The Collegiate Inventors Competition
"A lot of work in academia is accomplished by students", who sometimes don't get the recognition they deserve with regard to innovation developed at their universities. So, it was particularly thoughtful of University of Virginia Professor James Landers, recently recognized with the 2008 Innovation Award from the Association for Laboratory Automation for his novel microfluidic genetic analysis technology, to acknowledge the work of his students collaborating in the development of this innovative technology.
This lab-on-a-chip technology may enable rapid detection of cancer and infectious diseases at a fraction of the cost of current tests.Research conducted with Landers’ lab-on-a-chip prototype (published in December 2006 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science) demonstrated its effectiveness in detecting bacteria-based infections in mice and humans within only 30 minutes, reducing the analysis time by almost two orders of magnitude.
"With the microchip MGA technology, it presents the possibility of obtaining a sample from a patient and, in the time it takes them to grab a cup of java at a nearby cafeteria, carry out the molecular test, then immediately talk about the test result, the implications and, if necessary, the treatment," Landers said.
Landers credited graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in his lab with providing the "brute-force effort and much of the creativity" in developing the technology; particularly Chris Easley, James Karlinsey, Joan Bienvenue and Lindsay Legendre.
New data that Landers presented at LabAutomation2008 from post-doctoral fellow Legendre shows the potential for cutting the diagnostic time for a T-cell lymphoma test from two weeks down to less than an hour. Landers' group is now working to fine-tune the processes on the chip and their effectiveness, but the use of this lab-on-a-chip technology for diagnostics may not be far off.
Another way to recognize college students for innovation is to enter their invention in the Collegiate Inventors Competition before the May 16, 2008 deadline for entries.
Introduced in 1990, the Collegiate Inventors Competition has rewarded and encouraged hundreds of students to share their inventive ideas with the world. The Competition promotes exploration in invention, science, engineering, technology, and other creative endeavors and provides a window on the technologies from which society will benefit in the future.
The Collegiate Inventors Competition is operated by the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation and is sponsored by the Abbott Fund and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
