Tech Transfer

George Mason agricultural tool is another step closer to helping U.S. farmers, thanks to NSF support

Colleen Rich — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 19:08:57 +0000

George Mason agricultural tool is another step closer to helping U.S. farmers, thanks to NSF support Colleen Rich Tue, 08/13/2024 - 15:08

The CropSmart Digital Twin (CSDT) decision tool, a research project led by ��AV research professor Liping Di, is one of seven multidisciplinary projects nationwide recently selected to advance to Phase 2 of the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator, which could provide the researchers with up to $5 million in funding.

Liping Di. Photo provided

The user-inspired CropSmart Digital Twin provides on-demand, decision-ready solutions to take the guesswork out of crop management decisions. The services will be easily accessible to users through both web portals and smartphone apps. The optimal solutions are derived from near-real-time remote observations of cropping systems with artificial intelligence or machine learning-based modeling and simulations.

The United States accounts for more than 25% of the total grain traded globally. Successful crop production involves smart management decisions. With the Accelerator, the NSF is investing in new technologies that address the complex challenges in tackling food and nutrition insecurity from population growth, increasing diet-related diseases, and disparities and climate resilience.

In Phase 1 of the Convergence Accelerator, Di and his team received $750,000 from NSF to design CropSmart. With Phase 2, the team will focus on an operational release of the tool. “So it can be tested and evaluated in a real operational environment and provide services to users,” said Di, who is the director of the Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems in George Mason’s College of Science.

Farmers often depend on their own experience when making decisions, but some will make large investments in commercial instrumentation to measure and collect data on their crops. Yet, after making that investment, they must also collect the data and possess the scientific knowledge to apply it effectively. Di’s team will do this using remote sensing and modeling, covering larger areas at no or very low cost to the farmers, agribusiness operators, and governmental agriculture decision makers.

Di said they were working with more than 20 end-user partners to test CropSmart and anticipates increasing that number to 2,000 over the course of 2024. These users represent different agricultural sectors ranging from individual farmers to farm credit bureaus and ag-related businesses, and include the USDA.

The team is focused on commodity crops, such as wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice. Co-principal investigators on the project include Cenlin He at University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Jenny Du at Mississippi State University, Haishun Yang at University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and Juan P. Sesmero at Purdue University.

Sesmero said the first part of the release—CropSmart 1.0—focuses on certain decision points: when to apply irrigation and how much; crop condition and yield prediction for supporting farm loan and crop insurance decision making; and in-season crop mapping and statistics.

Over time, the teams plans to add additional decision points, such as when to plant and harvest and when to apply nitrogen fertilizer and how much. They will conduct comprehensive field testing to ensure a fully tested and operational solution by the time they release CropSmart 2.0.

“We use the results of our testing to refine the technology,” said Sesmero. “We collect data, process it, and deliver that information through the app.”

The CropSmart Digital Twin will provide three types of products to users: decision-ready information, a “what if” service, and direct management recommendations. The decision-ready information will be delivered to end users for free.

The CropSmart team is focused on commodity crops, such as wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice. Photo by Andrew Draper on Unsplash

“The users will get a good amount of aggregated information at whatever the format they want for free,” explained Sesmero.

The CropSmart "what if” and direct recommendation services are provided with a subscription fee, intended to help fund additional product development and sustain the operation of CropSmart Digital Twin.

In a “what if” service, the CropSmart Digital Twin will give a prediction of outcomes. Users can experiment with different decision scenarios and management paths, see their effects, and compare potential outcomes, by posing such questions as “Should we plant today or wait for another week?”

Also, a third service is available where the tool provides a direct management recommendation. For example, the CropSmart suggests planting within the next four days. This recommendation, optimized for the user’s specific decision goal, is automatically generated by CropSmart.

Topics

Research

College of Science

National Science Foundation

Tech Transfer

Mason named to top 100 list for patents awarded in 2022

Colleen Rich — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 13:30:11 +0000

Mason named to top 100 list for patents awarded in 2022 Colleen Rich Thu, 10/12/2023 - 09:30

It isn’t surprising that ��AV, a university that has been recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, would be among the top 100 universities in United States for patents. This fall, the National Academy of Inventors ranked Mason No. 91 in its list of the top 100 universities granted patents during 2022.

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

“Mason is in the business of discovery,” said Andre Marshall, vice president for research, innovation, and economic impact. “Our researchers are curiosity-driven. As such, we don't always know where our research will lead or what impact it may have. I am absolutely delighted that the Mason Enterprise tech transfer team is working with our researchers on inventions and patents to transform our discoveries into impact.”

