Browse Technologies

Displaying 21 - 30 of 182


New Insect Repellants Disrupt Olfactory Cues: A Strategy for Pest Protection

A multinational research team, led by Dr. L. J. Zwiebel of Vanderbilt University, has identified new compounds with potential as insect repellents. These compounds work by capitalizing on knowledge of how insect odorant receptors detect and respond to scents. Medicinal chemistry efforts have yielded a number of novel compounds that could short-circuit the insect olfactory system, essentially by over-stimulation, to effectively mask attractive odors. These compounds could be used to repel nuisance and disease-carrying insects away from humans and animals, as well as repel agricultural pests from crops or food storage facilities. Vanderbilt University is seeking commercial partners to develop the technology for agricultural uses.


Licensing Contact

Chris Harris

615.343.4433

Vascular Restoration Therapy with Cell-Penetrating CRADD Protein

Vascular inflammation caused by metabolic, autoimmune, and microbial insults mediates cardiovascular diseases that include hypertension and atherosclerosis (heart attacks, strokes), systemic lupus, and giant cell arteritis. An estimated 35 million Americans have hypercholesterolemia, contributing to 500,000 deaths underlying heart attacks and strokes. In these diseases, metabolic, autoimmune, and microbial insults continually challenge blood and vascular cells by triggering signaling to the nucleus mediated by BCL10. Genetic ablation of BCL10 rescues animals from atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysms, and fatty liver and insulin resistance due to overnutrition. Intracellular therapy with CP-CRADD is designed to extinguish BCL10-mediated noxious signals to avert vascular inflammation and its life-threatening complications including ruptured aneurysms in aorta and brain.


Licensing Contact

Mike Villalobos

615.322.6751
Therapeutics

Transoral Lung Access Device

Transoral lung access is preferable to traditional needlebasedaccess due to the lower risk of lung collapse. However present bronchoscope-based devices enable access to only a small portion of the lung. The present device is a robotic image-guided bronchoscope to navigate the airway under closed-loop control to the target. IT is designed to provide transoral access to any location in the lung, particularly the hard-to-reach peripheral regions.


Licensing Contact

Ashok Choudhury

615.322.2503
Medical Devices

A Robotic System for Treating Intracranial Hemorrhage (ICH)

Vanderbilt researchers have designed a general purpose system for precise steering of multi-lumen needles. One significant application of the system is decompression of the cranium during hemorrhagic events (ICH).


Licensing Contact

Ashok Choudhury

615.322.2503

Compliant Insertion, Motion, and Force Control of Continuum Robots

Vanderbilt researchers have developed a framework for compliant insertion with hybrid motion and force control of continuum robots. This technology expands the capabilities of robotic surgery by providing continuum robots with the ability to autonomously discern, locate, and react to contact along their length and calculate forces at the tip, thus enabling quick and safe deployment of snake-like robots into deep anatomical passages or unknown environments.


Licensing Contact

Masood Machingal

615.343.3548

Dexterous Robotic Wrist and Gripper for Extreme Precision Micro-surgical Maneuvers in Confined Spaces

This invention presents a robotic wrist and gripper that operate with three independent degrees of freedom (yaw, pitch and roll) for increased dexterity in minimally invasive surgical procedures. This is the smallest robotic wrist of its kind, and due to its size and unparalleled dexterity, this wrist enables complex surgical maneuvers for minimally invasive procedures in highly confined spaces. Examples of surgical areas benefiting from use of this wrist include natural orifice surgery, single port access surgery, and minimally invasive surgery. In particular, the proposed wrist allows for very high precision roll about the longitudinal axis of the gripper while overcoming problems of run-out motion typically encountered in existing wrists. Thus this wrist is particularly suitable for extreme precision maneuvers for micro-surgery in confined spaces.


Licensing Contact

Masood Machingal

615.343.3548
Medical Devices

Point of Care Rheological Assay for Sickle Cell Disease

Vanderbilt researchers have created a novel technology for the diagnosis and monitoring of disease states using the rheological properties of a blood sample with a lateral flow membrane.


Licensing Contact

Ashok Choudhury

615.322.2503

Higher Accuracy Image-Guidance in Surgery

Vanderbilt engineers have designed and built a device that improves the accuracy of image-guidance systems (IGS) during surgery. The device creates a custom,  non-slip fit over the head and provides a rigid platform for attaching optical tracking markers to the patient, which is a critical component of image-guided neurosurgical procedures. The device can be used to improve the accuracy of IGS in other areas of the anatomy as well.


Licensing Contact

Ashok Choudhury

615.322.2503
Medical Devices

Trackerless Image-Guidance Using a Surgical Microscope

Researchers at Vanderbilt have developed a new image-guided, trackerless surgical microscope system to be used in soft tissue surgeries. The current method is to use a surgical microscope along with an image-guided system. This new design eliminates the need for a separate image-guidance system; the entire guidance environment can be realized within the microscope environment.


Licensing Contact

Philip Swaney

615.322.1067

Inventors

Michael Miga

I-Wire: A Biotension Measurement Device for Tissue Engineering and Pharmacology

Vanderbilt researchers have developed an integrated system ("I-Wire") for the growth of miniature, engineered 3D cardiac or other muscle or connective tissues and their active and passive mechanical characterization. The system utilizes an inverted microscope to measure the strain when the tissue constructs are laterally displaced using a calibrated flexible cantilevered probe.


Licensing Contact

Ashok Choudhury

615.322.2503