Features
What’s new at NCRC?
University of Michigan purchased a world-class ex-Pfizer research campus almost three years ago, envisioning a great opportunity to expand our research infrastructure. U-M named it the North Campus Research Complex – or NCRC — and began building the foundations of a new kind of research facility. This video provides an update.
Michigan Law launches groundbreaking entrepreneurial law program
A rare program in entrepreneurship and law launching this fall at the University of Michigan Law School will steep student lawyers in the arts of entrepreneurial businesses and also lead to groundbreaking entrepreneurial opportunities for students University-wide.
The Zell Entrepreneurship and Law (ZEAL) Program establishes a clinic to offer free legal advice to Michigan’s burgeoning number of student entrepreneurs, while simultaneously boosting the Law School’s curriculum to train law students to better serve both start-up and existing entrepreneurial businesses. This dual approach, combined with the depth and scope of resources involved across the full spectrum of the University, makes the ZEAL program unique.
U-M start-up Ambiq Micro develops energy-efficient microcontrollers to power breakthrough technologies
Imagine a world in which clothing, phones, credit cards, appliances, cars, medical devices, roads, even entire buildings are embedded with tiny intelligent sensors that are constantly monitoring and managing activities.
That phenomenon, called ubiquitous computing, is already underway. But it’s been hampered by the size of the batteries required to power conventional microchips.
U-M start-up Ambiq Micro could change that however, with energy-efficient microcontrollers that are approximately 10 times more energy efficient than conventional microprocessors in active mode and up to 130 times more energy efficient in sleep mode.
U-M spin off Lycera plans move to NCRC
Lycera, a U-M spinoff biopharmaceutical company, plans to partner and collaborate with university faculty and students with a move to the North Campus Research Complex (NCRC). The company pioneers innovative approaches to the discovery and development of novel oral medicines for treating autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
U research leads to IT center in Michigan
An industry-leading IT R&D center has quietly taken root on South State Street in Ann Arbor, and it’s the result of successful commercialization of university research. Arbor Networks, a U-M spin-off, has not only made the Internet a safer, more robust environment for network operators and businesses; it’s also helped to kick-start the innovation economy in the University Research Corridor area. Read More
Rising to the Challenge of Cancer Research
One of the things that makes cancer so formidable – and so difficult to treat – is the fact that cancer cells literally refuse to die. In a healthy organism, abnormal cells are removed through a process of programmed cell death known as apoptosis. But in cancer cells, the apoptosis pathways are defective, allowing cancer cells to thrive and, often, making them resistant to conventional therapy.
Targeting those defective pathways – and reinstating the process of apoptosis in cancer cells – has long been the research objective of Dr. Shaomeng Wang, U-M professor of medicine, pharmacology and medicinal chemistry.
Student entrepreneurs win funds, make headlines
The student entrepreneur community celebrated the culmination of the school year with the Student Startup Showcase that highlighted the work of dozens of ambitious and driven student entrepreneurs who have started their own companies. KENu, for example, is aiming to manufacture a block game that can be played with one hand or two, alone or with friends.
The Showcase is just the latest addition to U-M’s extensive support network for our ambitious and driven students. Programs include TechArb, a U-M sponsored venture accelerator; MPowered, a student organization for entrepreneurs; the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, and the Center for Entrepreneurship.
Most powerful millimeter-scale energy harvester generates electricity from vibrations
Electrical engineers at the University of Michigan have built a device that can harness energy from vibrations and convert it to electricity with five to ten times greater efficiency and power than other devices in its class. And it’s smaller than a penny.
“In a tiny amount of space, we’ve been able to make a device that generates more power for a given input than anything else out there on the market,” said Khalil Najafi, one of the system’s developers and chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Read More
U-M creates state’s first disease-specific human embryonic stem cell lines
University of Michigan researchers have created the state’s first human embryonic stem cell lines that carry the genes responsible for inherited disease. The achievement will enable scientists here to study the onset and progression of genetic disorders and to search for new treatments. With this accomplishment, the U-M joins a small handful of U.S. universities that are creating disease-specific human embryonic stem cell lines.
New cancer drug discovered at U-M heads to clinical trials
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a new drug called AT-406 with potential to treat multiple types of cancer.
A study, published recently in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, showed that AT-406 effectively targets proteins that block normal cell death from occurring. Blocking these proteins caused tumor cells to die, while not harming normal cells. The researchers believe the drug could potentially be used alone or in combination with other treatments.
U-M Engineering Design Expo videos
Every semester, undergraduate engineering students showcase their capstone design projects at Michigan Engineering’s Design Expo. The Spring 2011 Design Expo, sponsored by Harris, was held on April 14. Project videos on the Michigan Engineering Facebook wall were available for voting for several days after.
The projects demonstrate the cutting edge innovation that emerges from senior design courses and projects. The Design Expo demonstrates the practical engagement through hands-on engineering projects that is an important part of the Michigan Engineering experience. Students can also enroll in the Multidisciplinary Design Minor, which enables undergraduates to obtain hands-on experience designing, building and testing technology systems.
Learn More: Design Expo Feature || Multidisciplinary Design Program
10th Annual Life Sciences Institute Symposium
The 10th Annual Life Sciences Institute Symposium: Autophagy in Health and Disease will take place from 8:45 am – 4:15 pm, Thursday, May 5, 2011 in the Biomedical Science Research Building Auditorium. This all-day event brings together the world’s experts on autophagy. Speakers will share their latest insights from their areas of research, which span cell biology, genetics, and physiology. This symposium is free and open to the public. For more information, visit: www.lsi.umich.edu/newsevents/events.
Michigan Growth Capital Symposium Plays a Critical Role in Fostering Growth for University-Based Start-ups
The unique concentration of world-class research universities has helped the Midwest become an attractive geography for early-stage companies and funders alike, and the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium plays a key role in trumpeting these capabilities and successes of the Midwest. Taking place May 10-11 at the Marriott Resort in Ypsilanti, the event will feature forty four companies presenting for an audience of venture capitalists, angel investors and institutional investors, with the first day dedicated to those seeking angel and seed funding and the second focused on companies seeking follow-on rounds.
TEDxUofM Encouraging crazy ideas
On April 8 at the Michigan Theater, 23 innovative U-M professors, alumni and students will offer up their ideas worth spreading at the TEDxUofM. Encouraging Crazy Ideas will be the gathering place to showcase the talent, inspiration, and innovation merging forth from the U-M’s brain trust.
Video Building the Idea Collider :: Ora Pescovitz and Stephen Forrest
Engineering students inventing the world
U-M Engineering students answer the question, “if you could invent anything without limitations, what would it be?”
Video from the College of Engineering