In 2022, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued 15 utility patents to Mason inventors including a method to monitor physical cues for people in recovery, a wearable device for knee injuries, a system for detecting power grid states and determining appropriate actions, and therapeutics for dealing with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), to name a few. Utility patents cover the creation of a new or improved—and useful—product, process, or machine.

Mason professors Padmanabhan Seshaiyer of the Department of Mathematical Sciences and Holly Matto, Department of Social Work, share a patent for systems and methods for biobehavioral-regulation treatments. Their invention provides recovery support for users by monitoring their biobehavioral state and strategically delivers, in real time, personalized recovery cues to treat and prevent relapse. It is the first patent for the Department of Social Work.

Researchers Marissa Howard and Lance Liotta at Mason’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine patented a wearable device that measures, tracks, and monitors a wearer's physical physiological conditions during a rehabilitation period. The device collects metrics, such as temperature, patellar shifting, limb circumference, and acceleration, and communicates them through a networked communication system so medical personnel and patients can stay updated with the patient’s rehabilitation progress and make adjustments.

Mason alum Eniye Tebekaemi, PhD Information Technology ’18, and Duminda Wijesekera of the College of Engineering and Computing were awarded a patent for a secure overlay communication model for decentralized autonomous power grids. The model is a logic-based system deployed onto computing devices in power grid stations and substations. In response to detecting various power grid faults, such as line failures and over-current states, the system can automatically rearrange power line configurations.

Researcher Yuntao Wu, a professor in Mason’s School of Systems Biology and the Center for Infectious Disease Research, was awarded two patents in 2022 for his work on HIV: “Targeting the Cofilin Pathway” and “Method and System for Inactivating Virus Infectivity for Producing Live-Attenuated Vaccines.” Wu has devoted his career to HIV research. In 2013, he founded the biotech company Virongy after licensing an HIV drug-screening technology that was developed in his Mason lab.

“The Office of Technology Transfer takes great pride in the quality of patented innovations brought forth by our dedicated researchers,” said David Grossman, senior director of Technology Transfer and Industry Collaboration at Mason. “We are honored to help these innovators transition their groundbreaking concepts from the laboratory to the marketplace. This collaboration between academia and industry underscores our unwavering commitment to harness the full potential of research for the betterment of society.”

The academy’s Top 100 lists are created using data provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Other Virginia universities in the top 100 included University of Virginia at 52 and Virginia Commonwealth University at 86.

According to the National Academy of Inventors press release, “This new list was created to highlight and celebrate American innovation and to showcase the universities that play a large role in advancing the innovation ecosystem within the U.S. and beyond.”

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In This Story

Andre Marshall, PhD

Holly Matto, PhD, LCSW-C

Lance A. Liotta

Duminda Wijesekera

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Strategic Direction

Innovation Awards celebrate Mason researchers

Colleen Rich — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 13:57:40 +0000

Innovation Awards celebrate Mason researchers Colleen Rich Fri, 06/02/2023 - 09:57

On May 9, ��AV celebrated its research enterprise with Innovation Awards, recognizing the Innovator of the Year and a Mason start-up, and those who received and/or licensed a patent.

Michael Buschmann's team accepted the Innovator of the Year award from Vice President Andre Marshall (holding plaque) on his behalf. Photo by John Boal Photography

According to David Grossman, senior director of technology transfer and industry collaboration in Mason’s Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Impact, this was the first time since 2010 that the university formally recognized researchers. Going forward it will be an annual event.

“At the Mason Innovation Awards, we were privileged to recognize the tireless pursuit of knowledge and the transformative impact of our faculty’s discoveries,” said Grossman. “Through their dedication, these researchers are helping shape the world with their groundbreaking technologies and pushing the boundaries of what is possible."

The Innovator of the Year Award was awarded posthumously to Michael Buschmann, Eminent Scholar and the former chair of the Bioengineering Department within Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing. Buschmann help found the start-up AexeRNA Therapeutics Inc., in partnership with the university’s Office of Technology Transfer. He and his team licensed the commercial rights of four patents to the company. The technology AexeRNA is working on will make mRNA vaccines less costly and more readily available worldwide. Members of Buschmann’s AexeRNA team were recognized at the ceremony.

