earlier winners include James L. Fergason for his
contributions to liquid crystal technology, Robert Jarvik for the Jarvik 7
artificial heart, and Paul Macready for a human-powered flying machine.
IPO Executive Director Herbert C. Wamsley is urging the media to pay more
attention to American inventors who are pushing forward the frontiers of
technology. According to Wamsley, "Our inventors are a national resource. We
should encourage them to give us a continuing stream of new products to
strengthen the economy and improve our standard of living."
The National Inventor of the Year award has been given each year since
1974. Nominations are received from industry, universities, government and
independent inventors.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OWNERS
An Association Serving Owners of Patents, Trademarks,
Copyrights, and Trade Secrets
WHAT: Intellectual Property Owners (IPO)--A non-profit association with
programs to improve patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret
laws. Working to protect and improve the intellectual property
systems that are vital to America's technological and economic
leadership by combining the voices of large, medium and small
businesses, universities, independent inventors, authors, and
patent attorneys.
A resource providing up-to-the-minute information on intellectual
property-related bills and all intellectual property issues.
WHY: To help America maintain technological and economic leadership by
safeguarding the intellectual property systems that give vital
incentives to technological innovation, creativity, and business
investment.
WHERE: Intellectual Property Owners
1255 Twenty-Third Street, NW Suite 850
Washington, DC 20037
202-466-2396 (telephone)
202-466-2893 (fax)
info@ipo.org
http://www.ipo.org
WHO: President -- Norman L. Balmer, chief intellectual property
counsel, Union Carbide Corporation
Vice President -- Edward T. Lentz, senior vice president,
Intellectual Property, SmithKline Beecham Corporation
Executive Director -- Herbert C. Wamsley, formerly with the U.S._
Patent and Trademark Office
SOURCE Intellectual Property Owners