Saleet Jafri was awarded the Mason Start-up Award. Photo by John Boal Photography

The Mason Start-up Award was presented to Saleet Jafri, director of Mason’s Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience and professor in the School of Systems Biology, College of Science, for his company Pathodynamics. Pathodynamics has licensed three Mason patents and is developing a technology that solves the problem of cancer drug resistance, which is responsible for more than 90% of cancer deaths. Jafri has also received a Small Business Innovation Research award for the technology and is working with the Virginia Small Business Development Center’s Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program (ICAP).

University Professor Lance Liotta, cofounder and codirector of the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, was recognized with a Mason Lifetime Disclosure Award. During his career, Liotta has filed more than 120 patent disclosures. Disclosures are the first step toward a patent by making a public claim about an invention or discovery. Liotta has 100 inventions to date and the prototype of one of these inventions—Laser Capture Microdissection, a method to procure subpopulations of tissue cells under direct microscopic visualization—is in the Smithsonian Institution’s collection.

Lance Liotta (left) and David Grossman holding Liotta's Lifetime Disclosure Award. Photo by John Boal Photography

During the program, Gisele Stolz, senior director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programs at Mason, was recognized for recently receiving an Impact Award from the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative for mentoring students. Stolz has helped place more than 150 Mason students in internships with cyber-related start-ups.

Participants of the Virginia SBDC ICAP and national I-CORPS programs and Mason researchers who have patented or licensed a technology or invention were also recognized.

The awards for patents and licensed technologies are Plexiglas hexagons with magnets so researchers can add to their award over the years as they receive patents/licensing.

A list of those Mason researcher licensing technologies follows.

Mason Licensed Technology Awards

“Microscopic Particles for Target Bio-markers,” licensed to Ceres NanoSciences
Lance Liotta, Emanuel Petricoin, Alessandra Luchini Kunkel, Barney Bishop, Virginia Espina, Marissa Howard, and Fatah Kashanchi

“Self-Cleaning Intrusion Tolerance” licensed to SCIT Labs
Arun Sood

“Pre-Shot Sniper Detection” licensed to First Guard Technologies
Kenneth J. Hintz

“Cauldron” licensed to Cyvision Technologies
Sushil Jajodia

“Antiretroviral Compositions” licensed to Lentx
Yuntao Wu

“Biological Materials” licensed to Kera FAST
Barney Bishop, Monique van Hoek, Robin Couch, and Yuntao Wu

“Atomic Magnetometer” licensed to Twinleaf
Karen Sauer

“Protein–Protein Interactions” licensed to EMD Millipore
Alessandra Luchini Kunkel, Lance Liotta, and Virginia Espina

“Antiretroviral Cyclonucleotides” and “Pseudovirus Platform” licensed to Virongy
Yuntao Wu and Brian Hetrick

“Packet Flow Watermarking” licensed to CyberRock Tech
Xinyuan Wang

“Encryption IP Cores” licensed to Chaologix
Gaj Krzysztof and Panasayya Yalla

“Personalized Therapy” licensed to Avant Diagnostics
Emanuel Petricoin and Julia Wulfkuhle

“Thromboembolism Sleeve” licensed to Phase II Consulting and Staffing
Lance Liotta and Marissa Howard

“Laser Capture Microdissection” and “Tissue Molecular Profiling” licensed to Targeted Biosciences
Lance Liotta, Alessandra Luchini Kunkel, Virginia Espina, Amanda Nicole Haymond Still, Marissa Howard, and Philip Andrew Pappalardo

“Cancer and HIV Therapeutics” licensed to Targeted Pharmaceuticals
Catherine DeMarino, Fatah Kashanchi, Lance Liotta, and Virginia Espina

“HIV Vaccine” licensed to Viropeutics
Yuntao Wu

“Protein Painting” licensed to Monet Pharmaceuticals
Alessandra Luchini Kunkel, Amanda Nicole Haymond Still, Lance Liotta, Mikell Paige, and Virginia Espina

“Antidepressant Selection” licensed to Teahorse
Farrokh Alemi

“Honeybee Hive Therapy” licensed to Tri-State Proteomics
Alessandra Luchini Kunkel, Lance Liotta, and Rocio Solange Prisby

“mRNA Delivery Lipids” licensed to AexeRNA Therapeutics
Michael Buschmann, Mikell Paige, Suman Alishetty, and Manuel Carrasco

“COVID Contact Tracing” licensed to Vericord
Farrokh Alemi and Janusz Wojtusiak

“Wearable Devices for Managing Substance Abuse” licensed to LifeSpan Digital Health
Holly C. Matto and Padmanabhan Seshaiyer

“Precision Oncology” licensed to Pathodynamics
Mohsin Saleet Jafri and Soukaina Amniouel

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